How to Landscape With Rocks & Flowers

Draw up your landscaping plan using a piece of paper and tracing paper overlays to add elements and shift them around. Take note of the blooming period for your flowers. Add rocks to the plan in a rough manner that gives you leeway for moving them around in reality.

Decide on a theme for your garden. Focusing on a specific theme will help to narrow down the types of flowers you need and can also guide you in the use of rocks and stones. Possible themes include a tropical garden, Japanese Zen garden and Mediterranean style garden.

Choose the types of rocks you want to include in your landscaping plan. Unless you are going with a specific theme, you will want to use rocks that can be found locally. Going with local rock types makes landscaping with stones more affordable, easier to locate and transport and provides better integration with the surrounding countryside.

Choose basic plants that can thrive when placed into a rocky formation. Flowering perennials that grow to no more than a foot high are especially effective. Pick plants that fill this bill, like miniature dianthus, bellflower, asters and creeping phlox.

Build up a small hill to allow you to sculpt your rock and flower garden so it looks more natural. Add a raised flower bed to the landscape as a central feature of the design. Look for places where a container plant can be introduced into the rock garden to provide a different kind of textural quality to the planted flowers.

Choose a spot in the yard where the soil is well-drained to increase chances of success in your flower and rock landscaping project. This spot should also have access to the full sun during at least part of the day.

Apply a mix of coarse sand, compost and light gravel for the planting of your flowers. Add some peat moss for flowers that thrive in acidic soil. Add some lime for flowers that thrive in more alkaline soil.

Plant the stones firmly into the ground by burying one-third of the rock in the soil. Slant the stone in such a way that it tips back toward the soil instead of pointing downward to help retain water around your plants. This slant also helps prevent erosion.

Place your plants all around the rock garden. Plant some flowers to create a horizontal line and plant others to create a vertical line. Insert some flowers into crevices between rocks. Allow creeping or trailing plants to fall over the edges of the rocks.