Content
- Create a Natural Stone Garden - These rocks are suitable
- Not every stone is suitable for every plant
- The most beautiful stones for the natural stone garden
- Which silicate rocks are suitable for the rock garden?
- Safety at work must be a priority!
- Tips
Natural stones, ground cover and perennials: the perfect combination for an impressive rock garden
Create a Natural Stone Garden - These rocks are suitable
Natural stones are extremely versatile: they do not only build mini-rock landscapes as in the real nature, but can also use the different rocks for the construction of walls, stairs, stone furniture or even stone garden sheds. In addition, the stones can also be used for paving and paths.
Not every stone is suitable for every plant
The gardener distinguishes between two groups of natural stones, each of which has a different effect on the soil and thus also on the plants awake on it. Silicate or primary rocks produce peaty, acidic, acidic soils with pH values between 4.5 and 5.5. Here only lime-flowering plants thrive. All others need limestone because this creates clayey, alkaline or alkaline soils with a high pH between 7.5 and 8.5. Most of the rock garden species are adapted to this ground, so you are better off limescale - because the range of plants you can choose is simply significantly larger.
The most beautiful stones for the natural stone garden
Depending on their origin, most rocks are colored differently. Especially interesting in the rock garden are the white, gray or gray-green shell limestone and the rather yellowish Jurassic limestone. On the other hand, limestone tubers with their numerous holes offer many opportunities for planting. These rock types are quite soft and weather quite fast, in contrast to the harder limestone dolomite and marble - these are only partially suitable for planting. Of particular interest is the unfortunately very expensive tufa, which is ideal for use in the rock garden. It is a very hard limestone, which was built up by corals. Lime tuff is also commercially available under the name spaghettistein or coral limestone.
Which silicate rocks are suitable for the rock garden?
Granite, serpentine and greywacke are especially hard on silicate rocks. Sandstone, porphyry tuff and less well-suited lava weather easier. Especially suitable are gneiss and slate. By contrast, basalt and diabase are rather problematic because these varieties are very rich in bases and can significantly increase the pH value.
Safety at work must be a priority!
If you work with stones, you need appropriate safety equipment. Gloves should be a matter of course when handling a few small stones, for more extensive work, however, safety shoes are a reasonable purchase.
Tips
Instead of buying stones expensive in the trade, just ask the next farmer for collected fieldstones. These are regularly collected from the fields because they hinder the large machines.