Can you plant flowers in a rock garden?

A rock garden takes a little preparation, entailing digging a trench and layering sand and soil to create good drainage. But nothing enhances a rock garden like colorful flowers and the work involved is always worthwhile.

The first stage in creating your flowering rock garden is to bring in and assemble the rocks that will make up the foundation - this is the stage in which the heavy lifting is involved. This step may also be something of a group effort since you may need help moving some of the bigger rocks into place. If you can't find the rocks you need in your backyard or somewhere else on your property, you can check out what the local home improvement store has to offer. The trick is to buy landscaping rocks that will naturally blend into your lawn.

Once you've assembled the rock formation, the next step is to choose the plants and flowers. However, experts recommend that you allow the rock garden to settle for a few weeks before you start planting, since, during that time, a bit of the soil will tend to fall away and you want this settling to to happen before the flowers are planted. After this waiting period, you may begin planting, though it may take some time and experimentation until you figure out which flowers are the best ones for your rock garden. In order to play it safe, begin by only planting only a few samples of each flower. As these first flowers grow in, take note as to how they do and how they affect the overall look of the rock garden. As flowers begin to bloom, you can always move them to different parts of the garden based on what you think will look best. Although the process of planting flowers in a rock garden will be time-consuming at first, the only real attention you'll have to give them after that involves occasional weed-pulling. Beyond that, rock gardens are refreshingly easy to maintain and very easy on the eyes.