ROCK GARDENSRock Gardens Overview - 4A covering of pit or sea
sand on one or two occasions, brushed in,
will gradually secure this surface, if there
is not sufficient room to use a small garden
roller effectively. One may lay turf throughout
the milder periods of our autumn and winter
months and sow the seed from March May or
in September. There are, of course, a number
of proprietary articles on the market for
removing dicotyledonous weeds; I advise the
reader to follow the prescriptions fully
when daisies, clover or any other weeds become
a nuisance; some of these weed-killers are
dangerous, so care should be taken. I find
the construction of the rock garden equal
in interest to the painting of a picture
to the artist. The great mass of rock plants,
particularly the alpines, like a rich soil,
even where they need little of it. It should,
above all, be well drained so as to be light
and porous in winter, but at the same time
it must be moist and cool in summer. A soil
full of coarse sand or grit, leaf-mould,
and other decayed vegetable matter, mixed
in some cases with old spent manure from
a hotbed, is excellent for rock gardening.
As a whole these plants are not faddy as
to soil and most thrive well in the compost
mentioned above, but some grow best in certain
soils. For those requiring special soil conditions
it is quite easy to scoop out a hollow and
to substitute a little special compost. Alpine
plants in their native habitat receive a
yearly top-dressing of vegetable matter from
the material carried down by the melting
snows, and alpines in a rock garden are all
the better for a top-dressing artificially
applied in imitation of this natural process.
Where rock plants are studied in their natural
conditions, it will be found that in most
cases the soil around the roots is completely
covered by the stalks and leaves, each plant
touching its neighbors, and that practically
no soil is left exposed. This arrangement
is of the greatest use to the plants, as
by preventing the exposure of the soil to
the action of sun and wind, its natural moisture
is preserved, so that, so far as we can,
we should provide this protection. This is,
however, rather difficult to do at first,
as while the plants are still small and most
need protection, they are unable to cover
the surface of the ground, and to plant them
closer together would merely mean starving
and overcrowding them. In such a case the
best thing to do is to cover the immediate
surface of the soil with chips of stone,
small enough to be easily pushed aside by
a shoot, but sufficient to prevent the over-drying
of the earth. In a suitable soil and situation
the plants should soon spread and clothe
the entire surface. next rock gardens overview
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