A dry stream is one of the brightest and most original elements of landscape design, which you can do on your own, with minimal time, effort and, most importantly, money. The benefits of a dry stream are simply huge and undeniable: not only will it serve as a wonderful decoration for any garden plot, visually increasing its area and hiding relief defects, it will never become a “shelter for mosquitoes” that constantly hover over real water bodies, and will always be safe for little kids. We will talk with you in this article about how to build a dry stream on your own.
Just look at this dry stream:
Equipped according to all the rules, it gives the impression of a real one - created by mother nature herself, isn't it? It seems as if quite recently crystal clear water flowed here and just a few days ago it dried up. It seems that just a little rain is enough, and the dry stream will come to life again, will come back to life, generously filled with life-giving moisture. But even without water, it has a very calming effect on people, I would say magically.
Coming to us from the Land of the Rising Sun, a dry stream is one of the main elements of a rocky garden, its highlight, a symbol of water, meaning continuous movement. The fact is that in the East, water, or, in extreme cases, its imitation must be in the garden, without which its design is considered incomplete. That is why a dry stream serves, so to speak, as a “magic wand”, successfully imitating water where there is no way to create a real reservoir.
Dry Stream Benefits
A dry stream will fit perfectly into the design of any garden, not only emphasizing the landscape favorably, but also successfully complementing it. In addition, it will perfectly fulfill the role of a drainage groove, requiring much less money, effort and labor than a real streamlet. Another, simply huge advantage is that, unlike ordinary streams and reservoirs, a dry stream can be arranged anywhere: on hills and depressions, in the shade and in the sun - choose for yourself.
You can build an artificial streamlet and arrange it effectively in just a few days - during this time you will be able to choose a place for the device of the stream, mark the channel and carefully fill it with pre-selected pebbles. You will have to spend another day planting plants around a makeshift pond. At the same time, an ordinary reservoir will require remarkable forces from you: lowering the relief, leveling the landscape, deepening the channel ... Agree, it is quite difficult to perform all these manipulations on your own, which means that you will have to use the services of landscape designers or, in extreme cases, ordinary workers. And this again implies extra time and financial costs.
Another indisputable advantage of a dry stream is ease of maintenance: it does not need to change water, install various pumps, compressors and filters to prevent water stagnation. There is no need to build a complex system for supplying and purifying water, to purchase a special expensive film to line the bottom. Algae will never grow in it, giving the owners of reservoirs a lot of trouble, and the water itself will never exude an unpleasant odor, which, believe me, is not uncommon in artificial reservoirs.
And finally, no one will limit the choice of plants in order to arrange a dry stream: irises and hostas, miscanthus and ferns, while for planting near a reservoir you can only purchase moisture-loving flowers.
A dry stream is a universal, one might even say a unique element of landscape design. You can make it not only in the form of an ordinary stream, but also a dry lake. Yes, yes, lakes, this is also possible.
An equally beautiful artificial stream will turn out if its channel is laid out of rubble, and the banks are decorated with large stones.
You can build a spectacular dry stream not only from stones, but also from flowers. The ideal option in this case is Poskharsky's bell, the flowers of which are distinguished by a unique dark blue color, thanks to which they successfully imitate water flows.
The surface of a dry stream can be laid out with blue pebbles and gravel, or, for example, decorated with small blue glass granules, in general, fantasize and bring your fantasies to life.
Dry stream do it yourself
It is quite easy to build a dry stream on your own, for this you will only have to work a little. But first you need to decide on the shape and size of the future "reservoir", a place for its device and materials for construction. If you find it difficult to make such a choice yourself, look at the dry reservoirs already laid out, evaluate their advantages and disadvantages, choosing the option that suits you best.When choosing the size and shape, consider not only the relief of your garden plot, but also its area. So, for example, a dry lake will look great on a long and narrow section, and a winding stream, on the contrary, on a short and wide one, visually lengthening it and thereby deepening the space as much as possible.
Remember that, like any other stream, a dry stream must have a mouth and a source. The mouth will imitate the confluence of the stream into another "reservoir"; you can hide it behind a fence or large leaves of bergenia, canna, hosta and any other plants. It is better to place the source on a small elevation in order to designate it as expressively as possible. With the help of pebbles, lay out a small round recess that looks like a well: this way you will create the illusion of a source of water. It looks very nice when the stream “comes out” of the rock. To simulate this, it is necessary to build a hill from large stones.
