Rock garden ideas

Alpines comes from high altitude mountainous regions, and require good drainage and full sun. In modern rock gardens, the plants used not only include alpines, but miniature shrubs and low-growing, spreading perennials. To create a natural looking feature, source local stone that will fit in with your surroundings.

How to build a rock garden

Choose a sunny area that has good drainage. To build a rockery, you'll need a variety of sizes of rock, gravel, a gritty planting mix, top soil and a mix of alpine plants or plants suitable for a rockery. Make a plan of how you want the rockery to look before you begin moving heavy rocks into place.

Remove any weeds from the area. Place the large stones, known as keystones, first, to get the shape of your design in place. Rocks should have about a third of their depth in the ground and be tilted backwards for a natural look. Then place the smaller stones. Use a gritty planting mix in-between the stones for the alpines and other plants, made up of one part loam, one part horticultural grit and one part leaf mould.

Low maintenance rock garden ideas

Use drought-tolerant plants

Use plants that are drought tolerant such as succulents and sempervivums, lithodora or sedums for a low maintenance rock garden display. Add a layer of gravel as a mulch around plants to prevent weeds from growing.

Add succulents to a stone wall

Make the most of existing garden features for rock gardening – stone walls are a perfect home for alpines, which will thrive in the crevices. Sedums and sempervivums will also grow well in the cracks, and in the dips at the top of dry stone walls. Once established they will add year-round interest.

Modern rock garden ideas

Light it up at night

Install garden lighting to enhance a rock garden at night. Well-placed spot lights can add a new dimension to your rock garden, and transform your feature for summer evenings. Solar lights and spot lights are easy to place yourself but for mains lighting, it's best to consult an electrician.

Source local stone

Choose a stone that is local to your area to create a natural looking feature that will blend into your outdoor space. This will make your rock garden look less artificial. Alternatively, match the type or colour of your rocks to the stone used in your paths and walls.

Small corner rock garden ideas

Plant a stone trough

For small gardens, create a rock garden in miniature using a stone trough. If the trough is big enough, place a few small rocks in it for extra interest, then plant it up with alpines, houseleeks and succulents in a free-draining compost mix. Add gravel around the plants to improve drainage.

Plant a crevice pot

An alternative to an alpine trough is a crevice container or trough. This is a container filled with slate or flat stones, to create crevices. Fill the thin gaps with a mix of compost and grit, then plant a mix of alpines into the crevices. Plants that are suited to crevice gardening include saxifraga, succulents and campanulas such as Campanula betulifolia or an alpine pink such as Dianthus haematocalyx subsp. pindicola.

Add shade plants to rock gardens

Rock gardens are best sited in full sun, as most alpines thrive in sunny, well-drained positions, but there is an opportunity to include shade-tolerant plants on the north-facing side of a rockery. For shade, good plants include ramondas (rosette forming plants), alpine snowbells (Soldanella alpina) or saxifraga for part shade.

Build a corner rock garden

Rock gardens are a good feature for small gardens, whether it's to perk up a dull corner or add some height to a border. They also provide a way to display more plants by adding vertical planting space. Campanula, aubretia or alpines such as kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), will work well. Kidney vetch is compact and a valuable wildlife plant, providing pollen and nectar for pollinators.

Sloping rock garden ideas

Add steps

Build a rock garden alongside steps to make the most of a slope. Choose rocks that match the stone colour of the steps and include a variety of plant types. Tall plants like irises will add height, while low spreading plants will soften the edge of the steps.

Transform a bank

Rock gardens are a good way of dealing with a problem slope and will help prevent soil moving down the bank. Remember to dig in rocks so that at least a third are buried in the soil, to stop them moving. Use mat-forming plants and those that offer more than one season of interest to keep the display low-maintenance, as it can be tricky weeding a slope.

Plant recommendations for UK rock gardens

Plants that are suitable for rock gardens include alpines, as well as small shrubs and perennials that thrive in similar conditions to alpines. Here are a few rock garden plant ideas:

Aubretia is a spring-flowering purple perennial that creates colourful groundcover between rocks. Height x Spread: 30cm x 45cm

• Buy aubrieta from Crocus

Pine-leaved penstemon (Penstemon pinifolius) is a low-growing shrub with needle-like leaves and tubular red flowers between May and July. H x S: 20cm x 50cm

• Buy pine-leaved penstemon from Shire Plants

Sedum takesimense Atlantic has lime green flowers that attract bees and variegated leaves with serrated edges. Perfect for the edge of a border. H x S: 30cm x 30cm

• Buy sedum from Crocus

Euphorbia myrsinities provides vibrant colour for a large rock garden, with blue leaves and lime-green flowers between April and July. H x S: 15cm x 30cm

• Buy Euphorbia myrsinities from Beth Chatto

Calceolaria bifola is an alpine with tall yellow flowers between April and July and evergreen leaves. H x S: 15cm x 15cm

• Buy Calceolaria bifola from D'Arcy and Everest

Dwarf irises such as Iris reticulata, with its tiny blue flowers in late winter are ideal for alpine troughs, gravel or rock gardens, as they thrive in well-drained soil. H x S: 15cm x 10cm

• Buy Iris reticulata from Crocus

How to maintain your rock garden

Water your rock garden regularly after planting. Alpines need watering until they are established, especially during hot summers. Keep on top of weeds as they will compete with your new plants for nutrients and water, and look out for any pest problems.

Common problems include birds which will sometimes pull out the leaves of succulents and cushion plants. Try putting sticks in the ground that will prevent birds landing, until alpines are established.

Ants may colonise the dry, well-drained soil around alpines. They won't damage the plants themselves so it's usually best to leave ants alone. Watering can help deter them, although avoid overwatering the plants.

Aphids, slugs and snails target young plants and fresh growth. Putting a mulch of gravel around the plants should help prevent slugs and snails from attacking. To deal with aphids, either squash them or try spraying them off with water. Birds will also help keep populations down.

Vine weevil can damage the roots of alpine plants. Look out for notched leaves that indicate the presence of vine weevil. Check the compost in containers for weevils. To tackle the problem, go out in the evening and pick the adult beetles off leaves. Encouraging wildlife into the garden can help tackle infestations and there are also biological controls available.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a rock garden and a rockery?

A rockery is just another name for a rock garden. Both are names for a raised feature built of rocks and soil that can be planted with alpine, dwarf shrubs and small perennials.

What is the point of a rock garden?

A rock garden creates a focal point in a garden, it adds structure and recreates a growing environment found in mountainous areas where alpines thrive. It can be used to showcase alpine plants and other small plants that like similar conditions.