With a wealth of information about Australia’s rocks behind us, there’s one last thing to do – start landscaping with rocks.

Let’s Rock the Design

What nice triangular shapes within a triangular shape! And the distribution of plants and posies is charming. The designer has a fine-tuned hand and uses it to advantage in this lay-out. Really makes you want to stop and study the detail, doesn’t it?

A good case of “less is more” has the happy effect of a natural, almost accidental result. With rocks, this may be a prime idea. Finding places that might catch and hold just enough soil for seeds to sprout and purchase makes for great possibilities…

Isn’t it interesting how ideas can transpose themselves, to become another idea when you stop to think how they happened in the first place?

Crevassed Rocks

Leaving spaces between rocks mimics a natural formation and provides opportunities for adding plant material that comes along and creates a contrast in shape, like as horizontal as the rocks are, the spinifex is vertical. Along with a runner, like Bougainvillea, it will be especially attractive as it wends its way across the surfaces.

Reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, is it not? Or perhaps a landscape in Alice in Wonderland. Charming.

Quite fetching, as we know the rock gardens will turn out at the Lady Denman Heritage Complex, Huskisson, New South Wales. There were already stockpiles of sandstone rock on-site and, as we can see, they have put them to use with the beginnings of rock gardens along pathways as significant features in the design.

Might be fun to work with what they’ve already achieved. Like many landscape designers, they propose to use native plants, telling us that, “The overall aim of the design was to develop an Australian native plant garden that displays the local natural environment, incorporating local native plants that could be used for educational purposes.”

One of Australia’s most beautiful flowering shrubs, the New South Wales Waratah is the floral emblem of New South Wales, and one of the first Australian plants to be collected for cultivation in Europe.

We make a point of terminating an axis with it. Spinifex’ tall and slim profile makes a nice contrast nearby. Crowning the hill, across the way, are masses of Gregory’s Wattle, a plant low enough so as not to obscure the view of the pond—then a bank of round spinifex, looking for all the world like smart topiaries—all true to form as native representatives. The slight departure from the usual is the walkway, for this portion, the color is a dark marine blue for the purpose of distinguishing the rock beds. A little mossy violet incana sets off the rocks next to the walk. Wecontinue to look at rock design to see what everyone is doing with all the revegetation experiments going forward.

Yes, it’s been fun and Australia definitely rocks!