The most popular materials for building a dry stream are pebbles, ideal for simulating a water surface, and fine gravel; they are sold in all hardware stores. In addition to the cheapness of these materials, their indisputable advantage is the most diverse range of colors: pebbles are most often light colors - blue-gray and gray, but gravel can be blue, blue-green, blue, and so on ... In addition to gravel and pebbles, with success they use basalt and slate, they also have a gray-blue color.
You can place accents in the composition with the help of large stones and colored granite, which are also sold in numerous construction markets and hardware stores. Glass granules and balls of blue-blue colors will look very impressive, which will create the effect of living water, sparkling fervently in the sun and gently shimmering on cloudy days.
Having decided on the placement and material, you can start marking the site for the future dry stream. Ordinary sand is best suited for this, with the help of which we will outline the contours of the future "reservoir". You can change them an infinite number of times until you get the perfect shape, in your opinion.
A man-made brook can have only one winding channel, or maybe several branches at once. Keep in mind that the greatest, so to speak, “naturalness” of a stream can be given by a change in its width in different areas. If choosing a shape is difficult, just remember what a natural stream looks like in nature and try to recreate it with beautiful stones.
Having decided on the size and shape, we begin to prepare the surface, removing all the sod and leveling the ground with a rake. As a result, in the place where the dry stream will be located, the soil will become lower than the soil around, by about 10-15 centimeters. You should not overdo it with a recess either: a too concave stream will look unnatural, remember this.
Then, over the area of the proposed “channel”, it is necessary to pour a fairly dense layer of sand 3-5 centimeters thick and lay any covering material, thanks to which weeds will not germinate to the surface.
The ideal material is a polymer film or geotextile, but if you don’t have them at your disposal, you can use a cheaper building one similar in structure.
After the foundation is ready, we lay the largest stones, outlining the boundaries of the stream with them, and line its channel with smaller gravel or pebbles.
Having successfully completed the construction of a dry stream, you can start planting plants around it.
Try not to overdo it with tall plants - their excessive number will only “overload” the shore, as a result, your stream will turn into an ordinary flower bed.
Although, in principle, in the choice of plants, as I wrote above, you are not limited. Try only to opt for those that are associated with water - they have blue flowers or blue-yellow leaves: daylilies, Chinese reed, pampas grass, lobelia, creeping tenacious, blue fescue.
You can effectively arrange a stream not only with the help of vegetation, but also using various decorative elements. So, for example, a very colorful addition would be a sandbar created in the very center of the stream, or a small wooden decorative bridge, simply thrown over the stream.
It will add color to the composition and make the rocky masterpiece even more “watery”.
Now you know how to build a dry stream with your own hands. I hope that after reading this article, you will be inspired and create another masterpiece that will decorate your garden plot, making it more expressive and colorful. And I, and all other visitors of the site, will look at your man-made masterpieces with great pleasure!
It is impossible to get drunk from a dried up stream and launch a boat on its waves. A dry stream is an exclusively decorative element of landscape design and an excellent illustration of how the fashionable philosophical ideas of the East take root in Russian dachas.
We will talk about a decorative imitation of a dry stream with small pebbles, sand and plants planted on a rocky shore.
Dry stream design: who needs it?
The Japanese create their gardens for the purpose of contemplation and solitude. Everything from flowers to stone in the oriental garden does not excite, but calms and pacifies. We, unfortunately, are still far from the inhabitants of the East with their understanding of nature. Maybe because we are used to seeing in the nature of our native land a source of inspiration and vitality? It is clear that it is completely incorrect to compare the garden of a truly Russian person with a Japanese one. But many of the ideas came to our summer residents to their liking. Take at least a dry stream. It would seem that it is so easy to make it with your own hands: pick up a place, mark the channel, fill it with rubble or rounded pebbles, and plant beautiful flowers along the banks.
Yes and no. Of course, the creation of a dry stream is not as costly as, for example, the construction of a natural reservoir. But without competent planning and creative inspiration, the maximum effect of the similarity of a stream of pebbles with a real raging watercourse is not possible.
Let's start with the simplest dry stream scheme. She, for sure, will appeal to those who live with the dream of a beautiful garden, but are too lazy to do anything for this.
