Do-it-yourself rockery: an example of an independent device

Recommendation points

• What is rockery, how it differs from an alpine slide, advantages
• Rockery design styles
• European style
• English style
• Japanese style
• Choosing the right place for rockeries
• Choosing plants and stones for arranging rockeries
• Rockery arrangement schemes
• We equip rockery correctly: secrets, tips and tricks
• The first step is to mark the territory
• Second stage – we lay out the base
• The most common mistakes and how to avoid them

The article explains in detail what rockery is and its advantages for our latitudes, describes the styles and types of this garden composition. The creation of a rockery with your own hands in conditions of any relief is described in detail and valuable advice is given on the selection of plants, as well as the development of the general concept of a stone garden.

What is rockery, how it differs from an alpine slide, advantages

Rockery differs from an alpine slide in a wider range of both planted plants (unlike a slide, there are not only alpine plants here) and the required relief – if a rock garden settles down mainly on slopes, natural unevenness of the landscape, then rockery will look great on a completely flat area … In the conditions of Central Europe, this is an undoubted plus, as it makes it possible for an unlimited flight of imagination using practically available materials.

Rockery design styles

Having decided to create a rockery on your site, first decide on the design style. There are three main styles – European, English and Japanese.

European style

European style requires the least effort. The appearance of the European rockery is as close as possible to the natural landscape of the middle zone. “Local” plants are planted in it, and the composition of stones is in harmony with the terrain and climate.

English style

The English style also does not require plant exoticism, but its distinctive feature is the use of perennial evergreens and trees. The reason for the creation of this style is the love of the British for landscape decorations, which can survive for many decades, but at the same time always delight the eye with green branches..

Japanese style

The Japanese are less whimsical. Everyone knows with what respect they treat the so-called rock gardens. Actually, it is this concept that underlies the creation of Japanese rockeries – plants are practically not represented in it, only as rare accents, and the main attention is paid to creating a laconic stone group.

Choosing the right place for rockeries

So, you have decided what style your rockery will be. The next step is choosing a place for it. First, estimate the size of your site and the landscape elements already present on it. On a plot of modest size, a pile of boulders and spreading trees will look unnatural. And on the contrary – if on a large plot you wanted to create a cozy mini-corner, there is a danger that it will simply “get lost” in space. It is also undesirable to arrange a small rockery near tall massive trees – it will look poor, getting lost against their background.

As for the features of the landscape, the best place is small relief drops, natural gullies, in other words, irregularities. They can be fancifully beaten, turned into mini-gorges or romantic ponds. But most often an ordinary dacha is a plot with an absolutely flat surface. It doesn’t matter – the rockery is good because it will look great on flat ground..

When finally deciding on a place, choose a sunny territory – the shaded one will sharply limit your choice of plants. If you are trying your hand at landscape design for the first time, let this area be small – up to 10 sq. m. With more you can simply not cope, it requires professional skills. In addition, it is easier to care for a small rockery – and it requires maintenance all year round..

Choosing plants and stones for arranging rockeries

When starting to work with filling rockeries, we first select stones to form the basic concept. We advise you to choose stones of a uniform color and format. It can be both relief fragments of granite or sandstone of all shades of red, and flat slabs of quartzite – it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the stone composition looks harmonious. Therefore, when choosing, be guided by the matching shades and immediately decide whether your rockery will imitate a “rocky ridge” or be made with flat masonry.

It is important that the stones are not of the same size and texture – then you may end up with not a stone garden, but a pile of bricks. Each stone, in harmonious combination with the rest, should have its own unique relief, are welcomed: chips, irregularities, different sizes.

A composition of equally large stones will look more impressive than of small ones. As for the type of stones, it is best to use the already mentioned sandstone, limestone or granite..

Having chosen stones and having estimated the preliminary view of the future “garden”, you can start choosing plants.

The first thing to think about is framing rockeries with evergreen coniferous shrubs, especially if the dominant style is English. It is important to choose them, guided by the basic rules:

• the plant should not grow tall – up to a maximum of half a meter;
• should grow slowly;
• succumb to pruning.

Optimal in this sense are mini-cypresses, dwarf thuja or junipers. If you are afraid that the shrub may not take root, then you can simply arrange pots with already growing in rockeries. Also from perennials, especially to set off the severity of Japanese rockery, we recommend planting rhododendrons.

After the main part of the rockery is decorated with shrubs and trees, you can start planting flowering plants. When choosing them, it is advisable to arrange the groups of greenery according to flowering time, achieving a year-round effect. Recommended flowers for rockeries are crocuses, wild violets, low-growing tulips, hyacinths, etc..

As for the planting sequence, it is first recommended to plant plants with a more developed root system, such as Siberian irises or lily.

Then there are the so-called ground cover. They are best used to plant crevices between stones and around them – in addition to the decorative effect, such plants strengthen the top layer of the soil and there is no need to fear spring erosion of the slopes. There are many such plants. These include various mosses, sedums, phloxes, saxifrage – an unpretentious plant, practically does not require maintenance, but very picturesque.

If the rockery is located horizontally and has no slopes, pay attention to plants that require abundant watering, such as primroses or astilbe.

