Rock gardens, or rockeries, with their layers of large rocks and colourful alpine plants, can make a very striking feature if put together correctly, resembling a rocky outcrop on a mountain or cliff face, it is an ideal way to link different garden levels.
How to build a rock garden
One of the most important features of a rockery is that they should look like a natural rocky outcrop rather than a heap of large stones with plants growing on it. This requires considerable landscaping skills in selecting the site and the stones. Always lay the stones so that they look as though they belong together. To attract wildlife to your rockery, choose alpine plants and wildflowers that provide a source of nectar and pollen.
Very little soil should be visible in a well-built rockery garden. It should be packed into crevices between the rocks and perhaps covered with a layer of gravel or grit. This will not only disguise its presence but will also help to retain moisture in Summer.
As with so many features in the garden landscape, it is vitally important to choose the correct area for a rock garden or rockery. Although you can build a rockery on flat ground, it is difficult to ensure a natural look. It is much better if you can build the feature into the surface of an existing slope in your garden. Ideally, rockeries are built in high sunlight, however, you can build a rockery in partial shade. Plants that thrive in shade, rather than sun should be used. The site and the rock garden itself should be well-drained and the foundations firm. One of the most appealing contrasting elements in any garden is the plants and rocks. Shade loving rockery plants thrive in the spare nutrient conditions of the sandy, silty soil used to hold a rockery together. Building a rock garden in shade is a little more tricky, as the usual rockery plants like sunlight. However, it can be done with the correct soil and correct selection of plants.
Green Onion Landscaping, with their knowledge of the most suitable plants and materials, can construct a beautiful rock garden for your garden, see our work here. We will use the best rocks and gravel to create you the perfect setting and ideal drainage for your alpine and rockery plants. Bulbs and small shrubs can enhance the colour and texture of your rockery throughout the year making the perfect rockery scene within your garden month on month.
If you like rock gardens and would like Green Onion Landscaping to build you a rockery, get in touch today.
We can build rock gardens anywhere in County Durham, Teesside or the Tees Valley.
