How to Plant a Rock Garden
Rock gardens are easy to create. Many flowers and plants do well in rock gardens as well. There are many different types of rocks available that you can purchase to put in your garden, or you can use ones that are already in your yard.
- Select the area that you want to place the rock garden. Most people choose to place them around trees, in the front of their house, or near the curb. Select plants that require minimum care to plant in your garden as well. The less maintenance that you need to give the plants, the easier the rock garden will be to maintain. If you are looking for a more natural look to your garden, select rocks that are angular and vary in size. Rounded rocks are often man-made and don't look natural on the ground.
- Prepare the area you are going to put the rock garden on by placing newspaper down over the grass to kill it. Remove any weeds in the area so that the plants you have selected will grow freely. Use larger rocks to outline the rock garden area. Place a layer of sandy soil down to provide drainage so that you don't end up with standing water in the yard. Walk on the soil to stomp it down so that it lies smoothly on the ground. Place a layer of rocks down over the top of the soil.
- Plant the plants in the rock garden area. You may have to shuffle some of the rocks around so that you don't end up killing the roots. For the most care-free plants, plant drought-tolerant perennials that will automatically grow back the next year. Be sure to have a mix of colors, height and textures for a variety of plant life. Don't over-plant the rock garden because the plants you have selected will grow larger and possibly spread; if you plant too many, they will die.
- Once you have planted all the flowers and plants, rearrange the rocks so that they are back in the areas that you shuffled them from. Add a few more rocks if you need to.