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^\ l/Qocli Gardens • TOWSON NURSERIES, INC. 



ROCK GARDENS 



OCK GARDENING has become one of the most popular hobbies, for no form of 

 gardening offers more interesting possibilities for the amateur than this fascinating phase 

 of gardening. First, there is the stimulation and joy of creating something different and 

 unusual, all your own, and second, there is the thrill which comes with assembling and 

 growing strange, new plants from all corners of the world. 



There are rock gardens of all descriptions. To some, unfortunately, a rock garden means 

 only a mixture of rocks, and plants without any apparent reason for their being, but this 

 sort of a development is not a real rock garden. Unless it can be established along artistic 

 lines and made an actual and important part in the design of the home grounds it is apt 

 to appear at once out of place and incongruous. 



The first essential of any rock garden is that it looks natural. This does not mean some 

 particular spot in nature be copied. Instead, it means the preservation of the spirit of 

 natural scenery in the assembly of materials used in its making. It must seem to be not 

 an artificial creation but an intricate part of its surroundings. 



Locate the rock garden where part of it will be in sun and part in shade. Then you can 

 use all types of plants and provide them with conditions most conducive to successful 

 growth. 



The "lay of the land," should influence the design. If you have a woodsy slope with a 

 creek at the bottom, you are indeed fortunate; but any slope offers possibilities. If your 

 grounds are flat and level you will have to create ingenious ridges and hollows to provide 

 a reason for the use of out-cropping rocks. 



Rock gardens can have a truly Alpine feeling. Here we see the high dry peaks, the low moist valleys and 

 plants suited to each location, Note the subtle mountainous composition in the arrangement of the rocks. 



