starting a rock garden

by Mara
(Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

I have a large pile of rock all along my back yard fencing, I am planning to make it look more attractive by making it into a rock garden.
I have removed all weeds by hand and have raked up most of the leaves that have fallen. What would be my next step- do I have to add some type of mulch, I heard to pout newspaper on the rocks before adding the earth. Is that the proper way of doing it. Desperately need your help on this one - since it is a very important project for me.
Also what type of flowers, shrubs, ferns and conifers are best? I am in Montreal, Quebec Canada zone 5 A and B.

Thanks for your expertise.

Mara

Doug says there's good news and bad news here.

The good news is that the Ontario Rock Garden Society meets in Ottawa every month and they have scads of folks who will help you with advice and seeds and plants. There are several Montreal members so once you joined, you'd have some local advice. You can google them and the site will pop up.

The other good news is that it is possible to learn a lot about rock gardening by reading some good books on the subject - one of the best is called "Rock Gardening" by Linc Foster and I'd suggest you stop - find it and read it.

If you're determined to procede, then simply fill in the holes between the rocks with soil and plant into the crevices where you've put the soil.

You can mulch with a pea gravel or other gravel. Do not mulch with paper or organic matter as alpine plants want their roots and crowns to be dry and not constantly surrounded with the moisture an organic mulch brings. Note that seedlings (weed and other) will germinate nicely in the pea gravel.

The bad news is that what you have is a rock pile and frankly, I've never seen one of these turned into an attractive rock garden. (I know that's not what you want to hear- sorry) Invariably they wind up being invaded by weeds and homeowners get discouraged. And I'm not sure where you got the info on using paper as mulch on a rock garden but it's not something I'd want to do.

What somebody failed to tell you is that rock gardening is the single most intensive form of gardening known to us. It's all on your knees and it's constant. There are no shortcuts with machinery and everything on the rock garden contributes to garden hand-work. There is no way to stop or prevent weeds other than hand weeding. This is why after a short burst of enthusiasm, most rock gardens fall into disrepair. It take a plant-berserker to have a successful rock garden. :-)

OK - what kinds of plants can you put there? Man, this is one of the longest lists of plants in the gardening fraternity. You can grow "anything" in an alpine garden but the essential qualification is that it be a mountainous plant and be quite short. Or just short. So go looking for short plants and you won't go too far wrong. Stay away from spreaders (you'll really hate yourself when a rampant ground cover gets established in rock piles and resists control or weeding as it smothers out your good plants.

You don't say sun or shade so I can't even begin to bring the list down. Stay short would be my best advice.

But join the Ottawa group - read Linc Foster - those would be my two best bits of advice (and probably not what you want to hear).

Good luck.