Ideas for Using Rocks in Your Gardening Design Plans

Rock Garden

• Create a rock garden in spots where it is difficult to grow anything else. This could be under trees with low branches or locations where the soil isn't ideal for growth. Bring in rock from a quarry or construction site. You can add tall grasses or hardy shrubs and plants to the rock garden to add greenery.

Boulders

• Add large boulders to the landscape. Dig a hole for the boulder to sit in so it looks natural. Mix yogurt, potter's clay and moss together with a blender, and spread it on the boulder. Mist it daily until the moss is established. This will quickly create a moss-covered rock.

Rock Stream

• Build a rock river using a stream of rock, several feet wide, throughout the yard. Make it look like a creek that weaves through the property, or use it to draw the eye to other locations by winding it to a focal point. Dig a shallow trench, and spread gravel or large rocks in it to create a rock stream.

Rock Wall

• Build a rock wall around your garden or yard. Use large flat rocks to build the wall. Dig a ditch to start the wall that is half as wide as the wall is tall. Fill it with the widest, largest rocks, and build your way up. Anchor the wall with large stones that are duck into the ground and are stuck in perpendicular to the rest of the wall. Add a layer of large flat rocks to the top of the wall to finish the look.

Rock Formations

• Stack large rocks together to create structures. These could mimic England's Stonehenge or be similar to inuksuks that the Inuit build. Long, flat stones work well for building structures.