You can also sow flat rockery with cereal grasses – this will give the landscape an element of intriguing neglect and wildness. When choosing plants according to the recommended scheme, give preference to perennial.

TIP: strive to create a composition in which not a single stroke is secondary, every detail is important.

Rockery arrangement schemes

You have stones, seeds and seedlings. You can start creating rockeries. At this stage, you need to clearly decide how your stone garden will look like. To do this, we advise you to first draw a diagram of the future location of stones and plant varieties, and then decide which type of rockery is more interesting to you.

1 – oak sage; 2 – Stellar’s wormwood; 3 – fragrant rue; 4 – stonecrop prominent; 5 – rocky alissum; 6 – juniper; 7 – gray fescue; 8 – stonecrop of Evers; 9 – Canadian phlox; 10 – creeping thyme; 11 – mountain pine

There are three main types of rockery schemes:

• stable
• volatile
• temporary

As the names suggest, the difference between them lies in the durability of the created visual embodiment. Let’s consider them in more detail..

A stable rockery is characterized by a selection of large stones, accents are placed with small stones, and groups of planted plants are localized, which does not allow them to grow. Also, when creating a stable composition, mini-conifers are highly recommended due to their slow growth and low variability. Thanks to this, the stable type will look unchanged for many years (in particular, this is typical for the Japanese style), but it risks bothering the owner.

TIP: do not remove moss from stones. It gives the composition a natural look.

If you are more into changing terrain, we recommend choosing a volatile rockery. In this, unlike the first, a large number of stones is undesirable. On the contrary, here it is better to allocate more space for backfilling with gravel or pebbles – these places can, if desired, be planted with flowers or re-level.

A group of major large perennials should form the basis of the variable type. Then around them you can periodically plant flowers and herbs – it will always look harmonious and new. It is clear that the main focus of this type of rockery is not stones, but plants.

The temporary type of rockery is very good for beginners. The easiest way to create it is to choose a place and plant it with young seedlings, roughly estimating how they will look as adults. Among them, you can picturesquely place stones, gravel paths and other accents, but remember that all these elements should be easily removed as the seedlings grow. All elements of this type of rockery are temporary, since the grown garden will require a different design.

We equip rockery correctly: secrets, tips and tricks

The creation of a rockery is not quick. It is recommended to start working on it 2-3 months before the flowering season – that is, in early spring or late autumn.

The first step is to mark the territory

1. Determine the clear boundaries of the future rockery (with pegs and a cord, a rubber hose, or just draw a plot according to the diagram).

2. Within the boundaries of the selected area, remove the top layer of sod, approximately 20 cm, and clear it of grass roots and weeds.

3. Then cover the future rockery with non-woven material (geotextile) and proceed to the drainage layer.

4. Drainage from broken brick, crushed stone or pebbles is necessary in order for the base of the rockery to pass water well, and it will also give additional stability.

TIP: some summer residents use various construction debris for the drainage layer. Do not do this, plants in rockeries may die..

5. Having laid out the drainage layer, compact it with a layer of sand about 20 cm thick. This completes the first stage of arranging rockeries – the base of sand and crushed stone should settle, which takes the mentioned 2 months..

Returning to your future rockery after the allotted time, you begin work on the second stage.

Second stage – we lay out the base

1. If the basis of the future composition is large stones, then now is the time to install them on a compacted layer of sand (especially if, according to your idea, they should be dug into the ground for some part).

2. Having placed the stones, you can begin to fill the rockery area with a substrate for planting plants. The main properties of the substrate are moisture capacity and permeability. Fertile soil may not be, on the contrary, plants in rockeries should not grow violently, so as not to obscure the stones.

TIP: in order to comply with this condition, plants are advised to keep on a starvation diet, rarely feed.

3. Falling asleep rockery substrate, pay special attention to the stability of the stones. Compact the ground next to them, check for rock swaying, and top up soil or rubble if necessary. In some cases, you can even fill the base of the stone with cement..

TIP: Don’t strive for symmetry. The slightly chaotic arrangement of stones gives a special charm to rockeries.

4. After tamping the top layer, pour plenty of water over it without eroding it. If the substrate layer is washed out, you will have to do it all over again. If everything is in order, the soil has absorbed water and remains in place, give it time to settle again and you can start planting plants.

IMPORTANT: In the future, it is advisable to add soil at least once every 2 years, and also monitor the purity of rockery – regularly clean the area of ​​dry leaves and grass.

The most common mistakes and how to avoid them

The main mistake is the wrong choice of place for rockeries. Above, we have already given advice on how to choose the optimal place without unnecessary elements that violate the integrity of the landscape (large trees, fence), but if this cannot be avoided, we advise you to “hide” them behind the shoots of climbing plants like ivy or grapes, making the trellis of them an element of rockery.

Novice craftsmen sometimes mistakenly believe that the more stones, the better. Wrong! The beauty of rockeries lies in the laconicism of the landscape, in a strictly designated place and the role of each boulder.

Smooth, faceless stones are also often selected for rockeries. Remember, you are not building a house, but a picturesque garden composition – the stones must be rough, uneven, and this part of the stone must be turned outward in order to appear in an advantageous perspective.

Don’t forget about drainage! Its absence can be fraught with plants that do not like excessive moisture – their roots can be flooded and rot.