Styling your Rockery

The style of your rockery depends very much on the materials you have to work with. Most of the stone we supply is newly dug from the quarries, hence giving very angular shapes. If you are lucky enough to have unearthed stones in your garden while doing building projects etc these are more likely to be a lot more random and rounded as more than likely they will have been deposited by glacial rivers thousands of years ago.

Both can provide stunning looks for your garden. Although the rounded ones often take a lot more work in positioning due to them needing seating with a lot more precision.

weathered limestone rockery

I often receive requests for weathered stone, to give a traditional look to the rockery. Wadsworth Design now does specific weathered rockery stone in the limestone and also often have stock of tufa and weathered sandstone. However if your stone isn’t weathered enough for your taste a way of speeding the process up is to cover the stone in horse manure for 2 – 3 weeks, this enhances the growth of algae on the stone and should give you that weathered look in no time. Most stables or farms will be happy to provide you with manure, some do charge a small amount for it but it’s usually only around a couple of pounds for a large sack.

Large Limestone Rockery, straight from the quarry with no weathering.

If your taste is to keep the rockery shiny and new, and your after a more modern look, then the best way to keep this up is to jet wash the stone every 6 months or so. This way you inhibit the new growth of algae before it becomes older and has a much stronger grasp of the stone.

Rockeries look great if you spend some time with curving the lines to compliment the shape of your garden, and it’s surprising how easy this is to do. To get the lines perfect its best to set out some string, or even spray paint the lines so you can get a feel for how the stones will line up. This avoids laying the whole rockery to find when you sit in your living room you can see it’s really out of line with what you intended (I’m speaking from personal experience here!)

Introduction

Rockery locations

Styling your Rockery

Selecting your Rockery stone sizes

Choosing your Rockery stone

Positioning Larger Rockery Stones

Securing Rockery Stones