Make this look more natural
by
MamaSita
+8
What I have is a small water catcher with spillway which hopefully will catch the rain from the roof valley and then send it out past the foundation of the house. NM gutters, been there done that. I have a rain handler which does help but it's not a gutter system. I don't think it looks as natural as it could. Would plants draped over the back and sides help it look more natural? Asiatic jasmine? What bothers me is the black plastic...could I line it with some smaller pebbles or just leave well enough alone..or moss? I am not sure what would work. I am in FL and have plenty of plants to choose from.
What I'm not caring for is the uniformity and sameness of the grey rocks used surrounding the black plastic. I would put non-symmetric and different colored rock (more like the rock that is in between your walkway rocks) along that as well as more up the back and sides and throw in a few plants for good measure : )
Low growing plants would look nice, but will they survive if you have lots of rain? The picture really helps to know what you're asking. Maybe just placing many small flat stones onto the black plastic would keep it looking more natural and still keep the gravity flow of the water. Maybe even gravel would help to keep that area looking natural.
it is much to uniform.when using rocks they should be scattered not perfect.Add some potted plants around first and then re-arrange the stone
What I would do is pick up all of the little grey stones and get more in a tan. Then mix them up together and just dump them in to fill it. They look placed on right now and with stones, you want it more natural looking. Then you won't see the black and water can still run through. All of the grey with the tan stones around it look out of place. And definitely put in some plants that will billow over to hide it even more. I don't know what grows well in Florida, you can go to your local nursery and I'm sure they could help you. Take the picture with you so they can help you better.
You definitely need to get rid of the gray stones. If you glued them down, just break them off or gently chisel them off or use some type of solvent to break the glue down. Then you might want to consider painting the water-catcher itself with something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016GI1MG/ref=asc_df_B0016GI1MG5436285/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0016GI1MG&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198077767340&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=880804690478189171&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9051988&hvtargid=pla-350051405443
You might want to embed the water-catcher a little better or else build up around the perimeter of it so that it doesn't look like it's just sitting there. Once you've built it up, add a few small ornamental grasses and it will look like it belongs there. Good luck and post whatever you've decided to do!
Lovely idea! You can buy ground covering plants and push them into the rocks. They come in a variety of colors and are super hardy. I have some growing in and around rocks and it looks awesome. They die back in the fall and winter, but spring and summer you'll have phenomenal coverage. This isn't a picture of my plant, but it's similar. I can take pictures of my plants if you'd like.
Ok, this is the best I could do for now. I have some asiatic jasmine from my backyard to put around the back of the catcher. Also I think they call it a rain scupper but I like calling it a rain catcher. It works! The spillway pours the rain out away from the foundation, the frogs love the water too. Found one in there after the last rain. I had a pot shard that I placed there too, just to give it some color. I couldn't find stones with other colors, most were just these sand colored ones.