Hello,
I would like to start a rock garden, maybe a miniature one. I do not know anything at all about it and was wondering if some of you could tell me where would be the best place for me to find out information about it. I've been reading through this forum and looking at all of your pictures. I just love all of your photos. You all have some beautiful plants. And I love rocks of any kind. I always have but I've never thought about using them with my plants. So any information that you could share with me would be really appreciated. Thank you.
JesseK
A newbie that would like to start a miniature rock garden
Hi there JesseK ~
I would be happy to tell you a bit about Rock Gardening, but you would probably get much more from some of the great books out there. We have a thread on this forum, I will try to post the link, called something like "Read any good books lately??" Several of us are avid readers and posted many, many really great book titles/authors/brief descriptions and any of them would be great.
I started my first Rock garden this year,and loved it. I am totally hooked on these wonderful plants, and thier small size allows me tohave many, many in my not huge property...:) Make sure they have lots of sun, really good drainage, and are hardy for your zone...then have fun...:)
Please feel free to ask me any questions, I would be happy to answer them instead of rambling on and not covering what you want addressed. Were you going to grow the plants in containers, or in the ground?? Sunny site?? What kind of soil do you have??
I will check back tomorrow and see what you may be wondering about, or needing more info about.
Welcome to Rock Gardening!!!
Jamie
Here is the thread to get an idea of books to read, really good books....
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/494296/
Enjoy!!!
Jamie
ps...a miniature Armeria 'Nifty Thrifty', isn't it cute????
Jesse,
I fell in love with the little dainties the first time I saw them at the North American Rock
Garden Society display at the Phila. Flower Show a number of years ago. I bought a
trough and that was my "rock garden" for many years. About 2 yrs ago I had a rock
wall added in front of an existing wall to get a planting bed about 3' deep by 15' long.
This has been a joy! And I've made & bought more troughs. If you like seed starting,
join NARGS (N. Am. Rock. Garden Society). You can get 25 seed types for $15 - a
great way to built up a collection for not much $$.
Here's a pic of my rock garden in mid-May
Tam
Welcome and good luck, Jesse K. This will be a perfect opportunity for you to combine your love of plants and rocks.
Jamie's right about the book thread. I think we've covered most of the books on rock gardening there. They can get pricey, so stay on the lookout for used books at Amazon. The books are almost always in good condition, and I got an immediate refund (and got to keep the books too, so there was no hassle about returning them) the two times they weren't.
Give us more specifics about what you hope and plan to do. Take before and after pictures. Those are always fun to see.
Jamie, your Armeria is so sweet. It reminds me of my Erodium flore pleno, which is still blooming up a storm.
Tammy, every time I see one of your pictures, I'm in awe. Everything looks so perfect. Your property was positively made for rock gardening.
Thanks Zuzu.
Welcome Jesse,
I am up to my eyeballs in the NARGS conference this weekend, then I'm off on a plant collecting trip across Newfoundland for a week. When I get back I'll list some of the smaller, dainty alpines for you to consider. Some look small when you first buy them but later become bullies. If you want a miniature rock garden, then you will want miniature plants.
Jesse--don't forget to check out the NARGs website http://www.nargs.org/
Lots of good information there.
And the Newfoundland Rock Garden site is great, too.
http://nfldrockgardensociety.homestead.com/Introduction.html
It shows quite a few pics of Todd's garden.
Good luck. t.
This message was edited Jul 21, 2005 8:50 AM
JesseK ... did you change your mind? :o) Haven't seen ya back since you started this thread.
I've loved miniature gardening for way too many years now. Here's a little something I startred a few days ago with some leftovers from around the yard. Still looking to fill a couple more nooks and then just let 'er go to town. Not sure how the Leptinella will do with this much sun, though. (it's the fern-like green and black creeper in the largest pocket of the forward area of the rock)
Thanks for your help everyone. No, I have not changed my mind. Husband is out of town and I've been getting ready to fly out to CA tomorrow. So I've been watering a couple hundred plants to make sure they do ok while I am gone. I have so many it takes forever to water them. Plus some had to be repotted. I've been busy with that. When I get to CA I will start going through all the information that you have shared with me and maybe pick up a few plants while there. I have really enjoy reading all of the things on this forum. Hopefully one day I will have a miniature rock garden.
JesseK
Well, I'd be happy to keep this thread alive :)
Like Jesse, I've been tossing around the idea of a rock garden lately. Ya'll will laugh aloud when you read this, but I might as well be transparent -- I have NO idea how to plant a rock garden. LOL - do you plant straight into gravel or is the "rock" part merely the top layer, like a mulch? I've always wondered, but never asked ;)
I'm interested in terracing a tricky slope in our yard with some larger rocks and then creating a natural-looking "spill" of plants all along the rocky bed. Unlike Jesse, I'd be interested in some medium-sized to large plants along with smaller ones. I saw in several threads that sedums were good for rock gardens. Does this mean the taller types, too?
LOL -- you can tell I haven't read much on rock gardens, can't you??
