What began in the British Isles as alpine gardens, planted by people who visited the Swiss Alps, has now come to be an integral part of gardening. A rock garden is not only a welcome sight, but also a perfect landscaping project. Whether your garden is big or small, planting rocks can give it an instant makeover.
Rock gardens are easy to make. In the rock garden, you can add flowers, foliage, ponds and waterfalls as well. Depending on the space that you can spare, the rock garden can take any shape.
In a city where land prices are escalating and where buying land doesn’t come cheap, you could go for a small rock garden. It need not even be a garden, it can mean putting small alpine plants in depressions of rocks, creating miniature landscapes. For creating such a piece, select plants that can live on rocks. Various kinds of mosses and ferns adapt well in such an environment.
A little bit of soil and water is all that they need.
If you prefer the potted plant look, you could grow plants in little containers or pots with pieces of rock scattered in them, to give it a rock garden feel. Make the arrangement interesting though, to take away the stereotypical potted plant look.
Scatter big pots and small pots in various patterns and you could even paint on the pots to give them the withered rock appearance.
You can even have a rock garden inside your house. All you need is a patch of land that you can spare. Make sure that this area is near a window or in a place where sunlight is readily available. Fill that patch with soil and top it up with pebbles for aesthetic appeal. You can grow plants in this area. And finally, throw in some rounded boulders in the patch. Your indoor rock garden is ready.
If you have a big garden, then you can be more experimental with rock gardens. Try going for a rock accented garden that uses one large rock as the point of attention. You can place smaller boulders around it. Water features also add appeal. Pools, running streams and fountains can be planned around rocks to give it a rocky mountain look.
You could also place rocks and plants on raised beds in your garden or in just about anywhere you want. The walls of the beds can be made of granite slabs. In the bed, place mounts of soil to grow plants. It is not only an instant attention getter but also can make ideal garden seats.
