This used to be a small pond with a giant rock in the middle. Pond died but left with big rock. So my rock garden began last fall with plans to just do sedum. Changed my mind this spring to add other small plants. A mix mash of rocks line it out. Still have a few sedum to put in on outside edge. A Sweet Bay magnolia and a severely pruned Fir provide some late day shade. Trying out coral bells and hosta on outside edge to see how they do with half day of sun. Now to figure out best way/what to use to keep little dog Ellie out. Added some white geranium, viola and impatiens for color.
, TriColor, Sexangular, Blue Carpet and Limelight all planted last fall

Liking the color Watermelon
mini hosta Shiny Penny left, Ogon sedum behind that, Haku Chu Chan, Lemon Lime or Ground Sulpher (can't remember which) and Little Treasure hosta. Trial to see how they do.
Linear, new pot this year. Growing fast. Rusty old scissors good for weeds
Katrina Jo, waiting to see how much sun it can take.
from the NO ID flat from last year


new NO ID pot had Sunsparkler on it but no name.

Cute!
Great thing to do with a dead (?) pond!
//I'm not quite sure how a pond dies, but whatever, I love a mix mash of rocks

Sprung a leak and I was tired of cleaning it. I like rocks also.

It's really hard to place rocks on the surface like that and still have a pleasing look. Very good job, Linda! And see how captivating the whole display is! There is so much to look at. You'll never be bored like with some other garden types.

I don't know if you did this on purpose, but I see a lot of the rocks "used" as divisions between plants. This is forward thinking, because without rocks your sedums will quickly grow into each other and you would have a big mess. With the rocks in between, you can easily tidy up, and rip out the excess.

Sedum sexangulare is a pest for most people. Though we have never planted it, we are constantly weeding it out of our Arboretum's rock garden and can't seem to get rid of it. You see, on the other side and down the walkway (past the rock garden) the Arboretum uses it as an effective ground cover, bordered on all sides by cement.

Thanks Rick, yes I was going for each sedum/plant to have it's own little space. Not only dividers but some are stepping stones for getting around. Some plants are in there for trial because half does get a lot of morning to midday sun.
Pallidum is turning out to be my pest, have been pulling handfuls out of my other beds. Only put a few sprigs in one outside crack in front.
I enjoy looking at it, still have a few spaces left along one side.

I also have a pond that began to 'own us' almost from the get go. 2800 gallons. When I think of draining it, disposing of fish, and filling in I think of how much it cost to build and rebuild, maintain over several years and shudder. On the other hand it IS a tremendous amount of work and still costs for electricity (pumps in summer and pump and deicers in the winter) to say nothing of organic additives to keep pod as algae free as possible and healthy for my fish.

I volunteer at our botanical garden (Alaska Botanical Garden) and while I was nuts for peonies at first, and dahlias, I discovered alpine and rock gardens are fascinating. And yes, such variety. It would mean a huge amount of work to drain, pull the liner etc, fill with soil then figure out the top layers. I would use tufa troughs a good deal. We have cloudy weather but actually not that much rain (usually).

So I have this winter to decide. Pond is put to bed, fish are dormant, snow everywhere except on the pond. It will be a while before it is cold enough to freeze over except where we pump water from a height of 2' to keep some open surface which will also disappear as the ice builds. It will maintain a hole but a very small one 6" or so and up to 2' deep depending on the cold this winter.

Hi Mary!
I used to have a few big fish tanks that kind of 'owned' me like that and a hobby farm--I gave the tanks and all the stuff away, well and the farm too, sometimes I miss it and now I am just owned another way
Your pond sounds nice though...don't I recall some beautiful pictures of it and your yard and a raised rock garden bed around it and kind of a stepping, meandering waterfall of sorts? Gosh, it would seem a shame to wreck all that...but I am sure you could turn it into a fabulous rock garden too, sans pond.
Is there some reason you couldn't have both?
I might be miss-remembering your gardens, but you might be able to modify around your pond and create wonderful places for fascinating alpines and other rock garden treasures...maybe try that for a while while you agonize over major pond removal decisions?

