Types of Garden Rocks

Rocks are mostly used in the designs of landscape gardening round the world. The use of rocks is very much prominent in the desert garden designs. However, rocks are also used in other styles of the garden but not so distinctly. There are different types of garden rocks. The following are some of the types of garden rock:

Flagstone: This type of stone is generally used to construct patios, garden paths, pools and some unique fountains in the garden. Flagstones are also used to create an enchanting way with a wonderful view to the entrance of a raised garden, a gazebo or a pool house. They are available in different sizes and shapes. Due to its various shapes, flagstone can be used to construct curved footways.

Concrete: Concrete is generally used in creating and decorating lawns. It includes walls, sculptures and borders. In landscape gardening, concrete ponds or lakes are the most common piece of element for its decoration. It is very exciting to have a concrete pond along with some fishes and an electric waterfall in it. It will create a relaxing effect in your courtyard.

Landscape gardening decorative stone: Basically there are two types of features in landscaping. They are softscaping and hardscaping. Softscaping deals with the plants and trees of the garden, while hardscaping deals with all the other elements used to create a garden. Using of stones in a garden will punch up the design of the garden. Decorative stones can be used to create stone walls, patios and also as the basic element to create a water feature like a fountain or waterfall.

White marble: This rock type is mostly found in the flower beds, gardens and on the footpaths. Generally, white colored marble is used along with the colorful flower or cactus garden. White marbles are used so that they may not attract the visitors’ attention, but help to highlight the other elements of the garden.

Boulders: These rocks are very large and heavy and can be used in different ways. Boulders can be used to outline a group of flower plants or trees in a particular place in a garden. These can be used as a focal point around garden fountains or swimming pools.

Pea Gravel: These are smaller in size with various types of colors. They can be used in fish ponds and provide good drainage. They can also be used in artificial ponds along with a footbridge over it. Pea gravels are also used to create footpaths as they do not move too much when weight is applied.

River rock: Most of the gardeners prefer to utilize river rock for their landscape gardening. These rocks are usually used in low land areas for well drainage and also in flower beds or garden beds to control weed. River rocks are also used around the ponds and swimming pools retaining the natural view of stream in a fountain.

Garden Water Features

Various garden water features serve to provide water to the garden plants or just enhance garden beauty. The water features such as wells, ponds etc. are used to provide water to the plants whereas fountains are created to give an artistic look to the gardens.

Ponds and pools:
The basic difference between ponds and pools is that the ponds are created by digging in the ground while pools are created by using concrete on the ground. But nowadays, both these words are used in the same sense as they are created using the same ideas. Ponds can be formal or informal in their designs. The simple square or round shaped ponds are easy to build and suitable mainly for small gardens or even patios. The complex shapes can be practiced for the formal large gardens. The large ornamental pools or patterns of the interconnected pools can also be seen in large gardens. The formal garden ponds can be built for your own garden or bought. However, it is easy to create the rained ponds as per your requirements. Informal pools or ponds are seen in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. The natural appearance of these ponds makes them very appropriate in various garden situations. Therefore, these ponds are popular in gardening.

There is a wide variety of building materials available to create the ponds. These pools can also be bought to fit in the garden area. But building the informal ponds in a garden using the concrete or pond liner allows you to create more interesting garden designs though it is a bit difficult task. Most gardeners see it worth to take this effort. Wildlife ponds are designed depending on the species you want to attract to your garden. Normally these ponds are informal. The primary consideration for creating these gardens is the habitat required for these species. This includes security from the enemies, access to water and food sources.

Garden wells:
This is an old type of water feature in the garden. The wells are created by digging in the garden especially at the water resources under the ground. Later the wells are properly constructed using concrete.

Fountains:
The fountain is also an important man- made garden element. The fountains mainly perform the function of attracting people to the garden. The fountains aerate water for plants and fish. A range of fountain types is available from the simple spray type to the beautiful dancing type fountains. The fountains can be created within the ponds or can stand as the self- contained garden water features. The copper pipes make this water features very decorative. The central pipes provide plumbing for these garden fountains. On the either side, a copper pipe is twisted on the top to make a curlicue.

Reading, Writing & Speaking

10. Read the text once again, fill in the “marginal table” and answer the following questions:

√	+	-	?
I knew that …	I didn’t know that …	The information about … contradicts my knowledge because …	The information about … isn’t enough or understandable for me, because …

Vocabulary Focus

11. Match the words from two columns to create a phrase and make sentences to use them in your own text entitled “The garden buildings, their form and function”. Share your ideas with the partner:

to consider	shelter, shade, rest
an essential	purposes
to give	the garden tools and pots
artificial	to the walls
for different	element for gardening
to keep	attraction to the garden
to attach	water features
to provide	as an ornamental element
to act	the garden design

12. Match the words from two columns to create a phrase and make sentences to use them in your own text entitled “The most common garden rocks and their function”. Share your ideas with the partner:

available	weed
to control	a group of flower plants
common	the other elements
to create	piece of element
to attract	in different sizes and shapes
to highlight	in creating and decorating lawns
to use	a relaxing effect
to outline	the visitors’ attention

13. Match the words from two columns to create a phrase and make sentences to use them in your own text entitled “Garden water features’ general characteristics and function”. Share your ideas with the partner:

to provide	to create the ponds
to enhance	in the garden area
to give	of the interconnected pools
suitable	garden beauty
practice	water to the garden plants
pattern	to create interesting garden designs
materials available	the function of attracting people
to fit	for creating gardens
to allow	an artistic look to the garden
primary consideration	for small gardens
to perform	complex shapes