Growing a Rock Garden - Planning, Design and Imagination

Looking for a way to beautify your garden, while making sure it remains easy to take care of? Rock gardening could be perfect for you in the front yard or backyard. Rock gardens are especially practical in
areas of your yard which are quite dry, but can look great in water run off areas as well. Adding rocks in these runoff areas imics the look of river beds.

It's rather easy to create a rock garden, but it's important that you plan well. You should begin planning by choosing an area in your yard for your rock garden location. Then decide on hich plants and rocks to put in your garden.

Small river rocks and pebbles work very well most of the time as a rock garden bed. Some people like to keep the color, size, and hape of the rocks and pebbles similar throughout the entire rock garden, while others just collect any rocks that they like and use them. It's up to you what you do.

The rock gardens that tend to look the best have small pebbles  and stones as a base, with plants sprouting between some of them.

Then, larger rocks and plants can be strategically placed to be focal points, for shade, and for style.

By placing a few larger rocks or small boulders throughout the garden create interest and variety, while also making it possible to add a fountain or small stream. You can then plant moss or other unique plants on the boulders close to the water. The larger rocks can add plenty of options to what you can do with
your garden.

Before actually creating the rock garden, you need to completely clear the area that you chose to create it. Clearing it refers to pulling weeds and the roots of weeds, as well as any other
debris that may be in the area. You should be left with just lank dirt, but it will be created into a beautiful space soon enough.

Next, you will place the plants into the areas of the cleared dirt where you will want them to grow. Being a rock garden, plants are not the main focus, so there should be small plants placed sporadically. It is a mistake to have too many plants too close together.

The next step after the plants are in the ground are to place the larger rocks or boulders in their chosen locations. Once the large rocks are in place, you will lay down the layer of base
rocks or pebbles. This layer can be as thick or thin as you wish, but it is important that it hugs the edge of the plants and larger rocks as closely as possible. You may think that the rock base is too close to the plants, but the plants in the garden will naturally grow through the rocks, so it's no problem for them to be very close.

Finally, you can adjust the details of your rock garden to create the desired focal points and style. One possibility is to use water by creating streams or using fountains. Other possibilities are to use pieces of driftwood, or even old wagon wheels. You can use your imagination to design your own creative
space!

Keith Markensen examines the world of backyard landscape ideas and shares his decades oflandscape knowledge at http://www.Plant-Care.com whereyou can always find professional houseplant care and landscaping advice online.