For many gardening years, I have considered the idea of building a rockery garden not my cup of tea. However, I am increasingly intrigued by some of the plants that are traditionally in the domain of alpine rock gardeners. This class of perennials (and dwarf conifers) would simply look their best and survive better in a rockery environment. (My attempts in the past to incorporate small patches of ‘rockeries’ at the edges and corners of some perennial beds did not give me sufficient satisfaction in growing/enjoying these little beauties.) Perhaps, it is time to experiment with making a small rockery garden.

The area selected (about 8×5 m) was used primarily as a test bed for newly acquired or propagated perennials and a few roses. It is on a slope. The soil retaining 2×6 pressure treated wood frame was decaying after about 12 years, and needed to be removed anyway.
This is the area last summer.

… and end of last year…

Mid-April was a good time to get started. The first tedious and boring task was to transplant most of the existing plants in the area to other parts of the garden and into pots.

A simple retaining wall was built at the bottom edge of the slope. It started to look promising.

A layer of the existing soil was removed so that a new layer consisting of triple mixed soil, sand and gravels can be added; another tedious and boring job.
The main anchoring rock structure and a narrow path through the rockery area were installed. The main anchoring conifers were planted. This is a fun part.

Plant materials were introduced at the same time when the final layer of gravels was added. These plants are mostly new acquisitions from Bever Creek, Thimble Farms, Lost Horizon, and Wrightman. There were little areas set for lewisias, saxifragas, gentians, hardy cactus, penstemons, dwarf irises, and primulas etc. These little plants simply disappeared into the rockery; for now. (I was hoping to go around the garden to extract some of the ‘more mature’ clumps of ‘rockery appropriate’ plants for this new rockery, but I have to move on to other projects. Have to wait until next spring.)

I did get to enjoy the flowers of some of these new plants even though they are still tiny. You can see the rest here.