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Rockeries can vary in design and complexity. Here you will find suggestions, instructions and plants for your own rock garden.
When we hear "rock garden", we often think directly of those modern stone deserts that are increasingly appearing in German front gardens. However, using plenty of stone in garden design has a much longer tradition. The reason for this lies in the rugged flair and partly also in the symbolism or even spiritual charge of rock: It is not for nothing that Jesus is called the "solid rock", the Indian world spirit Manitou also lives in the stone and the Greek demigod Prometheus teaches the ignorant little people the construction of solid stone houses. Surrounding ourselves with rocks gives us a sense of stability and support - but how we use them can vary widely.
Create a rock garden
We would like to introduce you to the three rock garden shapes that are most relevant to us and then delve deeper into the design: There you will find instructions for a rock garden and a selection of suitable rock garden plants.
Rock Garden Design
The range of possibilities is large: from the calcareous, alpine rock garden to the Japanese Zen garden to barren front gardens with boxwood - planting everything is called a rock garden. We present three important, "rich" variants.
The European Rock Garden
Rock gardens use gravel and stones to provide the appropriate location for a specific group of plants. Drought-loving or alpine plants should find a suitable habitat here and be staged with their often unusual, almost bizarre appearance. Despite the intensive use of "dead" rock, the focus here is on the plant. Mighty stone blocks and dry stone walls create structure and different microclimates convey a special atmosphere through their mere appearance. A southerly or south-westerly orientation, if possible on a hillside, further intensifies drought and solar radiation. The plants that thrive in such gardens are aptly called rock garden plants andinclude genera, species and cultivars from different natural habitats with similar conditions. Large rock gardens of this type can also be found in Germany, such as the Rennsteiggarten in Oberhof in the Thuringian Forest and the Alpinum in Rostock.
The Japanese Zen Garden
Colloquially referred to as Zen gardens Kare-san-sui are Japanese rock gardens. Translated, "Kare-san-sui" means something like "dry landscape". The gardens are also called Kasansui ("fake landscape"), Fursansui ("old landscape") or Arasensui called(“dry pond”). They are a special form of the Japanese garden in which mainly stones, gravel and rocks are used and apart from mosses there are no plants. The layout of these gardens follows many rules and patterns: gravel areas symbolize water, rocks should be in an arrangement that is as natural as possible and should be grouped together in odd numbers - usually five or seven. Japanese gardens are often designed in such an artistic way that from every point of the garden completely new perspectives with interesting details emerge and various associations - such as animals or people - are evoked through the skillful draping of the elements. The artful structuring of the gravel surfaces via the raking serves for meditation and is intended to emphasize the other garden elements - conveniently it keeps the surfaces free of weeds. Other Japanese gardens also often contain gravel areas and rocks, but these tend to be accents or centers in a densely and carefully planted overall concept. Large Japanese gardens can be found in Germany, for example in the Botanical Gardens in Augsburg and in Kaiserslautern.
The Gravel Garden
A modern gravel garden is created for different reasons than the variants mentioned above. No specialized plants are cultivated here and there is no meditative relaxation or artistic exploration of the elements stone, plant and water. The systems are easy to implement: Without surface orientation, water, planting areas and differences in height, there are no special microclimatic zones or different lines of sight. An area covered with gravel is adorned with larger rocks or gabions, as well as solitary shrubs in topiary or grasses. The simple design is an expression ofDesire for order and little work and is therefore mainly found in front gardens. These serve as a figurehead for the residents of the house and a well-groomed impression is desired - only without the associated maintenance effort. Unfortunately, it's not the case that a gravel garden will remain easy to maintain forever. The entry of biological material such as leaves or dust is unavoidable. After a while, this creates a perfect breeding ground for undemanding wild herbs. Now the fight against the green invasion begins, which is becoming more and more labor intensive. After a few years, the entire area then has to be renewed at great expense. The use of herbicides on paved surfaces is prohibited and there is a risk of fines of up to 50,000 euros - to protect people, animals, soil and groundwater.
Design rock garden
The European rock gardens described above represent a special habitat and are therefore extremely valuable from an ecological point of view. They offer a niche for creatures that like and need it hot, dry and low in nutrients. In times of the sometimes excessive input of fertilizer into our environment via wastewater from agricultural areas or polluted groundwater, nutrient-poor lean areas have become rare and even dry locations are used for agriculture or forestry and made usable for us with all available means. Adapted specialists such as lizards, sand bees, thistles, cloves or the rarely encountered pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) fall by the wayside. By creating a rock garden that is close to nature, you create an easy-care and valuable area. This doesn't necessarily have to take up your entire garden - even small areas can make a difference if they are carefully laid out.
Instructions for a rock garden
Unfortunately, scattering some rocks and getting special plants isn't enough. A specialist company has the necessary skills to create a rock garden professionally. If you want to make a slightly simpler version of a stone bed yourself, proceed as follows.
