ROCK GARDENS

Evening Star, Issue 23179, 31 January 1939, Page 3

ROCK GARDENS

HOW TO BUILD THEM The main thing in creating a rock garden is to make it look natural, writes William Clay in the London ‘ Evening Standard.’ And by that I do not mean tipping a cartload of stones in a heap. To give a natural appearance, you need a touch of art. Give it some "thought, therefore, and take trouble at the start. If you do not, you will find that later on you will want to pull it to pieces and re-makc it. It is best to uso natural stone if you can, and you must spend a little time examining it until you become accustomed to its strata, or the way of the grain. Natural rock outcrops at a constant angle. You do not find it pushing its way out of the ground at all sorts of odd and conflicting degrees. So when making the rock garden, it is important to realise its grain, and to let each piece outcrop with the grain running in the same direction. The successful growing of rock plants depends largely, not on how much rock or stone is appearing above tbe ground, but upon how much is buried. Tbo reason for this is that alpine plants like to spread their Jong fibrous roots along the face of a buried rock, where they can extract in dry weather sufficient cool moisture to sustain them.

Arrange pieces of stone so that you form cracks, crevices for the roots to penetrate, and little pockets which can be filled with soil.

When building the rock garden good ordinary garden loam can be used for the foundation, but in these pockets and crcviccs you must make up the special composts to suit individual plants. For general subjects tho following compost will be found to be quite satisfactory—half leaf mould (well rotted), quarter ordinary fine

garden soil, and quarter of rough material, such as sand or shingle, which will be got from path or road sweeping. Mix this together thoroughly, and add a few handfuls of small granite clappings. Dig out one of the pockets or crevices to a depth of 7 or 8 inches. Put a few porous clinkers or ashes in the bottom of the pocket, and then till np tightly with the compost. You must also arrange so that some pockets are in full sun, some in partial shade, and others in full shade, because you will want to plant various things which like different conditions.

In my own rock-garden, the rocks arc arranged in order to create sunny and shady patches. I have incorporated some patches of grass, which helps to give a natural appearance. Water, too, is a distinct asset. If yon can plan your rock garden in conjunction with a pond, as I have done, so much the. better. You must also consider the judicious use of dwarf-growing shrubs to create shade, and the more rampant-growing carpeting plants should be clipped in the spring, so as not to overcrowd the nearer specimens. A very effective offset to the builtup rock garden is one that creates the appearance of a dry river bed. This can he made so that it acts as a ditch or draining conduit for the rest of the garden, and will therefore collect all the surplus moisture. Here you can grow some of the plants which thrive under those conditions. The “ bed ’’ of the stream is composed of a good layer of compost, similar to that mentioned above, which is trodden well down and covered with one inch or two of fine shingle and clippings. Between the crevices of the natural rock used for the edging can also be planted many of the alpines.