Garden Rockery - How to Make, Plant and Manage Them
()
About this ebook
Related to Garden Rockery - How to Make, Plant and Manage Them
Related ebooks
Making a Rock Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreenhouse and Window Plants - A Primer for Amateurs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of Planting Trees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGarden Wildlife: Revealing Your Garden's Secrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern Flower Garden - 2. The Herbaceous Border - With Chapters on Planning and Arrangement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern Rock Garden - With Chapters on Preparation and Construction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlowers - A Garden Note Book with Suggestions for Growing the Choicest Kinds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sustainable Rose Garden: A Reader in Rose Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlasshouse Greenhouse: Haarkon's world tour of amazing botanical spaces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Amateur Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Gardens and How to Make the Most of Them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Good Gardener Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe reproduction of seed roses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeed Saving : Preserving Biodiversity and Traditional Crop Varieties Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Charmed Garden: A Guide to Herb Gardening Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTerrariums: Gardens Under Glass: Designing, Creating, and Planting Modern Indoor Gardens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Guide to Growing the Apple with Information on Soil, Tree Forms, Rootstocks, Pest, Varieties and Much More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Summer Gardens: 35 bright and beautiful gardening projects to bring color and scent to your garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrchards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Water Gardening Idea Book: How to Build, Plant, and Maintain Ponds, Fountains, and Basins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgricultural Water Management : Efficient Water Use in Crop Production Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaintenance Techniques for Interior Plants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerenity Flower Garden: The Story of How a Passionate Woman Turned a Grassy Paddock into a Beautiful Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNative Plant Gardening for Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Southern California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColor-Rich Gardening for the South: A Guide for All Seasons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouseplants: Plants to Add Style and Glamour to Your Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGardening in Windy Locations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrowing Kale Leaves, Brussels Sprouts and Celery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGardening Made Easy! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Gardening For You
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - 10th anniversary edition: A Year of Food Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemy of Herbs - A Beginner's Guide: Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Self-Sufficient Backyard Homestead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Medicinal Herbal: A Practical Guide to the Healing Properties of Herbs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Backyard Medicine: The Ultimate Guide to Home-Grown Herbal Remedies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYear-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Book of Simple Herbal Remedies: Discover over 100 herbal Medicine for all kinds of Ailment Inspired By Barbara O'Neill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFloriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Green Witch's Garden: Your Complete Guide to Creating and Cultivating a Magical Garden Space Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Edible Wild Plants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gardening Hacks: 300+ Time and Money Saving Hacks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Square Foot Gardening: A Beginner's Guide to Square Foot Gardening at Home Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Self-Sufficiency Handbook: Your Complete Guide to a Self-Sufficient Home, Garden, and Kitchen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Companion Planting - The Lazy Gardener's Guide to Organic Vegetable Gardening Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs & 100 Seasonal Recipes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Backyard Homesteading: A Back-to-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Herbalist's Bible: John Parkinson's Lost Classic Rediscovered Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarijuana Grower's Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Square Foot Gardening: How To Grow Healthy Organic Vegetables The Easy Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vertical Gardening : The Beginner's Guide To Organic & Sustainable Produce Production Without A Backyard Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mycelial Mayhem: Growing Mushrooms for Fun, Profit and Companion Planting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Garden Rockery - How to Make, Plant and Manage Them
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Garden Rockery - How to Make, Plant and Manage Them - Francis George Heath
GARDEN ROCKERY
Rockery and water (page 164).
GARDEN ROCKERY
HOW TO MAKE, PLANT
AND MANAGE IT
BY
FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH
EDITOR OF GILPIN’S Forest Scenery
AUTHOR OF The Green Gateway, The Fern Paradise, The Fern World
Our British Trees, The Fern Portfolio, My Garden Wild
Tree Gossip, Autumnal Leaves, Sylvan Spring
Sylvan Winter, Our Woodland Trees
Burnham Beeches, Where to
Find Ferns, Peasant Life
The English Peasantry
etc.
WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
PREFACE
THE object of this little volume is to please and interest every one. It may be supposed that this is a very ambitious object. On the contrary, it is a very modest one. Those catering for public amusement and instruction give most pleasure who demand the smallest toll in the shape of study and trouble. Most people like to be easily amused. Life nowadays is so strenuous, and bread-winning, and other of the more important occupations of men and women, require such an expenditure of mental and physical energy, that there is none left to devote to recreation which involves a lot of preliminary study and preparation.
An expert and accomplished botanist said to me not long ago that he did not believe in royal roads
to the study of plants. I replied: Well, then, I suppose, if your life and fortune demanded an immediate visit to Paris, you would not dream of acquiring, rapidly, just as much of the language of that city as would enable you to go over and transact your business, but would insist on spending at least a year in mastering French before you started!
The name of the lovers of gardening is Legion ; but how many would indulge in the fascinating pastime if a condition-precedent were a thorough knowledge of botany—which requires a lifetime ?
