Dry Stream is an interesting design find for a garden. Arrange one in your country house, decorate it with a bridge on an iron or wooden base. If you do not have the opportunity or desire to make a reservoir in the country, then an interesting design idea, which is called a "dry stream", will help you out. It imitates a dry stream bed or water flowing here. This effect can be achieved with stones, flowers and other techniques.
How to make a dry stream?
To equip it, you will need the following materials and tools:
- stones of different sizes;
- black agrotex, spunbond or geotextile;
- rake;
- shovel;
- rope;
- sand;
- pegs.
Use a rope and a peg to mark the outlines of the future dry stream. Dig a trench here 10–20 cm deep. Level the bottom with a rake, put geotextiles or other black non-woven material here to prevent weeds from growing.
Now place the stones. Small ones will imitate water, and large ones will decorate the shore. It remains to plant plants so that this corner of nature looks as natural as possible.
By the way, if you plant flowers of blue, blue shades inside the stream, there will be an effect of the presence of water.
What plants to plant in the country?
Here is one example of how you can decorate a dry stream, the photo shows that the following plants are used for this:
- iris Siberian;
- Gaultier's fescue;
- sandy spikelet;
- bearded iris.
By combining just four of these types of plants, you will achieve the wonderful effect of a natural stream. Take undersized bearded iris varieties, placing them on the outside so that they are clearly visible.
The next option involves the use of conifers.
To decorate such a dry stream, you need to take the following plants:
- various varieties of juniper;
- undersized pine;
- sedum caustic;
- hybrid sedge;
- creeping tenacious.
Basically, low-growing varieties of juniper are used here, which are spread. The stalked shape is located in the background so as not to cover the rest. The sedum will grow well between stones, as well as a tenacious sedge.
If you like the Mediterranean style, then see what plants to plant along such a stream to achieve the desired effect.
As you can see, here are used:
- plantain hosta;
- host fortune;
- bearded iris;
- badan heart-leaved;
- felt splinter;
- low juniper;
- Siberian iris;
- Ostrovsky's bow;
- small-flowered geychera;
- gray fescue.
Place the host in the bed of the stream to achieve the effect that it has dried out. Position a pitcher in the upper plane to help you achieve the desired Mediterranean mood. The bearded iris will bloom in spring and early summer, just like the Siberian one, adding to this oasis of picturesque colors.
If you want to add sophistication to a dry stream, then opt for the plants shown in the next photo.
If you have a small area, then it is best to make a dry stream in the form of a snake. This technique of landscape design will visually increase the space, and the plants located near it will help turn this corner into a realistic one.
There are other options for decorating this creation. For the next, you will use plants such as:
- warty birch;
- viburnum ordinary;
- bulrush.
A dry stream design based on this principle requires a minimum of cost. After all, you can dig a birch tree in the forest while it is still young, plant it on your site. Perhaps you got a dacha where this tree already grows. Then place it in the background of the stream, and plant viburnum in front. It can also be found in forests near water bodies or in lowlands.
If you do not believe in omens, then, like birch, you can also dig up reeds in nature. Bring the rhizomes of this plant by taking them near a pond or lake. But plant in a damp place on the site.
Using these plants, you will achieve volume. Thanks to the trees in the background, it will seem as if there is a forest that goes into the distance. The front space will become free, the reeds will only slightly cover it.
DIY flower river
This is another design option for a dry stream with flowers.
If you want this man-made work to look like running water from afar, then plant blue flowers here. For this, muscari were used. They reproduce well, grow quickly, then after planting them in a few years it will not be difficult to plant the muscari bulbs in a mold dug for a river or stream.
But unlike the first option, here you need to provide soil for plants. Mark out the outlines of the future stream, dig up the soil with the addition of mineral fertilizers. If the land is infertile, then add humus here.
You can use other blue flowers to decorate a dry stream, for example, undersized irises, hyacinths. To shade them, white and pink peonies were planted along the shore of this reservoir. They bloom at about the same time as muscari, so in late spring and early summer you will find such a floral charm.
