A Small Bit Of History About The Rock Garden

Together rock and water were old established garden features a long time before anybody thought of installing lawns, flower beds or borders. Many hundreds of years ago the first Japanese garden was nothing exceeding an stretch of white stone chippings with a single Cleyera tree in the centre and the Ancient Persian 'paradise' had a long canal and fountains at its heart.

The attraction was very easy to see, these two elements bring a natural feel to any sort of surroundings. Until quite recently however, they were primarily simply for the rich. Before the latter part of the 19th century, rocks were used to produce very bold structures in large estates but it wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that water gardens and fountain construction became basic enough and economical enough for the ordinary landscape gardener.

It has taken a very long time, but both rock and water gardening have finally come of age. There is now massive interest in all areas of the water garden. Rock garden plants are grown in great numbers, the range available today in both rockeries and rock-free conditions is immense. I find it very motivating that both these natural elements have several features in common.

They can extend for just a few square feet or more than a quarter of an acre and both provide the opportunity to grow a wide range of plants not found in the ordinary, every-day garden. The drawbacks they share are that careful preparation is necessary and a substantial amount of labour and money is needed for its creation.

Through the latter part of the 19th century the age of the larger rock garden was all but over. In 1772 the 2nd period of rock gardens began, a garden of rubble and Icelandic basaltic lava was created inside a greenhouse at Chelsea Physic Garden for the cultivation of plants collected from the Swiss Alps. Here the rocks were used as a home for plants rather than to provide just a decorative feature. This second period got off to a slow beginning, although rock gardens were created at various sites all around Britain and the idea of laying stones to present the feel of a natural outcrop was developed. Stuff changed during the 1860's and the rock garden finally took its place as an important part of the British garden. Rockeries were built at Kew Gardens in 1867 and in Edinburgh in 1871.

In 1870 William Robinson's Alpine Flowers for English Gardens was published. During this period and into the early 20th century Pulhamite Stone was manufactured in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and used to produce public and private rock gardens throughout the country. The three decades from 1900 to 1939 were the glory days of the rock garden. Reginald Farrer was the foremost figure and his 'My Rock Garden' book became the very first bible on this subject.

Plant hunters scoured the mountains of the world trying to find new alpine plants and the rock garden at Wisley was started in 1911. In the years before World War II interest in the rock garden plumeted. Only recently has there been a resurgence.

During the 1920's and 1930's the idea of growing alpines in non-rock situations took root, this coupled with the birth of the garden centre in the second half of the 20th century produced about the third period in this history. People began to see the complete range of flowers which were available together with all kinds of easy and inexpensive ways for cultivating alpines without having to create a rockery. So, interest switched to the plants and far away from the rock structures, and this is the key feature of this third period in the history of rock gardening.