A new rock garden in East Lothian

[Maggi Young]

Mike  Fraser has  moved  to East  Lothian and taken the  opportunity  to make  himself  a  smart  new  rock garden in front  of  his  house  - some  good  tips  to get here, I think.
Mike  writes : " Mike  Fraser
I’ve always wanted a rock garden but, for one reason or another, I had to wait until I was in my sixties until I got one! A move from the Borders back to East Lothian this time last year gave me the opportunity to build a small roadside rockery in front of the recently-restored farm cottage that we rent. The rockery occupies a narrow strip of builders’ rubble topped with gravel, and the rocks that I’ve installed are of the local red sandstone, some of them originally part of the cottage itself. None of the plants is particularly unusual or rare (hopes of getting some choice specimens at the SRGC shows were, of course, dashed this year), but the standard offerings from local garden centres have certainly proved attractive enough so far. After the relatively hard work involved in its construction, I’m now enjoying the rockery’s very relaxed level of maintenance and can be found at any time of day or night micrositing individual pieces of gravel."


My new rockery is parked between our cottage (we're in the righthand end) and the country road.


Local rocks for rockery construction.






Getting there!

[Maggi Young]

The man himself !

[Maggi Young]

A year later and the plants have settled in quite well.


Armeria maritima (Sea Pinks)  have been particularly colourful and are still putting on a good show.


Helianthemum, always a favourite.

[Maggi Young]

The seaside section with Sea Pink (Armeria) Sea Campion (Silene) and various Festuca grasses.


 Parahebe cosying up to the rock roses (Helianthemum)


Gentiana sino-ornata 'Strathmore'

[Maggi Young]

Gentiana sino-ornata


Saponaria 'Bressingham'


Zaluzianskya ovata - " For a plant from the balmy Cape, Zaluzianskya ovata has done surprisingly well here. It happily survived the winter and has been flowering since March. The flowers are moth pollinated (with a delicious fragrance) and so open at night, hence this nocturnal shot.



Being so close to the road can be a bit hairy, but the plants don't mind.


The white form  of  Armeria maritima makes a nice contrast to the more traditional pink.

[Maggi Young]

"And on a different level the Wisteria is now flowering on the old pigsty roof"

Many  thanks  to Mike  for  allowing  me  to share  his  photos  here!

[David Nicholson]

.... and a very nice job he made of it too.

[Matt T]

Goes to show what a wonderful display you can create with the “standard garden centre offerings” when they are well placed and well grown.

I’m so please that Mike and Liz have been able to create a beautiful sunny garden. I know that their previous garden in the Borders was lacking in sunshine and having lived in South Africa for many years they both yearned for some sun again!

[Maggi Young]

Few more  pix from Mike ....
"A few photos of the rockery looking its best in the sunshine before the rainy season started and a lot of the flowers got a bit bashed. No complaints, though, as it was a wonderful spell of fine weather (May was the sunniest month ever recorded in UK, or so we're told), and the plants are now enjoying a good soak."


View  from a ladder!


 L-R. Iris 'Baby Blue'. Veronica prostrata (dark blue, foreground), and a Parahebe I think; need to check).


 Helianthemum 'Mertoun Primrose' is a lovely pale yellow double.


Sedum 'Cape Blanco' and that black Carex that I can never remember the name of.


Still a few spaces to fill, but even bare gravel can look nice.