Every plant, shrub and tree has its moment of glory.  Now is the time for rockery  and alpine plants to bloom.  I have always been fascinated by the fact that alpine plants, in particular, survive extreme winter conditions in the mountainous alpine meadows to produce such brilliant coloured flowers.  One of my favourite alpines is lewesia cotyledon which I will be planting shortly. The rock garden has nicely filled in both in the top bed and crevices below.  First to bloom is the white arabis, followed by creeping phlox and alyssum saxatile.  The white iberis (candytuft) blooms just a little later but is a great filler too.  You can tell the difference between arabis and candytuft as the white flowers tend to be larger on the arabis plant.  Aubretia and Saxifrage are more mound forming rather than creeping but still have a place in this type of garden.  Rockery plants can also be very effective used against retaining walls as they love to cascade over the side; they also look good at the front of the mixed border.

                                  I particularly like this creeping blue veronica nestled in the rocks.  It was initially planted at the top of the rock wall but it has shifted down to the base.

  In addition to these plants I have a mix of smaller bulbs, i.e. crocus and blue and white muscari, not forgetting the chionodoxa. Right now the clumps of blue hyacinth are in full bloom.  These contrast well against the white arabis and candytuft.  The odd taller bulb has come through which I am slowly moving to my main beds.  

The rock garden complements well with the pond.  Around this area I have chosen more suitable plants, i.e. yellow marsh marigold which is currently in bloom, flag iris and ornamental grasses.  Later on we will get more activity in the pond itself, i.e. the water lilies will flourish.

One of my feature trees beside the pond is the lacy leaf maple which is taking a while to leaf out even though I overwintered this in the garage. Rockery plants tend to be early bloomers so in order to keep the colour going throughout the seasons I will be planting out different varieties of poppies, in particular the California poppy  as well as sun-loving low growing annuals such as portulaca.   Dianthus deltoides is a great one too which will bloom more in the summer time.  I have also interspersed a number of creeping succulents including thyme. Thanks for reading my blog.