Rock garden for bees: Biodiversity instead of gravel wasteland

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Since 2020, it has been illegal in Baden-Württemberg to cover large areas of garden with stone material. This is because so-called "gravel gardens" offer little habitat and food for insects, lizards and birds, as they seal off valuable soil. However, such gravel gardens should not be confused with rock gardens, which are connected to the earth and are true biodiversity hotspots.

When you create a rock garden, you are opting for one of the most diverse types of garden. You have a huge selection of plants and design options. And don't worry: just because it's called a "rock garden" doesn't mean it won't be colorful! On the contrary: If you follow the instructions in this article, you (and your wild bees) will be able to enjoy lots of colorful flowers from spring to autumn. What you need for a rock garden:

  • Natural stones (e.g. sandstone)
  • Roof tiles, building rubble or debris
  • Cactus soil
  • Bee-friendly plants

Plants without soil: how a rock garden work

First things first: if you want to create a rock garden, you need to be prepared for a bit of work during the construction phase. On the other hand, your rock garden is very easy to maintain afterwards: you don't have to fertilize, you rarely (or never) have to water it and you don't have to weed it! But let's get to the theory first.

Pflanzen ohne Erde: So funktioniert ein Steingarten

When we build a rock garden, we are basically imitating a mountain landscape. Many angular stones ensure that precipitation drains away quickly so that the roots of the plants do not suffer from waterlogging. Instead of "thick", nutrient-rich soil, the soil in the mountains tends to be sandy, chalky and therefore low in nutrients. These two factors must be taken into account when building our rock garden.

1) A rock garden needs drainage.

2) A rock garden needs lean (i.e. nutrient-poor) soil.

3) A rock garden ideally has a sunny location.

Logically, this means that we cannot put every type of plant in a rock garden. If we put a tomato plant in our rock garden, for example, it would not survive for long as it needs a lot of nutrients. That's why we need to be smart when choosing plants.

Diese Pflanzen eignen sich für einen bienenfreundlichen Steingarten

Unfortunately, we often see "wannabe rock gardens" that do very little for biodiversity. Such "wannabe rock gardens" have natural stones as borders, but they are filled with nutrient-rich potting soil and planted with neophytes from the DIY store - so they are just normal flower beds!

These plants are suitable for a bee-friendly rock garden

If you want to do something for biodiversity in your city, you should definitely use a lean substrate in your rock garden. Our soils are far too over-fertilized anyway, which is why many wildflower species that cannot tolerate too much nitrogen are threatened with extinction. With a rock garden, we create a valuable habitat for such plants, which in turn attract rare wild bee species. Here are some plants that would do very well in your rock garden:

  • Common or mountain cicely
  • Common thyme (or quendel)
  • catnip
  • Kidney vetch
  • Viper's bugloss
  • Rock flower
  • Blue cushion
  • Perennial flax
  • Various species of houseleek (e.g. roof houseleek or thunderleek)
  • Various sedum species (e.g. stonecrop or stonecrop)
  • Various types of leek
  • Various botanical flower bulbs or wildflower bulbs
Steingarten anlegen: Mit diesem Aufbau zum bienenfreundlichen Steingarten

In addition to these plants, there are many more bee-friendly plants that you can plant in your rock garden. When choosing, please make sure that you use native plants that can tolerate drought and nutrient-poor soil. If you have any questions, you can of course always contact the Bee friendly team!

Create a rock garden: A bee-friendly rock garden with this structure

Let's move on to the practical side: how do I create a bee-friendly rock garden? Building a rock garden is the most labor-intensive step. If you run out of steam while hauling stones, just take a break and think of all the great wild bees that you will save with your rock garden. It's worth the hard work!

If you want to create a rock garden, you should do it in spring or fall. Firstly, you won't have to do strenuous physical work in summer temperatures; and secondly, your plants will dry out in summer as their roots won't have sprouted far enough.

The construction of a rock garden is divided into four steps:

1) Layering of the dry stone wall

2) Laying the drainage

3) Application of the soil

4) Burying the plants

Rock garden guide: How to create a bee-friendly rock garden

You will need natural stones, such as sandstone, to build the dry stone wall. When stacking the natural stones, you do not need mortar, but stack the stones "loosely" on top of each other. If things get very wobbly, you can fill the gaps with a little sand or your drainage material. There are no limits to your imagination when choosing the shape: you can arrange the stones in a circle, square or completely freely. The only thing you should bear in mind is that your dry stone wall should be at least 30 centimetres high.

Once your wall ring is finished, you can start with the drainage. Building rubble, old roof tiles or other debris can often be found cheaply (or for free) at building rubble dumps. Alternatively, you can also ask your local roofing company. The type of material - whether broken roof tiles, old stones or building rubble - that you ultimately use for your drainage layer is not so important. However, you must make sure that water can drain away easily. If the water builds up in the drainage layer, you will need to use coarser material.

Once you have placed the material for the drainage layer in the wall ring, you are almost finished. Now you just need to place 10 to 20 centimetres of substrate on top of the drainage layer. You can use sand, gravel or crushed limestone for this. Simply scoop your substrate layer onto the drainage layer, where you then spread it evenly.

Depending on what you choose for your substrate layer - whether sand, gravel or crushed limestone - you will need to adjust your choice of plants. For example, some wildflower species don't like chalky soil, while others love it. But whatever you choose, there are plenty of bee-friendly plants for every type of substrate!

Once you have made sure that you have chosen the right plant species for your substrate, all you have to do is plant them. To do this, dig a small hole in the substrate layer with a shovel and fill in some cactus soil. Now place your bee-friendly plant in the hole with cactus soil and then cover the hole with the substrate again. And you're done!

You can now enhance your rock garden by adding dead wood, bee hotels or natural stone piles. Wild bees, lizards and other animals will soon settle in your rock garden!

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