Their rockery can tell you a lot about a person.
But you can tell a lot about a person from what they say about yours.
You learn all human personality types and some four-letter names for common species found in the gardening world.
Gardeners can be nasty, spiteful, rude, condescending, arrogant, aggressively competitive, jealous, envious, pedagogic, conflict-avoiding, opinionated, cynical, sarcastic, snide, obnoxious, disrespectful, positive, supportive, empathic, anal-compulsive, socio-pathic, sexually frustrated ,repressed, predatory, frank and forthright.
And very bitchy.
And men can be bigger bitches than wome
How would you categorize someone who remarks about your rockery :
“ I like what you’v done with your cracks and crevices! ( Someone who hasn’t necessarily visited the RHS Wisley Crevice garden?)
“Great mounds”
“I’d like your candytuft. Your should come and feast your eyes on my periwinkle. It’s a beauty!”
“I like your alpine garden! Very Tyrolean.”
“That belongs in a high Swiss canton. Not Bolton.”
“That’s odd, I thought rock gardens should be in bloom at any time of the year.”
“There are lots of flowers which will make incredible plants for rockeries. (Implying you haven’t any)_
“Every rocky should have creeping phlox and an abundance of snow in summer (meaning you don’t have enough)
“Rock gardens can be so interesting!” (meaning , yours isn’t).
“When does a rock garden actually become a raised terrace?”
“ So you never considered slate?”
“The Mexican fence post cactus, blue myrtle cactus, and candelabra cactus are great species, They create a completely different dynamic to run-of-the-mill brunnera, ajuga, cyclamen, and hardy ferns.
“Some rocks are So not for rock gardens. Friable oolitic limestones, granite, ironstone, and shales weather poorly , don’t they?”
“ I use a lot of tufa. You can drill holes in it so easily and plant up with some discreet but stunning alpines.”
“What a spectacular display of pebbles and grit.”
“Accent boulders wouldn’t go amiss.”
“Staggeringly random, yet not. That self-seeded, mountain pastures look is one we all dream of pulling off. It’s so easy for a rockery to be mannered. People often to try too hard with their rock garden. It takes years to get it right. As any specialized gardening accomplishment.”
“Achillea, bellflower, geraniums, kniphofia, agapanthus, and veronica, are some of the best perennials for rock gardens like this. I’m surprised you don’t think so.”
“Self-seeders like lady’s mantle, granny’s bonnet, and sea holly are great if you are on a tight budget and short on space.”
“Is that a dry stream bed or a windy path, Or did you just run out of ideas?”
“That’s odd. My rockery attracts bees, butterflies, and insects in their droves.”
“A herb garden is a herb garden. A rockery is a rockery. They are too separate things. That’s why I grow herbs in troughs. My oregano thrives in my Belfast sink.”
“The classic so often pales into the common.”
“Middle-sized gardens are so hard to get right.”
“A garden rockery can elevate a space from the bland to the beautiful. Or the reverse.”
“Nice fence.”
“I have the same problem. I can’t get rid of ugly moss and lichen either.”
“The muscari is lost.”
“Rock garden paths are an elegant, gentle way to guide you through your garden, keeping nature at the heart of the design.” (Homes & Gardens subscriber)
“ I had the same sort of area. But tarmaced it.”
“Shouldn’t you water those?”
“No fleabane? Surely you haven’t overlooked fleabane?”
“Soapwort is everywhere these days. Everyone’s got some.”
“What a staggering collection of 5cm modules!”
“So you never thought of low-growing ground cover succulents like the ice plant, portulacaria, crassula, sedum, aeonium, and dudleya?”
“Ornamental grasses are hardy and versatile. They bring an element of movement and texture into a garden that no other plant variety can match. What’s more, they supply year-round drama. They’re real stand-out focal points. You should have some here. They’d look great.”
“There’s nothing worse than a not-very-well-thought-out rockery.”
“Too many gardens have too much campanula. A rookie error.”
“So many people don’t know about hedge germander.”
“What a lovely sharp sand beach!”
“ If there was a category at Chelsea, you’d win the gold for frost pockets.”
“That’s a truly great range of common bulbs, shrubs and herbaceous perennials.” ( the classic damning your efforts with faint praised remark )
“With a rockery you always have something nice to look. Or should. Yours seems to be an exclusively February one.”
“I hate people who have rockeries and don’t know the difference between an Atlas daisy and a wild roadside verge one.”
“You should never underestimate the spreading habit of thyme. That’s why I have mine in a trough container and my other profusely prostrate herbs thrive in a Belfast sink.”
“Nineteen is a good number of plants for a rockery. I count seven in yours.”
“A rockery add unique texture and diversity to a landscape while remaining relatively low-maintenance. They won’t wither in warm weather or give up on you when the winter frosts bite, providing consistent interest all year round. What’s more, you can make your rock garden as big, small, modern or conventional as you like to suit the size and style of your home ( Someone who just watched Gardener’s World).
“Have you ever thought of decking?”
You often learn who is a likeable person and who is not over a rockery.
Likeable people love your rock roses.
Likeable people haven’t a bad thing to say about your pasque flower, tussocks bellflowers, “Heavely Blue” lithospermum, and lewisia cotyledon “Elize Mixed” Thompson & Morgan plug plants.
They love your Wisley Pink Flame penstemon, slipper flowers, cassiope and don’t disparage your armeria.
A nice gardener is someone who send you links to the RHS site.
Such as :‘Our top 5 plants for the spot’: