Growing A Rock Garden - Planning, Design And Imagination
Author: home-lover | Category: Home ImprovementLooking for a way to beautify your garden, while
making sure it remains easy to take care of? Rock gardening could
be perfect for you in the front yard or backyard. Rock gardens are especially practical in
areas of your yard which are quite dry, but can look great in
water run off areas as well. Adding rocks in these runoff areas
mimics the look of river beds.
It’s rather easy to create a rock garden, but it’s important that
you plan well. You should begin planning by choosing an area in
your yard for your rock garden location. Then decide on
which plants and rocks to put in your garden.
Small river rocks and pebbles work very well most of the time as
a rock garden bed. Some people like to keep the color, size, and
shape of the rocks and pebbles similar throughout the entire rock
garden, while others just collect any rocks that they like and
use them. It’s up to you what you do.
The rock gardens that tend to look the best have small pebbles
and stones as a base, with plants sprouting between some of them.
Then, larger rocks and plants can be strategically placed to be
focal points, for shade, and for style.
By placing a few larger rocks or small boulders throughout the
garden create interest and variety, while also making it possible
to add a fountain or small stream. You can then plant moss or
other unique plants on the boulders close to the water. The
larger rocks can add plenty of options to what you can do with
your garden.
Before actually creating the rock garden, you need to completely
clear the area that you chose to create it. Clearing it refers
to pulling weeds and the roots of weeds, as well as any other
debris that may be in the area. You should be left with just
blank dirt, but it will be created into a beautiful space soon
enough.
Next, you will place the plants into the areas of the cleared
dirt where you will want them to grow. Being a rock garden,
plants are not the main focus, so there should be small plants
placed sporadically. It is a mistake to have too many plants too
close together.
The next step after the plants are in the ground are to place the
larger rocks or boulders in their chosen locations. Once the
large rocks are in place, you will lay down the layer of base
rocks or pebbles. This layer can be as thick or thin as you
wish, but it is important that it hugs the edge of the plants and
larger rocks as closely as possible. You may think that the rock
base is too close to the plants, but the plants in the garden
will naturally grow through the rocks, so it’s no problem for
them to be very close.
Finally, you can adjust the details of your rock garden to create
the desired focal points and style. One possibility is to use
water by creating streams or using fountains. Other
possibilities are to use pieces of driftwood, or even old wagon
wheels. You can use your imagination to design your own creative
space!
Keith Markensen examines the world of
backyard landscape ideas and shares his decades of
landscape knowledge at www.Plant-Care.com where
you can always find professional houseplant care and landscaping advice online.
Tags: landsape design, landscape panning, rock garden
