The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

American Rock Gardens

The vegetation is wholly unlike that of formal or informal plantings. It is a type of its own, from a world apart, supposedly suggesting alpine peaks and barren crags as its home. Frequently, the smaller the plant, the more it is be loved, and tiny weeds less than an inch high (e. g. Veronica repens) are actually admired from kneeling position. The lure of rock plants is a special cult.

The rocks themselves lend an interest, and geology, though secondary, is added to alpine botany. There should be more plant surface than rock area in the finished effect; yet as the garden is bare of flowers many months of the year, the rocks and evergreen foliage are a vital part of the picture. This is essentially a spring garden, but with a special planting list it is possible to get good bloom in summer and autumn.

FIG. 1.—NATURAL ROCK CREVICE

A rock garden may be built in any clime or country where rocks are available. The mechanical construction does not change, but the list of plants must vary greatly. A ledge of the Grand Canyon bears Cacti and Pentstemons; a cliff in Labrador blooms in Primrose and Saxifrage. Much of our garden practice has followed English climates and methods in attempt to grow the flora of the Alps, but by changing the plants used, a rock garden can be made wherever man may place the rocks.

Preparations

IT is in the building of the rock garden that the first real difficulties are found. It seems simple indeed to toss a dozen rocks upon the ground and plant a few uncommon weeds among them. Before construction has proceeded far, the services of a geologist and a botanist are needed to help the gardener.

There are some dozen considerations to be kept in mind all at once and for all the time while placing the rocks. Each might be elaborated to a chapter, but if presented in outline the details will come naturally as the actual work of building progresses. Each is of great importance, and failure to give these due weight will mean that the garden will be like those usually seen, not very convincing in appearance and unsatisfactory to the plants as a home.