For those who regularly attend our Open Nursery and Garden days, you have no doubt watched the evolution of our new dryland rock garden by our welcome tent. I thought it would be fun to look back at its short evolution. Below is Jeremy’s bed outline from late January 2021, when this new bed was only a vision in our heads.
In late January 2021, Jeremy broke ground by digging down until we reached undisturbed subsoil, which was then loosened.
The next step was to add our planting mix, which consists of 25% native soil, 25% compost, and 50% Permatill (a popped slate gravel). The planting media was thoroughly mixed with the subsoil, which ensures continuous drainage by not layering different soil types. The final height of our bed was 5.5′, with the knowledge that we would loose about 6″ in final height to settling. Planting began in early March 2021.
Below is the same area taken this week–27 months after construction. The bed is 35′ long with an average width of 15′, which would give us 525 square feet of bed space–if the bed was flat. With our finished height of 5′, we actually have close to 800 square feet of planting space–50% more surface area, all because we raised the bed height.
Because these are dryland plants, this section of the garden is un-irrigated, except during extended periods of severe drought and above normal heat. We hope this “peaks” your interest in both the science and art of rock gardening. If so, the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS.org) is an amazing group of like-minded folks with an incredible seed list of treasures for this type of garden.
