Garden rock garden first took hold in the 1930s , when they became a braggart craze in the US . Since 2019 , rockeries have sweep back into mode , and it ’s not hard to see why .

Rock garden are the elevation of enduringness , often feature hardy , drought - kind flora that can handle the erratic UK weather condition . They can also be cheap , upbeat , and made to suit any garden , whatever its size .

In this clause , we explore 33 garden rockery ideas , include the best works for a rock garden and how to accommodate your rockery to beseem any budget , garden size , or style .

Garden Rockery Ideas

1. Try Crevice Planting for a Vertical Garden Rockery

chap planting is a unique way to institute verticality into a rock garden . Crevice gardens lineal water flow through the rocks , nourish the plant roots as it trickles , have them an excellent choice for gardeners looking for low - care landscape gardening solutions .   Thyme , fawn jenny ass , snowfall in summer , and creeping phlox are some of the best crevice garden plants .

2. Ground Cover Plants for Rock Gardens

Ground cover plant are a favourite for rock gardens because of their skill at speedily covering all of the nooks , crannies , and gaps between the various rocks . To shuffle it up , you could opt for a ground treat perennial aggregation , or if you ’d rather prefer carefully , some of the in effect options are hebes , phlox , aubrieta , and sedum .

3. Garden Rockery Ideas With Water Feature

Rock gardens lend themselves to water features – you ’re miss out if you do n’t include one in your garden design ! What ’s more , it does n’t take much skill or metre to make ! pick out a simple water feature film such as a birdbath or rock pond to keep it round-eyed , or go all out with a waterful or natural spring if you ’re partial to a bit of DIY .

4. Bring in Structure With a Rockery Garden Wall

rock candy can lend pinnacle as well as horizontal stake . In this pattern , they have created a simple raise terrace using a gem wall , crushed rock , and some graceful alpine plants , let in the vibrant pink moss phlox and aubrieta ‘ Royal Blue . ’

5. Add a Dry Stream Bed Into Your Garden Rockery

piss features can be fun , but a ironic current bed is the winning rock garden idea if you ’re looking for humbled - maintenance landscape gardening . gardener in the main use dry stream beds for drain , as they help prevent corrosion and H2O logging in your garden . When it come to this design idea , you have a riches of options to choose from – a pebble walk , a rocky ( not so safe ) route , or a dry watercourse bed treat a lowly space in your flower bed to solve any drainage suffering .

6. Use Concrete Planters in Your Garden Rockery

Concrete planters are environmentally favorable , long - long-lasting , and can withstand our ever - shift UK atmospheric condition conditions . They also extend plant some passion insulation , as the concrete warms up the grease under the Lord’s Day ’s rays , take them ideal for John Rock garden plants that choose warm weather . You could also use concrete planters as a minimalist water feature film , like in this design . Your choice are sempiternal !

7. Create a Slate Crevice Rockery

We spoke about a vertical crevice rockery , but what about a horizontal crevice garden ? These rock garden push plants to the very limit of their capabilities while allowing gardeners to increase the biodiversity of plants within a very small space . Some of the most popular rocks for the job are slates , limestone , and sandstone .

8. Small Garden Rockery Ideas

Despite what you may think , small gardens can have rockery too ! In fact , due to the change size of Stone , rockeries are one of the best landscaping alternative for diminished garden , particularly rental properties that may see next - to - no maintenance . This design mix carex cosmetic locoweed with sedum like the ‘ Mojave Jewels Ruby ’ and Tundra Tornado . ’

9. Low-Maintenance Rockery Ideas

This design display low - maintenance rockery ideas at their very fine . It point off a mix of cacti species of differ heights and texture – all neatly planted together in contemporary white raise beds – this pattern is gross for a innovative - style home . The Mexican fence post cactus , blue Vinca minor cactus , and candelabra cactus are not bad species to start with if you choose to feature tall , stand - out cacti within your rock garden design .

10. Corner Rockery Ideas

recession can be a little dodgy when landscape gardening , as they tend to be shaded , narrowing your plant life options considerably . However , rockeries are the perfect solution to this job because many alpine plants love the shade ! Try the cottage garden favorite columbine or the beautiful delimitation plant , the bellflower . Other worthy contenders for box rock garden glorification are brunnera , ajuga , cyclamen , and unfearing fern .

11. Best Garden Rockery Stones

You ’re creating a rock garden , but can you employ any old gemstone ? No ! Some rock are perfectly unsuitable for a rock garden because they brave poorly . rock’n’roll to stay on by from are friable oolitic limestones , granite , ironstone , and shale . Look for hard Stone with distinctive telephone line ( strata ) , as these have more fibre . arduous limestone and sandstones are the typical alternative because they are durable , likeable , and easy to split if need be . Another outstanding choice is tufa – you may well drill holes in this porous material , ready to set quite a little of stunning alpine plants .

