Rock gardens are a great addition to any outdoor space, regardless of your garden size or horticultural experience.
You may think that creating a rock garden requires landscaping your garden or sourcing huge expensive boulders, but actually there’s loads of ways to use your creative skills to make an amazing (and affordable!) rockery area.
Keep reading for some helpful info and advice, or jump straight to our DIY rock garden ideas
What is a rock garden?
There are a few different styles of rock garden and as you’d expect they all centre around stones. They can be used for purely decorative purposes, but are also regularly used on areas of sandy or poor soil. The key to making a rock garden is drainage, as you’re essentially mimicking conditions found in high altitude or dry habitats.
Rock gardens also have a long history in Japan, where they can be created using just a few select plants or rocks to make a zen garden. They often used stones and pebbles that are raked into patterns, giving the appearance of ocean waves and can aid meditation.
Water features and slow growing plants and mosses are also popular in many types of rock gardens. Whatever style of rockery you choose to create, they’re all about creating a focal point and a space in your garden where you can slow down and relax.
Picking the right plants for a rock garden
There are a large range of plants that are suitable for using in a rock garden, but you do need to choose your plants wisely. Rocks gardens are primarily used for Alpine plants – plants that require good drainage and don’t need rich soil (much like you’d find on a mountain, hence the name). Alpines also suit rock gardens as they’re often short in stature with lots of bright colourful flowers.
Succulents and cacti are also used as they’re technically classed as alpines too. Plus you can also use Mediterranean plants such as thyme and rosemary, as these also grow in dry rocky conditions..
However, you do need to consider how the placement of your rock garden will affect your plants. Mediterranean plants will do fine in a well-draining rock garden and will thrive in a sunny spot. Similarly, certain plants like succulents may need protection from frost during winter to ensure they don’t rot and die. But the good news is most alpine plants are perennial, meaning that they should come back year after year if they’re cared for correctly.
How can I save money on my DIY rock garden?
When you try researching rock gardens, you’re going to see a lot of pictures with epic boulders and heavily landscaped gardens – all of which cost money. But we’re more interested in the DIY creative aspect, which doesn’t have to be expensive.
Many gardens will often already have a surprising amount of rocks and stones in them, so it’s worth taking a look around and seeing what you already have. If you have friends or neighbours that are undergoing building works or having their garden landscaped, they may be disposing of rocks, bricks or stones that you could make use of. Always ask permission though and remember there’s nothing wrong with a bit of polite scavenging – one person's trash is another person's treasure after all.
You can also try visiting local salvage yards, where you might be able to find a rock to act as your main feature (or keystone) at an affordable price. Keep an eye on local auction sites too, as you’ll often find people wanting to quickly dispose of materials left over from building works.
One thing to be aware of is that it is illegal to remove rocks and stones from the beach and coastlines. Similarly, while driftwood can technically be classed as debris, it’s advisable not to remove it as it provides a habitat for many species of insects.
Get inspired with these DIY rock garden ideas
1. Mind the Gap - add a rock garden to your paths
Best for making the most of your space
You don’t have to go big with your first rock garden, in fact you can start small by simply making mini rock gardens in or around your garden path.
If you’ve got a broken paving slab on your path, rather than replacing it you can use that space to add in some plant life. All you need to do is dig down a little bit first and add some sand and grit to make sure it has the required drainage. It’s a great way of softening hard edges or creating dividing lines or borders on your path.
2. Make a container rock garden
Best for small spaces
Not all of us have enough space to make a huge rockery – in fact, many of us don’t even have a garden we can dig into! But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a good rock garden too. You can grow almost anything in a container, so of course you can easily make a rock garden in one too. Katie Rushworth shows you how in this brilliant video.
3. Add some relaxing water
Best for making a calming space
Whether you’re making an alpine rockery or a purely stone zen garden, a water feature is a great way of adding an extra element of tranquillity. The sound of water flowing aids relaxation, and as they create a white noise effect they’re also great for if you live in an urban area with lots of traffic or background noise.
Shop-bought water features can be expensive, but with a bit of creativity it’s surprisingly easy to make a garden fountain out of almost anything. You essentially need just three things – a water pump, a container to hold your water, and some piping to direct the water where you want it. Once you’ve collected the fundamental items of your water feature, you can experiment with different materials and surfaces that your water will flow over. Remember that you’re after a relaxing stream, not rushing rapids.
