Rock garden in The Tropical Paradise

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I can't say that I ever intended to create a rock garden in The Tropical Paradise, it just happened. For me, rocks were functional, and I would have preferred plants. But it all started with a few rocks...

The biggest rocks in The Tropical Paradise are directly over the watering lines. Not only does that help hold the lines in place, it gives me a reminder where they are. Not that I haven't accidentally cut through a line with a shovel a couple of times! There are other functional rocks, which I call "pointy rocks" which are specifically placed to discourage people from stepping into the garden. These rocks have to be pointy, as if they are flat rocks, they look like stepping stones, and, well, that's not what I want. I have one flat rock that you can see there, that I need to replace with a pointy rock. Still working on getting one!

The other rocks are river rocks. Again, their function originally was just to fill in low areas. I got a bunch of them from a neighbor years ago who had just piled them out front of their house. And over the years I've tried to use rocks both for function and aesthetic design. Rocks piled in your garden without much care look ridiculous, as if some kids were piling them up, or, uh, if someone were buried there. So this is what I've discovered about placing rocks in the garden:

The biggest, and sharpest, ones go at the top of the slope. In the natural world, these are the jagged outcrops at the top of a mountain. The smaller, and rounder, ones go towards the bottom of the slope. Again, this is a natural thing, as little rocks roll downhill and become smooth.

Be sure to plant plenty of bulbs between the rocks. These types of plants look great looking as if they found a home naturally among the rocks. And keep an eye on the rocks - if a bulb is trying to grow around it, move the rock.

And that's how the rock garden "grew" here at The Tropical Paradise!

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