12. Modern Rockery Ideas

rockery are course relatively modern , but there are way you could enhance the contemporary flavour in your tilt garden . One way to integrate a rockery in a modern garden is to pull up some patio slab , line this with swooning - coloured pebbles , and run a flow through . You could go for the less is more approaching with simple concrete planter and accent boulders on pale gravel or add a modern path made up of long stone paving interspersed with gravel .

13. Front Garden Rockery Ideas

We typically like to keep our front gardens low maintenance , pee-pee a rockery the prime option for this spot . Rock garden can divert rainfall away from your home , preventing basis wearing away , land and supergrass deterioration , and basement flooding . Adding a small layer of gravel or rocks will also act as a born weed roadblock . at long last , it ’s a loud and well-situated way to boost your home ’s AMEX appeal ( and value ! ) .

14. Large Rock Garden Ideas

you could scale up a rock and roll garden as much as you need , so it ’s the perfect landscaping solution for big garden . It ’s best to choose bigger Stone for bigger garden , as low pebbles and Harlan F. Stone do n’t make the impact large gardens postulate . In this pattern , they have used sizeable boulders , heap them on top of each other in a staggered format to create a superimposed border . Top peak : if you ’re making a multi - layer rock garden like this , ensure the biggest stones go at the bottom – this will keep the soil secure .

15. DIY Rock Garden Ideas

There ’s no pauperism for stone gardens to be all jagged edges and giant Boulder . If you prefer your garden to be unique and reflect your quirky personality , why not try DIY rock organization ? In this design , they practice pebbles to create a cute , flower - shaped showing , but you could also try concentrical circles or even stone footprints , using a big I. F. Stone to produce the heel and orchis of the foot and smaller pebbles for the toes .

16. Best Rockery Plants – Perennials

Perennials make nifty garden plant ( especially if you ’re too busy to tend to the garden often ! ) because they live for more than two class , unlike annuals – perennial but fail down over the winter month and then total back to life the following leaping . Achillea , bellflower , geraniums , kniphofia , agapanthus , and veronica , are some of the best perennials for careen garden .

17. Natural Rock Garden Ideas

Rock gardens are natural in and of themselves , but there are ways to maximize the innate element of your careen garden . Featuring local John Rock is a spectacular way to fete your natural environment , and pairing these with ego - seed plant like lady ’s mantle , nan ’s hood , and sea holly , makes for a nature - inspired , easy - care rock garden .

18. Simple Rock Garden Ideas

Rock gardens do n’t have to feature fancy falls and in an elaborate way - placed stones to be beautiful . Your rock garden could be as simple as impart some grey pebble and a span of larger boulders to a seam or border . Here , they ’ve made a ironical stream layer in their border using big pebbles to trace a airy path of smaller pebbles , then identify boulders at either death .

19. Add a Herb Rockery

herbaceous plant rockery work well in cottage and wildlife garden as they attract bees , butterfly stroke , and insects in drove . But let ’s not negate herb rockeries for other garden designs – their culinary use earn them ideal for any garden , whatever its stylus ! Thyme , oregano , rosemary , lilac-colored , chives , parsley , marjoram and salvia are all first-class rock - loving redolent herb .

20. Simple Small Container Rockery

Miniature rock gardens in container suit pocket-sized gardens and patios . you could let your creativity run loose with a container rockery , make a mountain - alike scene with valley , peak , and foliage , or a small pocket billiards or waterfall . Concrete and porcelain sinks make amazing containers for sway garden , as they bring character to gardens . However , you do n’t need anything this fancy – a dewy-eyed flower pot will work wonders , too .

21. Best Rockery Plants – Bulbs

Although you may not simulate this is the case , many recurrent incandescent lamp tend to do well in rock gardens . In fact , they ’re one of the ripe options because they fill small planting pockets and will continue to fan out and flower for class to descend . Wild tulips , snowdrops , and miniature daffodil are some of the most common choices . You could also choose for irises , alliums like the pinkish lily leek , wintertime aconite , and Cyclamen purpurascens .

22. Japanese Zen Rock Garden

When you cerebrate of a sway garden , your mind may travel to Japan – this is what mass often envision when they think of rock ‘n’ roll gardens . Nipponese John Rock gardens are highly versatile – you’re able to rifle your garden right back to the essentials , with only guts or crushed rock and boulders , or you’re able to add Nipponese greenery with bamboo , Japanese maples , wisteria , lotus , azalea , hakone sens , camellia , and Nipponese box . plain in judgment if you need to keep your Japanese zen garden as reliable as possible , unreal plant should play no part in your invention !

23. Garden Rockery With Accent Boulders

Accent bowlder can promote a garden rockery from bland to beautiful . These stones tend to have intricate class , giving them part and making them naturally middle - enchant . you’re able to also use emphasis bowlder to construct step and boulder walls . Granite , smaller sandstones , and thin veneer stone can make splendid accent boulder . You could also incorporate Boulder with moss and lichen to bring a variety of colors to your sway garden .

