There is still another use for a customized variety of the rock garden which has been taken little advantage of. This is referred to as "rock garden foundation planting."

There are a few such plantings effectively executed to feel content that there is a field here which has not yet been developed. In many sections where stones flourish and where ledges of rock gather out in the grounds around the home, such a planting is wholly suitable.

It gives a modification from the usual all evergreen planting and makes an innate looking finish for the base of a stone or a stucco residence. Furthermore, in the shade of northern and western exposures are surroundings utterly appropriate to many of the rock garden and alpine plants. Obscured watering may effortlessly be provided.

Sometimes the principal purpose of the gardener may be not so much a rock garden as a compilation of rock plants. This in itself is a meaningful intention, for some of these small beauties are as readily grown as any perennials, and others are appealing because of the assorted difficulties implicated in effectively growing them. They are as useful as any other group of plants for their own qualities even aside from their use as substance for making a rock garden.

Often the novice starts out with no comprehensible idea as to whether his purpose is to grow rock plants or to fashion a bona fide rock garden. This is one of the things which should be decided prior to starting. If you simply want to grow rock plants, stones may be utilized as a resource for supplying appropriate growing elements. Additionally, several of the rock plants, and even a few of the alpines, may be grown flawlessly, particularly in a faintly raised bed, without a rock anywhere in the vicinity.

While this subject has been raised, it may be sensible to call interest to another type of simulated rock gardening. This is the heap of rocks, sometimes cautiously built up, sometimes freely thrown collectively with earth put over them, which is typically called a "rockery."

Such a mound of soil and stone may serve as a support for vines, such as English ivy, to jostle over, or for a few of the dry-soil annuals or perennials, but is in no way a rock garden, not even a small version of one. Even with the addition of a garden fountain or piece of statuary, this arrangement will not suffice as an authentic rock garden.

For the complete design and reason of a rock garden is to accumulate and preserve the dampness in the soil well beneath the surface, so that the far-reaching roots of rock and alpine plants may use the moisture, even though they appear to be growing in completely waterless soil. Regardless of any large statuary or outdoor water features that are supplemented, the moisture reserves will not magically appear. The rockery, on the other hand, is an idyllic configuration for not saving moisture.

When the spring rains are passing, the rockery will rapidly dry out right to the center, and only by frequent trenching, which would be deadly to many rock plants and alpines, can it be kept at all damp.

About the Author:
Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in home improvement, landscaping, gardening, and interior design. For an amazing selection of garden fountains