A raised bed is an extremely practical thing, not only for people with back problems. It simplifies garden maintenance immensely, since you no longer have to bend down when planting, weeding and other maintenance work. Instead, you will find your garden at a comfortable working height. Of course, the desired rock garden can also be realized in a raised bed - or you can integrate it into a landscape designed accordingly.
A rock garden doesn't have to be big to be effective
Build a raised bed
Basically, building a raised bed is not that complicated: All you need is a border of the desired height, which is filled with shredded twigs, compost and, on top, lean rock garden soil. The raised bed box is usually made of wooden slats, but can also be made of other materials.
Gabion with quarry stones as a border
A gabion filled with quarry stones is visually appealing, especially for a planned rock garden. This means baskets in different lengths and widths that are filled with stones and thus represent a stone wall that is quite easy to design. These are wonderfully suitable for a rock garden alone because moisture that enters can drain off easily and waterlogging is thus prevented. Alternatively, a dry stone wall is also very suitable for edging a raised bed.
Raised bed embedded in a rock garden
You can of course set up the raised bed individually, for example as a highlight on the lawn or next to the terrace. In addition, such a wall can also be implemented as an integral part of a larger one - for example a dry stone wall supporting a slope. There are many design options, and a raised bed can be set up even if there is little space. It can look very unusual within an existing rock garden, for example, if the raised bed is integrated with particularly rare mountain plants as a kind of micro-landscape within the larger one.
Plant a raised bed as a rock garden
Basically, the same rules apply to planting the rock garden raised bed as to planting a regular rock garden. With one exception: Due to the limited space available, you should preferably choose plants that remain small, although cushion plants can also grow very well over the border and hang down the walls. For example, cushion phlox, one of the typical rock garden cushions, is very well suited for this purpose. There are also small species that are ideal for a raised bed.
tips
Mediterranean herbs and various types of grass with their interesting leaf colors are also very good in the raised bed rock garden.