Please help improve this rather shabby 1960s rockery
I would love some help with my garden. I have a very uphill garden with two retaining walls. One of which is connected to a very large rockery. It is unusually deep and about 20 metres long. The rockery is what you see when you look out of the living room window due to the incline so of course I want it to look nice.
I have removed some very old plants from the 1960s which were overgrown and woody. There are still more to remove probably. The overall effect is so bitty!
There are also gaps all over and I have spent over £500 in the last few days with the idea of filling them. Sadly now I have placed the pots and planted some of them, I feel defeated!!!! I cannot see how I will ever fill this space unless I spend a further £2000 or so on plants! I have thought about extending the landing strip of lawn which is between it and the second retaining wall but of course there will be some cost to this as lots of top soil will need to be added. I am not sure if I am better investing in more plants instead!
I love alpine plants but of course they tend to be small. I also would like everygreen ones if pos so it doesn't look bare in winter.
I have next to no gardening knowledge but have been trying to get inspiration from watching every gardening programme I can but this is overwhelming in terms of size to fill!
It is east facing so sunny but soil is very sandy
Thank you for reading my post :-) and any help would be so welcome.
Comments (15)
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PRO8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI agree with the comments above. On the whole it's looking great. I think the biggest problem you have is not enough rocks and too much ground to cover.
However, instead of shelling out more money on plants or even more on big rocks, can you mulch in between the plants? It would give it that finished look that you're after whilst preventing the soil erosion and allowing the plants to grow freely.
This area in particular needs filling:-
If you mulch this, I think you see an immediate improvement.
If you want a great ground cover plant, that grows like wild fire and flowers twice in a season ( ours does - probably depends where you live) - 'snow in summer' - Cerastium
Ours grows so fast we rip it out by the handful and it's unstoppable, really hardy too.
Buy your perennials on line at places like J Parkers, Bakkers etc or at the garden centres at the end of season when they mark all the 'finished' plants down by 75-80% that's what the wife does.
Her passion is gardening.
Just had a look on Parkers.........30 Perennials for £17.47 - for £500 you could have had 840 plants! JParkers plants click on this link
design novice thanked User
PRO8 years agoHello! It looks as though you have made a very good start. And once those plants get growing and become established they should more than fill the space. Have a look at the labels on plants as they usually give helpful guidance on how big the plant will grow so you can space them accordingly - and avoid over-spending! If over time you still have gaps you are unhappy with then consider filling them with seasonal bulbs for pops of colour through spring and summer. And don't forget you can usually lift and divide many perennials to create more plants for free! Also try adding trailing plants like the one pictured here (Erigeron karvinskianus) which looks great scrambling over raised or terraced beds.
design novice thanked Christine Wilkie Garden Design- 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
rachelmidlands