Flower Garden Lovers

A Rock Garden Room for Your Flower Garden

Creating a rock garden can be quite fun although it can be quite a bit of work too. There is charm to be found in making a fitting home for the little Alpines, or hardy mountain plants. In the far northern Arctic regions and also on the mountainsides, the winds and weather are sometimes terrific. As a result of it, these plants are very dwarf so that the winds cannot break and destroy them. Many of them are beautiful creeping things that lie along the soil and grip it tight with sturdy and numerous roots for that is the only way they could exist. Thus, when we make our rock garden, or garden of Alpines, we shall expect, over time, masses of dwarf plants that make dense patches of bright and beautiful color.

Another point to consider before we get to the practical part of making a rock garden is to realize that plants that love to grow on the steep sides of a mountain will like good drainage of moisture away from them. In other words, don't plant them in low moist waterlogged spots.

On the other hand, we must not have drainage as sharp as the side of a mountain or our plants will burn up in summer. We should try to raise the position of the plants somewhat above level ground and use pieces of rock to help us to make a fitting home for the plants.

Stones and rocks are useful in many ways. They help to make a beautiful setting for the plants. They help keep the soil cool and moist for the plants in summer as the plants get their roots well under the stones where it is cool and comfortable. And the rocks are useful for those plants that like to cling to the stones and gradually creep and cover it.

As I have lived in and near the Rockies, rocks have played a big part in whatever landscaping I have had. They can make a good perch for looking at the rest of the garden, sunset or nearby stream. So try to include a good "sitting" rock among your garden. Plus the kids love to play on and among them.

As you prepare part of your flower garden for a rock, or Alpine, garden room, consider making it big enough so you can have a pathway running through the garden with your plants growing on both sides of you as you walk along. If you like, the pathway can be dug out and this soil thrown up on the sides to give you raised slopes on either side of the path. You don't need to dig it all to the same depth, so as to vary the path and perhaps create some steps.

When you start putting the stones into place, bear in mind that they must not be laid just on the surface of the soil but embedded into the soil for a few inches. Just as far as possible you want to make the rocks appear as if they were really in masses under the soil and showing through here and there. This gives it a more natural look.

When you places your stone or other material, always begin at the bottom of your slope and work upwards. Never make it too steep. Create it with ledges because even though the plants do not like it cold and wet for winter, they require plenty of water during the summer. If the face of the slope is too steep very little water reaches the plants as it runs off.

You don't need to completely finish building the rock garden before you begin planting. It may be more convenient to plant as you go along. This could be especially true with plants that you want to establish between two stones that are placed fairly close together. Take a stick and ram the soil quite firmly around plants that are to be planted in these fissures, as they are called, because later the soil settles down and then there is not enough soil around the roots of the plants. Roots left bare in this settling process will die, and thus the plant, when a dry time comes.

A couple questions to ask yourself as you plant: Am I giving this plant a position in which it has a sufficient depth of earth to root in? Am I placing it so that nothing overhangs it and it is able to benefit by refreshing showers of rain? It is important to know that moisture does not run off through some opening between the stones.

One last point. Never work at making a rock garden when the soil is so wet that it sticks together in lumps and hangs to tools. That of course usually holds for working in the garden at all.

© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson

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