Gardening with rock gardens doesn’t need to be boring

Too often in our area when we think about rock gardening a mental picture of lava rock pops into our minds and creates a feeling of boredom for this overused landscape rock.

But rock gardens do not need to be boring and can be intriguing places to visit and spend time. In our high-altitude arid climate, landscaping in general can be challenging, and having attractive plants grow and thrive may be difficult.

If you have an area in your yard that is struggling, does not look good and needs a face lift, consider rock gardening. Rock gardening is the blending of plants with different kinds of rock to achieve a desired theme.

Depending on how you design your particular theme there can be many benefits from rock gardening, including decreased water usage, attractive visual colors and textures and lower maintenance.

You can create a theme in your rock garden by using the right type, size, color and amount of rock, then blending in plant material that matches the theme’s origin, as well as other supporting elements. Choosing a theme or blend of themes is the first step in developing your rock garden.

One idea for a theme could be a desert Southwestern style, which would have red sandstone rock, dried dead tree branches or trunks, tan or yellowish gravel, cactus, yucca, tall grasses, and cedar trees to complete the effect.

Another theme is a rocky mountain hillside, which would include using plants that are native to our area like lupine, aspens, blue spruce, douglas fir, boulders that are different shades of gray, gravel from local sources and dark-colored bark.

A high swiss alpine rock garden would be very similar to the rocky mountain rock garden, but you would want to plant more perennial wildflowers, low-growing groundcovers and a water feature to add a refreshing element to the design. Water features do not need to be large or have a pond.

Many water features are simple fountains or pondless water falls, which add the beauty and sound of water without as many of the other issues associated with a full-fledged water feature. A pacific coast theme would include small pea gravel for walkways; using ferns, hostas, and other lush foliage; and planting deciduous and evergreen trees that cast a lot of shade.

A tropical rock garden (even in Idaho) would include either dark (almost black) or very light (almost white) colored rock, coral rocks, black or white sand (used for imitating beaches), bamboo stalks for screening, waterfalls or a water feature, tropical foliage plants like a banana, calla lily, palms, and live bamboo. The tropical plants will have to be brought indoors for the winter or be replanted every spring, as they will not survive the winter.

To obtain the full benefits of a rock garden lay down a layer of good quality landscape fabric under the rock or sand before you put it down to prevent weeds, and use a drip irrigation system to water just the plants in amongst the landscape rocks rather than an overhead irrigation system.

A rock garden does not have to be a huge undertaking, and many small areas that are often neglected in a yard, would work well as rock gardens. What makes a rock garden unlike other types of landscaping is that you have non-living objects (rocks) mixed with vibrant, live plants and sometimes water.

This mixture is a positive trigger for the senses and creates an inviting place to admire the scenery and linger for a while.