If you do not have the necessary plants in this number, then you can plant fewer of them along the dry stream, decorating it this way.
Even unpretentious cornflowers or carnations will become a wonderful design element of the coast.
If you still like a dry stream of flowers, then make at least a small one if there are not enough such plants. Plant blue ones in the center, frame them with plants of a contrasting color. So, red and white flowers perfectly emphasize the beauty of such a stream.
If you have daisies, you like original styles, then put a container that looks like a jug in the background, plant flowers that seem to flow out of it. Daisies reproduce well by seeds, cuttings, self-sowing, so there will be no shortage of planting material.
Dry stream design
You can use not only natural stones, but also purchased painted ones.
You can buy this material in the desired color at a gardening store. Do not forget to lay a non-woven material of dense texture at the bottom of the reservoir, and put blue pebbles on top of it.
You can even buy blue chips and use them to make a dry stream. With your own hands you can make other items of his design., Decorate it. To do this, you need:
- tire;
- large stones of approximately the same size;
- host;
- fern;
- flowering plants;
- thin logs;
- saw;
- small garden figurines;
- self-tapping screws.
After you have arranged a dry stream of the desired shape, lay stones along its bank. To make a decorative bridge, dig the tire halfway into the soil, screw the sawn-off logs to it with self-tapping screws.
Plant a hosta to the right or left of the bridge, a fern behind it, and tall flowering plants in the background. Put a couple of lanterns so that after sunset this place will be illuminated, adding mystery to it. Also, small sculptures on a marine theme, such as a duck, a frog, will be appropriate here.
You can put a small boat in the center of the stream, it will also add realism to the whole picture.
If you want to make not a stream, but a river to convey its seething streams, then use stones of different sizes and colors. White, bluish, dark beige will be appropriate here.
Nicely laid pebbles will also help achieve the effect of flowing water. Place a couple of boulders in the center of the stream so that the streams seem to bend around them.
Alternating white and blue interspersed with light brown stones will also allow you to achieve the effect of flowing water.
Place stones in two or three rows along the edges of this stream to make the bank higher.
Next to the pond, a lighthouse will look great, which you can make from ordinary flower pots.
The following tips will teach you how to achieve the desired effects:
- If you want a dry stream to have a gray-blue hue, then use slate, basalt, gneiss for its decoration.
- If you need to create the illusion of water, then place granules and glass beads in the channel by the stream. If you do not have such material, use concrete balls or stones that you painted with mirror paint.
- To give a dry stream a brown-red hue, decorate it with granite, limestone, marble.
- To emphasize the structure of the stream, use stones of different sizes to decorate it.
- The bed looks more natural and graceful if it is of different widths.
- To create the effect of a flow, use flat large pebbles for this when decorating the stream itself, while you will form the coastline from large stones.
- It is not necessary to make the boundaries of the stream too clear and correct, it is better to create them inhomogeneous, blurred in order to emphasize its natural appearance.
- If it is necessary to mask the irregularities of the area, place light stones here.
If you know how to make a bridge, then you can decorate your dry stream with it. If you have a welding machine, metal posts, then you can make just such a structure.
To do this, you first need to study the circuit.
After that, with the help of a welding machine, the base of the bridge is created, four posts will be buried in the ground.
Thick boards will need to be attached to walk on. Larch is considered to be one of the best materials for outdoor use. But when it dries up, it releases sharp hard thorns, which can be injured. Therefore, the craftsmen who made this bridge turned the boards upside down, covered them with an antiseptic.
The balusters were welded in place to the railing as they need to be adjusted to fit.
Further, also with the help of a grinder, it is necessary to cut the handrails to the railing of the required size, attach them to the ends of the railing using a welding machine.
Then the metal base must be coated with a metal primer. Then you need to apply paint. And the last stage is the fastening of wooden planks.
If you are looking for a simpler option, then you can make a bridge for a summer residence using the following photo tip.
You will learn more about how to make a bridge in the country in a short video.
If you want to see the intricacies of making a dry stream, then watch the next story.
