Re: good and bad news from my garden.
- Subject: Re: good and bad news from my garden.
- From: M* T*
- Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 23:00:20 -0400
Congratulations, Nancy, looks to me like you've got a marvelous new
garden to play in.
I see no reason why you can't use the rocks for a rock garden. Not
all "rock garden" plants require full sun. Actually, any plant that
likes good drainage is a candidate for a rock garden. Generally,
rock garden plants are under a foot tall, but you can plant what you
jolly well want to.
The NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) site has a lot of
information about rock gardens and plants. This page goes into vast
detail on building a rock garden...probably more than you want or
need, but you may find useful info. there that you can adapt to your
situation.
http://www.nargs.org/gardening/rockgardening.html
IMO, before you add soil, you need to sort out which plants you'd
like to grow that are likely to thrive in your climate (forget true
alpine plants...they will melt in summer). Once you have a list, do
some research to see what kind of soil they need. If it's not scree
or anything out of the ordinary, then you can simply make a mix of
your native soil with some added organic matter and grit and fill in
between your rocks with that.
I'm a fan of sand beds and you can infill with sand for plants that
like lean soil and fast drainage, but you will have to water as your
hot summers will make things too dry in little pockets between rocks.
Lots of plants like sand beds. Lots of plants like rocks, for that
matter, whether they are true "rock garden" plants or not.
Given your current rock layout, you might need to do some plugging so
that whatever mix you use doesn't sift out and into your pond.
Go for it! And tell us what you end up with.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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> From: Nancy Lowe <nlowe@hotmail.com>
(snip)>
> Now, I'm thinking (always dangerous) that maybe I could use some of
the
> spaces in between rocks for a rock garden. If I were to make a
mixture of
> soil and gravel, and tuck it in between the rocks in the dry areas,
would
> that work? Do all rock garden plants need lots of sun? This spot
has about
> a half day of sun. My little hakonechloa that I've been nurturing
all
> summer are supposed to go out there to cascade over the rocks. But
my
> plants are so little, and those rocks are so BIG...they may have to
live
> somewhere else for awhile.
>
> So, water gardening and rock gardening...a whole new opportunity.
>
> Now for the bad news. When the gentlemen brought the rock in, they
> evidently used a sled to drag them. And chopped off a lot of my
perennials
> in the process. Fortunately, I had moved some to make room, but I
guess it
> wasn't wide enough. Now I have some little short sticks poking up
where
> there was once malva, Russian sage, centranthus, stachys...and I
have no
> idea where the columbine was. What do you think, will they come
back? Or
> do I just need to plan to replant the whole area?
>
> I do believe this project has helped a lot in the past week.
You're right,
> the garden is a wonderful place for peace and reflection. Thanks
to Don,
> for inspiring the sign my husband is currently making for the water
garden.
>
> Nancy Lowe
> Arkansas, zone 7
>
>
>
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