Are you looking for ideas to revamp your garden? Flowerbeds and vegetable gardens are great additions, but we have a better idea for you. Why not build yourself a rockery this summer? A rockery adds a different aesthetic to your yard that goes beyond a simple flowerbed design.
Sure, it takes some hard work and plenty of effort to design and build the perfect rockery, but the result is more than worth the hassle. A rockery is a great way to define borders around pools, flowerbeds, patios, decks, and other garden fixtures.
A rockery also makes an excellent talking point, and it adds character to your yard, improving your home’s resale value and market appeal. With a little time and planning, you could have a rockery in your yard in a few days from now; sound exciting?
This post gives you everything you need to know about designing and building a rockery for your yard.
What Exactly is a Rockery?
A rockery acts as a focal point in your garden. It attracts the view of visitors to your home while enhancing the aesthetic of your yard.
Typically, a rockery is a collection of mid-sized to larger rocks arranged in a decorative design. There are dozens of layout options, and you can incorporate other materials like wood into the design to make it pop.
Gardeners can build a rockery at any time of the year, with autumn and the winter presenting the best opportunities to construct your rockery. The cooler weather makes the work easier than slaving away under the summer heat.
Like your flowerbeds, the best time of year to plant your rockery is during the early spring, right after the last frosts fall. Since the rockery is a permanent fixture in your yard, planting perennials like shrubs and cacti in the rockery is a great way to get a year-round effect.
However, you can plant anything in your rockery. Think of it as another raised flowerbed, but with a better aesthetic for your yard.
Why Build a Rockery?
A rockery creates a striking visual impact in any yard. It creates a defined space for planting and a great way to turn an unattractive area of your garden into a unique visual feature that enhances the look of your yard.
A rockery imitates alpine growing conditions, and plants that thrive in these areas are ideal for use in your new garden attraction. You can use a rockery to cover up unsightly areas or to build defined edges into walkways and paths around the garden. Some of the benefits of building a rockery include the following.
- Create structure and impressive visual focal points in your garden.
- A rockery exists year-round, providing a visual aesthetic that improves the look of your yard.
- A rockery is durable, and it won’t move around after a rainfall.
- Rockeries are low-maintenance garden features.
- By using different colors and sizes of rocks, you can create diversity and depth in your garden.
- A rockery attracts natural wildlife to your yard.
How Do You Design a Rockery?
To start your rockery, you’re going to have to source the rocks required to build it out. Typically, a rockery stone is around ten to twenty inches in size, but it can vary depending on the size of the rockery you’re building and the coverage you need for the yard.
You have the option of using recovered stones from building sites, or you can purchase slate stone from a quarry. If you’re buying from a quarry, look for rocks with unique breaks and cuts in them to form a unique look to the rockery after you finish the build.
Slate is available in natural colors, including the traditional grey and hues of green, plum, and some even come with a subtle touch of gold. If you’re looking for larger, rounder stones, Welsh Quartz is a great choice, adding more contrast to the plants in the garden and the soil you use in the rockery.
Welsh Quartz is rounder and smoother than slate, and it’s available in a range of hues from pinks to browns and greys. You also have the option of mixing and matching your stones to create a unique aesthetic that meets your design requirements.
After selecting your preferred stones, you’ll need to design your rockery. Start by measuring out the area where you want to start building. Transfer those measurements to paper and sketch out the yard, with the rockery dimensions included in your desired location.
Using the sketch method, you can create multiple designs until you settle on the right one for your yard. Take the rock sizes into consideration, and draw the planting areas in your rockery before you start moving stone around.
What Do You Need to Build a Rockery?
We already discussed the stone requirements for your project, but there’s much more to consider when building the rockery. The aim of making your rockery is to get it to look like a natural feature in the landscape of your yard.
To build your rockery, you’ll need the following.
- String and marking stakes to mock up the area.
- A spade for moving soil and shifting rocks.
- A garden trowel for planting.
- A crowbar for turning heavier rocks.
- A membrane to lay under the foundation of the rockery to prevent weeds from growing through.
- Gravel and stone for enhancing drainage.
- Broken bricks, coarse gravel, and pea shingle for your base.
- A selection of different rock sizes.
- Compost and topsoil for planting medium.
- Plants.
- The help of family or friends for shifting the rocks.
How to Construct Your Rockery
Follow these steps for creating your new rockery.
Choose the Right Spot
Choosing the location for your new rockery is the single most important aspect of the process. Your rockery needs to get full sunlight through all seasons, from the spring through to the late fall. Keep it away from large trees that might cast shade on your plants in the late season.
You can choose the size of your rockery to suit your yard and your requirements. If you’re planning a huge rockery, you might need to rent some earth-moving machinery. However, for the purposes of this post, we’ll discuss building small to mid-sized rockeries, as they’re the most popular option for homeowners.
One of the best features of designing and building a rockery is that you can set it up on a flat surface or a slope in your yard. You might need to create a foundation to give your rockery a more authentic look after placing the stones if you’re building on a flat surface.
To start, take your string and marking stakes and mock up the area according to your design. Clear the base and remove any grass and weeds from the site.
Add a layer of broken bricks, rubble, or pea shingles, building it to a depth of around 5 to 10-inches. After that, lay the weed membrane on top to prevent any turf or weeds from growing through the membrane.
Add a layer of smaller stones or desiccated granite on top of the membrane to improve soil drainage in the rockery.
Setting the Large Rocks
To start, you’ll need to layout the larger rocks first. These rocks form the “keystones” of the rockery, and you’ll fill in the area surrounding the keystones with mid-sized to smaller rocks. Use the crowbar to shift them into position, and add soil between them to support the other mid-sized to smaller rocks you lay in-between the keystones. Bed the topsoil in-between the rocks and in the planting area inside the rockery.
Planting and Mulching
After finishing your rockery design, you’ll fill the new beds with topsoil and other amendments and then add mulch for plant nutrition and soil preservation.
Alpine plants are the best choice for a rockery as they survive and thrive year-round in all growing conditions. Water the plants, and place them in the rockery; remember to leave enough space for the plants to reach full size during the growing season.
After planting, dress the topsoil using more desiccated granite or smaller stones. Some of the plants we recommend for use in your rockery include the following.
- Maiden Pink
- Wild Basil
- Wild Marjoram
- Wild Clary
- Common Toadflax
Building a Rockery in the Shade
Typically, a rockery will always do better in direct sunlight, as most plants thrive in these conditions. However, if you have a shady yard, you can still benefit from installing this visual attraction. The most important part about building a shaded rockery is your plant selection.
You’ll need to choose plants that prefer growing in the shade. Some of our recommended varieties for this purpose include the following.
- Ranunculus ficaria
- Acaena
- Leptinella
- lamb’s tailor “gold drop.”
These plants love growing in the shade, producing large leaves that cover the rocks as they develop.
How to Build Your Rockery on Flat Ground
If you’re building on flat ground, you’ll need to construct a mound, also known as a “berm.” This design strategy allows the soil to drain from the pinnacle of the rockery towards the side, ensuring you don’t get waterlogging of the ground.
How to Build Your Rockery on a Slope
If your garden has a natural slope, it should be sufficient to create the berm and improve soil drainage. Construct the rockery, so it blends into the hill while creating a level planting surface for the garden.