How to make a dry stream - step by step instructions
Scheme of the device of a winding dry stream for the laziest
The material was prepared for the site www.site
Place for a dry stream
Take a close look at the backyard. Look for any obvious imperfections in the terrain. Here we will veil them with the help of a winding bed of a rocky stream. A “dried” water stream will visually deepen the space, mask the flaws of a small area, visually make it larger and delimit it into functional zones.
dry stream plan
Your first step in creating an original decoration should be drawing the outline of the future stream. We will draw the borders not with a pencil, but with ordinary sand. To do this, lay a string on the ground, imitating the natural bends of the stream (the more irregular and unexpected the turns are, the more natural the water flow on the site will look). The source of the stream is best located on a small hill.
Dry stream depth
When calculating the depth of the channel, you need to focus on its width. The ideal ratio is 2:1. Those. if the width of your stream is one and a half meters, then its depth is 0.75 cm (a dry stream, the photo and diagram of which is presented below, is not more than a meter wide, respectively, the depth of the channel varies between 30-40 cm.
"Dig!" No, this is not a phrase from Galygin's miniature, but a gentle call to action. So, when the plan is outlined, you can proceed to digging work.
When removing the top layer of sod, it is important to make the walls of the trench at an angle of 45 degrees.
Then the channel must be cleaned of weeds, carefully removing their roots, and the soil should be well compacted along inclined and horizontal planes.
Let's leave a waterproof concrete base for a real stream with living water, and our decorative moat for the lazy will be lined with a dense (any!) covering material. Suitable and construction (polymer) film, and permeable lutrasil, and even roofing material.
The bottom of the dry riverbed
The laying of the bottom begins with the bottom of the channel, which must be covered with a layer of crushed stone or expanded clay (5 cm) and sprinkled with sand. And only then begin to lay the stream with stones of different sizes and shapes.
Dry stream stones
In our scheme (her photo can be seen below), we propose to use large cobblestones, medium and small pebbles of a gray-blue hue. Suitable basalt (rock of volcanic origin), slate (characterized by excellent texture and color) or gneiss (metamorphic, coarse shale rock). Stones in an artificial stream can be opened with a layer of varnish, making them “wet” or painted with waterproof paint in blue, azure or blue, shimmering in the dark.
Stone laying
- The place from which the water "flows" should look like a rock. Select the largest stones and build a mound (places where the stones do not fit with each other need to be filled with small gravel).
- Form the effect of a mountain stream from flat pebble stones. Lay more convex stones around the edges.
- Equip the coastline with the remaining large boulders (it will look more natural if one coast turns out to be steeper, “rocky”, and the other is gentle). Those. concentrate all the large stones on one side of the dry stream, and decorate the other side with smaller rough stones.
- Scatter small pebbles on the "shallow water".
- Create a "stormy rapid current" with the help of flat pebbles laid on the edge.
- In the middle of the "water" channel, you can put a hewn boulder, and create the illusion of a "whirlpool" with pebbles around it.
- The crevices of the stream can be laid with medium and large pebbles.
- With the help of stones of a darker color, we create a feeling of depth in the stream, light pebbles, glass or plastic granules - water waves.
- Stones in a dry stream must be laid out so that no one has any doubts - they lie here all their stone life.
- Are you afraid that the stones will be washed away by a strong stream of rainwater? Then, in small portions, fill the crushed stone sole with a cement-sand mortar and “sink” the stones directly into it.
A bridge made of a solid natural block is the most suitable option for a dry stream in the country. Do you want a more functional means of crossing? Take an ordinary log or make a wooden bridge with your own hands. Or even better - arrange a real ford through the seething mountain stream, spreading suitable stones on the surface of the stream.
Plants for the coastal zone. The main thing here is not to overdo it with decorating the banks, otherwise the dried-up drain will turn into a flower bed. When selecting shrubs, cereals and flowers, it is important to take into account the composition of the soil on the site, its illumination, heat and humidity conditions.
Do-it-yourself dry stream - choose plants
A natural flowering carpet along the edges of a dry stream can be obtained using ground cover and herbaceous plants on the site. Among the beautifully flowering, it is best to choose species with juicy blue, purple and blue shades of flowers. They will not leave the stream faceless both in early spring and late summer, such perennials as portenschlag bell, large-leaved brunner (forget-me-not), awl-shaped phlox, creeping tenacious, shaving delovid, lobelia, muscari, thick-leaved bergenia, bryozoan, primula, blue astilbe, catchment area, periwinkle , silver lily of the valley, geyhera, Siberian iris, etc.
When decorating a dry stream of stones and flowers, it is impossible to do without daylilies, cereal grasses, bamboos and reeds. Juicy, long-narrow leaves of these plants create an optical illusion of wild thickets on the banks of natural reservoirs. The most popular include: miscanthus, blue fescue, cortaderia, sedge, hosta, calamus, hosta.
