Old rockery

I've finally got around to digging out the side border in our yard garden and have found an old rockery.

The rockery and remainder of the border are currently free of plants and we think that there used to be a concrete border.

I'd like to revive it but not sure how to integrate in into the rest of the border. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

Welcome Emjwil.

I think we need a bit more information please and a wider view of the border so that we can see what's happening around that area. I can't see a rockery only a slab of concrete to the right.

What do you mean by a concrete border please?

 

Looks like you have removed the rocks and put them aside. You may need advice on starting a rockery. i.e. laying a rock base, planting etc. I have an established rockery which has run wild and also need to start afresh. I hope the experienced gardeners here can offer advice.

 

A low wall along the front of the rockery made using old bricks or stone would keep the soil in place. After this look for ideas online or purchase some rockery plants. Perhaps the odd large stone here and there. Once established it will look beautiful. (like myself.)

 

@Hazel Twigg When I moved into this house the rockery was overgrown with grape hyacinth (Muscari latifolium), violets and other weeds so I took it to pieces starting at the top removing the weeds as i worked down. Needed a pick axe to move some of the rocks and discovered there was a solid rock outcrop running diagonally through it. Then I rebuilt it; building the layers up again refilling with soil. I let the soil settle for a month or so removing any weeds that appeared and then planted it up with rockery plants, sempervivums, helianthemums, a miniature campanula, geraniums, sedums and such like.
A rockery is a pile of rocks with some soil in it, not a pile of soil with some rocks in it. I have found it often pays to remove as much compost as possible from around the roots of a newly bought plant and then carefully ease the roots into the space between the rocks and then fill with soil and water the soil in to settle it around the roots. I do this because many plants come in multi purpose and when this dries out it can be difficult to rewet and the roots can find it hard to grow out of it.

 

Really informative post, thanks Nigel. I agree that a rockery starts with rocks not soil. I am now waiting for a cool day to start to take my own to pieces. Hoping there will be no solid rock outcrop underneath just lots of large beach stones.