Light ditches often look bare and gray - both from inside through the window and from outside. However, if you plant a few plants, the view immediately changes significantly. Find out here how and with what you can plant your light ditch.
Which plants are suitable for planting a light trench?
To plant a light ditch, you should use small, shade-loving and hardy plants, such as succulents, cushion plants or shade-tolerant flowers. Carpet-forming plants such as Vinca minor or cotoneaster are particularly suitable.
Create the light moat
There are different ways to create a light moat:
- Embankment-like with an even downward slope
- staircase with several steps
- step-like with plant stones
- a mixture of two or more of the above
All variants are ideal for planting. If you choose a type of slope, it is advisable to secure the soil and plants with a slope mat (€98.00 on Amazon) to prevent slipping while the plants take root. This is unnecessary with a stepped structure.
Which plants for the light trench?
A light ditch, as the name suggests, provides light. Therefore, it is of great importance that you do not grow large plants that block light. For the light garden, it is therefore best to use small plants or cut the plants back regularly. You should also keep in mind that a light pit rarely gets direct sun. Therefore, you should plant shade-loving plants. It also makes sense to grow winter-hardy plants so that you don't have to replant the light ditch every spring. The following are particularly suitable:
- Succulents
- Cushion plants
- small, shade-tolerant flowers
Carpet-forming plants look particularly beautiful because they cover the entire area with greenery in a very short time. Here is a small selection of the most beautiful, shade-loving ground cover:
| Name | Bloom | Flowering time | Special features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinca minor | Blueish | From May to September | Evergreen |
| Ivy | Evergreen, poisonous | ||
| Sandon-forming Waldsteinia | Yellow | From April to June | Evergreen |
| Gold-colored creeping spindle | Beautiful leaf pattern, evergreen | ||
| Carpet Dogwood | White | May to June | Decorative fruits |
| Caucasus Forget-me-nots | Blue | April to June | Some varieties with beautiful leaf patterns |
| Cotoneaster | White | May to June | Beautiful red fruits, evergreen |
| Elf Flower | White, blue, pink, yellow, red | April to May | Very fine flowers |
Beautiful design ideas for the planted light ditch
The rock garden light ditch
Create a beautiful stone landscape with succulents, various large field stones and pebbles. Low-growing grasses also fit well here.
The Blooming Moat of Light
Combine different flowering ground covers with different flowering times so that you can look at a flowering ditch landscape all year round.
Wintergreen Light Moat
If you want to look at a green landscape even in winter, choose evergreen plants such as ivy, creeping cotoneaster or cotoneaster.