Creating a Dry Stream Bed

A dry stream bed can help plants to grow in spots where drainage is poor, as well as dress up your landscape.

Figure A

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Few plants can take wide moisture swings, especially where it's a bit tougher to get good drainage. The solution may be a dry stream bed, which is nothing more than a channel filled with stone that functions as a stream during heavy rains to facilitate runoff. Gardening by the Yard host Paul James creates a dry stream bed, complete with a waterfall and bridge, using the following steps:

The stones he uses are limestone, harvested locally. The smaller stones will be used to line the channel, and the larger ones will be used as coping stones to line the top of the stream bed.
Spread a three-inch layer of river rock down the length of the channel (figure A), which gives a firm base for the first set of stones. Position the smaller stones along the edge of the channel, working from the bottom up, one or two layers at a time. This process takes a little time, but don't be afraid to move the stones around until you get the look you want. James does not use mortar to hold the stones in place; he prefers the dry-stack method whenever he can get away with it.

Figure C

Now James concentrates on the waterfall at the front of the stream bed, which will consist of a few flat rocks. By layering the rocks, he winds up with a multitiered waterfall, which should produce a nice effect when it rains (figure C).

Figure D

With the waterfall complete, it's time for the bridge--nothing more than a great big hunk of limestone that weighs a whopping 580 pounds (figure D). He places the limestone over the stream bed (a dolly or forklift may be needed when moving big stones).

Figure E

With the bridge in place, he lays down the coping stones (figure E), allowing some of them to stick out over the edge of the channel. Now use a few specimen stones to cover the spot above the waterfall and down at the end of the stream.

Figure G

Finally, he tosses a bucketful or two of river rock over all to fill in any bare spots (figure G). For this stream bed he uses Colorado glacier stone, a dense rounded stone that comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.