Cathy Isom gives you some tips for adding a rock garden to your yard. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Rock gardens can range from sprawling to naturalistic creations to faux dried river beds to rustic mounds of stones, soil, and plants. It all depends on your preferences and the amount of space (and rock) you have to work with.
If you have a small area, often the best design is a simple, round raised bed made of select rocks. This design can fit neatly into any well-chosen nook and will not be in the way when you mow your lawn. If you plant it thoughtfully, it also won’t require a lot of maintenance.
Porous, softer rock is better for rock gardens than is harder rock. Harder rocks take longer to acquire the weathered look that you are striving for in the rock garden because they are less receptive to the growth of mosses and lichens. Promoting the weathering of your rocks will give the rock garden a natural look. Also, stick to rocks that look the same in texture, color, and form. If you use rocks of similar appearance throughout your rock garden, it will have a more natural look.
Once the rocks have been set in place to form the foundation for your rock garden design, you should prepare the soil before planting the plants. Also keep in mind the sun requirements of projected plant selections. If you want to surround your rock garden with asphalt pathways, you may have them installed by an asphalt maintenance contractor. Then, an asphalt sealing service can help protect your asphalt pathways or driveways, that way it should take a little longer before asphalt repair is required.
I’m Cathy Isom…