Rock garden ideas
Rock gardens can bring natural, rugged beauty to any yard, including steep hillsides or other difficult growing situations. Check out these amazing gardens for plenty of color and design inspiration.
Tall plantings
Common rock garden plants naturally grow in high mountains, where they must withstand harsh conditions including hot sun, high winds, and drought. Experiment with wildflowers in an array of complementary colors to create a picture-perfect display. For a layered look and full color, combine mounding plants and groundcovers with shrubs of various sizes for vertical interest.
Front Yard Rock Garden
Even if your site isn't naturally rocky, you can easily create a rock garden. In this front yard, a stone wall provides an excellent base and border for a variety of low-growing alpine classics, including Aubrieta 'Royal Blue,' Phlox subulata, and Potentilla. Gypsophila franzii and Dianthus 'Tiny Rubies' fill in the crevices between the stones and help unify the wall with the rest of the terraced garden.
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A text display
For maximum visual interest in your rock garden, play with texture and vary the size of plants and rocks. A mix of conifers, shrubs, and perennials works beautifully to create a lush landscape that combines unique foliage and colorful flowers. Cobblestones, Mexican pebbles in the dry creek bed, and bricks in the winding path give a natural texture and added drama.
Smart Hillside solution
Transform a sloping front yard into a streetwise showstopper by bringing in locally sourced boulders and a variety of rock garden plants. In this corner, creeping cedars, pines, yuccas, Japanese maples, ornamental grasses, and cannas create an eye-catching display. Best of all, the yard looks vibrant year-round and never needs mowing.
Colorful planting partners
When designing your rock garden, think of the space as a series of eye-catching vignettes that paint the landscape as a whole. Here, the orange flowers of Eriogonum umbellatum (sulfur flower) stand out against the gray-green leaves and pink flowers of Mojave sage (Salvia pachyphylla). Both plants are drought tolerant and thrive with little maintenance.
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Year-round rock garden
Extend your gardening season by incorporating fall foliage and evergreens into your rock garden. In this Asian-style vignette, large rocks anchor plantings of Japanese and Siberian irises, which display foliage highlighted by dramatic tips of gold. A native coastal pine in the background displays a sculptural form, perfect for Japanese garden design.
Cottage garden galore
Enjoy a lush look in your garden with flowering plants that straddle rocks and boulders. For a cohesive look, this rock garden features a warm color scheme of pink, red and yellow flowers. The bed is planted tightly to achieve the carefree abundance typical of cottage gardens.
Color and texture
Add dramatic impact to your rock garden by combining striking foliage with colorful flowers. In this mix, the feathery foliage of the low-growing juniper provides a lovely contrast to the candytuft and cheerful pink flowers of the petunia. An evergreen-like juniper offers many advantages: it quickly fills in the gaps between rocks, it's drought tolerant, and it adds year-round interest to the garden.
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Sculptural beauty
When you choose plants and design your garden, consider shape and color. Combine perennial options with dwarf conifers that bring structure and height to the display year-round. On this rocky platform, the bright pink flowers of the perennial sea urchin (Armeria maritima) gently enhance the sculptural forms of dwarf conifers and large boulders.
Drought tolerant rock garden
Drought-tolerant plants and a rock garden are natural partners. Many favorites can withstand harsh conditions and don't require much care. By paying close attention to your plant choices it's easy to achieve a lush look without additional watering. Plan to incorporate plants native to your region with eye-catching options like silver lavender, artemisia, and dianthus.
A warm welcome
This rock garden, planted along the driveway, helps create an inviting entrance to the home. Heat-loving perennials are suited to hot, dry climates and exhibit intriguing texture and color, while large rocks add rugged character. To create an informal look, drifts of sedum, salvia, yarrow, thyme, and oregano are mixed together and casually spread across the driveway.
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A stunning dwarf conifer
Dwarf conifers are a great addition to any rock garden. For a cohesive look, replace your greenery with a cohesive color theme like this silvery blue. You can create an entire garden using cones by tucking them between rocks or contrasting them with colorful flowers. If you're mixing plants, place cones next to or behind shorter cultivars to maintain visual balance as they grow.
A great place
If you plan to bring boulders or rocks into your rock garden, look for a site that fits naturally into the overall landscape. For example, a rock garden will look out of place in the middle of a lawn, but it looks great on a slope against the background of shrubs or conifers. Planted with a variety of low-growers, evergreens, and shrubs, these berries always look like part of the landscape.
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