Garden Office Blog

Add a New Dimension - Creating a Rock Garden

By Francesca McGlone on 19th November, 2010

The incorporation of rocks can have a dramatic impact on a garden’s appearance, where the creation of a craggy solid landscape provides a contrast to the entwining delicacy of flowers and shrubbery. The presence of rocks creates a distinctive character for the garden, with a variety of arrangements and shapes that can be intermittently decorated with greenery to provide an abundance of natural charm. Rocks also make perfect features for plants to cling on to, as well as moss, which can cover the surface of a rock, eventually turning it green so that it blends into the backdrop of a garden.

Bursts of floral colour can become intensified against the muted greys of standing stones, while larger stones can be used as make-shift seats, instead of traditional benches, creating a rustic haven that retains the vigour of an untamed space rather than existing as an artificially pruned garden without spirit.

A rock garden can be represented as a simple ring of stones that acts as a pretty border around plants. A scattering of stones that breaks up the density of flower beds and creates a variance of texture that can provide interesting depths in a garden.

A stone dune, which is a pile of rocks placed in a high triangular form, much like a sand dune which can become a dominant feature. When layering rocks it is useful to reserve the best looking stones for the top, as a rockery is ultimately a display. In winter, when rain or ice lie upon the stones, a glistening sheen will attract the eye, while a covering of snow will highlight each stone’s sculptural beauty.

Garden lights can be shone up through rockery, so that night in the garden becomes an illuminated spectacle. The view from a window out onto a rockery of light provides an inspiring sight.

Rocks tend to produce a calming effect; their appearance can be quite amazing, as smooth rounded or jagged surfaces converge, resulting in a rich, visual and textural scene. Large-scale examples include Stonehenge in Wiltshire and the famous Balancing Rocks in Zimbabwe, which all make an immediate impression on the viewer to dominate the landscape and provoke a reaction.

Whether a rockery is confined to a corner of a garden or spread liberally throughout the garden space, it can introduce an important and often overlooked element of nature, which is juxtaposition.


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