I've really enjoyed the changes in my rock garden thru the season this year.



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Your rock garden is amazing!
Can you tell which plants bloom later in a rock garden?
It seems as if everything in mine is over before summer.

Caroline - I too have that problem so I plant about 6 of the little annual Begonias (I like the dark leaves and white blooms) and a couple of colourful Gerbera Daisies. I have a Daylily, Early Bird Cardinal, that blooms first of all my Daylilies and I noticed the other day that it is forming buds once again (Sept). I have a Rose Mallow Hibiscus with gorgeous large red blooms in late Aug. and early Sept. I also have Tickseed Coreopsis Presto which is still blooming somewhat as well as 2 Neon Pink and 1 Autumn Joy Sedums, and New Snow (Snow Cap). I also have a Mum but it usually doesn't get around to blooming before it snows for some reason although perhaps this year as we are to get a warmer than usual fall they say. I also like to plant some things with different coloured leaves - different shades of green and some reds (like Palace purple Coral Bells, and Japanese Blood Grass). Some of my ground covers are varying colours as well - one, Golden Sedum/Stonecrop Orpin Angelina, is orange in the spring and fall. For summer colour, I have a yellow and a red Stella type daylily, 3 taller type daylilies, 2 kinds of Shasta Daisies, 2 miniature roses and several ground covers (spring/summer for those). Hope that was helpful.

Thank you! Your suggestions are very helpful.
I shall add them to my list of plants for next spring.

Beautiful garden Lin! Kudos on the hard work that makes it look so good all year.

Today, I was digging up some ground covers to pot and bury for the winter for a plant sale in the spring. While we were in individual sections, we were digging up the rocks and replacing them. I find you have to do this every 2-3 years. By 3 years they have almost buried themselves. At first when replaced they look a little out of place but a watering or rain or 2 and they fill in a little bit. It's necessary to keep them up to keep the soil and the mulch in place as it tends to roll down the hill when watering or when it rains. We also took out our Climbing Hydrangea that's been a 12 year disappointment. It bloomed for the first time this year but too early and got frost bitten the very first night the blooms had started to open - even after we covered it in anticipation. It wasn't possible to save it to give away or sell unfortunately. It came up in little pieces to get it out.

Beautiful, Lin! I love your overall design and plant selections

foraygardengirl said:Beautiful, Lin! I love your overall design and plant selections

thanks Jeanie. Lin

Hi linjarvis,
Love your views of rockgarden. They are awesome! Read what plants you have in there but you are missing Sempervivums (hen and chicks) and other Sedums for extended blooms

Delosperma cooperi


Delosperma nubigenum


Sedum Matrona blooms late summer and fall


Sedum Stardust


All are succulent plants. The Delospermas are groundcovers that bloom all summer

Just my 2 cents worth.

ooh yes, can't forget the semps and other succulents

It can be quite challenging to span the seasons with blooms in any perennial garden, really, rocks or no.
And if rock gardens are limited to the "alpine type" plants it can be especially challenging because they do all tend to bloom in the spring.

CarolineScott said:
Can you tell which plants bloom later in a rock garden?
It seems as if everything in mine is over before summer.

@CarolineScott
some additional plants to consider also are Erodiums--mine bloom from spring to frost, Heterotheca jonesii, Zinnia grandiflorum, geraniums, and many campanula are also later blooming, and there are some short asters and creeping mum types too, and fall crocus are always a fun surprise

Wrightman's Alpines has a searchable catalog where you can specify the month of interest for even more ideas.
They do not always specify the 'zone of hardiness', but when they claim something is hardy and perennial for them I figured it would be worth a try for me I love their verbena and it has been an exceptional blooming machine from spring to freeze and hardy for me. Of course, I am not all that familiar with Canadian geography so how their previous location in Ontario compares to yours...

Pippi
thanks for your 2 cents! Guess I missed some because I do have 3 colours of the large tall sedums and I do have hens and chicks.

I can't find a pic of the tall sedums other than the ones I put in this winter arrangement in my window boxes - some I spray painted red to stand out more. Wait - here are other and hard to see but the last pick has a small patch of hens and chicks among them. There is a very large patch of the hens and chicks in the garden beside the Rock Garden where they seem to do better in more shade.

Autumn Joy


Neon Pink
Neon Pink
some hens and chicks behind the yellow flowers

dirtdorphins - thanks too!

That's a nice window box arrangement Lin!

dirtdorphins said:That's a nice window box arrangement Lin!

It's lovely!

What is a good succulent for moab,utah

Hi handy! to ATP
I'm up here in northern Utah, under the snow {waving hello}
There are so many great succulents for Moab--can you give us more of an idea of what you are looking for? short ones, creeping ones, great fleshy spikey ones?
any of those pictured here above would grow for you, plus you are a good bit warmer there in the winter and could grow many others

linjarvis said:I've really enjoyed the changes in my rock garden thru the season this year.



May

Sept

June

June

Aug

July

June

July

Trellis for raised bed, nice

What a lovely ever changing garden. Inspires me to find 'opportunities' for a change in mine.

I have just come across this thread... I'm sure it has changed even more now! It looks beautiful in the photos. Are you a member of any rock garden groups?

I have been playing with rock gardening for close to ten years now, but mainly use them for my main interest of Hardy Geraniums and Erodiums.

I don't have much of a rock garden but I am very interested in hardy geraniums
do you have much of a collection in your cold (zone 4 ) climate?