Preparation for creating a rock garden:
- Choose the right location: It should be in full sun all day and ideally slope south. Roughly horizontal surfaces can be modeled to advantage, but pronounced depressions are rather unsuitable for a classic rock garden.
- Assess the adjacent ground: It is optimal when it is goodis permeable and nutrient-poor. If your soil is very clayey throughout or if it tends to become waterlogged due to a water-impermeable mineral layer at greater soil depths, more soil may need to be replaced before planting a rock garden and a drainage layer should definitely be installed.
Create a rock garden in 8 steps:
- Determine which elements should be where in a roughly true-to-scale plan. This way you can better plan the material to be procured.
- On the entire area of the future rock garden, 30 to 50 cm of the subsoil are now excavated, whereby a slope to the south can be created. (This step is not necessary if you already have particularly permeable, nutrient-poor soil. In this case, the subsoil is loosened as deeply as possible and modeled as required.)
- Plants and roots are thoroughly removed from the area.
- To prevent the surrounding vegetation from penetrating the rock garden area, it is advisable to finish the area with a paved edge - similar to a mowing edge.
- In order to promote water permeability, a drainage layer can now be installed. 10 to 20 cm of sand, gravel, crushed bricks or another permeable material are installed for this. Mounds or other forms can already arise. If you want to use very large stones later, you should create holes for them.
- The subsoil or the drainage layer can be covered with weed fleece to exclude any root weeds from the area.
- Now the plant substrate and large stones are distributed. The latter should be about a third of the way down. A mixture of sand, gravel, grit and soil, mixed in roughly equal proportions, is suitable as a plant substrate. You can use a concrete mixer for mixing if you need large quantities. Model the terrain according to your wishes when installing the substrate.
- Finally, smaller stones are now distributed more superficially, dry stone walls can be set and stepping stones can be draped, herb spirals can be erected or stone benches set up.
Rock garden plants: the right planting
When planting in the rock garden, select plants from the "Stone Plants" (St) area of life. These are further subdivided into the areas "rocky steppes" (FS), flat-bottomed"Felsmatten" (M), stone joints (SF) and Mauerkrone (MK). The division of plants into such areas of life makes them easier to use. You can search for the respective categories in nurseries and mail order and are sure to find plants that can thrive in your stone bed. Below you will find a table with example plants for all areas of life mentioned.
| Life Area | Description | Plants |
|---|---|---|
| Stone systems (St) | Plants for the “Stone Plants” living area feel at home in all of the following subcategories | Prickly Bean (Acaena microphylla), Spring Adonis (Adonis vernalis), Caucasian Goose cress (Arabis caucasica), Alpine aster (Aster alpinus), Lime aster ( Aster amellus), Dalmatian Bellflower ( Campanula portenschlagiana), Garden Argentine (Dryas x suendermannii ), Spurge ( Euphorbia mysinites), Pasque flower ( Pulsatilla vulgaris subsp. vulgaris) |
| Rocky Steppe (FS) | Stony, rocky, permeable and deep soil | Spring Adonis (Adonis vernalis), Pearl Daisies (Anaphalis triplinervis), Thrift (Armeria maritima), Mediterranean lily (Asphodeline lutea), Alpine aster (As ter alpinus), Snail Knotweed ( Bistorta affinis) |
| Rock Mats (M) | Flat soil layer over rocks and larger stones | Cat's Paw (Antennaria dioica), Caucasian Goosecress (Arabis caucasica), Alpine Aster (Aster alpinus), Lime Aster (Aster amellus), Silverwort ( Dryas x suendermannii), Elecampane ( Inula ensifolia) |
| Stone joints (SF) | Joints between stones in cairns or walls filled with little substrate | Caucasian goose cress (Arabis caucasica), Red spurflower (Centranthus ruber), Rolls - Spurge (Euphorbia mysinites), Gypsophila (Gypsophila repens), Sunrose ( Helianthemum nummularium) |
| Wall Crown (MK) | Sun-exposed, elevated position on walls or piles of stones | Caucasian goose cress (Arabis caucasica), Blue cushion (Aubrieta 'Blue Tit'), Rock Rockcress (Aurinia saxatilis), Plumflower (Dianthus plumarius), Silverwort (Dryas x suendermannii),Spurge ( Euphorbia mysinites), Gypsophila ( Gypsophila repens) |
You can find an illustrated presentation of our top 10 rock garden plants here.
Tip: Wild herbs are just as unwelcome in planted rock gardens as they are in barren gravel gardens, but they have a much harder time germinating when the desired planting has already spread across the bed. Also you can watch growing herb for a while. Because of the special conditions you have created, instead of the classic weeds, interesting drought-adapted oddballs such as the Heron's Bill (Erodium cicutarium) or the White Campion ( Silene latifolia).
You can also find more information about the rock garden in this article.