Rock Gardens
Many people come spring start to think about a new look for their garden and one of the things they people consider is a small rock garden or rockery as it is often known as. If you have some part of your land or the present existing garden with attractive and natural rock formations and a slope, then that can make it the perfect location for a rock garden. If you are keen to change the existing layout into a small rock garden, what you simply need is some topsoil and some rocks to start with. A rock garden however, is not simply creating a mound out of earth soil and putting in rocks around it. It has to be done artistically with landscaping in mind and due care has to be taken to selection of plants and arranging a drainage for water to flow out.
When considering a rock garden one of the best places is a sloping area. using a sloping area for your rockery makes it easier for the surface water to flow out. This is because the mountain growing plants that could be used for your rock garden does not grow well in water bound soil. Running water is the natural habitat for these plants to grow well. The soil areas for such a rock garden setting are required to be gritty rather than well composted, so that the plants can get a natural environment to grow. If there is no slope available, you may excavate some area and then place stones at the bottom. Place some large rocks to protrude above the garden surface and your garden setting is ready. You may arrange some more stones around the big rock. Fill up the space between the rocks with smaller stones as well as gritty soil, which can easily drain. If you mix a bit of sand with topsoil, it can help to drain water to a substantial extent. Though limestone is the best to construct such a garden, even granite or the local stone can also be beneficial and advantageous. You can fill up the pockets between the rocks with composted soil and then place the plants in it.
You may even carve out a running stream with flexible plastic or polythene, with about 1″ of flexible piping and a water pump. You may have a small pool at the base and keep pumping back the water to the top of the stream. This helps to a continuous flow of water in the running stream of the rock garden and helps plants to flourish. There are any numbers of plants that you may choose from. There are some low growing plants of perennial nature like balloon flowers, English daisies, forget me not, phlox etc, which can be attractively arranged. You may use plants like summer blooming heaths, herbs and annuals like sweet alyssum, lobelia, blue eyed grass that can make the rock garden colorful for the rest of the season.
When creating a rock garden or rockery of any sort you should take great care in the same way that you would do for the potted plants. You may occasionally add some manure or compost to give the plants freshness and the thought to see them grow well even in the poor soil. Clipping off the dead stems and foliage and reducing the size of plants that have become too large for the space are some things that you need to do regularly. It is important to check regularly for insects and diseases and take measures to pesticide them. Some care also need to be taken, before the first winter in the cold climates.
Creating a Delightful Rock Garden
No doubt at some time you have been impressed by a delightful rock garden seen in some public park or gardens and wondered, could I ever make a garden like this in my own back yard. The delicate flowers peeking out through the cracks in the rocks and spaces between them cannot fail to appeal. but it may seem a tremendous amount of work is required to reproduce such a scene. Actually although it is going to take a bit of work laying out an attractive rock garden it is very far from mission impossible, and once the garden is in laid out the maintenance requirements are not overwhelming.
So what are the basic points you should bear in mind when designing a rock garden?
First of all you are going to need an area exposed to plenty of sunshine and well-drained. Although at first sight it might look like rock designers are built by building a mound of soil and placing a pile of rocks on top of it, this is not the recommended approach.
If you are fortunate, you might own a patch of rock ground in a corner of your yard that would be ideal for converting into a rock garden but otherwise you are going to have to construct such an area. The best choice of stone to use is the one that is naturally found in your area. While you may be able to gather enough rocks locally with the landowners permission this is not always practical. Your best option is probably to visit the local garden center and purchase all you need for the rock garden, and you will also benefit from their expert advice on how to set it up. They can probably arrange for the transport of all the materials to your garden in a much more economical way than would be the case if you decided to go around and gather them yourself.
When it comes to constructing the rock garden, it is recommended you try and make it fit in with the natural contours of your land. First of all lay out the rocks that are going to form the boundary of the garden and then start filling it in. It is a good idea to choose a particular rock to serve as the focal point and lay out the other rocks between this central rock and the boundary rocks. The areas between the rocks should be filled with gritty soil and broken stones. You can then proceed to select the mountain plants most likely to thrive in your area, and with the range of colors that you are sure to enjoy.
