THE MAKING OF A ROCK GARDEN 
ELIZABETH LEONARD STRANG 
|HE average rock garden is as incongruous as a bird 
bath in a brickyard. Velvety lawns and billowy 
masses of dense foliage are impossible as a background 
for a stony ledge of rock outcrop, no matter how lav- 
ishly planted. The first requisite, if happy results are to be 
achieved, is a topography and environ- 
ment, either sympathetically disposed by 
nature toward this type of garden, or so 
constructed and planted as to reproduce 
in miniature, a scene suggestive of the 
native environments of the rock and alpine 
plants for which it forms the setting. 
Roughly grouped, rock gardens are of two 
kinds: those which possess the rugged 
spirit of nature’s ungardened demesne, 
and whose potential points of beauty 
) 
A necessary preliminary step was to remove a large garden 
seat which blocked the axis on the upper level. Next, a gap 
was made in the hedge, the shrubs cleared from the bank be- 
low, and the topsoil stripped from the opening thus made. The 
first work of actual construction was to lay the lower flight of 
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Scale, in fcet 
THE PLAN AND ITS SECTION 
Primarily a connection between two different 
levels these steps were treated as a rockery 
feature with water introduced and proper drain- 
age for the overflow. It became the dominant 
feature of the garden and a centre of attraction 
5C.CTIOM THROUGH A'B 
are stressed or softened as circumstances warrant by the skilful 
gardener; and those frankly artificial, which are, none the less, 
possessed of character, meaning, and beauty. Almost any 
country estate will provide the former; the latter, to which this 
article is chiefly dedicated, belongs to the large suburban plot. 
The accompanying plans and photograph illustrate a garden 
of the second type, which, though artificially created out of 
materials at hand, combines in a pleasurable whole both orna- 
mental and utilitarian features. Even the grotto has a practical 
reason for its existence, because it conceals the projecting arm 
of pipe by which the water system of the garden on the upper 
level is drained before the advent of winter. 
The rockery was the logical outcome of the definite need of a 
link between two totally different parts of the grounds in ques- 
tion. On the upper level, adjacent to the dwelling, was a square, 
formal garden of the English type, with rose arches, sunken 
panel, and brick accessories in harmony with the architecture of 
the house. A few feet below it, but cut off by a high Privet 
hedge, swept a pretty spread of lawn dotted by fruit trees, which, 
acquired some years after the garden was made, had never been 
connected with it save for an indirect path at the side. As 
shown by the photographs, the flight of steps chosen to bridge 
the hiatus was more than a mere link: it became the landscape 
keystone of the whole plan. 
Despite the fact of brick having been used in the garden, 
and being therefore applicable here, stone was finally selected 
as the material for the structure, both because there was a large 
available supply of boulders and slabs, and because of their 
greater harmoniousness with near-by rock outcrops. 
three heavy steps, which were bedded firmly in loam, each 
round overlapping three inches in the one beneath. As the 
slabs were very heavy it seemed unnecessary to go to the expense 
of a concrete foundation except for the pool; and, furthermore, 
loam in the crevices was necessary for the growth of the plants. 
Flush with the third step a spacious stone platform was laid 
around a hole four feet deep and about two by three feet in 
area, designed to serve as the site for the pool. To assure a 
foundation of at least three feet of solid concrete this was filled 
to within a foot of the top with a mixture consisting of one part 
cement, two parts of clean sand, and three of broken stone one 
inch or less in diameter. In this was bedded at one of the lower 
corners a stand-pipe like those seen in pantry sinks, with a two 
inch drain-pipe leading to a dry-well, or hole, two feet square 
dug below the bottom step, filled with stones and sodded over. 
Since the water supply pipe ran very close, it was a matter 
of but a few hours’ work for a plumber to install a jet at the spot 
where later the back wall of the grotto would be. By the mere 
turning of a stop-cock a strong stream can be thrown or throttled 
down to a gentle drip, according to the dictates of fancy. As 
the pool fills the surplus water runs into the over-flow. When 
necessary to empty the pool, the stand-pipe is pulled up and the 
water allowed to run out at the bottom. 
While the concrete foundation was hardening — a matter of 
three days — the two narrower flights of steps diverging upward 
from the level of the pool were completed; also the simple little 
seats and rockwork at the sides. Then a rectangular bottom- 
less box of required size, the top of which came flush with the 
stone platform, was made to serve as a form for the pool proper, 
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