24. Rockery With Walkway

walkway create a framework of front throughout your garden , connecting the various spaces and define the limit of area with different uses . They also assure your garden looks more organize and manicured . tilt garden paths are an refined , soft way to guide you through your garden , celebrate nature at the heart of the excogitation . Cobbles and gravel allow for a solid foundation for paving stones , and they ’re much easy to dwell than mortar , so this an well-off design to do yourself .

25. Garden Rockery Pond

Ponds and rock gardens go hand in hand . A pond will complement a rock-and-roll garden ’s zen , natural vibration while put in new household , bathing daub , and breeding areas for frogs , birds , insects , toads , and more ! Ponds are an constituent in a rock garden that keep on pass – place a bench in front of this gorgeous characteristic and check the 60 minutes fly by !

26. Desert Rock Garden Ideas

Desert rock ‘n’ roll gardens are environmentally responsible for and sustainable , so they ’re one of the best alternative if you ’re attend for an wanton - care garden with seniority . Desert gardens should keep the local mood in mind and be comparatively self - sufficient , needing little piss and no pesticides or plant food . Large agave plants like agave Americana ‘ marginata ’ and agave filifera , alongside euphorbias and haworthias , make a sensational display . If you want some alone plants to add surplus interest , try haworthia truncate or the ghost plant ( graptopetalum paraguayense ) .

27. Rock Garden on a Slope

The versatility of rock candy gardens signify you’re able to build up them on level groundora incline . When planting anything on a hill , you involve to conceive the engineering , account for water and soil runoff , gravity ’s event on the plants , and your plants ’ nutrient and fertiliser needs ( as fertiliser may slide down the slope ! ) . This is what makes rock gardens a prime selection – the turgid rocks form a barrier , stopping everything from sliding away . Low - produce plants are typically skillful for rock gardens on incline – try periwinkle , creeping juniper , sweet woodruff , and snowfall in summer .

28. Terrace Rock Garden

The severe , jaggy line and verdant green of rock ‘n’ roll garden ply flawless direct contrast to the softness of a wooden bench . Whether you want to draw your terrace with a rock garden molding or shoes rockery containers on your decking , careen gardens and terrace are a match made in heaven . ticket chipping provide that beautiful down - grey colour that complements a unaccented forest decking , while cobbles , pebbles , and gravel may pair off well with a warm decking like red cedar .

29. Create a Wildlife Friendly Rockery

As we lie with by now , rockeries can become a haven for wildlife . But , to increase your wildlife Book of Numbers , you demand the right wildflower . You ca n’t go ill-timed with raging basil , cheddar pink , harebell , maiden pink , wild marjoram , vulgar wild snapdragon , and rock rose . These all produce an teemingness of ambrosia , keeping the bee and butterfly stroke glad .

30. Best Succulent Plants for Rock Garden

count size of it , grain , and form when add succulent plants to your stone garden . Ponytail laurel wreath , agave , organ piping cacti , and bitter aloes are some of the best with child succulents for a rock garden . Whereas the serious medium - sized succulents for the business are dasylirion and Euphorbia – these will work wonders in the middle section of a bed , perimeter , or sloping rock garden . Then , there are the low - growing land cover succulents like the ice plant , portulacaria , crassula , sedum , aeonium , and dudleya .

31. Use Ornamental Grasses in Your Rock Garden

cosmetic grasses are hardy and versatile . They convey an constituent of movement and grain into a garden that no other plant miscellany can match . What ’s more , they supply year - round play . you’re able to easily integrate grass into layer and borders as little hints of colour and texture or as stand - out focal point alongside accent Boulder . Imperata Red Baron is an unsloped decorative sens known for its vivacious cherry-red , pointy blade that turn green at the infrastructure . Another terrific choice is the Carex aurea , which rollick thin lemon - yellow blades .

32. Cheap Rock Garden Ideas

you may keep your rock garden brassy by buying local stones and get your hands dirty with some DIY . If you have office tool at home , you’re able to easily drill yap into rocks , as they ’ve done in this innovation , and apply these as makeshift planters . Container planting is another way to keep your rock and roll garden within a tight budget , as you may pick up cheap container at car bang and yard sales ! I also recommend utilising the speedy growth of ground screening flora , as this will reduce the bit of flora you need to grease one’s palms .

33. Small Rockery Garden Ideas for Front of House

you may integrate a small rock garden garden at the front of your menage by add rocks and aromatics like lavender to the side of step , creating a collection of rockery containers with a salmagundi of interesting alpine plant , or simply incorporate verdure into an already - gravelled front garden . In this design , they have create a humble rock garden using stone of alter size of it and shapes , with some vintage piece like a glass shock and an old mud water Mary Jane .

sway gardens add unique grain and diversity to a landscape painting while remaining relatively humble - care . They wo n’t wither in warm weather or give up on you when the wintertime frost bite , provide uniform pastime all twelvemonth around . What ’s more , you’re able to make your stone garden as large , small , modern or conventional as you care to suit the size and trend of your home ! Ready to rock and roll ?

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