How to build a rockery with Johnny K : The Cornerstone : Episode 4
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- Опубликовано: 21 июн 2023
- @-JohnnyK gets the first few boulders moved, setting the foundation of the rockerr #garden #rockery #rockgarden #gardening #minnesota #coldhardy #zone4b #sidheshadowgarden
Thanks for taking the time to show us how the best way to do this. You seem like a very nice person.
Thank you and God Bless 🙏
Rather than forming a mound of soil and placing landscape cloth over that, why not just buy wholesale crushed granite rock and shape that as you like, then set the boulders directly into the granite? Then you can put your soil mix over that. Using that approach you do need to dispose of a lot of ground soil, but you end up with a much better draining substrate.
That would work too! Ive just found that having a weed barrier makes it so hardly ever have to weed and holds the shape while i place boulders. Ive found that with rocks, eventually debris will create organic matter and weeds will grow in it. I didnt have to dispose of any soil in this build, I just used it under the cloth and it the soil was free.
Have you been able to grow any agave with no winter protection? Are any of your plants protected in the winter?
Nope, I have tried Agave neomexicana, it appeared to survive winter but had a freezing rain late winter and it died! I provide no winter protection
@-JohnnyK that's what I've heard from most Midwestern landscapers when dealing with agaves. Ice or root rot gets them... I grow some opuntia, escobaria, semps, and yuccas in Iowa zone 5a... I put a clear crate over my cacti in the winter just to limit the snow exposure but I'm thinking about letting them face the elements this time... I do think agave neomexicana are possible to grow in our climate. The clear crate method would have to be used whenever any chance of freezing rain or snow was forecasted though... I have one other question... What has your experience been with echinocerus? I want to purchase some, but I'm hesitant because they don't seem like they would deal with snow well...
@@chrono5128 it’s definitely possible I think if you provide winter care with agave and keep the roots dry all winter. But i have a rule in my rockery, if it cant stay out all winter without protection I dont want it. One thing I would like to try is Yucca in the tree form like Joshua trees. I have two other varieties of yucca that do just fine. In one small section of my rockery I have 16 species/cultivars of cacti, including at least 3 Echinocereus species, and they do great! In some of videos and shorts you can see them! They should def survive 5a, so give it a try and let me know how it goes! Try to get them in the ground ASAP, so the winter isnt as big of a shock!
@-JohnnyK thanks for the reply. I'm curious about tree form yuccas as well. I know yucca roastra is cold hardy but haven't heard many success stories in the Midwest's moisture... yucca glauca can form small trunks with age but nothing like a Joshua tree. I'd really like to get a cold hardy trunker and cross it with a more moisture tolerant yucca like filamentosa to see if it could handle both moisture and still form a trunk... (I've also heard that y. Thompsonia, y. elata, y. faxonia and y. gloriosa are hardy trunkers... but dont fair well in moisture... So if those species can't survive on their own, prehaps a hybrid between a reliable yucca like glauca or filamentosa could work.. growing from seed is faster than one might think.)
@@chrono5128 thanks for checking out my channel! That is true about hybridizing! Let me know if you experiment and find something that works! If buy some plants from you to get the tree form in my rockery!
How about using layers of cardboard, wouldn't that be better for the soil than using plastic that won't breakdown?
Cardboad works great for stopping weeds but is hard to bend around the dirt piles and use for structural support. Also a big part of it is how porous it is allowing more surface area for the water to absorb under the mulch, so it doesnt run off and into the storm sewer but rather stays in the rockery. I am very anti single use plastic, but ive found landscape fabric to be the best option for the way i build rockeries.