How To Build A Rock Garden In The Garden, Marking The Outline Of The First Tier, The Choice And Rules For The Arrangement Of Stones - 1

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to build a rock garden in the garden

The term rock garden comes from the name of the Alps mountains - it is an artificial slide or slope of rubble, stones and large boulders with small areas of land between them. The rock garden is used to grow evergreens.

Rock garden construction

Its construction begins with marking the site. The rock garden looks more impressive when it smoothly turns into a flower garden of ground cover plants, which serves as a kind of connecting link between it and any other landscape objects. First, we remove the soil layer to a depth of at least 20-25 cm, under the highest part of the slide we make packing of rubble, gravel, broken brick - this is the basis of the slide and its drainage. After installing the base, we compact the bottom, fill it with fertile soil at a level with the surface of the earth, then ram it and spill it with water.

Marking the contour of the first tier of the slide

This operation begins with the laying of stones. To choose the right stones, you need to arrange them separately from each other. We especially carefully tamp the soil under each stone and lay from one to three fundamental stones so that they sit well, you can pour a small layer of sand. When the contour of the first tier is lined with stones, fill the formed cavity with soil to their upper level, compact and spill the structure, outline the outline of the next tier, here all operations are repeated.

The number of tiers depends on the size of the structure of the stones used. A 5x3 m slide usually requires 3-5 tiers. On the upper tier, the most beautiful stone set in advance is carefully placed.

The stones provide the ability to get to any place during weeding and maintenance on the slide and in the flower garden without damaging the plants. For ease of movement, the stones must be flat on top, they must be installed very carefully at a distance of approximately 50-70 cm from each other. Piles of stones should be alternated with group plantings and single plants: this combination always looks natural.

The choice of stones for the rock garden

When building an alpine slide, be sure to remember the rules for selecting stones:

• do not put concrete fragments or pressed stone instead of natural stone;
• take stones of the same type for construction;
• if you have the opportunity, then purchase stones at the local quarry;
• try to pick up stones with an eroded surface;
• sandstone, limestone, granite, slate, tuff are well suited for the base under the alpine slide.

There are several rules for the arrangement of stones on a rock garden

• make sure that the stones located next to each other do not differ much in shape, color, texture;
• compact the soil carefully around the separately placed, larger stones. If you want to put an uneven stone, then cover it with earth half of its height;
• on rock gardens, boulders and stones should be placed horizontally, and not stand upright. When placing, strive to give them a stable position;
• in order to make it convenient for you in the future to care for the plants planted in the rock garden, even during construction, outline several supporting stones that you can step on.

Plants growing on rock gardens in combination with stones

The rock garden does not look without vegetation on it. Any plant in a rock garden has a functional purpose. For example, species that form carpets or cushions are effective in large areas and look like a multi-colored fluffy carpet. Plants of these types include: yarrow, tenacious, beetroot, armeria, stonecrop. Bulbous plants are also placed in the rock garden on horizontal sections; they harmoniously fit into the rocky landscape. In small crevices, hyacinth, undersized forms of barberry, grow well.

The soil for these plants must be permeable. Because they cannot stand much moisture.

The central element of the whole composition are conifers, dwarf forms of juniper, spruce, thuja, cypress, mountain pine - all of them give the rock garden a unique charm. In addition, the combination of evergreens with stones has a special charm.

They look spectacular in groups and singly:

Lawson's cypress Minima Glauca, its height is 1 m, it has very small bluish-green or dull blue scaly needles. This is a dwarf form, at a young age it is rounded, later - cone-shaped up to 1 m in height. Branches are straight and spaced. Branches growing upright or spaced apart. The needles are short, dull, gray-blue with a white pattern when ripe, the base of the needles with a waxy coating. Introduced into culture in 1891. It is rare in Europe. Propagated by cuttings (74%). Recommended for planting in groups or singly on rocky areas, in containers for greening roofs;

Cossack juniper Tamariscifolia (1 m) with open needles of a bluish hue. This is a low-growing plant up to one meter high and two meters wide with a decorative original evergreen crown, open or with ascending branches, dominated by needle-shaped needles of a bluish tint, bluntly pointed, dark green with a white stripe on top. The form is winter-hardy, drought-resistant, light-requiring. The plant is undemanding to the soil, does not tolerate strong moisture. In culture, it lives up to 30 years. The juniper is propagated by cuttings (86-100%). It is recommended for rocky gardens, slope decoration. Can be planted on a lawn, on loose sands, create wide curbs along roads. Single bushes are effective on rocky areas or lawns.