Rocks, pastel drifts of miniature bloom, trickling water, and green shade – all so well placed that all suggestion of design is lost in the satisfying whole – that is Allwood, woodland rock garden of Leonard J. Buck at Four Hills, New Jersey.
This garden, still in the progress of construction, is currently attracting the attention of garden lovers and professional horticulturists alike.
The garden is situated in a densely wooded hollow through which a stream flows into a pond. Mr. Buck’s love for the green beauty of these woods and his perception of their even greater promise led him to investigate the possibilities of rock garden development there.
So it came about that I was entrusted with creating a garden in these woods without destroying their natural beauty, a garden that would embrace all kinds of suitable plants, even those native to faraway places.
Plan for Creating The Woodland Rock Garden
The possibilities were endless. The trick was to select the most appropriate and harmonizing plan that would best retain the intimate charm of the wild woodland and not turn it into a park or botanic garden.
The plan finally decided on was natural in every sense of the word – Mother Nature herself determined it!
The site contained a sizable rock formation, and a survey indicated the presence of others hidden under an overall blanket of loose trap rock. When finally unearthed, these rocks shaped the development of the garden.
Serving as major interest points, they were joined by comfortable, winding paths and steps—paths leading through grouped and massed effects and arresting details, paths with views and panoramas, with surprises and exclamations, paths winding along with the brook or pond, then leading up to a rock formation affording an eye-level view of choice alpines.
Allwood Rocks
“A fairyland of rock gardens,” Allwood has been called. And it is a regular little colony of individual gardens, imposed on a pattern of wooded and rock-studded hills, valleys, and meadows—and—water blended into one happy whole.
The rocks at Allwood were a problem, which was turned into an asset by careful planning and hard work.
Because the woods-wide layer of disjointed trap rocks, loosely covered with humus, would support little vegetation, all these rocks were removed, truckloads of them.
Then with chisels, crowbars, and shovels, the exposing process was begun. Sometimes huge rocks were split off to create a cliff, pocket, drain, or give the outcrop pleasing lines and proportion.
The exposing, clearing, and cultivating process extended well into the surrounding virgin woods to avoid any abrupt division between woodland and rock garden. A beautiful or important tree or a natural colony of blueberry bushes was always respected.
Preparation Of Soil Beds
Next on the agenda was the preparation of soil beds. Mixtures of varying proportions of loam, leaf mold, humus, peat moss, gravel, stone chips, and sand (and coniferous needles for pine-barren plants) were prepared and distributed 8” to 14” inches deep where planting was planned.
In some places, an under-bedding of gravel or sand to ensure perfect drainage was put in. In others, moisture-retentive sphagnum moss was under-bedded.
The Setting Is Now Ready For Planting
The larger subjects, of course, came first. Of these, natives were used in the great majority because Allwood is an ideal place for them and, too, because these woodlanders were essential to tie woodland and garden areas together.
Natives so used were:
- White dogwood (Cornus florida)
- Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
- Sheep laurel (Kalmia Angustifolia)
- Rhododendron maximum
- Catawbiense
- Carolinianum
- Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)
- Lowbush blueberry (V. angustifolium laevifolium, formerly V. pennsylvanicum)
- Gaylussacia
- Vaseyi
- Nudiflorum
- Arborescens
- Dwarf evergreen azaleas
- Mugho pines
- White and Scotch pines
- Birches (Betula papyrifera and nigra)
- Ferns as maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum)
- Chris Enlasfern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
Edging plants were very carefully selected for their special ability to retain soil without the aid of rocks:
- Polypody ferns
- Pachistimas
- Potentilla tridentata
- Ginger (especially Asarum europaeum)
- Sagina glabra
- Sempervivum soboliferum were all successfully used in this way
Fundamental Tie-in Planting
With the fundamental tie-in planting accomplished, the newly denuded rocks again melted happily into their woodland surroundings.
Then the final embellishment with rock plants and alpines took place until, one by one, the individual rock gardens with their surrounding woodland areas were completed. Each garden was given distinctive treatment—its own set of plants.
And where it was found that plants alone could not provide the necessary sense of balance and connecting flow between the various gardens, more rock work, artificially designed rock ledges, were added.
Highlights Of Plantings
Following are some highlights of the plantings of the seven individual rock gardens, any one of which could readily be adapted to the small yard. Indeed.
All-wood is a regular storehouse of suggestions for the would-be rock gardener, showing him how, among other things, to turn so-called problem areas of woods and rocks into delightful assets.
Little Rock, the first garden on our itinerary, is particularly proud of its ledges hearing the new unnamed nearing hybrid:
- Rhododendron pubescens x keiskei. Its splendor has astonished the breeder himself.
- Rhododendron williamsianum
- Potentilla megalantha
- Geranium renardii
- Cinereum var. subcaulescens splendens also belong to this formation.
