Rock Gardens

Take a few tips from Mother Nature.

The rock garden can make a beautiful anchor for a landscape plan, or enhance the effect of a backyard water garden. The best rock gardens are the most natural looking ones. If you can, take the time to see how Mother Nature places rocks around a stream bed or rocky landscape:

Larger rocks are on lower levels

There are rocks of many different sizes, but usually with a similar texture and colour.

Rocks lying on the earth are usually sitting on their most stable side, with a good portion buried in the ground.

The rocks are placed in random groupings, large and small, with a few sitting alone. They're not evenly spaced.

Plants are clustered among the rocks informally.

Try to design your own rock garden to follow these examples, or ask you garden centre for assistance (Many even sell and install rocks). On steeply sloping areas, you may want to consider terracing; breaking the garden into two or more levels with stone retaining walls that will prevent erosion and allow the use of some trailing plants, or even a multi-level waterfall.

Move the rocks around until they "feel right" and look as if they had been there a while. Dig them in a bit. If you want, place some flat rocks into the soil to use as steps or platforms to garden from. And of course, leave space here and there for plants.

Make sure the soil bed is in good shape around the rocks when you've finished positioning them. You should have several inches depth of good, well-drained loamy soil. If in doubt, dig in some high-organic topsoil, compost, peat moss or well-rotted manure. You want to avoid having to add to the soil levels after you've finished most of the planting.

When you're ready to install plants, use nature's example again. Use small groupings with more than one of each type of plant. Use contrasting plants that look good together. It's a good idea to plan your garden out on paper, noting the relative height of the plants you plan to buy, where they fit and what the light availability is. Take the plan along to your garden centre... you'll be able to choose plants with more confidence, get an opinion from garden center staff if you need it, and you should be able to save money by passing up plants that aren't a good fit.

Consider some ornamental grasses mixed with perennial flowers, annuals or wildflowers. Low-growing mosses and ground covers usually look good growing among rocks, and many will thrive growing in small holes or crevices. Avoid vines or creepers that might completely obscure the rocks, unless you're prepared to do some regular pruning.

Once established, most rock gardens require little maintenance... just move a plant now and then if it outgrows its neighbours, or install some annuals to fill a space until the surrounding perennials mature.

Regular feeding with a top quality organic-based garden fertilizer like PINK All Purpose Garden Food will help keep the rock garden plants in top condition, year after year.