ROCK GARDENSRock Gardens Overview - 1There are few features in
the garden that provide such a variety of
interests in so little space as a well-planned
and carefully planted rock garden. The smallest
plot may contain a rock garden which will
house a representative and charming collection
of alpine plants; but, on the other hand,
there are few features in the ordinary garden
that are so neglected and so ill-understood.
It must be remembered that the chief function
of the rock garden is to provide the plants
grown in it with conditions, so far as possible,
similar to those existing in their natural
haunts. The alpines and high alpines are
the most typical of all rock plants and are
mostly natives of the high mountain crags
and screes of the Alps and Himalayas. The
ideal rock garden, therefore, should, so
far as possible, provide the soil and natural
conditions pertaining in these regions. During
the short alpine summer the plants are subjected
to fierce and baking sun; lacking the water
of outdoor water fountains, many of them,
therefore, have thick leaves covered with
down or hair to protect them from its shriveling
rays. The roots, too, at this time need ample
moisture, and this is provided by the melting
of the snows on the mountain tops, whence
it permeates through the scree of the moraine;
it will also be seen that to live in their
natural haunts they require to be very deep
and strong rooted, very often with a much
greater root run than the foliage and flowers
which their roots support. In winter, this
downy foliage, which rots very rapidly if
there is excessive moisture overhead or round
the crowns of the plants, is protected by
a blanket of snow until spring and summer
again come round. It is obvious, therefore,
that the two essential
requirements of alpine plants, especially
high alpines, are ample cool drainage for
the soil in which they grow, where their
roots can penetrate to a good depth, and
protection from damp in winter. The former
can be obtained with a little care during
the construction of the rock garden, and
the latter essential can be provided by the
use of panes of glass and hand-lights placed
over these downy-leaved plants it is not
necessary with glossy-leaved species) in
winter. It is against damp and the atmospheric
pollution of many of our low-lying areas,
not frost, that these plants need most protection. next rock gardens overview
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