An Easy Raised Rock Garden

An easy rock garden project for any landscape area. Rock gardens are becoming more popular every day. This particular garden is a small defined, and can be done in a few hours.

Rock gardens can be any size and also can be a raised bed. You can do your entire landscaped area in a rock garden or take an area and do one or more smaller gardens.

There is no set technique for doing rock gardens.

Below are some easy steps for you to take when doing this type of project.

Decide where you want your rock garden and what type of plants to incorporate in the bed.

We did not use a tiller in this garden as the area wasn't big enough. This garden is about five by five feet. A shovel, pick ax and a mattock were used. Make sure you turn over and work the soil. Rake it out and remove any extra debris.

Some local nurseries provide their own top soil. This bed has a scoop, or one yard of top soil added.

If your local garden center doesn't carry their own, you can get regular top soil or bags of potting soil.

An average ton of top soil takes about 9 wheelbarrow loads. After two or three loads, rake and smooth out the bed. This will make it easier for you when all the top soil is dumped.

Add and mix two bags of mushroom compost into the potting soil. This is also an organic fertilizer that will last up to one year. This organic material is a great compost for any garden and plants love it!

After the top or potting soil is down, take a rake and define the border of the bed by pressing the rake totally around the vertical part of the border. This will give you a a clear and crisp shape.

Place your pots in the bed and arrange them them so your taller shrub is the focal point. Your smaller shrubs acts as accent plants. A quick reference article to read is Your Garden Project - How To Plant And Place Shrubs And Flowers. This is just an easy reminder on different tips to properly placing your plants in any type of garden.

Below are two pictures of this bed. The first is the garden after the potting soil was put in. The second one is a photo of the plants in their pots before planting.















Go ahead and plant the shrubs. In this particular garden, an Abelia is the focal point. The Abelia has white flowers in the summer months. In front of the Abelia are two Blue Star Junipers. They are dwarf and also gives the bed a different color in their teal tones.

Notice the different textures between the Abelia and the Blue Star. I added four Creeping Rosemary plants. The four plants will spread around the rock garden.

Flowering shrubs, Ornamental Grass, and perennial flowers will work in this style garden. I have used many of these plant specimens with my clients and also my own gardens and landscape. Great products at reasonable prices.

Homegrown Herbs: A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Enjoying More than 100 Herbs is a must read book.

Have grown thousands of herbs in my greenhouse, as well as germinating them inside and in the ground.

Tammi, Saxon, and Rosemary clearly describes the ins and outs of growing Rosemary and other herbs. Great value for the price.

Rosemary creates a wonderful aroma and beautiful blue flowers appear in the summertime and throughout the fall months. This is a favorite plant for many of my clients that do rock gardens.

The final plant is Dwarf Mondo Grass. Add six Mondo plants in between the Rosemary. This small bed is easy to do and now full of different texture and color. Take a look at two more photos of the bed completely planted and also with the decorative rocks laid down.















Before you add the decorative stones, place your border of natural rocks around the bed. You can do one layer around the bed or put a few layers. The layers will build up the height of the edging. This will help secure the decorative rocks in your bed.

Add Your rocks . In this bed we used 6 bags of white stones. The goal was to off set the ground color as there is so much red clay in our geographical area.

Lay a bale of pine straw or a half of scoop of mulch around the bed to finish off the rock garden. The pine straw is easy to spread. Mulch adds a great look against the natural rock border, plants and decorative stones.

These are easy steps to take in creating a raised rock garden. You can make it any size and put a variety of different of plants in the bed. You really can't see it in the pictures but there are two burning bushes behind the rock garden.

In the fall, the two bushes will produce a vibrant red color to enhance the beauty of this bed. When the cold weather approaches here in the south, Pansies will be added for the upcoming winter months.

In zone seven, Pansies will keep their color throughout the winter time. They will die out next spring when temperatures warm back up.

This easy raised rock garden can add a special look to any landscape area in your front, side or backyard.Feel free to read the article on Raised Garden Beds - An Easy Decorative Outdoor Feature For A Small Space Or Problem Area and get some other ideas for doing a raised bed.