46 Rock Gardens 
The STORRS & HARRISON CO 
ROCK GARDENS 
An Enthralling Personal Hobby 
Nature actually started this fascinating gardening feature; but modem gardenera, both 
professional and amateur, are developing the subject with much enthusiasm, ingenuity and 
delightful effect. “Rock Gardens” may embrace acres of land broken up naturally in ridges, 
hummocks, valleys, pools and waterfalls, with outcropping stones and picturesque existing 
trees. These natural settings in the right place are, unfortunately, rare; consequently we 
have to create such effects, by artifice. 
Again, for one home-owner who can afford such expansive construction, with its comple¬ 
ment of growing things by the hundreds, there are a thousand wistful, eager gardeners 
who must be content with but a few square yards or a few square feet. With just a sensible 
imitation of natural topography, and a guided selection of appropriate plant material, who 
shall say the little city-lot gesture is not a “rock garden” just as truly as the ambitious 
projects on the large estates ? 
The estate owner will naturally (and wisely) call in a professional landscape expert to 
design, construct and plant. 
For the small lot owner who will do his own wor*k, we aim to be helpful. On next page 
is a list of the most important standard items segregated fi'om the perennial pages, with 
brief character definition, from which to make selection. 
Going a bit further, we have grouped certain items which are of like character and adapted 
to certain established rock gardening usages. These groups are even offered in definite unit 
quantities and given a (bargain) collection price. Hundreds of our customers have accepted 
these groups on faith and have from them created their rock gardens with satisfying effect. 
We would like to provide explicit planting plans as a service to our patrons but owing 
to the physical conditions of location, soils and available stones, no two rock gardens could 
be exactly alike. Consequently, it is next to impossible to make up “ready made” plans for 
laying out plots with any definiteness. 
Construction 
Location must, of course, be what have you. Liberal sunshine is much preferable; good 
drainage is essential. If your land is flat, dig a valley and build a mound. H there is an 
uneven corner spot, take advantage of it. 
Get together the best stones you can find; some uneven boulders, more of uneven, irregular 
flattened pieces. Uniformity in size and shape should be avoided. Go easy on both very small 
stones and massive boulders. No bricks or concrete fragments. 
Soil is important. Mix a good porous garden loam with equal portions of both sharp, 
gritty sand and vegetable fiber—which may be leaf-mold, or decayed woods-turf, or Mich¬ 
igan peat. 
Distribute this soil on your basic construction, first; then crowd in and solidly anchor 
the stones, naturally commencing at the outer base, and working up a graduated slope 
towards the crest. In order to catch rainfall, dew or applied moisture and direct its drainage 
downward without loss into the thirsty soil, tilt the outer edges of slabs upward at least 
10 degrees. In building rock walls, there can be no vertical face but a graduated slope in 
successive tiers, its stones uptilted as above for the same reason. Wherever convenient, pack 
in the roots of plants designed to creep across and trail over the stone.!, as you go along. 
In apportioning relative stone and dirt areas, always bear in mind that this is not a stone-pile to 
be screened but a garden in which the occurring stones are merely helpful, picturesque incidents. 
Tufted plants with rosetted foliage and moderate upstanding flowerstalks, such as we have as¬ 
signed (on page 47) to groups B and C, are best suited to filling the narrower crevices. The creeping, 
trailing types assigned to groups A and C, spread densely over the flat surfaces, eventually cascading 
downward over the edges in mossy trails of varied hue. In exterior supplementing groups, in Occa¬ 
sional clumps of liberal area midway of the ascent, and prominently massed along the crest, our 
group D provides thrifty, colorful and dependable types. More ambitious plans at greater expense, 
with less restricted space and more emphatic topographical features, welcome the enrichment of such 
units as Cotoneaster Horizontalis, Daphne, Tamariscifolia and other creeping Juniper, Azalea Mollis, 
Euonymus Vegetus, Yews, Savin and Pfitzer Juniper, Mugho Pine, Ilex, and an occasional accent 
at balanced locations achieved by the slender, upright Junipers and Arbor-vitaes. 
The usual good watering at time of planting, must be vigilantly repeated until you can be sure 
Nature is providing ample moisture. Your further responsibilities are: weeding, some slight guid¬ 
ance of the trailers, replenishment of eroded soil, and straightening up and repacking if the heavier 
upright plants become disturbed. 
^ ^ <S> ^ 
Rock gardening is not so safely simple as the usual flower-bed garden; consequently, planters 
must expect disappointments, and accept cheerfully some losses. But have courage, and stick to it. 
Plan ingeniously, experiment hopefully, and rearrange at will, so that as the seasons pass, this 
garden shall represent you, your ideals, your tastes, your secret springs oi poesy and romance. 
To others, the garden will be just a patch of beauty to admire. To you, it can be a tapestry of 
unspoken thoughts woven by your own hands; an epic written with bloom and leaf, to which you 
alone possess the key. 
A Rock Wall Used to Hold the 
Bank at Foot of a Slope. 
Arrange Rocks with Back¬ 
ward Slope to Hold Soil and 
Moisture in a Rock Wall. 
A Good Arrangement of Rocks 
to Prevent Erosion and 
Hold Moisture. 
I 
!• 
