When you create a garden path to or through your rock garden, you should not try to keep it the same width for the extent of its length. You will achieve a more eye-catching result if you vary the width of the path by placing islands of rockwork in or near the expansion points of the path. You can then bring the soil up to the level of the rocks at all points so that you can build tiers and have irregular pockets of rock gardens.

These gardens should stand at different levels, but not as a series of parallel terraces. That would obviously look artificial. Bold pieces of rock must be used at irregular intervals, constituting miniature ramparts, over which some pretty trailing plant will later on make a picturesque display, or over which a delicate arenaria may clothe the rock with its velvet greenery and tiny white stars.

All additions should match the rock theme. If you choose to have a wall water fountain in your garden, it too should follow suit.

The rock masses should not be deeply buried. A good rule is that on the exposed side no rock should be deeper in the soil than one fourth of its height, or sufficient to effectively anchor it in place. They should not lie higgledy-piggledy either, but there should be some kind of relation amongst them, which is best secured by giving all the flattened masses a slight tilt in some particular direction, to convey the idea of a naturally inclined stratification

Rocks set on end, sugarloaf fashion, are not infrequently seen in the gardens of amateurs, but they should be omitted by those who aim at the best effect. If height is desired at some given point, a couple of bold masses may be superimposed, led up to by other pieces, as would occur in nature. The pockets or spaces of bare soil should vary in size, and be irregular in shape. They should never take the form of a series of scallops.

Some inclination may be allowed to the soil, but not too much, or it will certainly travel downward with each shower of rain. Rough steps may be introduced at a suitable point or points, say to give access to the rock garden from the grass plot. These steps may be built of flat rock pieces, their crevices being filled with soil, in which rock-foils and stone crops may afterward be encouraged to grow.

If these steps are introduced, it is better to carry them between two adjacent mounds than to make them ascend a conspicuous elevation. A visit to a well-made rock garden in the wintertime will give you practical guidance in this kind of work. You will see just how far it is possible to realize a naturalistic effect, and may gain some wrinkles in regard to the disposition of his rocks.

Although in the past the real rock garden has been a negligible quantity in American gardens, recent years have seen a greatly increased interest in their building. The fact that the rock garden offers you the chance of growing a large collection of plants of small size and low stature that would get lost in the open border is to many people a sufficient justification for the introduction of this feature.

There are rock gardens in which the chief charm is their rocks, placed together so skillfully that they might be mistaken for a natural outcrop. Such gardens have cost their owners many hundreds of dollars, but they are no better for their purpose than the simpler type of garden.

You must try to avoid appearances that indicate too obviously the artificial character of the work. An artist would instinctively produce good contours and you can be guided by this type of work and the examples you find in the garden. Nature is ever kind to her votaries, and when the garden has been planted she will do her best to conceal shortcomings.