Your lawn and garden can be low maintenance yet beautiful through

rock gardening. The best places in your yard for rock gardens

are in exceptionally dry areas, or in water run off areas that

can be made to look like creek beds.

Although it is quite easy to create a rock garden, you will have

to plan well ahead of time. First, you’ll have to choose the

area of your yard for it to be made. Also, what kind of plants

and rocks to you want to use in it?

Often times, small river rocks and pebbles work very well for the

rock garden bed. It looks great to have the rocks be similar in

size, shape, and color, but sometimes it can look good to just

use any rocks that look interesting to you, even if they are not

similar to each other.

The rock gardens that tend to look the best have a rock bed of

small pebbles and stones, with different types of plants rising

up between them. Larger elements will be used as focal points

and shade areas through the garden to add areas that are more

interesting to look at.

Sparingly and thoughtfully adding larger rocks or boulders create

interest and variety in your garden. They also create the

possibility of adding a small fountain or stream. Additionally,

they create areas for you to plant moss or other plants on the

rocks.

After you pick a place for the rock garden, the area needs to be

completely cleared of all debris and weeds and their roots. The

open dirt area will leave you with a space to imagine and create

your unique rock garden.

The first thing that you will do after clearing the area is to

place the plants into the space. The plants will likely be

small, and used sparingly through the garden. They should be

scattered about, and not too close together.

Next, the largest of the rocks to be used should be placed in the

locations that you’ve chosen for them. Your layer of base rock

or pebbles should be applied after that. You can make this layer

as thick or thin as you want, but it should be laid as close to

the edges of the rocks and plants as possible. The plants will

wind their way through the rocks, so having the rocks very close

to the plants is not a problem at all.

Finally, any areas of special interest can be added, such as

water elements, driftwood, old wagon wheels, or any other

interesting and attractive item.

Join landscape professional Keith Markensen as he looks at landscaping for small yard.

Keep tabs on Keith at http://www.Plant-Care.com where he regularly gives his advice gained from years of on the job landscaping.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Markensen