4. Paint those rocks!
Best for getting kids involved
Rock gardens are often very sensible, stylish creations… but we do love a bit of colour too. Rock painting has become really popular in recent years, in fact we’ve already got a huge list of rock painting ideas for you to try.
Sure you could use stylish metallic paints or other stylish sensible options, but we really do love the bright multi-coloured effect like in the amazing school project rock garden pictured!
5. Incorporate logs and other natural materials
Best for nature
We’ve already covered making rock gardens in containers, but you can go one step further and make your rock garden in a handmade wooden log planter. You’ll need a few tools and it’s important to ensure there’s enough drainage. It’s a great way of incorporating natural materials into your rock garden, plus the bark and cracks in the logs will all help to make a home for beneficial insects.
If that looks too difficult, you can always let nature do the hard work for you. Look out for logs that have natural holes or crevices in them that you could use. And while we don’t recommend collecting driftwood from the beach, if you already have some then you should make the most of it, as they make a beautiful rock garden display piece.
Make a rockery environment in the home
Not everyone is lucky enough to have outdoor space, but you can still create the perfect environment for succulents and drought tolerant plants in any home by making a terrarium. Check out our fab roundup of the best Terrarium kits for adults and give it try!
6. Delve deeper with buried containers
Best for invasive plants
Many plants are actually best grown in containers, particularly those that can spread quickly. For this reason, sometimes people will put particularly invasive plants (such as bamboo or mint) or even just precious plants that they want to control in containers, and then partially bury those containers so that they don’t look out of place or topple over.
Creating a rock garden around the outside of the container can really help it to blend in, but also provides you with an extra habitat for more plants. It’s a great idea for if you can’t afford a large keystone for your rockery, as the plant and container will act as your focal point.
7. Make a crevice rock garden
Best for craggy style and deep roots
A crevice garden is a rock garden that has specifically been designed to replicate the craggy rocks and conditions that you would find in mountain, coastline or desert regions. They’re made by using slab-type stones laid on their side or rocks with cracks in them, and are well suited to plants such as creeping thyme, sedums and other drought-tolerant plants.
You can make a crevice garden in a pot or straight into the ground, and as with any rock garden good drainage is key.
8. Make your rocks glow
Best for night-time gardeners
If your rock garden is placed where you can see it at night, why not make it extra special with the help of some glow in the dark pebbles. You can use them sparingly in a larger rock garden to give a star-light twinkle, or use them as your main base layer in a smaller rockery to make it really stand out at night.
You can also buy glow in the dark paint which is suitable for outdoors too if you would like to make larger stones or sculptural items glow.
9. Make your own unique planters
Best for individual plants
One of the best things about rock gardens is that you can make them to suit any style – they can be epic creations or just simple minimal areas. If you prefer the latter and just want to show off the odd individual plant, you should try making your own cement balloon planters.
It’s a relatively easy (albeit messy) crafty project, and makes a sweet little planter that will look right at home alongside your carefully selected and arranged rocks.
10. Make a decorative rock ball
Best for crafty gardeners
So you’ve got your rock garden completed, plants and all – but you’re still missing a bit of decoration to bring it all together. You could always make a decorative rock ball, perfect for a rockery and great for using up any leftover stones you may have.
It might look complicated, but it uses that old crafty favourite of a papier mache mould and glue to create this striking decoration – we think you’ll love making it too.
Fancy giving your garden a glow up?
You'll be wanting our garden decor ideas then! Learn how to upcycle a chair with macrame, make a plant stand, lay a path and more!
Add your own style to your DIY rock garden
Now that we’ve shown you some inspiring ideas for how to make a DIY rock garden, it’s down to you how you arrange it. Fill your rock garden with plants that you love – remember that the only rules you need to follow are the growing conditions – if you don’t like the look of succulents for example, then leave them out. Similarly, you can choose to incorporate sculptures or water features… but you don’t have to. Remember that it’s your space, and when you’ve made something for your garden that is custom to you, then you’ll love it even more.
More creative ideas for your outdoor space
There’s loads of ways you can use your crafty skills to maximise your garden, no matter how small it is. Find plenty of DIY small garden ideas to try with Gathered