At the base of the rock and nearby are:
- Masses of bluets
- Iris cristata
- Primula veris
- Japonica
- Phlox stolonifera
- Wintergreen
- Maidenhair ferns
- The Phlox nivalis combined with the mugho pines suggest belated patches of snow receding from the mughos to “the upper reaches.”
Heather Rock
We go around and over Little Rock via path and Log steps to HorseShoe or Heather Rock. Its natural shape has been delightfully accentuated by a somewhat tricky planting of heather-ericas and callunas in variety.
There is hardly another plant that gives us compensating refreshing effects when wisely used. Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), a relative. It has finally established itself here for good.
New Rock
At New Rock, we see shortia and sempervivums doing exceptionally well, the shortia having seeded and reseeded themselves among the alpines in tiny rock crevasses.
Here, cranberry is coloring very well for having been planted in arid soil and serves as brilliant foundation foil for dwarf white azaleas.
Here, also, are pretty, pastel groundcovers of Pulmonaria Angustifolia and Galax aphylla, which were first used as a solid forest planting to anchor the rock to a lower level.
A little appendix to this ledge seems to be a tolerable location (at last) for bunch-berry (Cornus canadensis).
Reno Rock
Reno Rock, when first exposed, was an unsightly yellow and aroused such criticism that it was thus named a constant warning signal for additional excavations. However, it is now naturally weathered.
This rock has the sunniest exposure, and this condition has been employed to its full advantage. Sufficient clouds—pardon, I mean tall trees that take their place—cast part shade, making the area suitable even for a few alpines like:
- Helianthemum apenninum and nummularium
- H. Ben Nevis
- Silene alpestris
- Anacyclus depressus
- Geranium sanguineum prostratum
- Potentilla verna and villosa
- Erigeron compositus
- Scabiosa Alpina
- Achilles tomentosa
- Dianthus alpinus
- Gentiana septemfida
Bit O’Rock
Bit O’Rock, though rather insignificant, is not without merit. One wonders how this rock holds together. It is split into so many cross-sections it appears to have been built up by the hand of individual blocks.
Coolly framed by a collection of English ivy, it is accentuated by a bright slope of woodruff (Asperula odorata) shaded by white dogwood.
Also here are Athyrium goeringianum pictum, Woodsia obtusa and ilvensis and Allwood’s original plants of Ajuga reptans alba, which is now used as groundcover in a larger area.
Big Rock
Big Rock, our next garden to visit, is crowned by a unique planting of creeping azalea:
- Hakata Shiro
- Taxus baccata repandens
- Erica carnea
- Rhododendron carolinianum
- Gaylussacia
- Polypody ferns
- Swiss pine (Pinus cembra) and finally with a plateau of shady meadow-grass.
From this plateau, we overlook the swamp below filled with colorful Primula japonica, the pond, and the lower field with its winding lily brook and collection of deciduous shrubs:
- Viburnum alnifolium
- Ziziphus jujuba
- Rhamnus frangula
- Albizia julibrissin
- Clerodendron trichotomum
- Koelreuteria paniculata
- Cephalanthus occidentalis
- Clethra alnifolia
- Myrica gale
- Rhododendron viscosum
- Paulownia tomentosa
Two Artificial Trickling Springs
Two artificial trickling springs moisten Big Rock’s rough surface, and the stone grits under the planting at the base, for which the Gentiana acaulis are especially grateful.
The ledges bear stratified colonies of:
- Phlox lilacina
- Armeria maritima
- Campanula poscharskyana
- Hypericum calycinum
Outlining the base of the huge rock in soft color and topping the adjoining artificially constructed outcrop are some real alpines that Mr. Buick has procured.
He calls it his favorite corner, but I also notice other botanists spending some time there.
Among these pets, plants are:
- Genista sagittalis
- Pilosa
- Horrida
- Dryas suendermannii
- Octopetala
- Androsace sarmentosa
- Globularia repens
- Cordifolia
- Saxifraga cochlearis
- Lingulata
- Engleri
- Cartilaginea
- Rhododendron racemosum
- Cotoneaster congesta
- Tsuga sieboldii
- Primula sieboldi
- Sieboldi variety Purity
These are all well-established specimens with their roots deeply anchored in the rock crevasses. At Big Rock are two colonies of trillium and cyclamen, well nursed with coniferous needles.
Polypody Rock
Polypody Rock ends our little excursion, clad in a mantle of Polypodium vulgare. This rock boasts a great variety of plants loving its northern exposure.
Although Polypody Rock is still not finished in some respects, it has an impressive statue that is viewed from a distance. Worthy of note in this neighborhood is Foamflower Lane, while a mass planting of Tiarella cordifolia in deep shade is an unforgettable sight.
Concluding Description
In concluding this cursory description, I cannot overemphasize the continuous pleasure and added delight such a garden can give in all seasons by uncovering daily new surprises.
And although there are no blooms in winter except those of winter aconite, snowdrops, and the winter-blooming heathers, there is a surprising amount of color produced by winter foliage and wood ever varying in greens, grays, reds, and browns and textures.
44659 by Zenon Schreiber