4 steps to a dynamic and beautiful rock garden

The trick to a great rock garden is to pick plants that thrive in stony terrain. Here's just a few reasons for making a rock garden, and how to make it look great.

• Since their original habitats are mountainous and rocky, alpine plants are mostly hardy.
• They can tolerate thin, stony soils, and some can survive drying winds.
• Provided their natural habitat's good drainage is imitated, many rock plants are easy to grow.
• Alpine plants have brilliant colours that enhance any garden. Since their size allows them to grow well in troughs or containers, no garden need be without them.
• Once planted, they demand little attention, except to be kept clear of weeds.

• Rock plants do best if set in place in spring or early fall.
• If pot grown, they can be set out in summer, since they can be transplanted without unduly disturbing the roots.
• In mild-climate regions, rock plants can be set out any time the ground is workable.

• Homegrown seedlings and rooted cuttings that are ready for transplanting can be put directly into the rock garden.
• Upright shrubs or conifers look best when they are planted at the base of a rock.
• Prostrate shrubs or conifers are best planted at higher levels, where the lengthening branches can cascade over the rocks.

Many mountain plants you find at the garden centre will need to be transplanted. Here's how to move your plants from their pots to your new rock garden:

1. To dislodge a plant from its pot, hold it upside down with the stem between two fingers, and gently pull away the pot if it is made of paper or other fibre.
2. If the pot is plastic or clay, tap its rim sharply on a hard surface.
3. With a trowel dig a hole in the soil to the depth of the root ball and insert the plant.
4. Fill the hole with soil. Firm the plant in position with your fingers or a trowel handle.
5. Cover the area with stone chips, and water.

Rosette-forming plants can be grown in a vertical crevice, where rain won't collect and cause rot. Here's how:

1. Check to see if your potted plant can fit in the crevice, after removing the drainage material.
2. If it does, tease its soil ball into the right shape.
3. Wedge the soil ball into the crevice. Firm in with soil beneath the plant.
4. Finally, fill in the crevice from above the plant with a mixture of soil and stone chips. Ideally, crevice plants should be planted when the rocks are in position.

Large, well-established plants look good in the angles between rocks. This is the easiest way to get this look:

1. Dig up the plant during wet weather in fall or early spring, making sure that a generous ball of soil is taken up with the roots
2. If necessary, use a crowbar to lift a rock temporarily so that the roots of the plant can be wedged beneath it.
3. Firm the soil around the roots.
4. Water all your newly set plants.

• In their natural habitats, nearly all mountain plants are covered by an insulating blanket of snow each year.
• Where there's little sustained snow cover, even if the winters are cold, plants will need the protection of a loose mulch. This should be applied after the soil freezes.
• Pine boughs are a good choice for mulch.

With its unique look and hardy grouping of plants, a rock garden is a great way to do gardens differently. Pay attention to alpine plants' unique needs and become a master of transplanting. If you do, your rock garden could be beautiful and easily maintained.