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Creating a rock garden and looking after its upkeep can be a good hobby. The retired persons can especially take this up as a pastime and spend many a leisurely moment in the rock garden.

Origin of rock garden concept and aspects of rock gardens

Originally it were the travelers to the Swiss Alps who got impressed by the flora that grew among the snowy heights and rocky terrain out there and introduced the exotic flora and feel in their homelands. The rock gardens can come in various shapes and sizes. They may be small and simply done as also vast and elaborately set up. Every rock garden can be set up in a unique way. While simple rock gardens may include only flowers, foliage and rocks the exotic ones can also be made having ponds and waterfalls in them. Your landscape can indeed be wonderfully transformed by making use of a worthy rock garden idea.

The rock garden is usually observed as a pile of rocks of different sizes that are aesthetically arranged with small gaps being introduced in between them for planting of flora. Bonsai may also be incorporated suitably in rock gardens. Rock gardens can also be styled in the Japanese rock garden way. In such case the rock gardens are also referred to as Zen garden. These are special rock gardens with hardly any plants. Rocks and affine, light colored gravel are what make up such Zen gardens.

Going about with setting up of rock garden

While proceeding with setting up of rock garden the rock that is available in the locality is primarily considered for building up the garden. This also gives a natural look to the garden. Often there are a number of rock types to choose from. Any native rock that helps create a natural look should be selected. After placement of the rocks they ought to be allowed to settle down for a few weeks for judging their stability and effect on soil conditions.

While selecting the flora type for rock garden though there are no rules or conventions as such, yet, choices of plants need to be made judiciously. Plants that will be able to withstand and thrive in the climatic condition of the garden should be the ones that are to be naturally selected. Personal favorites among such plants can be opted for of course keeping-in with your ideas of rock garden setting.

Using of the right kind of soil – that is rich, light in texture and well drained to avoid water stagnation – is much needed in the rock garden. Usage of strong fertilizers should be avoided and natural soil enriching material should be preferably used. Watering is also a very important thing to take care of. Using a watering can for watering purpose is the best way out. Alongside, care must be taken to ensure that the garden is not overshadowed by large trees. The garden must get exposed to the sun, wind and other natural elements.

While a large number of landscape gardeners choose to add color by using annual flowers, the remainder conclude that using  garden perennials is the better solution.  Annuals are those plants which {grow, flower and die|germinate, develop, bloom and die} all in the single year whereas perennials will continue to bloom year upon year. Obviously there are advantages and minus points for both annual flowers and perennial garden plants and landscape gardening is all about choosing the the best blend of the two.

A large number of folk have emotional memories of distant days spent in a grandmother’s garden enjoying the wonderous aromas of many old fashioned favorite perennial garden plants. Sadly it can be rather problematic for even the most keen gardener (including some experienced professionals) to emulate gardens of the past because many of the varieties (of species) can no longer be purchased. You will be happy to hear that many of the old fashioned varieties have been replaced by strains which are more able to withstand disease, so you can often discover suitable replacements which have little or no (other) differences to the old fashioned plant.

Traditional Perennial Garden Plants

One of the most popular perennial garden plants used in garden landscaping today is the Yarrow which first appeared in American gardens in colonial times when it was brought over from Europe. Achillea is a very old fashioned plant used since the days of the Greek hero Achilles (from whom the plant gains it’s name) who used it to treat his soldiers. Achillea can stop bleeding and works amazingly well at healing wounds.

Achillea

Achillea millefolium has beautiful flat groups of small blooms that are rather daisy like. Achillea  are available with flower heads in a variety of colors ranging from various shades of pinks, yellows and whites. Achillea millefolium are considered by most gardeners to be considerably easy perennial garden plants to grow. They are so easy to propagate because they are considerably invasive plants which can be seen growing on the poorest of ground. If you want to see success with Achillea millefolium you only need to avoid cultivating in extremely wet or poorly drained soil. The plants are fantastic at tolerating drought conditions. Achillea ptarmica and Achillea millefolium are two of the more popular varieties but there are many other types available.

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Creating a rock garden and looking after its upkeep can be a good hobby. The retired persons can especially take this up as a pastime and spend many a leisurely moment in the rock garden.

Origin of rock garden concept and aspects of rock gardens

Originally it were the travelers to the Swiss Alps who got impressed by the flora that grew among the snowy heights and rocky terrain out there and introduced the exotic flora and feel in their homelands. The rock gardens can come in various shapes and sizes. They may be small and simply done as also vast and elaborately set up. Every rock garden can be set up in a unique way. While simple rock gardens may include only flowers, foliage and rocks the exotic ones can also be made having ponds and waterfalls in them. Your landscape can indeed be wonderfully transformed by making use of a worthy rock garden idea.

The rock garden is usually observed as a pile of rocks of different sizes that are aesthetically arranged with small gaps being introduced in between them for planting of flora. Bonsai may also be incorporated suitably in rock gardens. Rock gardens can also be styled in the Japanese rock garden way. In such case the rock gardens are also referred to as Zen garden. These are special rock gardens with hardly any plants. Rocks and affine, light colored gravel are what make up such Zen gardens.

