An Introduction to Rock Gardening

There are many types of gardens you can have for your yard to make it more attractive in the neighborhood.  Everyone knows that a nice, manicured lawn will go a long way to improve the overall look and appeal in any neighborhood.  

Some of you may even have messy neighbors who don’t care about their lawn and having a fabulous garden could even offset the shabbiest of lawns.  There are many types of gardens you could use for enhancing your lawn, but probably the simplest is the rock garden.

Rock gardens are a type of garden with an emphasis on rocks and stones with a few small plants that are found in naturally rocky areas.  The plants are generally small and de-emphasized but are vital to help in the aesthetics.  

Because the plants are native to rocky areas, they’ll be small and like their soil to be drier than most plants but can’t completely be without water. A popular type of rock garden is where bedrock is arranged to imply there was a bedding plane that had shifted or had come up partially above the ground.  

Plants are arranged in this type of garden to hide joins between stones, whereas in its natural setting it would likely be one continuous piece.  This type of professionally designed rock garden, or rockery, was popular in the Victorian times.

A Japanese rock garden, sometimes misnamed ‘Zen garden,’ is a sand box with sand, rocks, and very occasionally grass.  The sand in these gardens tends to represent water, with the ridging caused by rakes to symbolize the ripples.  

The rocks would then be islands.  Some people believed these gardens were supposed to soothe the mind, but this was not the original intention. Understanding how to put together an effective garden for your terrain type would enhance your landscape.  

Just because you don’t have fertile soil or lots of space without rocks, it doesn’t mean you can add to your landscape by having a garden.  Even if your land is flat, you can bring in rocks for your rock garden.  Just about every terrain type can support a rock garden.

But, before you start bringing in all types of rocks for your garden, you should consider what rocks are native to your area if you want to create a completely natural look.  Also, you should consider only local plants.  

Putting a few extra moments into the design of your garden can ensure you’re going to get compliments from your neighbors and be the talk of the neighborhood, and maybe even your town.

Since rock gardens are typically shallow and don’t require plants that need a lot of water if you’re going to include plants at all, then you can see that a rock garden can be a very low maintenance way to decorate your lawn.  

In this case, a small amount of upkeep every week or even every month can keep your lawn decoration well-maintained for the neighborhood. After you bring in rocks, you should clear the land you’re going to use of debris.  

You especially want to take care of the weeds since rock gardens look their best when the vegetation is low, clearing it out is essential before you begin your garden. In your garden you will typically want small piles of rocks with either no plants or very sparse plants to break up the scenery.  

It will take time and practice to make sure you have the right balance between rocks and plants, but when you do manage to find that balance, it will be rewarding.