Jo Ann, not all my Helianthemums are as tasty as 'Annabel', but the survivors have leaves of various colors. Ones that have not been eaten to death (yet) are:
'Cooperianum' seedlings - copper-orange and orange-pink flowers, gray leaves,
'Mrs. C.W. Earle' - deep red double flowers, dark green leaves,
'Orange' - peachy-yellow flowers, green leaves, and
'St. Mary's' - white flowers, pale green leaves.
The eatability factor may relate to the number of leaves, as 'Annabel' was quite densely foliated, while the surviving helianthemums are sparsely-leaved in comparison.

Other rock garden plants that deer love to dig out from the snow are Aubrieta, and Phlox subulata. They also like to gnaw on Yucca leaves that, although tough, conveniently stick up through the snow.

Here are a few photos of a world-class crevice garden in Calgary. (Wish I had the skill, knowledge, design and engineering ability, and drive to do this!)...



Construction and planting have continued since these photos, and it is a wonderland of many thousands of alpine species.

If we had an emoticon for "jaw dropping open" I'd be posting it now.

Yeah, wild herds of holy cattle

I must issue a correction: My dear, sweet BF cut out the chunk of lawn and assisted greatly with all of the heavy labor. When I showed him the pics of world-class crevice garden...he said "No." I tried to point out the benefits of no lawn and he reminded me how hideous it would be to have a thing like that consumed by the morning glory...

Looks like growitall has the tufa connection! Oh please do take more overall pics next year.

Bonehead, I so love the boulder outcropping.
I love rocks too.
I am on quite a hill. I used to have a sidewalk, at on off angle from the front door that led to nowhere and just stopped in the middle of the yard. The original plan was for more natural looking boulder outcroppings connecting to the other rock garden and rock steps to the city sidewalk...but then I decided to blow up the stupid sidewalk instead. So, what to do with the rocks? Ah hah, let's hide the fire-hydrant from the porch view...or something like that.
I promised no more pics of the house but ...hope this is small enough not to read the streetsign but big enough to see the problem

There is also an obnoxious streetlight, which illuminates the rocks every night. Kinda cool in a way, because it's always dark when I get home, so I don't get to see my other fabulous rocks except in the headlights. Hard to take a picture of. Moon coming up, photobombing cats moved a bit so they are little blurs, perhaps too long of an exposure


Here is a pic of my favorite rock this fall. It has ribbons of petrified wood in it.


and a couple more fall rocks


and this last one is from one of the shade gardens I used to have--one of my favorite places to 'hang out'

I have no words.
The rock outcropping garden is just awsome.
dirt: Your wood-rock area is to die for. Love the stetson and the boots.
The RG is so completely different from our "deep soil "gardening
Your BF 's garden should have a periodic spot here to see the morphisis.

Wow, do and then some! Everyones pictures of rock gardens are amazing! What an entertaining thread!

Looking for advice on designing a back yard rock garden here The thread "Tips on building a DIY rock garden" in Rock Gardens forum .

TIA

I would imagine there needs to be a first plan.Do you want a dense rock look?
More spread out ?
RG's are new to me,believe me if there was a piece of garden left here I would be trying the idea.

Mostly it needs to be to the specialized plants' liking; basically an all rock substrate. Personal aesthetics are secondary. I'll likely add a short list of the plants I'd like to try growing in it on the other thread, Jo Ann.

Yikes. No wandering around with bare feet in that yard.

I'm gonna have to say that a lot depends on the plants that you wish to grow then and the all-rock substrate that you wish to use.
Sorry, having a little confusion replying here to Q's in the other thread as well--
Yes, of course, you can incorporate hypertufa into the design--if you can make it or get it--and plants can actually grow right in the real thing or the fake thing, but they will not grow right in field stone, for example. well, okay maybe some mosses, algae and lichens will, but I presumed that is not quite what you had in mind. Slate, in my experience, depends on how flaky it is really, but there the plants/roots are growing in the crevices between flakes not actually in the rock, or roots are behind the rock in the medium in the case of a dry-stack-wall. Some lava stones and some sand stones, with 'built in' crevices have worked pretty well for me with some weeds.

Bonehead said:Yikes. No wandering around with bare feet in that yard.

Well, the superbly planned and constructed system of paths throughout it provide more than comfortable walking access to all parts, both for planting and for fabulous viewing. I doubt the owners regret the absence of lawn...

dirtdorphins said:...
Sorry, having a little confusion replying here to Q's in the other thread as well--

My apologies. I tried to direct these specific questions/answers to the other thread, since this one is covering a lot more diverse, yet still very interesting areas.

Dirtdorphin, I'll carry your answer over to the back yard DIY specific thread.

Join me there? The thread "Tips on building a DIY rock garden" in Rock Gardens forum

chelle said:
I think that a great many of the plants I'd like to grow need a situation like yours, Lori; nooks and crannies, shelves and slopes over rock.

It's sort of complicated (but fortunately, growing some desirable plants isn't ) and I'm no expert, but it's probably safe to say that for most rock garden/alpine plants, it's really the soil conditions (primarily drainage) that are important, not the presence of rocks per se.
The wetter/more humid your climate, and the more prone it is to winter wet especially, the more important drainage becomes (hence the popularity in wet areas of alpine houses - the purpose of which is usually not insulation but primarily to shelter plants from too much water!)
As shown, sand beds and gravel beds can be great for growing plants that need good drainage and lean conditions - no rocks are required at all... in fact, to be honest, unless rocks are used skillfully, as in the incredible crevice beds I showed, they can actually reduce one's planting space quite a bit.... they take up a lot of room! However, the presence of rocks allows one to create structure and build up the garden (elevating it above the surrounding area improves drainage), and some rock garden/alpine plants do like to grow best with their roots in deep crevices between rocks. As you noted, rocks also allow one to create shade and shelter. And I suppose they help people to identify it as "a rock garden"... and I just like rocks, as many of you have said too!

chelle said:
How did you manufacture your tufa mini mountains? Was each rock made separately, placed and then joined to its fellows?

The tufa is all natural, bought from Rocky Mountain Tufa whose quarry is in B.C.. The rocks were basically manhandled into place (we did it all ourselves with no machinery - DH had to move the biggest pieces from the first big order that were beyond my abilities; I avoided really big rocks in the second order!) The tufa rocks were mostly place on end for height. The main thing was the process of packing a lean soil mix in between the rocks, to stabilize them all and provide the growing medium and the fill in crevices. I'll post some photos of the process.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying this is the best or only way of doing it - it's only how I did it.

@chelle,
I am learning quite a bit about the rock gardens on ATP and appreciate all the contributions of photos and recommendations/advice.
Speaking for myself, I wish that all three threads about rock gardens would be combined into one link so we could read all the responses in one place. Thank you.

greene said:@chelle,
I am learning quite a bit about the rock gardens on ATP and appreciate all the contributions of photos and recommendations/advice.
Speaking for myself, I wish that all three threads about rock gardens would be combined into one link so we could read all the responses in one place. Thank you.

Me, too.

Sorry about the different threads, but it's much easier to find pertinent information later if each topic has its own. For instance: let's say that today I need to see how to place my rocks. If "building a rock garden" has its own space I don't need to sift through all the posts about seeds, plants or suppliers. Same goes for a (future) thread on rock garden seed starting mixes; if it's separate, we can find that information quickly...without paging through rock garden pictures, etc.

Hope this explanation helps.

Do we need a Rock Garden Forum?

YES!!!
Please