Both rock and water were old established garden features way before somebody thought of having lawns, flower beds or borders. Many hundreds of years ago the very first Japanese garden was not anything exceeding an stretch of white stone chippings with an individual Cleyera tree at the centre and the Ancient Persian 'paradise' had a long canal and fountains at its heart.

The attraction was very easy to understand, these two elements bring a natural feel to any sort of surroundings. Until fairly recently however, they were primarily only for the wealthy. Before the latter part of the 19th century, rocks were used to make very bold structures in large estates and it was not until the middle of the 20th century that ponds and fountain construction became simple enough and economical enough for the run of the mill landscaper.

This has taken a long time, but both rock and water gardening have eventually come of age. There is now huge interest in all areas of the water garden. Rock garden plants are grown in huge numbers, the range available nowadays in both rockeries and rock-free situations is immense. I find it very interesting that both these natural elements have several features in common.

They can extend for a few square feet or more than 1 / 4 of an acre and both provide the opportunity to grow a vast range of plants not found within the ordinary, every-day garden. The drawbacks that they share are that careful preparation is required and a considerable quantity of labour and money is needed for their creation.

By the latter part of the 19th century the age of the bigger rock garden was all but over. In 1772 the second period of rock gardens began, a garden of rubble and Icelandic basaltic lava was created inside a greenhouse at Chelsea Physic Garden for the cultivation of plants collected from the Swiss Alps. Here the rocks were used as a home for plants rather than to produce just an ornamental feature. This second period got off to a sluggish start, although rock gardens were created at various sites in Britain and the notion of laying stones to give the look of a natural outcrop was created. Stuff changed in the 1860's and the rock garden eventually took its place as a very significant part of the British garden. Rockeries were built at Kew Gardens in 1867 and in Edinburgh in 1871.

In 1870 William Robinson's Alpine Flowers for English Gardens was published. During this era and into the early 20th century Pulhamite Stone was manufactured in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and used to produce public and private rock gardens all over the nation. The three decades from 1900 to 1939 were the heyday of the rock garden. Reginald Farrer was the principal figure and his 'My Rock Garden' book became the first bible on the subject.

Plant hunters scoured the mountains of the world searching for new alpine plants and the rock garden at Wisley was started in 1911. In the years before World War II interest in the rock garden plumeted. Only recently has there been a recovery.

During the 1920's and 1930's the thought of growing alpines in non-rock situations took root, this coupled with the appearance of the garden centre in the second half of the 20th century brought about the third period in this history. People began to see the complete range of flowers which were available together with all types of easy and inexpensive methods for cultivating alpines without having to erect a rockery. So, interest switched to the plants and far away from the rock structures, and this is the key feature of this third period in the history of rock gardening.