What is an artificial rock garden? You can build artificial rock walls, cliffs or water features for your rock garden. "Artifical rock has been around for quite sometime," says Laddie Flock, owner of Natural...
"Artifical rock has been around for quite sometime," says Laddie Flock, owner of Natural Rock Formations, a company that has been in business for 17 years and has experience in all different styles and themes of rock gardens. Natural Rock Formations is one of the largest distributors of natural stone products on the Pacific coast and has been featured in many publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Landscape and Irrigation magazine. Their website can be found at www.natrok.com.
There are all kinds of artificial rock, so the easiest answer would be that an artificial rock garden is a rock garden made out of manmade materials such as manmade rocks and/or fake plants (such as plastic or silk plants).
Manmade rocks can be made out of different types of concrete mixtures or even out of a heavy duty foam.
The upside of these types of gardens are they are generally cheaper to build as artificial products aren't as expenisve or heavy as the real thing and so shipping costs can be less costly also. However, they will not last as long either. Sunlight will fade artificial plants and foam rocks, and some artificial stone is not up to taking different types of weather either. Foam rocks and articial plants can be blown around in strong winds if not properly weighted down. If foam rocks are damaged with chunks gouged out of them, then they will look exactly like what they are - a chunk of painted foam and the "rock" is basically ruined. If you are looking for something temporary for a special event, artificial may be the way to go, but if you want something to last year round year after year, there is nothing that can replace the "real thing".
Artificial rocks and plants just don't have the same look as the real products either, although sometimes you may find a reason to use them in place of real rocks. Flock says using them, " can't be an aesthetic thing, because an artificial rock is an artificial rock and some of them look fairly close to a real wall. Some of the first artificial rocks and walls that came up were so costly to build a cliff that was 20 foot tall and 100 foot wide. There were a very few people that really knew how to move the mass of stone and integrate it back together in a similar fashion. They certainly have a purpose and the artistry that is prevalent today is certainly a lot better than what it was yesterday. The ability to have a likeness of stone as close as they can to the real thing is getting better and better, but in my world it is still artificial stone."
Flock added, "Personally, I am not against artificial walls. They have their place, and at times it is more economical if a particular scene has a massive look to it. There is some big business in the artificial stone industry. I think weight, would be the only benefit that I could ever makeup."