Going about with setting up of rock garden

While proceeding with setting up of rock garden the rock that is available in the locality is primarily considered for building up the garden. This also gives a natural look to the garden. Often there are a number of rock types to choose from. Any native rock that helps create a natural look should be selected. After placement of the rocks they ought to be allowed to settle down for a few weeks for judging their stability and effect on soil conditions.

While selecting the flora type for rock gardens, though there are no rules or conventions as such, choices of plants need to be made judiciously. Plants that will be able to withstand and thrive in the climatic condition of the garden should be the ones that are to be naturally selected. Personal favorites among such plants can be opted for of course keeping with your ideas of a rock garden setting.

Using of the right kind of soil - rich, light in texture, and well drained to avoid water stagnation - is much needed in the rock garden. Usage of strong fertilizers should be avoided and natural soil enriching material should be preferably used. Watering is also a very important thing to take care of. Using a watering can for watering purpose is the best way out. Alongside, care must be taken to ensure that the garden is not overshadowed by large trees. The garden must get exposed to the sun, wind and other natural elements.

What is garden landscaping?

Landscaping is often described as a pursuit of art, backed up by the scientific knowledge. The aesthetic sense in you makes the garden alluring, while the scientific knowledge serves the practical purposes. Thus in order to get started in your landscaping endeavor, polish up your finer senses of aesthetics and try to acquire information about basic landscaping designs.

According to the basic grammar of landscape designing, there are major five elements of landscape designing. They are:

• Color
• Texture
• Scale
• Line
• Form

Color: The color is added by the selection of flowers and particular shrubs and plants. The color schemes most commonly used in landscape designing are: monochromatic, analogous and complementary. While the monochromatic color scheme consists of different shades of one color, analogous color schemes are based on the colors which stay side-by-side on the color wheel. Complementary color schemes on the other hand comprise the hues that stay directly opposite each other in the color wheel.

Line: You can create the landscape in a line that is either straight or curved. While straight line has certain force of itself, curved lines appeared to be gentle to the eyes of the beholder and they create an illusion of movement.

Form: Lines are closely associated with that of the form. The form depends on the type of the plantations and their growth habit. Form relates to the aspects of size or area of the garden.

Texture: This factor is not influenced by the plants alone; there are many other objects in the garden like bridge, path etc that add to the roughness or smoothness of the landscape.

Scale: This refers to the size or dimension of any object in terms of the total area of the garden. Good landscaping depends on the sense of the scale and symmetry.

These were the basic elements of landscape design. Add your imagination and creativity to these basic elements to create your private retreat of peace and tranquility.

You can find three basic styles when it comes to Japanese gardens:

• Hill and Pond (Chisen-Kaiyu-skiki)
• Flat Garden (Hiraniwa)
• Tea Gardens (Rojiniwa)

The basic rules are more or less same, while the particular features are incorporated in lieu with the specific type of the garden.

In the Japanese gardens you will come to find a rare bonding with nature. Despite the use of many artificial structural elements like bridges or water bodies or artificially created hills, Japanese gardens are created to reflect the nature in her most unadulterated form. Thus “harmonious asymmetry” becomes the rule for Japanese gardeners and simplicity becomes the inspiration behind their work. If you are going to recreate the Japanese magic in your garden, then follow the thumb rules described below.

The illusion of time and space

To the eyes accustomed to European style of gardening, where the perfectly manicured plants vie for your attention in every possible nook and corners of the garden, Japanese gardens may seem to offer an illusion of emptiness at a first glance. There are so many things, yet the garden looks so vast and spacious—this trick of space management is the first lesson with regard to the Japanese style of gardening.

Selection of plants

The Japanese gardens try to reflect the permanence of nature. That is why it is the evergreen trees that become the dominating feature of Japanese gardens. The plants in the Japanese gardens represent the seasonal cycles. Because of this selection, the Japanese gardens are not discarded during the winters. The essence of the four seasons can nowhere be better felt than in the changing appearance of Japanese garden through the year.

Bringing the balance

In an ode to nature, the Japanese gardens strive to represent the nature in a miniscule, but in its closest form. As for example, in a Japanese garden, you can not accommodate a pond that is a perfect square in shape. Because nature never produced s such a geometrical wonders. Similarly, in your pursuit of imitating nature, you have also to incorporate the spirit of balance. As for example to create a mountain in your small garden, you can make use of the small rocks, but not the huge ones.

Fencing

Creating the right enclosure has great symbolic value. The fencing is created with the aim of locking up the serenity inside the garden uninterrupted by the goings on in the outside world. Sometimes, small windows are created on the solid walls to lure the passer by with the beauty that lies inside the garden enclosure.

Ornamentation with the lanterns

No Japanese garden is ever complete with stone lanterns in variety of designs and styles. There are three main varieties of lanterns that are used in the Japanese gardens: the Kasuga style lantern, the Oribe style lanterns and the Yukimi or Snow-Viewing lantern.

In short, Japanese gardens are the reflection of natural balance between change and constancy. A little introduction to Zen philosophy can prepare you for the better perception about the Japanese style of gardening.