THE PROBLEM SOLVER
Stefan Buczacki
Professor Buczacki is a horticultural expert, writer and former chair of Gardeners' Question Time
Got a problem? Our Problem Solver can help! See our contact details on page 3 #GNASKTHEEXPERTS
Stefan says: For several years I’ve been saying the best way to grow rock garden plants (aka alpines) in modern gardens is in a trough or similar container, rather than a rock garden as such. By and large, I still think this is true, although I’m modifying my views and rock gardens have their place.
First, however, remember that the correct materials are expensive. You simply can’t go to the nearest hillside and hack off a piece. Stone can only come legally from properly approved commercial quarries which can be a long way from where the stone is needed. But please don’t buy rocks that have been transported halfway across the world.
But the main reason rock gardens so often fail to look right is because most of us are never taught any geology. I admit I was fortunate to spend two years studying geology at university and it is an experience for which, in all my subsequent horticultural activities, I have been very grateful. Use granite to build a rock garden in a limestone area and it will always look strange, even if you’re not sure why. And yet how many gardeners could tell you what the underlying rock in their area really is, and how many have ever seen the fascination of a geological map?
But back to the rock garden itself because there is another geological
