1. Bury the rocks at least 1/3 in the ground to create a natural appearance. You can bury deeper if you want.
2. There should be more rocks that sit horizontally than vertically. This “grounds” the scene.
3. Have the natural “face” of the rock visible, in accordance with how it was positioned in nature.
4. If the rocks are stratified or have lines, locate the rocks so that these lines run in the same direction with each other. This ensures that they don’t look scattered and strewn about.
5. Slant the rocks slightly to direct rainwater into the soil.
6. Locate larger stones toward the base of the slope and smaller ones uphill. This mimics nature in a way.
7. Space the rocks to create crevices where you can tuck in creeping plants that will wander over nearby stones.
The Cactus Garden in Lotusland in Montecito, California, shows how incorporating spiny cacti in a modern rock garden can work.
A Cactus Rock Garden
A very different kind of rock garden can be found in Lotusland, a stunning 37-acre public garden in Montecito, California. The dramatic Cactus Garden makes up three-quarters of an acre and features diorite boulders, a coarse-grained igneous rock, a series of sandstone steps and unusual columnar cacti. This striking rockery was made possible by the donation of an outstanding cactus collection and was arranged by the landscape designer, Eric Nagelmann. He placed vertical columns of basalt stone throughout the garden to highlight the sculptural qualities of the tall plants. He also created deep planting beds among the stones and filled them with specially formulated soil suited for desert plants. The Cactus Garden is a powerful testament to the beauty of elemental stone and exotic cacti.
Exotic cacti such as species of Opuntia, endemic to the Galapagos Islands, make their home alongside specially arranged boulders.
The garden is mulched with one hundred tons of shiny black slate chips from a slate mine on the American River near Placerville, California. The dark-colored slate mulch serves to reduce weeds and retain heat in the root zone to keep the cacti happy.
The Cactus Garden at Lotusland shows us new ways to use natural stone in an arid garden. The sky is the limit when it comes to style and placement, as long as you supply the correct environment preferred by the plants. If you can get some tall narrow stones, why not try a version of this contemporary artful garden in your property?
An angular basalt block set as a standing stone reflects the forms of the tall cacti that surround it in Lotusland.
The orange daylilies planted around this rock outcrop are a vivid companion to the bright yellow coreopsis and the blue agapanthus. I planted blue flowers and evergreens to counterbalance the orange. A summer delight for the eye.
A Summer Flowering Rock Outcrop Garden
Large rock outcrops can be outstanding by themselves but, if you are like me, sometimes the urge to add plants within and around a large rock is too strong to resist. In the rock garden shown here, I added topsoil and compost and then planted a wide variety of flowering plants along with ground-hugging sedums and evergreens. The result is a dressed-up rock outcrop that dazzles in the summer. It is not a dry garden – it is irrigated, which allows the flowering plants to flourish.
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