Some Plants for the Rock Garden
We talked about constructing a rock garden in another article. Here we will briefly touch on some of the plants that will give us flowers in our little rock garden.
These plants will, with time, grow into large masses in many cases. Give the individual plants plenty of room when they are planted. But do not be disappointed the first year if the plants are small and the masses of flowers only tiny patches. Wait – wait – wait. These little patches will grow into large clumps and masses as the days go by.
The saxifrages make good rock garden plants. There are several kinds; some known as the mossy varieties have a charming appearance while among the rosette kind you will be able to include one or two perhaps like the old-time favorite London Pride. Of sedums too we could, if we wished, make quite a long list of the many different kinds. It is good to know these will do well in hot, dry positions.
The beautiful pink family, Dianthus, will give us some delightful plants. The rock roses may have warm and sunny positions give to them.
Of course, for the cooler spots we may have many bell flowers or campanulas. Some of these are quite small and dwarf and others are giants in comparison. Have some of both kinds and plant them in areas where the soil is rather moist and cool.
We must not forget how the primroses love moisture and grow and flower well with quite a small amount of sunshine. And perhaps with the primroses you will like to grow some other beautiful plants of the same family called auriculas. These are so extremely beautiful annd choice that often keen and enthusiastic gardeners make them their hobby flowers, as it were, and spend a great deal of time and attention upon them.
The thrifts will grow in dry spots. If we keep our eyes open when we go about we shall notice how well these flourish in the sandy soil of seaside places. From this fact we can draw our own conclusions and decide that cool, moist positions will not suit them. All good gardeners make careful observation of the plants that flourish in different neighborhoods and take note of the nature of the soil wherever they may be.
Some of the dwarf speedwells are grand pants for the rock garden but look them up under the title of veronicas. The bottomline being you can plant any of the pretty dwarf plants you can get in your rock garden and experiment with them. Have fun learning what does well in your climate and soil conditions.