Getting to the roots of your Cumbrian garden - limestone

There’s a saying about Right Plant, Right Place but Right Stone, Right Place is just as important. We are very fortunate to work with a variety of stone types as we design and build gardens all over the county – and limestone is part of the Cumbrian challenge that we enjoy.

The soil in a limestone area, such as South Lakes and Upper Eden, is alkaline. Lavender and many herbs thrive in alkaline or ‘sweet’ soils and I also enjoy incorporating Euonymus grandiflorus ‘Ruby Wine’, Syringa ‘Red Pixie’ and Berberis thunbergia ‘Admiration’ into garden designs on limestone.

Our emphasis is usually on re-using existing stone that is already on site for design elements such as paving, walls or features. However, if there’s nothing readily available, we aim to source as locally as possible and companies such as Dalston Aggregates and Hamilton’s Outdoor Living & Landscape Supplies (Penrith) can supply a range of local limestone paving and walling.

If we are working to a tight budget, imported stone can be a good substitution and some of the imported limestones work really well in a Cumbrian setting. With any paving, it’s what goes on underneath that’s important – the right preparation of the ground and the final pointing, often resin-based, makes all the difference to durability. The skill is in choosing the right paving to complement the local stone walling so that your garden fits well into its environment.

This garden was a project back in 2019 and we were really pleased with the way that new imported limestone paving matched and worked with the existing stonework. You’d never know it was a mixture!