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Landscaping

A Good Rock Garden Design Requires Careful Planning

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A rock garden design is a great choice for beauty and elegance simply because rocks are wonderful to look at. We enjoy rock and stone in nature, so why not bring that beauty into your own yard with a stunning rock garden design. However, if you are thinking seriously about this, then I strongly urge you to read a book or two on the topic, look over this site for information, and plan very carefully before you proceed with your project. Why is that, you ask? Because rock gardens are difficult to redesign once they are in place. Rocks are heavy making any structural changes highly undesirable. Most gardeners who implement a rock garden design rarely change it. The design will remain as it is for many years.

One tip to help in designing your garden is to first think about what you like to plant. Don’t think about the rocks at first. Think about what you enjoy growing and what you have time to grow. Do you like shade plants, or ones that thrive in sunlight? Do you enjoy shrubs or flowers? After you are clear about what you will plant in your garden, then you can start to consider a suitable rock garden design. For example, if you enjoy shade-loving plants, you are going to want to leave the shady spots available for growing while the portions where you place the rocks will be where the sun shines. The safest rock garden design will leave soil open in both shady and sunny areas. You don’t want to expend great effort in designing a garden with no shady spots for growing only to find in a couple years that you want to experiment with shade-loving plants. Leave yourself some options in the rock garden design you choose because most likely your rock garden design will be permanent.

Another thing to strongly consider in the planning of your rock garden design is the location of paths. Paths should not be something you throw in after you’ve thought of all the other aspects of your rock garden design. Paths should be put in to the design from the beginning. When thinking about where the paths are going to go, you need to think about where the sunlight is going to be through out the day. Do you want your paths in the sun, in the shade, or both? This is also important when thinking about what you will plant along the edges of the paths. Many rock garden designs begin with the paths first and proceed from them, adding in the rock and plant placement afterwards.

A rock garden design can be a practical time-saving and elegant choice for your garden in the long term as long as you take special care in planning it out before execution. The rock garden design will last for years to come and require very little effort in maintaining. Most of your time in this kind of garden will depend on the variety of plants and shrubs you decide to populate it with.

Jonathan writes on gardening topics for Elegant Garden Design.

Butterfly Gardening

Creating a Butterfly Garden

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Butterflies have enchanted humans for thousands of years. Aside from being beautiful, they often considered to be symbols of hope, beneficial changes, and even spiritual salvation. A great way to bring these lovely creatures closer to your home is with the construction of a garden that includes plants known to attract butterflies. In order to build a successful butterfly garden, you?l need to consider how to nurture butterflies at every stage of their growth.

From Egg to Chrysalis

Butterflies go through an enormous amount of physical change over the course of their lives. As a result, the types of plants that they need to have on hand varies according to these stages. In many cases, plants with fine leaves are most favored by butterflies looking for a place to lay their eggs. These plants are also commonly used as food resources for the caterpillars once they hatch.

Carrots and parsley are two plants with this type of leave that is so often favored by butterflies. However, if the plants may not be able to serve double-duty ?because caterpillars will also eat the parsley leaves, you may want to plant some indoors for your cooking needs. Queen Anne? lace and milkweed are also highly attractive to butterflies during this stage of their life.

Milkweed is also one of the most favored plants by caterpillars that are building their chrysalises. If you interested in attracting a specific type of butterfly, do some research to find out which specific plants they are most attracted to during this stage. Chances are, if a species of butterfly is known to visit your geographic region, there likely some type of plant in the area that is attractive to them. Your local cooperative extension agent may be able to give you this type of information, or at least help you locate it.

The Butterfly

Once a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it lives of nectar instead of plant matter. Most butterflies look for brightly colored flowers with many small flowers packed closely together. For example, the Mexican butterfly weed, milkweed, and gayfeather will all attract butterflies. Coneflowers, asters, daisies and Indian blanket flowers also tend to be irresistible to butterflies. You?l also want to make sure to provide some shelter for butterflies. Typically, cedar butterfly houses will be suitable for this purpose. You can also provide some broad leafed plants that provide refuge during the rain or when there are predators around.

Whether you drawn by the mysterious Monarch Butterflies or simply enjoy the sight of yellow and blue butterflies, there are a number of plants you can use to attract them into your yard. While milkweed and butterfly bushes are two of the most common plants used to attract butterflies, do some research to find out which butterflies are most common to your area. Once you know which butterflies you want to attract, you can begin the process of including plants in your garden that will get their attention and make it easier for them to survive.

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