If you plan to break a large, voluminous coniferous stream, then boldly plant dwarf species of junipers, mountain pines, spruces and fir trees on the rocky shore - these plants for a dry stream grow well on loamy or light sandy soil.
Low deciduous shrubs should be chosen with extreme care. Otherwise, in the fall, without unbending, you will remove the fallen leaves that will get stuck between the stones. Have you already purchased a garden vacuum cleaner for this purpose? Well then, be sure to plant cotoneaster and barberry next to the stream - these plants will surprise you with bright colors all four seasons in a row.
Annual bulbs will become a special decoration of dry streams: lilies, ornamental bows, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.
Dry stream scheme
- "Bamboo-leaf" bluish-green color
- Variegated "Iris bearded"
- Air-tender "lobelia"
- The real decoration of the garden - "creeping tenacious"
- Unpretentious "Poskharsky bell"
- Bright carpet from "shaving hybrids"
- "Brunera large-leaved" with variegated broad-hearted leaves
- Evergreen "bryozoan awl-leaved"
- Red-leaved "tenacious creeping"
- Dense thickets of "arundo reed"
Dry stream in landscape design
Creating a dry stream with your own hands, you need to act in stages. You can not worry that in the future it will be difficult to care for a dry bed. Yes, it will have to be weeded, anthills destroyed under the stones and watered regularly. But if you do all this regularly and do not leave the stream unattended for a long time, caring for it will not cause you much trouble.
Note. A graceful dry stream, in addition to its main decorative function, performs the following important tasks in arranging a garden:
- provides direct drainage of storm water (a sort of Japanese-style garden drainage system);
- retains some of the moisture under the stones, which allows the plants of a dry stream to be watered extremely rarely;
- serves as a boundary between different landscape zones;
- reduces soil erosion;
- visually enlarges the area of the garden.
Advice. Flowers can be used instead of pebbles. But a dry stream of flowers is decorative only during flowering.
Conclusion
A skillfully designed decorative dry stream creates the feeling that it has just dried up, and until recently there was water in it. Wait a bit and maybe the creation of your hands will bring a random rain back to life?
Dry stream - photos and pictures for inspiration
The article will tell you what a dry stream is, what main functions this decorative element of the landscape has, what materials and plants are best used for this, step-by-step technology for its construction. After studying the material, you will know what to talk about with a landscape designer and craftsmen who have been entrusted to make this element of the landscape on their own suburban area.
History of occurrence
The modern device of a dry stream is an interpretation of Japanese stone gardens. Every inhabitant of the country of the Rising Sun is very sensitive to nature. It is elevated to the rank of a spiritual object and is part of philosophical teachings. Many, looking at beauty, learn to meditate and find answers to the questions of the universe. It was for these purposes that seven hundred years ago small stone gardens were created, in which there were dry streams.
The contemplator could observe their channel and imagine how it is about to begin to fill with water and turn into a full-flowing river. Such illusions, psychologists assure, are very useful for restoring peace of mind. A person, plunging into himself, has the opportunity to reflect on his life, analyze his actions and think about plans for the future. Over time, this idea of landscape design has become widespread in the West. Now it is being actively developed in Russia.
The main functions and advantages of the new element
Today, a dry stream in landscape design helps to clearly distinguish between different functional areas, to designate the center of the garden. It is able to act as a well for drainage, to be an element of the drainage system. Such a structure can become in demand where there are deep crevices in the plots, into which meltwater rushes in spring. It is also advisable to make streams of stones where it is not possible to form a real reservoir on the site for some technical reasons.
Many, coming to the country, simply do not want to maintain pumping equipment, to clean such objects from sludge. All this is very labor intensive. In an artificial stream, there is no need to constantly change the water; algae will not grow in it, covering the bottom of real reservoirs.
A musty smell will not emanate from the described object, on the contrary, if you choose the right plants and plant them along its borders, it is easy to create flowering carpets that are fragrant with a pleasant delicate aroma. Clouds of mosquitoes, midges will never gather around a dry stream, a dry stream in the country is a safe place for small children and animals.
Such elements fit perfectly into the design of any suburban area. They favorably emphasize the advantages of the relief, the dignity of the chosen landscape concept. With the help of them, you can successfully hide drain pits or sewer manholes.
