Using river rocks in the garden

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A neat trick for giving some visual interest to an area that has yet to fill in with plants is to use rocks. In addition to the big, heavy, permanent rocks here at The Tropical Paradise, I am using river rocks. They look great around plants like these iris and can easily be moved out of the way when they grow.

I have arranged them as if they were tumbling down a hill, the way that rocks would look if they were along a stream. Iris look as if they would grow well along the edge of a stream, so the illusion works.

Naturally, as the plants fill in, I will move the rocks out of their way. In the meantime, I am liking the look of this, instead of staring at bare dirt and small plants.

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