After the building of the rockwork and installation of garden water features are properly completed, you can forget about it and turn your thoughts to planning the garden. There are three sizes of rock plants in relation to time and manner of placing in the pockets. There are small shrubs and large field-grown clumps of sturdy herbs (as Moss Phlox or Megasea Saxifrage) which are best planted when the rocks are laid in place.

The roots of each should be spread out and drawn back as much as possible, and soil, chinkers, and the next rock being laid upon them. They could scarcely be inserted later with a spade. Immediate effects are thus possible; and with care in watering through the first summer and a peat mulch the first winter, the accent and taller plantings can be in location in advance.

In the crevices of the cliffs the planting is best put in while the cliff is being constructed. The major part of the planting should be done several months after construction. Of tough sorts, small pieces may be planted with a little trowel in April, and with luck these will be good plants by midsummer and will give normal bloom the next year. But the first year of a rock plant is better in a special nursery.

The start may be from seed, as Primrose (mostly obtained abroad); from cuttings, as Dianthus, first rooted in sand from a parent plant from a nursery or other garden; or from divisions, as Sedum, pulled from a large plant. Seedlings, rooted cuttings, or divisions should each be finally potted in small pots not over 2" across and set closely in a cold frame.

This should be done in early summer while construction is going on, and growth under this treatment will be better than in the newly finished rock garden. After a winter under a blanket of dry leaves in the frame each plant may be set directly in place and will start at once into bloom and growth, surviving all weather.

You can buy these pot plants from dealers, but you can save time and work by growing them yourself from seed and setting them out whenever you wish. The third possibility is the sowing of seeds directly in place in spring, particularly in the tiny crevices, and after the plants have all been set out, choosing seeds of rock plants of easy germination.

In a favorable season there may be good results, but often only the weediest ones survive. You will get netter results from expensive seeds by the previous method, and the sure - to-grow are really too certain to self sow and become weeds of little value. Examples are Silene drummondii, Alyssum incanutn, Silene viridiflora, and Lotus tenuis.

They are no better than Chickweed and Shepherd's Purse, though offered as good rock plants. A very sad experiment is the sowing of seed of easy small annuals for immediate effect the first year. After the first year they will be present for many years; and pulling out Portulaca, Sweet Alyssum, and Catchfly for many seasons is a punishment greater than the crime.