There are different types of performance. Choosing a particular object, it is easy to create unique elements, to realize your most diverse fantasies, because there are a variety of materials and plants for this.
Where and how best to place streams without water
You can make a decorative stream anywhere: in the shade of plants, on the sunny side, on a hill, inside a hollow. But in order for the described object to look organic, you need to use the following tips:
Choosing dimensions of an artificial reservoir, area must be taken into account. If it is large, it is possible to create not only flowing rivers, but also large lakes.
By creating forms, you can visually change garden space: on a long elongated section, a round lake will help to separate and make two different zones of the same shape. A winding stream will help visually lengthen a wide area.
Defining geometry of a dry reservoir, designers sometimes create one channel or several branches, with the help of pebble stone they try to recreate the flows of seething water hugging islands of rocks. Such techniques always look the most impressive.
Denoting the shape described landscape object, you need to remember that how a real river flows. If you change the width of the channel in different areas, you can achieve the greatest naturalness. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the described element has clear compositional structures. It consists of two elements: the source and the mouth.
Experts recommend that the source be located on a small hill. This technique will form the center of the future composition. It looks beautiful when an artificial stream originates from a rock or a hill of large stones of irregular shape or from a grotto, during the creation of which a human hand is felt. When creating it, you can use the simplest tricks: fold wells from pebbles, various thresholds, reminiscent of a waterfall cliff.
The mouth is an imitation of the place where the stream flows into a small lake. It looks very nice when voluminous large plants (ferns, astilbes, hostas) are planted at the end of an artificial stream. With the help of them, the illusion is created that the water flow is hidden under them and goes somewhere to infinity.
Maybe a dry stream on the site goes under the fence. It is also capable of being a symbolic completion of a stream of stone. If there is a decorative fountain or a natural stream on the territory of the dacha, designers willingly use it and combine two objects together. To do this, they use the same elements (similar types of finishes, the same plants). The overall composition looks very decorative.
Main types
There is no clear breakdown into separate varieties. A flight of fancy plays a key role, but still experts distinguish three types that can be taken as the basis for performance.
winding body of water. Its breakdown implies the presence of one channel, which narrows and expands in different areas, somewhere goes around some islands. The creation of such an object involves the most accurate simulation of the movement of the river. This type of dry stream is best suited for large areas.
forked channel. This is a complex design. It must be carefully considered at the planning stage of landscape design. It involves the creation of several streams, connecting at one point, and then diverging again in different directions. If the climatic conditions suggest the presence of a large amount of precipitation, it is better to create such an object from pebbles: sandy rivers will quickly be washed away by rain streams.
Cascades and waterfalls. To create such an embodiment, the presence of a hill is necessary. You need to place a source on it, and then lead the main stream from it.
The simplicity of the construction, combined with excellent results, the absence of painful financial costs, the absence of complex maintenance explains why the popularity of such objects is steadily growing all over the world.
A step-by-step guide to creating a dry stream
The process of creating the described element of landscape design is simple. Today it is proposed to be implemented by many design companies and architectural bureaus. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the step-by-step instructions¸, which will allow you to avoid the most common mistakes and improve the quality of the finished result.
Beginning of work
First you need to draw the contours of the future object. For these purposes, they take sand and use it to make markings on the site. In order for the dry stream in the landscape design of the cottage to look as natural as possible, it is important to avoid clear geometric lines.
Selecting the right material
Most of all, river pebbles, marble chips or fine gravel are suitable for simulating the water surface. Today, such bases are on sale in a different color variety. Pebbles are gray-blue or beige, gravel is blue-green or blue, marble is silver or white. Objects that were created using different combinations look great.
There are professional tricks that can be taken as a basis. Designers advise using pebbles or crumbs of light shades to create rapids and shallows, blue stone placers for deep whirlpools, and gray pebbles for a “running channel”. If the pebbles are driven with a rake, you can create slight irregularities in the waves. Rocks of various shapes will help direct the movement of the artificial stream. Designers sometimes create "whirlwinds" around them. They are formed with the help of smooth large pebbles laid out on edge.
Pebbles and stones are painted before laying. If you choose a moisture-resistant paint for these purposes, you can create the effect of flickering water, if varnish, you get a wet effect. When a spray gun is used for this, the work becomes less labor intensive. Melted glass looks very nice, laid out on top of the stone base of the stream.
