Rockery
A garden area built with rocks and gritty soil for alpines and other small plants that need drainage.
Also: rock garden
A rockery copies a mountain slope. Stones are set into a mound or bank, with pockets of free-draining, gritty soil between them. This suits plants that hate wet roots: alpines, small bulbs, dwarf conifers and many succulents. The stones give shade for roots and shelter from wind. Japanese gardens use rock in a different way, as a main element of the design in its own right, sometimes with very few plants at all.