Where Should This Garden Go:

Typically an ideal spot for a rock garden is on a slope or naturally terraced area with rock formations already in place.

However nature has not blessed every home with this perfect set up which means you will need to create an area from scratch using topsoil and rocks.

This can be done most anywhere you choose against a wall or fence, along house or back of a garage – this is where I had one of my rock gardens – having one within an existing garden would also look quite nice.

How Big Should It Be:

This decision of course is going to be entirely up to you taking into consideration how much time you have and how much space you have to work with.

You may have seen pictures in magazines of very elaborate looking rock gardens with waterfalls or streams running through them and paths made up of large flat rock for walking. However, small, simply designed gardens look just as good and in long run for many of use will work out better.

This is especially true if you are making one from scratch, you need to consider amount of time needed to build it and cost factor as you’ll be needing topsoil, rocks and plants.

Remember old saying we all head growing up “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach” well it applies here as well, start small and build up over time.

I’ve had rock gardens at two different homes both had to be started from scratch and both started out small.

The first started small mainly because I’d never done one before, in fact it didn’t start out to be a rock garden at all. It started as a flower garden right behind garage, but discovery of some Hens & Chicks at a local nursery changed everything.

Which now leads to next section, plants.

What Plants To Use

This type of garden is a little different from what you may normally be accustomed to – large plants with brightly colored blooms.

Here you want plants that are relatively small, there are many low growing perennials available.