The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Rockweler Rockgardens
As a large amount of soil must be removed, which can be piled up around the outside, the height of the sloping sides which are to be planted is considerably augmented.
A depth of four or five feet below the natural ground level provides space for planting six to eight feet high. Sometimes there is an old cellar hole, a natural hollow, or other depression which may be used in this way. Even a small excavation, not more than two or three feet deep, opening off from one side of the ordinarily buit-on-the-surface rock garden, will provide not only an agreeable variation in the general plan but conditions of shade and protection for various types of plants.
A Natural Rock Ledge, which often constitutes the most beautiful of all settings for the rock garden, will, of course, require entirely different treatment. Fortunate, indeed, is the gardener who thus has nature as a partner in his enterprise— and yet how often the property owner pays hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to obliterate every vestige of stone, and attempts to make a lawn or a flower garden which will never do well in the unsuitable location afforded it.
Not often, however, does nature turn over a rock garden ready to plant—the partnership is not so one-sided as that! If she provides the rocks, it is usually up to the gardener to provide the soil. Such as is already in place may be dug out or scraped out sufficiently to provide "pockets" for new soil in some spots, and good-sized holes in others. Many rock plants or alpines will thrive with the merest "toeholds," a crack or crevice through which their long, strong roots will reach down to moisture and food. These may be provided at various points by the use of iron wedges, a stout crowbar, or an earth auger, the prepared soil being crammed down into the openings made.
Cement may sometimes be used to advantage in making additional pockets, especially where the stone surfaces are large. This should be employed in such a way as to be as inconspicuous as possible, by mixing with the mortar pieces of the nativestone. By drilling, and inserting pieces of scrap iron for support, pockets large enough to accommodate many suitable rock plants may easily be made even against a flat rock surface. At the point of juncture the stones should be washed clean, and if very smooth, chipped or roughened to allow the cement to make a good bond. The plant growth will soon cover these pockets.
