Dyck Arboretum of the Plains
http://dyckarboretum.org/rock-...
omg, this must be a terrible arboretum because they are not fulfilling their obligation to properly educate people about the truest sense of the term 'rock garden', in fact, they've got it all 'wrong'!
South Seattle College’s Arboretum, Coenosium Rock Garden
http://www.westseattleherald.c...
http://www.northwestgardennews...
here we have an actual educational institution and an arboretum, and again they have the wrong idea of what a rock garden is--how dare they call this a rock garden--it is, after all, just trees and shrubs with rocks...right?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...
"Daisen-ji, a smaller temple in the complex is recognized for its rock garden, which closely resembles those found in China. Thought by scholars to represent the metaphorical journey of life, Daisen-ji’s rock garden includes two cone shaped hills of white gravel and a number of smaller landscaped arrangements. Beginning with a cluster of rocks, this waterfall is believed to signify birth, the waterfall then leads into two gravel rivers, scattered with large boulders denoting life’s obstacles. Finally leading to a bed of raked pebbles, the metaphorical rivers flow into an open ocean, signifying the end of life."
I would think that if any subset of the rock garden continuum could get away with sanctimoniously co-opting the term "rock garden" and making it their own, excluding other forms/requiring specifiers, modifiers, distinctions, etc., that it would be these types of gardens which are all about the rocks. I have never encountered that, though. Maybe in Japan they call everything else by modifiers like European rock gardens or western rock gardens or non-zen gardens
Around here, the spiritual rock gardens just go by their individual names and nobody ever says that rock gardens must be spiritual and have names.
some more rock gardens--
Wallace Gardens prior to relocation to Boyce Thompson Arboretum
http://logansimpson.com/wp-con...
http://logansimpson.com/wp-con...
Coastal Maine Botanical Garden
http://www.gardenvisit.com/upl...
New York Botanical Garden
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/...
http://www.nybg.org/gardens/ro...
New Zealand Botanical Garden
http://photos1.blogger.com/hel...
South Africa, Karoo National Botanic Garden
https://dreersouthafrica.files...
Interestingly enough, most/many of the world's botanical gardens do have areas designated as rock gardens, featuring rocks and plants, and the variety is astounding. The rock gardens are not all about alpine terrain and/or the harsh conditions that accompany alpine terrain and the plants are not all alpines.
Here's the thing--either they all bow to whatever the general population seems to think is right, abandoning their responsibility to teach what is correct, or it's not correct that rock gardens are alpine gardens.
The ability of a botanical garden to successfully supply the harsh conditions that accompany alpine terrain and grow alpine plants is dictated more by the garden's location and environment than anything else. In fact, some of the most famous botanical garden's alpine plant collections are still grown in pots in alpine houses rather than the rock garden.
http://www.rbge.org.uk/the-gar...
And, many botanical gardens don't even bother with alpine plants at all.
http://bloomingrock.com/wp-con...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQ...
Of course, some do seem to have it all, but even they acknowledge that alpine gardens are a subset of rock gardens --
from a review of the best, must-visit botanic gardens:
"Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colo.
Worth a visit because: This internationally acclaimed garden is a premier example of the art of rock gardening.
Description: There are more than 500 tons of rock and 2,300 species of plants in the garden. The rock placements provide habitats similar to more than a dozen different environments based on slope, soil type, moisture and exposure and serve as a testing ground for many uncommon Southwestern plants. The Alpine plant collection recently achieved national status and is now part of the North American Plant Collections Consortium. Succulent collections can be seen in the Dryland Mesa and include cacti, yucca and other xeric plants. The garden does not get any supplemental watering except during severe drought. Another garden showcasing xeric plants with limited watering is the WaterSmart Garden."
In summary,
While I do understand and can appreciate the widely held belief that alpine gardening is perhaps the pinnacle of rock gardening in general (when it is actually done in the rock garden), I vehemently disagree that it is the definition of, and standard of, rock gardening in general --by fiat, or by any number of respected international Alpine Society cults' decree(s).
So, the upshot of this Polemic is: This Rock Garden forum on ATP should be, and is, open to those who define rock gardens more broadly - like the ecumenical DBG mecca of rock gardening. This might be tough on the elitists (alpine gardeners), but it more broadly serves the ATP community - and would promote a better, more open sense of community - and more discussions all together.
I, for one, have been thoroughly discouraged and dissuaded in sharing and discussing my rock gardens in this forum because they don't meet the narrow definition and standard of alpines in aesthetically natural alpine terrain, notwithstanding the few alpines tucked here and there, and I've detected the unpleasant sense of disapproval --intentional or not-- because of this.
No More!
We have so much more unexpressed potential here--
It is high time for those of us who garden with rocks (and in my case, at the base of a big rock, calving rocks onto the rock rubble pile on which I live; whatever, I am a rock gardener
) regardless of how tall our perennials might get, to share the joys and sorrows of rock gardening in all of its many forms.
