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Rockery stones - advice please.

2oaktrees2oaktrees Posts: 160
edited January 2019 in Garden design
Hi
I want to build a rockery at the back of our garden next to a large maple tree. Want to use stone that will inhibit the growth of moss (if possible) and something that won’t weather too quickly. 

I would appreciate any ideas about which type of stone is best to use please. 

Thanks 
SC

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    The harder the stone, the less it will weather, but you often get a more natural look if you use stone local to the area. No matter how attractive, Welsh slate can seem odd in the Cotswolds and vice versa!
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    If you have a local garden centre or pond fish retailer, they often have rocks suitable for ponds - often called Fish Friendly rocks/stones. Such rocks will be hard and won't weather too fast.
    I used Yorkstone in and around my pond

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Granite is tough and hardwearing, with a honed or polished finish more moss-resistant that a local, textured sandstone or similar, but might look a bit unnatural. If your garden is prone to moss, why not embrace it, Japanese-style? Some mosses combined with ferns, alpines, native bulbs, etc., would look lovely. Depends on the style of your garden and/or the look are going for, of course...
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Do you have any photos of the kind of look you're after?
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,491
    Unfortunately I would think twice before putting a rockery under any tree as it would get covered in leaves in the autumn which would kill small alpines and the shade underneath is not ideal. If you were thinking of ferns though, that might be better. I speak from bitter experience as we inherited a rockery with deeply embedded large stones under trees. I've really struggled with it over the years.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • We are also from West Midlands and found best to get Pennant Blue from a quarry near Monmouth. 
  • Thank you to everyone for all your comments and useful advice. 
  • We are also from West Midlands and found best to get Pennant Blue from a quarry near Monmouth. 
    Thanks @calorine_avery, would you mind sending me a pm with details please. 
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