A rock garden does not necessarily mean that it should follow the Japanese way of making one. Rock garden landscape designs are usually based on the more striking Japanese rock gardens but there are other ways to have a rock garden without copying the concepts of the Japanese art. Rock garden landscape design is not as difficult as it may seem to some people. The Japanese believed that tending the gardens can have a soothing effect on people, more so the rock gardens that many of them favored.

Wooden Border

Some people may have a difficult time maintaining a rock garden and may just like to have a small one. A rock garden landscape design idea for those who wish to have a small one is to border the sand or gravel with wood, very similar to a sand box. The wooden border will help to keep in the sand and pebbles as well as add to the beauty of the rock garden. You can add rocks, pebbles and some small plants to this rock garden if you wish. You do not need to imitate the typical Japanese garden design for a rock garden.

Other rock garden landscape design options for borders are short shrubs or hedges. The can be planted at the sides of the rock garden to define the area. If the rock garden area was dug up and then filled with sand or pebbles, you can assign about five inches worth of side to be filled with ordinary soil and then panted with shrubs to define the area. You can also opt to leave the border as it is, plain and simple, for your rock garden landscape design.

Colors And Designs

A rock garden landscape design need not be monochromatic with the use of dapper colored sand, pebbles and rocks. These stones come in different colors such as red, white, ochre, brown, purple, blue, green and many more. Gone are the days of the typical white sand or white washed pebbles being the only ones to be used for a rock garden landscape design. A rock garden landscape design can also feature rocks on top of one another with rocks of complementing hues or contrasting colors, much different from the typical Japanese rock garden.

Some unorthodox or modern rock gardens may feature pathways in the middle of the sand and pebbles. Designing a rock garden that is unlike those of the Japanese can be fun and never ending since there are so many different ideas for a rock garden landscape design.