ROCK GARDENS
Rock Wall Gardens
Page 1
Consider a Wall Fountain
When laying out a garden
on a piece of sloping ground, one will almost
invariably be confronted with the problem
of what to do with the banks which of necessity
will be formed. They are usually made into
grass slopes, which are difficult to keep
well trimmed, and are consequently apt to
look untidy if labor is at a premium. Alternatively,
they may be planted with shrubs or may be
covered with some trailing plant. There is,
however, a far better solution to the problem;
the unwanted bank may be converted into a
wall garden bright with color and full of
interest during the greater part of the year.
The wall, too, will economize space permit
of a larger lawn, perhaps for it may be nearly
vertical, while the bank could not safely
be built at a steeper angle than forty-five
degrees. The wall, too, will enable the owner
of a small garden, where there is no room
for a larger rock garden on orthodox lines,
to grow the ever-popular alpines and rock
plants. There is yet another use to which
the "dry" wall can be placed, and
that is to form a boundary for the formal
sunk garden; in this case the wall will be
quite low, rarely more than three feet in
height usually less, and should be made of
stones thinner and flatter than those used
for the ordinary retaining wall. The "dry" wall,
as it is called, is constructed of stones
usually sand-stone or limestone from two
to eight inches in thickness. They may be
of any size within reason, and untrimmed.
Stones are better than bricks, for they provide
cooler and moister root-beds for the wall
plants. They should be bonded, that is, laid
in layers so that the lateral extremities
of a stone lie over the centers of the two
stones in the row immediately below it. If
the wall is to be over three feet in height,
some means of strengthening the structure
will be found necessary, unless very large
stones are being used. This may be done by
the use of ties, i.e., long stones built
endways into the wall with their ends penetrating
the bank.
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