How to create a modern rock garden

As bright as a diamond. That is how your neighbours might praise your modern rock garden. But how do you achieve such a result? Ideally, you picture it flowering all year round while you spend as little time on it as possible. That is probably every gardener’s dream, whether amateur or professional. Let’s be honest, traditional rock gardens on slopes are slowly disappearing. They are no longer as popular. However, whether your rock garden has a natural or a trendy look, the same rules apply to planting it and caring for it.

Planting

When choosing plants, focus mainly on a few rules:

• the location of your rock garden
• the plants’ light requirements
• soil
• watering

Think about how large your rock plants will grow. Definitely avoid those that grow very large, self-seed or spread by offshoots and so crowd out the surrounding flowers. These include ivy, periwinkle, mint, roses, peonies and invasive species of grasses.

Plant the plants you like best.

Most rock plants thrive in ordinary soil, preferably loamy, calcareous and sandy. However, if you have species that do not like acidic soil, you need to create the ideal conditions for them. Ideally, fill the planting holes with a mixture of peat and silica sand mixed with leaf mould. After planting, cover the area around the plants with stone chippings. This protects the leaves from contact with wet soil, and also from slugs, for example, and prevents weeds from growing through.

The best ornamental grasses

Their great advantage is that they decorate your garden all year round, so do not be afraid to combine them with various perennials or dwarf conifers. Also choose species that will not be killed by frost in winter. For inspiration, try:

Blue fescue: an exotic plant that needs care

Festuca Glauca: it comes from France, so it also likes a drier climate. Its blue leaves will amaze you.

Japanese sedge: grow it in bright light. It also dislikes drought and cold, so cover it with conifer branches.

Tufted hair grass: it likes dry conditions and sun. Plant it with lavender, for example.

A rock garden in bloom

And what should you grow if you want a modern rock garden in bloom? In spring, you will especially like:

Alyssum : it really lights up the rock garden in yellow. It is also easy to grow, which beginners in particular will appreciate.

Saxifrages : their small yellow flowers like bright spots. They look wonderful among stones.

Rock cress : another undemanding little plant. It flowers white or purple.

Stemless gentian: the most attractive rock plant. Its blue colour is irresistible.

Pinks : there are a great many of them in various shades of pink, and some of them also smell wonderful.

Water in a modern rock garden

Make your modern rock garden special with something as ordinary as water. A small stream can run through it, giving you its finest decoration, one that recalls a mountain landscape. So do not be afraid of waterfalls or rapids. The area around the pond, usually the wettest and lowest spot in the rock garden, is best left flat and planted with moisture-loving alpine plants that also grow in the wild along streams or in waterlogged spring areas. What’s more, if you take care over it, maintaining such a stream will be completely trouble-free. Then all that remains is to choose the most suitable edging materials.

In a modern rock garden like this, you will feel a real sense of well-being.