By Pinkflowers
United Kingdom 
I am new to gardening and have just made a flower bed with large feature rocks in it. Can anyone tell me if its ok to cover the soil with slate chips rather than bark which I have in other areas?
7 Jun, 2011
Answers
With Beattie's proviso definitely. Either that or a gravel that tones with the rocks.
7 Jun, 2011
Agreed, it would have to tone in colourwise, but hey! it's your garden and you can do whatever you like.
8 Jun, 2011
Remember that a garden with scree will be hotter and drier than one with bark--sometimes good in the UK!
11 Jun, 2011
That would make it a scree garden - perfectly acceptable, provided the chips look OK with the rocks. It would look very weird in my opinion with, say, pale limestone rocks and purple slate chippings.
7 Jun, 2011