Rock Gardening
A rock garden turns a difficult, sloped, or poor-soil area into a striking feature, using the terrain's limitations as the design's strength rather than fighting against them.
Choosing a Site
A naturally sloped area, or a spot with excellent drainage and full sun, generally makes the best rock garden site, since these conditions match what most rock garden plants evolved with in their mountain habitats. Poorly draining, flat, low-lying spots are much harder to convert successfully.
Larger rocks, partially buried rather than sitting on top of the soil, look far more natural and stable than rocks simply placed on the surface.
Use rocks of varying sizes rather than uniform stones — a natural rock outcropping typically shows a mix of larger anchor rocks and smaller accent stones.
Low-Maintenance Appeal
Once established, rock gardens are among the lowest-maintenance garden styles, since most rock garden plants are drought-tolerant and require little supplemental watering or feeding once settled in.
