When you want to fill up a bad space in your garden or have a water conservancy problem or are never home to maintain a garden, but still want color, consider building a rock garden.
One time we had a real rocky slope in a very shady wooded area at our Bed and Breakfast in Tennessee which sloped down towards our Zen garden and a rock garden solved the problem, gave it character and charm to say nothing of looking good.
I have a friend who collects so many rocks from all the places she visits that she would make Lucille Ball of the movie "The Long, Long Trailer" look like a novice when it comes to collecting rocks. She has created an incredible rock garden and before she places each new rock she labels them with a permanent magic marker on the bottom of each rock. She knows by heart where they all come from and the beauty of her garden is that all the stones are different colors. Those colors influence her plant choices and she has created a really stunning rock garden that requires little maintenance and water to say nothing of also being a memory garden.
In the event you decide a rock garden is for you then you have to find a spot to put it. Then you have to decide how big you want it. Next thing is to design it on a piece of graph paper. Now you either have to have the stones or must decide which stones you are going to buy.
Stones in Florida are sold by the pound. Many places in Kentucky and I am sure other states have stones that can be purchased in chicken wire "cages" that are about three feet high and about 2 foot in diameter and the last time I priced them they were under a $100.00 a "cage". These places usually deliver, but it is an added expense. A truck or a small trailer will do the trick for you if you pick them up yourself.
Should you happen to live by a good stream or a river and decide to take rocks from the river or stream beds make sure you are not violating any EPA laws.
You need to decide if you want to have your rock garden have elevation in some parts of it and if you do then a pile of sand will be a good base for creating "rises" or "hills". If you are working with sandstone remember sandstone crumbles with time. Taller rocks go in the center or in the back depending on your design.
If you are putting your rock garden over a patch of grass then you either have to dig the grass up or put down some biodegradable material such as several layers of newspaper or cardboard.
I start at the edge of the cardboard or newspaper to keep the wind from blowing it away and then I fill in with more rocks, gravel, plants, relying on my graph paper design.
At this point you may decide to add some bits and pieces of statuary or a small water treatment. If you do then make sure the water treatment it is in the center or off too side so if becomes the focus of where you want the viewer's eye to travel to. Water treatments such as a small water fall or water fountain may require water lines to it and this is the time to put them in and cover them with your rocks. I usually find a small water treatment fountain or water ball with a self submerging pump is more than satisfactory and I just make sure it never runs dry. If you want less work then perhaps a small cement bird bath, a bird feeder on a post or a sun dial is the feature you might add.
Make sure you choose drought tolerant plants and make sure you read the labels to know their growing requirements as they will surely become larger each season so do not crowd them even if the rock garden looks sparse at first.
Then sit back and enjoy it.
