Rockery As A Means Of Creation

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Rockery, or rocky garden - an element of landscape design, is a limited area of land, a significant part of which is occupied by a composition of stones with the addition of undersized, creeping plants

From the history

The history of stone gardens goes back to the countries of the East, the first mentions of rockeries were in Japan and China. In these countries, stones have always occupied one of the main places in garden decoration.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the history of rockeries begins its development in England, due to the fact that travelers were amazed by the rocky mountain landscapes, and such landscape elements are gaining popularity. In the 1920s, rockeries become an integral part of English gardens. Towards the middle of the 20th century, rocky gardens are gaining popularity in America, as evidenced by competitions and exhibitions held by famous landscape designers and florists. Much of North America has a harsh climate that is not suitable for some of the plants that the British used for their gardens, so rockeries have become a good option for decorating American gardens and home gardens.

Where to begin?

For the device of rockeries, they choose a place free from beds, bright flower beds and lush plants. For this, elements of a mountain landscape, small gorges, dry streams, low hills or flat free areas of the garden are suitable. When installing rockeries, you need to pay attention to the style in which the personal plot is arranged so that the rocky garden fits into the surroundings. Since rockery implies a natural corner of nature, it should not contain sharp lines and edging. Even the most strict garden in the formal rockery style, which is based on ovals and smooth winding natural lines, will help to acquire lightness and airiness.

The choice of stones plays an important role in the construction of rockeries. You can use both stones found in nature, with interesting chips, of an unusual shape, color and various sizes, as well as stones that are now full of shops and catalogs of construction companies. There is a large selection of large boulder stones that can take a central place in the composition (jasper, granite, quartz and others). The main thing is that the stones are not exactly carved and do not have the same shape, since we need to achieve naturalness and naturalness.

In order to dilute our rocky garden, we use plants, mostly undersized, creeping along the ground. In order for rockeries to please the eye with their beauty all year round, they most often choose evergreen coniferous perennial plants, such as juniper, pine, cypress - these plants, even with the change of seasons, have a wonderful appearance. Moss can be planted in shaded, well-moisturized areas. Less commonly, flowering plants are used for rocky gardens, although there is no strict framework for using plants when installing rockeries. The main thing is to keep in mind that after all, stones should dominate in the composition, and plants should complement and unite the composition into a single whole.

In order for the rockery not to stand out from the general picture of the personal plot, you should pay attention to the color scheme of the environment, first of all, to the color of the buildings. If the buildings are made in pastel colors, then the stones in the garden should be of calm shades, and in order for the rockery not to merge with the surrounding environment, the composition can be diluted with contrasting colors or white plants.

Tips

On a site equipped in a landscape style with winding paths and lush plants, when installing rockeries, you should not get carried away with strict geometric lines, sharp corners and ignore the use of flowering, even annual, plants.

In order to achieve the natural beauty of rockeries, you should not choose stones of the same size, because nothing identical exists in nature.

To give rockeries a natural look, cracks and gaps between stones and plants can be sprinkled with small stones, chips, needles, small spruce cones or sawdust.

Whatever your rocky garden, be it a stone slide or a stream, it should be remembered that, first of all, rockery should please the eye, give peace and tranquility. Of course, your rockery will not immediately become a masterpiece of landscape art, but nothing prevents you from complementing and improving this small island of nature over time.