In Lower Saxony, authorities can ban gravel gardens in the future and order their removal.
The judgment came from the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Lüneburg, as reported by Spiegel, among others.
The plaintiffs, homeowners from Diepholz, had filed an appeal against a previously announced judgment of the administrative court in Hanover last year and have failed.
According to the court, the plaintiffs had laid out two gravel beds with an area of around 50 square meters in front of their single-family home in an urban area, in which individual green plants were only planted "punctually".
The city of Diepholz, on the other hand, issued an injunction due to a violation of the provisions of the Lower Saxony building code.
This stipulates that all areas of a property that are not built over must be green areas unless they are used for other permissible types of use.
The owners were of the opinion that, due to the embedding of individual plants, the gravel beds were already green areas within the meaning of the building regulations.
The court rejected this argument.
According to the Spiegel report, green spaces are "characterized by natural or landscaped areas overgrown with plants".
Stone elements should only have "subordinate character".
The areas in question, on the other hand, are "gravel beds".
With their decision, the judges in Lüneburg did not allow an appeal against the judgment of the administrative court.
The decision is final.