What are granite chippings?
Granite chippings are a type of decorative stone that is commonly used by landscapers to create driveways and garden features or to clean up garden borders and beds. You may even find it on golf courses!
Variations such as red granite are made using molten lava from within the earth’s crust. Like other variations of granite chippings, they’re crushed right down by manufacturers into little stones that are easy to place in your garden or driveway.
How to style different coloured granite chippings
Granite chippings are very versatile and there are a number of colours to choose from. You may decide to complement the exterior of your property by choosing a similar colour granite (such as red brick and red chippings) or add contrast (think silver and green chippings). The most popular granite chipping colours are:
Red granite chippings
Red granite chippings are a more unconventional choice compared to the other chipping colours on this list. Options such as the Kelkay Red Granite Chippings and the Kelkay Sunset Red Granite Chippings are great if you want a more rustic look for your garden. The warm tones of the red contrast perfectly with green garden beds and will complement your different flowers, shrubs and trees to create a real homely finish. You could even arrange them strategically around the bases of flowerpots to create a stunning display.
Silver granite chippings
Silver granite chippings, such as the Kelkay Cornish Silver Granite Chippings and the Scottish Silver Granite Chippings are a stylish choice for your garden. They can be used in plant beds to provide contrast to your flowers and shrubbery or they can be laid on a driveway. Either way, they create a sophisticated and modern finish for relatively minimum effort and outlay. Silver granite chippings, in particular, look wonderful in the rain as the water gives them a shinier coating.
Green granite chippings
Green granite chippings like the Kelkay Forest Green Granite Chippings are a beautiful addition to any garden. They can be used in garden beds and can be seamlessly integrated into your lawn for an added gradient with little fuss and maintenance. Forest green chippings are also ideal for keeping weeds at bay, tackling surface water flooding and for use as decorative plant pot toppers. No matter how you use them, they’re a highly versatile choice that will bring a layer of fun to any exterior.
Why are granite chippings a practical choice for your garden?
Granite chippings are a form of eroded igneous rock, so they won’t cause much damage when placed into garden flower beds. They'll simply sit alongside the soil that’s already there.
Granite chipping is also a material that offers protection to the plants around it, helping with drainage and preventing plants from being overwatered. As a natural rock, it's much softer when compared to harsher gravel or wood chip alternatives and prevents the formation of puddles and stagnant water after heavy rainfall.
However, granite chippings aren’t all soft. They’re the perfect solution if your garden beds are often overrun by weeds, but you don’t want to use a chemical weed killer. The weight of granite chippings keeps the weeds that have sprouted from growing upwards, working far more effectively than other forms of gravel would. We recommend that for optimal weed growth prevention, you lay around three to five inches of granite chipping down as this should ensure that there is no room for weeds to grow.
Where can granite chipping be used?
Most commonly, granite chippings – no matter the colour – are used in garden beds. Here they can be used with plants to make an eye-catching display, or they can be mixed with another colour of granite chipping to make a quirky mix and match pattern.
They can also be used in driveways as a more affordable alternative to tarmac and paving. In most cases, silver granite chipping is used for this, but there are no rules here. We recommend that you go with the colour that best compliments the outside of your house.
Are granite chippings a practical choice for your wallet?
Granite chippings aren't just a practical choice for your garden, they're also a practical choice for your wallet. This is because they're more affordable than other types of chipping. For example, at Decorative Gardens, our least expensive type of granite chipping – the Black Basalt 10mm chipping - is available for £102 and with this you get 875kgs. Whereas an alternative such as Deco-Pak Black Chipping is available for £159 for 875kg. This makes granite chipping a much more practical choice for your garden and your wallet.
Granite chipping is also a durable option. It doesn’t decompose, making it perfect as a one-time purchase. You don’t have to replace it each time there’s heavy weather or worry that heavy winds have blown it all away. Granite chipping also looks great in the rain as the water leaves it with a glistening coating. It’s also a great drainage material, so you don’t have to worry about water pooling or flooding after heavy rain either.
For more information on using granite chipping in your garden, feel free to contact Decorative Gardens today.
