Rock Gardens
Rock Out
(Originally Published: March/April 2005)
Something beautiful can happen in your garden, even if your plot consists of rocky or porous soil and receives little moisture. Do what this Michigan couple did: Tune in to alpines. These small, tough and spectacular plants let you groove to the fascinating beat of rock gardening.
SOME PEOPLE GET INTO ROCK GARDENING because they love the unusual plants. Others turn to it because their conditions (such as low rainfall, rocky soils and, in the West, high altitudes) demand it. For Jacques Thompson and Andrea Urda-Thompson of Ypsilanti, Michigan, it was the answer to several garden woes—even though they didn't have any rocks.
After buying their 21?2-acre property in 1988, Jacques learned that the lush cottage garden he envisioned wouldn't work. "We're in a little pocket where spring and fall rains are fine, but in summer, the rain shuts down," she says.
The Thompsons, both inveterate gardeners, perked up when they discovered rock gardening, thanks to an active local chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society. "I tell people who want to get into this that they should join the nearest chapter, or NARGS," Jacques says.
The Thompsons also had another problem other gardeners rarely face: Their soil was too rich. Many rock garden plants need soil with excellent drainage. To accommodate the plants, the Thompsons made their soil more porous, adding rocks and a base of soil high in sand and grit. "Once you build the bed, the planting is easy," Jacques says.
Weeding, however, is a never-ending task, complicated by the fact that alpines rarely cover the entire surface to choke out weeds, Andrea adds.
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