I believe that a little knowledge
is not a dangerous thing,
but is, oftentimes, a very delightful thing! and I am going to show the worn and worried man, or woman, of business how to obtain a maximum of enjoyment with a minimum of preliminary attention and consideration.
There is no garden, however large, there is no forecourt or backyard, however dark, small, and miserable-looking, that cannot be improved and brightened by the introduction of a larger or smaller bit of rockery. There are plants that will live and thrive in the most dismal and depressing of shady corners; and the owner or occupier of dwellings to which such shady, dismal corners are attached—whether or not he is interested in what is called gardening
—is bound to be refreshed and comforted by the addition to them of something fresh and green!
Every human being is, consciously or unconsciously, a nature lover! The human brain, the human mind, cannot help being pleasurably affected by God’s sunshine and God’s green growing things, and by all the sensuous colours and perfumes and tastes of the beautiful vegetable world.
Rockery is the most delightful and suggestive of all garden adjuncts; for it is reminiscent of the most exquisite of country scenes; it is a microcosm of mountain and valley, calling up to the eye and to the ear the crystal flash of running water—the loud melody of the roaring torrent, or the dreamy gurgle
of the flowing brook.
How to produce this microcosm of the bold crag and the soft splendour of the gently-undulating hill-side is the object of the succeeding chapters.
FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH
SILVERTON.
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. A grassy bridlepath
2. Masses of rock
3. Rocks flung together
4. Varying shapes of rock
5. Trees in rocky hollows
6. Top of moorland hill-side
7. Giant superposed rocks
8. Badly constructed rockery
9. Properly constructed rockery
10. Picturesque limestone rockery
11. Our own rockery
12. The Lady Fern
13. The Lady Fern (another view)
14. Soft Prickly Shield Fern
15. Fern rockery against house wall
16. The Royal Fern
17. Group of British ferns
18. The Shield Ferns
19. The Buckler Ferns
20. The polypodies
21. The spleenworts
22. The common primrose
23. Hedge-side Shield Fern
24. Shield Fern in hedge
25. Hedge-side Shield Ferns
26. A tangle of ferns
27. Common polypody in hedge
28. Hedge-bank polypodies
29. Hartstongue in hedge-bank
30. Hedge-bank with hartstongue
31. Male fern and ivy in hedge
32. Male fern and ivy
33. Hartstongue on wall
34. Bit of stonework
35. Stonework in fence
36. Bank stonework
37. A bit of old wall
38. Old wall and hedge
39. Wild tangle awaiting adornment
40. A rock garden walk
41. Open rockery showing pockets,
etc.
42. Rockery for carpeting
43. Rockery and running water
44. Rockery and water
45. Rockery on a massive scale
GARDEN ROCKERY
I
THE GARDEN
PERHAPS in the whole of our language there is no word whose meaning is more elastic than the one which heads our first chapter. A garden is a place where plants are cultivated by man, in contradistinction to one where they grow wild. Strictly speaking, it means an enclosure (of any kind) which is first cleared of its natural wild growth and then replenished with such a selection of plants as the cultivator may prefer.
A garden may be simply a small pot, or box, filled with earth and some little plant or plants, or it may extend to thousands of acres, stretching away as far as the eye can see in every direction, and comprising specimens of almost everything contained in the vegetable world.
It will be interesting, perhaps, in view of the rapid growth during the last year or two of the taste for nature-study, to advert to the present writer’s explanation, penned more than a quarter of a century ago, of the reason for the origination and extension of the love of gardening. He wrote: "The world, as understood to consist, not of so many cubic miles of matter, but of so much flesh and blood, and so much brick-and-mortar work—the populated or residential, as distinguished from the physical or natural world—is continually increasing. Towns are getting bigger, and populations are growing denser; and though natural resources give few signs of falling off, the struggle for existence is becoming keener. The town, being of man’s making, is, like all man’s works, imperfect. It is, in fact, of all human constructions the most imperfect; and citizens, by a natural and uncontrollable instinct, have always turned from it, on every opportunity, towards ‘the country.’ The early institution of ‘the garden’ furnishes proof of the ancient existence of this feeling, which has grown with the growth of cities, and is stronger in the present day than it has ever been before. Of the various expedients adopted in modern times to give pleasure to urban populations, and to relieve the tedium of city life, there can scarcely be one which is more delightful, in every way, than the institution of city gardens. The love of Nature, which is innate in most people, has had less and less opportunity of indulgence as our towns have grown larger and larger, until city life and country life have become two distinct phases of existence. But as the augmentation of the number of human dwellings in any particular place has caused the country to be pushed, so to speak, further and further away, the love of Nature has, on the part of those compelled to live within the lines of bricks and mortar, become more and more intense in proportion as the absence from natural objects has become more prolonged. If, how-ever, city people cannot always visit the