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| Garden Layout - The Rockery
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The rockery area uses quarried limestone blocks with shade tolerant plants, native woodland plants, heathers and ivies. This area was originally lawn, but the shade from the oak trees, and the overhanging canopy, forced me to dig up the moss and grass, bring in 1 tonne of quarried limestone, and plant up with shade dwellers. Some survive, some don't, but whenever a gap becomes vacant, I've usually something lined up that will slot in there just perfectly. |
 Mid Spring, Clematis montana in flower and a squirrel on top of the washing-line post |
| There is a mole that makes occasional visits to the rockery, tunnelling in from the railway embankment over the fence, but I think that continually 'coming-up' beneath an immovable block of limestone, usually convinces it to bugger off back to his natural territory. :-) | |
 Late Summer, with the Alchemilla Mollis, the campanulas and the pink Cranesbills all in flower. |
The soil, being mostly composted turves, is a fairly rich loam, and is quite free draining, as the centre, where the 'Glacier' Ivy smothered washing-line post pokes upwards, is about 300mm higher than the surrounding paving. I further enrich the soil, with well-rotted leaf mould or used composts from tubs and baskets, whenever there is space or before planting something new. The right hand side receives little or no sun, and so is quite a challenge, but I'm hoping to plant a couple of Hostas there this year. |
| The campanulas can run amok, if left unchecked, and the Astilbe needs regular watering in summer, but the biggest job comes every spring, picking all the acorns, their cups, and all the dead twigs, cast amongst the greenery during the winter gales. | |
| The bird table is positioned on one of the fence posts, and nut-feeders are suspended from the washing-line post, and both are regularly visted by at least a dozen different species of birds. The Dunnocks and Wrens spend endless hours 'hoovering' among the foliage for bits of chipped nuts and crumbs of bread. I try to have at least a couple of plants in the rockery at their peak, so to speak, at different times of the year, to maintain interest. The catkins of the Hazel and dry grass stems of early spring give way to flushes of pink from heathers and a Dicentra, to be followed by the pinks of the cranesbill and the blue campanulas in summer. As summer fades, the astilbe and Lady's Mantle come to the fore before all goes quiet again over winter. |
 Early April - Dicentra, in full bloom, with heathers to the foreground |
This is a scale diagram of the rockery area. Passing your mouse over each plant will result in the name of the plant being displayed on your status bar. Clicking on any of these hotspots will take you to the page dedicated to that plant. |
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Text, images, design and construction © cormaic web design - Last updated November 1st 2000