Thanks,
Jacci
Yippee, another convert. Welcome, Jacci. A lot of us here are newbies and can't give you the kind of thorough information the experts can. Luckily for you, there are some experts in this forum too.
I'll attempt to answer your questions, but it won't bother me at all if someone else in the forum wants to disagree with me or correct me. I only started rock gardening this year. I think the term is fairly loose, so it would apply to both of the growing conditions you describe. Some plants are perfectly happy if you just plant them in gravel with only a little bit of soil. Others are happier in soil, with or without a gravel mulch.
If I were you, I'd look through the threads in this forum and see which plants I like the most. We can give you more specific planting instructions for each plant you like. Alpine season's over, so there's not as much traffic in the forum these days. If you find that we take too long answering your questions, send us a d-mail and force us back into gear.
huga! great to see you back on line! Thought when you gave up on hostas you quit gardening (or DG, at least) and I missed you! How have you been and how is your garden growing?! And how are the girls?
Yes, I am in about the same situation as you are...I have my semi shady front slope with some rocky steps and want to plant some interesting plants, but not especially the super miniatures that are so popular with the pure 'rockists'! So, perhaps we can explore together some different ideas...I did pick up some low-growing sedum for that spot and they seem to like it.
I have studied the NARGS site and checked out library books for lots of ideas...and Todd has a great mixed border garden with loads of interesting plants to check out on the New Foundland Rock Garden Site, so don't miss that...And don't forget--it's almost bulb planting time and there are some neat bulbs for the rockery on Todd's site, too.
BTW--one good local source for rock garden plants is Greenfield Plant Farm in Maineville, Ohio....and they have great sales. ($1 per plant sometimes.) You can get on their e-mail news list if you like.
Keep us posted on your progress! Happy gardening. t.
Good to "see" you, too, Judy :) I've been peeping in on DG, but haven't been posting as much lately. Still around, just a bit less time lately :) We're all well, the girls keep growing despite my orders to quit it and stay little. Baby Joy is 10 months already, and crawling all around. My, my, soooo quickly goes the time :) It goes sweetly, though, too ;) Hope ya'll are doing just as well.
Greenfield is awesome. I was there in the spring and really need to get back. IF I do this rock garden thing, it's about 3 years down the road. I know so little about it, though, that I feel like I should start getting a knowledge base now. Just puttering around with some ideas and studying up a bit. I think I'll take it on as my winter "class" :)
Thanks, Zuzu, for the reply. Like I said, I have a lot to learn :) I'll keep poppin' in on your forum and see what's going on with everyone. Love to look at the photos, keep those coming everyone! :)
Ya'll take care,
Jacci
Hi everyone,
I am still very interested in doing this but I am in a sort of uncertain situation at the moment. That is why I have not posted here in a while. My husband and I may be moving from NC to CA but we are not yet sure. Because of this, I did not want to start any new projects just yet. I want to find out for sure where we are going to be before I start a rock garden. I would hate to start one and then have to move. So I am very impatiently waiting to find out what we are going to do. I just hate not knowing but I really do not have a choice right now. I hope to find out in the next couple of weeks what we are going to do. Thanks to all of you.
JesseK
Good luck, Jesse, whatever choice you make. Just keep collecting information. It'll come in handy no matter where you move. If you move to my part of California, come visit me.
Jesse--yes, that 'unknowing' where you'll be can be so frustrating especially for a gardener who literally wants to put down roots! We had the same situation for several (many) years as my DH changed jobs and we moved fairly often (especially during Navy days)...
Well, one good thing is that if you've got irrigation and $$ for the water bill you can grow so many wonderful things in CA year round. And even Xeriscaping is fun and interesting (and politically/environmentally correct) and can lend itself to rock gardening (California style, I guess).
Huga--so keep in touch and I will let you know how Greenfield is stocked and what the sales are. Not too long ago they had all their rock garden plants on sale for $1.
In the meantime (while I too await a real rock garden) I love to read about the rock garden enthusiasts and plant hunters...modern and victorian age, and the historic/heirloom rock garden collections, especially in the manor houses in the UK and Europe. I think a Cincinnatian was an important rock garden plant hunter enthusiast around the turn of the 19th century, but I forget his name....but I don't think his rock garden is still around here... off the point, I guess, so I will quit now!
Happy gardening. t.
My favorite little guy is the miniature Lingolnberry, Vaccinium vitis-ideae minus. It has lots of little very shiny leaves and it is Evergreen. This subspecies is only 6" tall, half the size of the main form. The genus Vaccinium includes all blueberries and most cranberries. Some are deciduous.
Well, I see it's been awhile since anyone has posted to this thread, but I'm trying a bit of rock gardening, having so far read only a little bit about it. I hope y'all are still around when I get pics and more questions. I've already bookamrked the links so far suggested.
Of course we'll be around and we'll love seeing those pics. We're just dormant for a while in late fall and winter.
Yes, I will definitely be around and I love looking at photos.
Jesse
The season is about to start. I can't wait to see all the pictures. Give us another month or two and
it'll be a happening place. :-)
Tam