Why Do People Put Big Rocks, Boulders in Their Yard?
Water fountains aren’t for everyone, and when it comes to garden features there are a thousand different things you could choose to do with the space you’ve got at your disposal. Some people choose to plant trees, others have developed a love for certain types of lavender – and then you get people who just throw big rocks or boulders in their yard or garden.
What’s up with rocks and large boulders in yards? Rock features are an increasingly popular choice in homes, though you may have just bought or leased a property with rocks or boulders in the garden – and wonder what on Earth it’s there for.
Here’s the answer to why people sometimes choose to put rocks and boulders in their yard or garden instead of sculptures or water features.
Why Do People Put Big Rocks, Boulders in Their Yard?
Rocks Provide Shade
One of the first functions of a rock that’s in the middle of a garden is to provide a little bit of shade. Depending on the shape and placement of the rock, this shade can be useful for a specific plant in the garden. In other cases, the shade from landscape boulders can be used by animals or insects for shelter on a warm day.
Rock features aren’t just meant for decoration, but they can serve several functions when placed in the garden.
Rocks Are Refuge
Rocks can serve as a habitat for hundreds of different insect types who may flock to the garden to make their home in, under, or near a well-placed rock feature. It depends on what you’re trying to attract and which insects or animals are the most popular ones in your area – but well-placed rocks can sometimes help to achieve this.
Birdwatchers have all sorts of handy tricks for attracting birds, of which carefully placed rocks with the right foods for each species is one of them.
Rocks Trap Necessary Heat
Garden beds can sometimes take quite a beating during the colder mornings or months. When this occurs, some plants in your garden might die off as the negative effects of the cold temperatures affect the plants. The good news is that rocks can trap heat during the day, which keeps these rocks warm during the night and morning when temperatures might drop.
For this reason, rocks can sometimes be an essential savior when they’re used in the right way to complement your garden. Again, it’s not just for the appearance of a pretty rock in the garden, but rocks can actually be functional – and benefit the environment.
Rocks Channel Water
With very careful placement in relation to the rest of what’s in your garden, rocks can also be used to channel and trap rainwater so that it becomes an essential part of your garden’s health. Depending on when or how it rains, take note of the areas where rocks would be the most useful – and where you may get the most rain.
Rock formations in your landscape design can lead water to the parts of your garden that need it most, again making practical use of the rock feature instead of just being something pretty in the garden that you had to look at.
Rocks Can Strengthen the Surface
Rocks are one easy way to strengthen the surface. In certain instances, rocks can even be used to build up resistance against water flow. What this means is that the right rock formation can help to strengthen the structural integrity of your entire garden, and may help to cease erosion – one of the top factors that bring damage to new gardens.
If you have an area of the garden that’s particularly prone to erosion danger, level the soil out and landscape with rocks to strengthen the wall.
Rocks Bring Other Critters
Rocks don’t just attract animals, but can also attract some of the most important insects to have in your garden. Spiders are just one type of critter that loves a rock formation. Spiders could be hugely beneficial as a natural way to keep other plant-damaging pests far away from your garden.
Bring in rock formations, and you have more than a garden – you’re turning it into a proper ecosystem that has the ability to function better and remain more environmentally friendly.
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