The garden among the stones, full of charming, flowering rock plants, is the dream of many gardeners who begin their adventure with plants. However,building a skalniak from scratchoften poses many problems. After all, it is not enough to build a mountain of stones, debris and soil, and to plant random plants, if we wantthe rock-climbingto be full of charm and easy to maintain. See whatbuilding a rockery step by steplooks like, where to start and how to complete the individualstages of rock buildingand what to pay special attention to.
Building a rockery
Step 1 - marking out a place for the rockery
The construction of a rock garden , in other words, a rock garden, should be started with marking out a place in the garden. It should be sunny enough for at least part of our rockery to be in full sun in the future. Most rock plants grow best in such conditions.
Step 2 - build a slope for the rockery
When preparing the site, remove the weeds, and put a 20 cm thick layer of gravel on the ground. We can also use the debris that was left over from the construction of the house - later covered with earth covered with picturesque rocks, it will not be visible, and it will create ideal conditions for rock plants in the ground. Place a mixture of fertile garden soil mixed with sand and a small amount of peat or gravel on a layer of gravel stabilized with stones or rubble. In this way, we build a rockery to the desired height.
Step 3 - laying stones on the rockery
We dig the appropriate decorative stones into the prepared substrate - quartzites, sandstones, slates and limestones are great - they will give our a rock garden with true alpine charm. Just remember to use the same type of stones forbuilding the entire rockery . Let's not mix rocks of different types - then we will create an impression of artificiality, which we do not want - after all, we are to imitate the natural mountain environment in our new garden. We always sink the stones 1/3 of their height into the ground - thanks to this our rockery will gain stability and will not run down the vases with the first rain.
Step 4 - planting plants in the rockery
We always try to plan what nature we want to imitate from the very beginning. After all, we can create a miniature of both a mountain forest and an alpine meadow in our garden. One of the most beautiful rock plants is the Caucasian Goose - its variety 'La Fraicheur' is covered with a cloud of pink, honey-scented flowers at the turn of April and May.It blooms for a long time and forms rosettes of felt-like ornamental leaves when the flowers fade.
Building a rockery - planting plants
We will create a beautiful pastel composition by planting one of the most beautifully fragrant carnations next to it - the Alwood carnation. This rocky plant with pink flowers creates cushions of oblong, bluish leaves, decorative all year round. It blooms in May, and a beautiful fragrance spreads throughout the garden. We will introduce equally beautiful scents into the garden by planting aromatic mugwort. I would recommend the beautiful dwarf Schmidt mugwort or the slightly taller Steller mugwort. Both have beautiful jagged silvery leaves and small yellow, fragrant summer flowers. They are a real decoration, especially among plants with darker leaves. We will create a wonderful composition if next to the mugwort there is a 'Palace Purple' crane with dark purple leaves and wonderful, delicately fragrant pale pink flowers. Lavenders look great on a rockery in every style.Especially the cultivar 'Rosea' with a beautiful, even, spherical habit.The most common rock plants are swarms and sedum plants.
- perennials for solar rockeries
- perennials for shaded rockeries
When building a rockerywe must not forget about ornamental grasses. Combined with lavender, rock sesleria or blue sea bass will create the atmosphere of a mountain slope by the Mediterranean Sea, and the Buchanan sedge planted with the aromatic lemon thyme 'Silver Queen' will create a composition resembling a noble English garden.
A beautiful rock garden located next to a pond or a water cascade will be wonderfully decorated with a porcupine feeder. This small moss-like plant, growing widely, gives the impression that the rockery has existed continuously for many decades. In summer, it becomes covered with a mass of tiny white flowers. It creates the impression of pure nature in itself, and when combined with natural stones, it looks picturesque.If we have dark stones - we can add some color by planting the 'Aurea' variety. It will add color to every dark corner of the rockery and will wonderfully cover any surface with golden pillows. Choose also low plants for the composition with the feeder. I propose Georgian primrose 'Wanda' with wonderful pink flowers and a little hunger manger with yellow spring flowers.
We add some bright yellow accents by planting a scattered toaddle with goblet-shaped flowers just above the water, appearing from spring to late summer.Most rock plants are evergreen plants, so the effect of winter decorations is guaranteed.
Worth knowing!Rock plants are usually sold in pots. First place the purchased plants on a rockery to see how they fit together. It's time to make some more changes. Only when everything looks good, take the plants out of the pots and start planting them.
I hope that thanks to these tipsbuilding a rockeryit will be easy for you, and the achieved effect will give you a lot of satisfaction.