Pit arrangement
After the material is purchased and brought, the main amount of work begins. First of all, create a stream bed. A trench 30 cm deep is dug along the lines drawn from the sand along the entire length of the stream. The base is carefully tamped, and geotextiles are laid on the bottom. Its use will prevent the germination of grass, as well as significantly facilitate the process of caring for a new garden object. It is not necessary to fill the bottom with cement: this will immediately increase the estimate at times, in the future it will create problems with the redevelopment of the site.
On our website you can find contacts of construction companies that offer services for the construction of small architectural forms. You can directly communicate with representatives by visiting the exhibition of houses "Low-Rise Country".
Stone laying
They begin to create a stream from the edges: the coastline is formed using large cobblestones. They will be a backup for the inner edges. Thresholds are installed immediately. It is better to collect them from flat stones placed on edge. It is advisable to use light-colored material for the indicated purposes. After the free places are covered with small pebbles or stone chips.
Note! If the stream will be used as a drainage system, the stones must be fixed with a concrete solution, geotextiles should not be laid on the bottom. Otherwise, the water will quickly wash away the man-made stream, or it will turn into a swamp puddle.
Video description
The video shows how to build the simplest dry stream with a wooden bridge:
planting
Without green spaces, a man-made stream will not look complete. Therefore, rocky shores must be framed with plants. Designers recommend using those that are associated with the element of water for this. It can be a creeping tenacious, blue fescue, aubrieta, a large-leaved forget-me-not. The banks are decorated with any undersized shrubs. Lower tier with flowering plants. The main composition is to compose in such a way that, growing, it does not close the stream itself.
flower stream
Such compositions invariably become the center of the landscape. Here you can turn on your imagination to the fullest and do whatever you want. If you choose profusely flowering plants with blue, blue or lilac inflorescences, you can create cool streams of water. Loberia, Portenschlag bell, gray fescue or lavender are best suited for these purposes.
White flowers (alissium, carnation-grass, turf), if planted near large stones, will form a light foam. What effect can be achieved in this case will be demonstrated by the following photo.
Streams of their colors are an opportunity to experiment at their summer cottage. It can be changed every year with different landings. You can even consider seasonal content. At the same time, it is always possible to change the course of the stream. To do this, you just need to plant flowers where you want.
Video description
Ready-made ideas for creating flower streams in the video:
Additional decoration
An already finished object can be additionally decorated with wooden bridges, stone slabs thrown across the channel. Picturesque look garden sculptures, placed along the stream, street lamps. They bring a touch of romance, allow you to create an atmosphere of special comfort in the evening.
Necessary care
Any element of landscape design requires maintenance. A stone stream is no exception. To maintain an attractive appearance, you need to carry out some work. They are as follows.
Important avoid excessive dryness of the soil throughout the man-made stream. The accumulation of stones forms a special microclimate, so that it is comfortable for plants to exist in it, it is necessary to water the stream with water.
To prevent the new landscape element from being covered weed blanket, it is necessary to periodically pull out weeds, release plantings from dry grass, from faded buds. It is important to regulate the height of the planted plants, try to prevent their strong growth.
Experts recommend watch out for insects, do not let the ants build their houses under the stones. They are the most common problem in the artificial landscape. Insects gradually destroy man-made objects. They prefer to build their homes under large boulders, so they need to be raised and inspected systematically. If this is not done, very soon islands of loose sand will appear in the stone stream.
Video description
A few ready-made dry stream ideas in the video:
Certain forces will require care associated with the change of seasons. At the beginning of spring, it is useful to loosen and fertilize the soil around the stream, then the greenery will actively grow throughout the warm period. At the end of summer, you will have to clean the stream from dry foliage, in winter, insulate plantings that are afraid of frost.
Conclusion on the topic
A stone stream is a structure that will invariably become the center of the local area. She is admirable, but only if she is properly cared for. If you want to create something similar in your country house, do not delay. This article will help to realize the dream, and the photo and video materials attached to it will clearly demonstrate how simple and easy it is to create an object of this kind. The main thing, as practice shows, is not to restrain your imagination. Give free rein to the designer, let him create.
What kind of decorating techniques do not use designers to transform ordinary garden plots into fabulous corners for a good rest. A dry stream is one of the most popular modern landscape design tools, in which there is not a single drop of water, but only stones imitating the bed of a dry stream. The main advantage of this "piquant" design element is that when deciding to create a dry stream with your own hands on a garden plot, the implementation of the idea does not require significant material costs.
