Rock Gardens

I've been gardening nearly my whole life and can't believe I don't have a clue how to start a rock garden. I would love to be able to plant some Sedum and Phlox (both creepers) as well as a few other smaller plants into a mound of soil and surround them by rocks. Is that what a Rock Garden is? And can it be that simple? (note to self - it is NEVER that simple in Vermont if it has to do with gardening).

Can anyone help? I'm thinking a small area, maybe a circle that is 3 feet in diameter? I have some quartz rock which has been dug up around our yard and would love to utilize the rock in with plants, but other than the Rock Garden idea, I'm stuck. Susan

Hi Junctioncats, I'm sorry to tell you this, but no you dont just pop your plants in the soil and round them by rocks, it is a bit more work than that if your plants are to survive, If I were you, I would pop along to the librery and find some books on that subject, if you do it your way, it will look like you forgot to remove the stones from the earth, but if you do it properly, then you wont just have a lovely feature, you will enjoy a wonderfull display of the right type of plants that will be happy to grow in the nooks and channels that they grow in the native habitat where they origionaly came from, I have a rockery in my garden and they are hard work to keep weed free, this is because the plants are quite small, they like a lot of grit added to the soil for drainage and the weeds get into all the little crevices making it hard to get the weed roots out, but in the end, it really is a lovely feature and very enjoyable as you get to grow plants that you would not see in your normal flower border, so go for it, but do it the right way as it will pay off in the end, it is not as complicated as it sounds, but it sure aint just a pile of soil and some stones on top or your soil will wash away and you'll end up with just rocks. we had to start with the biger rocks as footing, added soil leaving little pockets for the small plants and then added more rocks and soil, but the proper book will show you how to do it best and safely, so Good luck, I would go for it, you can also add real small spring bulbs, evergreens and all your flowering rock plants to give you colour all year round. WeeNel.

WeeNel, thanks so much for the info! Yea, I sort of already knew it wasn't going to be as simple as I'd LIKE it to be -:).

I'm going to head to the library tomorrow and see what I can find, and will probably look online too. The idea came to me that it would be a great way to highlight the great rocks I've managed to collect, as well as highlight some small plants that I wouldn't be able to plant elsewhere.

Good for you, really researching what you want as for rock gardening, these are lovely features, a biy of work to care for, but think, end results, also by going to the librey, you will find suitable plant lists that you and I never thought of growing in the garden, it is a lovely way to show rocks, it gets facinating as you make all the little pockets and cracks for the plants to fit into, dont forget to get some that will slowly creep over and between the rocks as it looks cool and more natural for these types of plants, good for you, like someone who has the bottle to just go for it, you can send us a pic of the end results, Good Luck and happy gardening. WeeNel.