Welcome to Elmsgate Design

Cotswold Stone rock/gravel garden

What: A rockery with minimal irrigation in full sun planted to look like a cascading waterfall in blues and whites

Soil: Free-draining soil pockets in dry stone base on top of weed-suppressing membrane 

Size: 140wx330Lx40D

Climate: UK zone H4 (-10C to -5C)

We sourced the rocks from Stoneworld in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, a mix of Devon Slate and Oxford Ironstone 

The site was overgrown and had to be dug out and cleared before membrane was set down and covered in a general aggregate base layer of mixed 10mm and 20mm gravel and shingle from Travis Perkins. Top layer is 10mm and 20mm Cotswold Stone buff chippings. 

The planting is a mixture of grasses including Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ for the top cascade beside an existing Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (AGM) and ground cover including Cerastium tomentosum, Erigeron ‘Azure Beauty’ and Gypsophila repens.

Alpines including Phlox subulata ‘Fabulous Blue Violet’ and ‘Early Spring White’, Pulsatilla vulgaris (AGM) and Veronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue’ (AGM). Sedums, including S. reflexum, populate the edges to soften the rocks. The project was completed in June 2022.