The widely used decoration element originates from sunny Japan. In the land of the rising sun, the element of water is associated with purity and a thirst for life, and murmur is a symbol of the transience of time. Dry streams, which are very popular in Japanese gardens, are always present in areas where water, for whatever reason, cannot be used as an element of landscape design. A dry stream in the garden, as an imitation of this element, allows you to create the impression that the water in the channel of the source has just dried up, and the first drops of rain will fill it with life-giving moisture again.
- The ability to create a dry stream with your own hands, without much effort and significant financial costs.
- The speed of erection: it takes only two to three days to choose a place, designate the channel of the stream and fill it with stones.
- Ease of care, which is limited only to maintaining the shape of the channel and removing weeds. While caring for a water stream involves timely cleaning of lime deposits and algae.
- The design of a dry stream by plants is not limited to anything. While for planting near a natural reservoir, the choice is limited only to moisture-loving flowers and plants.
- Safe for small children. In addition, in dry streams, unlike natural reservoirs, there are no mosquitoes that cause so much inconvenience for a good rest.
The dry stream bed does not require the purchase of expensive compressors, water supply and purification systems, which are a necessary attribute of the arrangement of natural reservoirs.
A dry stream will be the best solution for plots of any garden style.
We choose the shape of the structure and prepare stones
Proper planning of the placement of the bed of a dry stream in the country will make it possible to disguise the imperfections of the terrain. A narrow meandering brook visually deepens the space, making the visually small garden somewhat larger.
The device of a dry stream is a fascinating and easy-to-perform activity that allows you to embody ideas on your site to create an original decoration that will emphasize the sophistication of landscape design.
The contours of the stone stream are "drawn" based on the features of the forms and landscape of the garden area. The contour drawn with sand will allow you to preliminarily determine the shape of the future structure and its harmonious combination with the existing decor elements. The shape can be easily corrected by “writing” new contours with a thin line of sand, choosing the best option that fits perfectly into the landscape of the area. Having decided on the shape and size of the stone structure, you can proceed to the choice of the nature of the material and its quantity.
One of the secrets that reveal how to make a dry stream that mimics the flow of water is the exclusion of clear boundaries and the heterogeneity of the structure.
A dry stream looks more beautiful and natural in the area, which does not have the same width along the flow simulation
Both large cobblestones and small pebbles are suitable for decorating the stream. The combination of stones of various sizes, colors and textures allows you to create spectacular compositions that will be a bright addition to any direction of landscape design. You can get a gray-bluish brook by using slate, basalt and gneiss.
Red-brown shades acquire ponds made of granite, marble and limestone. A spectacular decoration of a stream can be pebbles painted with waterproof paint, which gives a slight light in the dark. Stones exposed with a layer of varnish look no less original. Stones playing with iridescence in the sun's rays give the compositions a "wet" effect.
The illusion of water flow can be easily obtained by supplementing the composition of stones with a scattering of glass granules or balls.
In order for the stone stream to be harmoniously combined with the natural landscape of the area, it is desirable to use local rocks in the arrangement of the structure. To create the effect of a stream, flat pebble stones are suitable, for a coastline - larger boulders. Irregularities of the terrain are successfully decorated with waterfalls made of stones of lighter shades.
Laying stones along the prepared contour
Having chosen a place and having decided on the contours of the structure and the materials of the composition, you can begin construction. A "trough" is dug along the contour marked with sand: a layer of earth 15-30 cm deep is removed. The surface of the "pit" is leveled with a rake. In order to avoid the growth of weeds that can spoil all the beauty of a dry stream, you should cover the bottom with a dark non-woven covering material that allows moisture and air to pass through, for example: geotextile or lutrasil. An alternative option may also be a thin layer of concrete or a polymer film. A leveled and covered surface can now be decorated with stones.
The main requirement for the design of a stone composition is conciseness and moderation.
Laying a stone reservoir begins with the "shores". Booth and cobblestones are used to support the inner edges, the pebble is used to fill crevices, the bed of the stone reservoir itself is covered with small pebbles.
Decoration of a stone pond with plants
Plants are an obligatory element in the design of a stone stream. A dry stream of flowers allows you to get the maximum effect of the similarity of a stone structure with a real reservoir.
When choosing plants for decorating the "shores" of a stone stream, you can use any shrub, decorative leafy and flowering plants. The main requirement is that the flower arrangement should be harmoniously combined. When selecting plants, the illumination of the site, soil composition, humidity and temperature conditions are also taken into account. When designing the bed of a stone stream, it is advisable to use plants that actually grow in water.