There are a few places and one entire side of the hillock by the pond that could be converted. The only problem would be that we tromp around the pond during maintenance. I could do one side for sure. But the real issue is the amount of work that the pond requires and cost. We need to replace a large 55W UV unit and the materials (all organic) to care for the water and fish are not inexpensive especially when you consider shipping them to Alaska.

I will dig out a few pictures so you can see.

ah yes, well if you are sick and tired of all the ongoing pond work and cost, then perhaps the pond is not worth maintaining.
only you can know.
I'd like to see pictures!
and I'll probably think it's too cool to fill in, and that you should keep it up--how selfish of me!
Really though, I think our gardens should bring us joy and pleasure for all that we expend--monetarily and otherwise--so if the scale has tipped unfavorably for you with regard to the pond, I can equally encourage you to cut your losses

Here are some pictures from the last year or so.

Ops. Don't know how that last one got in.

omg--yes, as predicted, I do think it is way too cool!
I can see all the love and care in there and imagine the expense.
Tough call my dear!
I'll support you either way

Well I finally got that rock garden planted out and now to bloom. It is not large but the rocks cost $40 each . The man turned up with them on his truck and a small bulldozer on a trailer and just went zip zip zip. Done.

Someone said to get three rocks and not an even number. I but compost in as the soil and planted KNIPHOFIA 'Red Hot Poker' and pineapple lily bulbs with some gazanias as ground cover. They are doing well because the Australian Wood Ducks haven't turned up this year who love the rocks as a vantage point and the lilies as lunch. The Sulphur-crested Cockatoos took out the first Kniphofia scape in spring. These massive birds are drop-dead gorgeous but they mulch any bright flowers with their huge razor bills.

cute!

Linda,
That is a really nice rock garden!

Mary,
Beautiful! It would be hard to give the pond up, but I'm not the one who has to maintain. It's maily why I don't have a pond of my own :o)

My rock garden was a huge tree stump that was burned out for many years before we moved here in 1976. We continued and finally got the last bit of root out years later.

It went from this in 2006 to this.

Leftwood said:It's really hard to place rocks on the surface like that and still have a pleasing look. Very good job, Linda! And see how captivating the whole display is! There is so much to look at. You'll never be bored like with some other garden types.

I don't know if you did this on purpose, but I see a lot of the rocks "used" as divisions between plants. This is forward thinking, because without rocks your sedums will quickly grow into each other and you would have a big mess. With the rocks in between, you can easily tidy up, and rip out the excess.

Sedum sexangulare is a pest for most people. Though we have never planted it, we are constantly weeding it out of our Arboretum's rock garden and can't seem to get rid of it. You see, on the other side and down the walkway (past the rock garden) the Arboretum uses it as an effective ground cover, bordered on all sides by cement.

How do you keep the rocks from 'sinking' without something under them like landscape fabric? I am gearing up for a rock project but unsure how to proceed

Gina, I just use other rocks, probably some that are big enough and/or uniform enough to hold steady as I imagine the more irregular or interesting ones would be the showy ones on top.

With smaller rocks like the ones I alluded to in the original garden in this thread, I don't think there would be such a problem. Assuming, of course, that the gardener is not periodically cultivating the soil or disturbing it in some way. With large rocks, after the first 1-2 years of settling, very little movement occurs. Two caveats to this statement though: (1) if the soil is naturally loose like beach sand, all bets are off (is this likely what you have in Florida?), (2) it is common in gardens that the rocks don't actually sink, rather the plants and soil build up around them, giving an illusion that the rocks are sinking. Don't forget that the amendments you add, i.e. compost and mulch, don't decompose to nothing, even though it seems like it.

I have mostly red clay so sinking not a problem for me. Can't advise on that one.
I agree with Rick.

mine don't sink either--I do have an erosion problem in many places and need to add soil now and then as well as other areas with plants growing over the rocks so they seem to disappear.

How about some updated pics Linda? I'd love to see how your dead-pond rock garden matured!