Against the background of small pebbles, plants look spectacular, the color of which is associated with the water element, for example: large-leaved forget-me-not or creeping tenacious
Plants of blue-green shades with long leaves are also associated with water spaces. Spectacular decoration of a stone stream will be plants, the flowers of which are painted in rich shades of blue. Among the beauties that bloom with all sorts of shades of blue, the following are suitable for decorating a reservoir: lobelia, obrietta, blue fescue, creeping tenacious, bearded iris, large-leaved bruner.
A good addition to the composition can be Chinese reed, pampas grass, willow sunflower, hosta, daylily, plantain sedge.
When planning a stone pond on your site, you can use the following design option with plants: 1 - bamboo-leaf, 2 - varieties of bearded iris, 3 - lobelia, 4 - creeping tenacious, 5 - Poskharsky bell, 6 - hybrid forms of shaving, 7 - large-leaved bruner , 8 - awl-leaved bryozoan, 9 - red-leaved creeping tenacious, 10 - reed arundo
When creating a dry stream in the country, for the harmony of the composition, it is desirable to use more natural elements. A decorative wooden bridge looks very impressive against the background of a stream.
A summer cottage is not only a place for a vegetable garden. Often the owners arrange a place to relax, and in order to make it the most pleasant, you can show your imagination and decorate the site. Various beds, lighting and decorations will help with this. A dry stream looks very beautiful and requires little effort for arrangement, therefore it is an ideal way to decorate a recreation area.
A dry stream is a decor illustrating the flow of water right in the middle of the site. The arrangement of a real stream requires special knowledge, costs and subsequent care. A dry stream is easy to build and, if desired, can always be removed, replacing it with something new. In addition, a dry stream can also perform a practical function: in rainy weather, it acts as a drainage system.
In addition, unlike real water, a dry stream will never promote the reproduction of mosquitoes and midges, who are very fond of water.
This decor is no more dangerous for young children than an ordinary garden path and it is difficult to cause irreparable damage to it. This makes this decor very versatile and indispensable for giving.
How to make a dry stream with your own hands
First of all, you need to determine the location of the decor: where the stream will flow, where it starts, where it ends. The future flow must be placed on the site. This is a very important stage, because the future appearance of the entire structure depends on it.
The second stage is the choice of material for "water". As a rule, these are small stones. Their color is determined by the idea. For the shore, you can use large stones, for the flow - small flat pebbles, you can also diversify it with various highlights using colored stones.
After the location of the stream is determined and all the materials are ready, you can proceed with the arrangement. Where a stream is planned, you need to dig a trench no more than fifteen centimeters deep. Then you need to cover it with material, which will protect the kidney from the sun. This is done so that the already prepared stream is not spoiled by germinated weeds. For this purpose, lutrasil, geotextiles or similar materials are suitable.
Then you need to lay out the stream bed with the help of stones. To give them the necessary colors, you can use waterproof paint. The stream will look more natural if the stones in it are similar to the stones on the site. In addition, you can experiment with its width - a non-standing stream will have blurry edges, and not perfectly even ones.
Best Dry Stream Ideas
To decorate this element, you can use a bridge - this will add credibility to the idea. A bridge can be made on the path of a garden path - to cross a turbulent stream. The latter can be made with your own hands or purchased in a store - depending on the size.
You can show your imagination in the design of the stream and use various objects to decorate it. For example, it may flow from a large jug. To do this, put the jug on its side and pour some "water" into it.
Any garden figurines will also decorate and complement the decoration: small statues, frogs, storks, waterfowl will perfectly fit into the composition.
In nature, life appears next to water: plants and animals. You can take advantage of this ability of water and attribute to a dry stream the merit of the appearance of violent vegetation. Suitable for decorating a stream: lobelia, buffalo grass, forget-me-not, blue fescue, funkia, mosquito grass, bluebells, tenacity.
To create an atmosphere of a reservoir, you can plant reeds or bamboo. To decorate a small stream, it is better to use small plants - large ones will look disproportionate and visually crush the decor. Small plants against the background of a large stream will look awkward and are unlikely to be visible.
With the help of large stones, you can give the stream the necessary shape and make the illusion of a waterfall.
At the foot of the stream, an alpine hill will look very harmonious and, of course, a flower bed that imitates mountain vegetation or plants growing among stones.
To create a stream, you can use not stones, but multi-colored sand, this technique is used to create an arenarium - a sand garden. She came to our country from the east.
