Plan a rock garden to suit your site and style

Plant picks: Perennials

Stone cress (Aethionema spp.)
Height x Spread (cm): 10 to 30 x 15  
Description: Small, blue-grey leaves; delicate, pink flowers in spring; Zone 5  
Growing Conditions: Full sun; dry, sandy soil

Alpine lady’s mantle (Alchemilla alpina)  
Height x Spread (cm): 15 to 20 x 15 to 20 
Description: Mounding alpine with dainty, silver-edged, glossy, medium green leaves; chartreuse-yellow flowers in early summer;  Zone 3    
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade; average, moist, well-drained soil

Rock jasmine (Androsace villosa var. jacquemontii)
Height x Spread (cm): 5 to 10 x 30 
Description: Woolly grey rosettes; carmine flowers in May; Zone 3    
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade; moist, well-drained soil

Sandwort (Arenaria spp.)
Height x Spread (cm): 5 to 10 x 20 to 30  
Description: Low, tufted form; small white flowers in late spring and early summer; Zone 5    
Growing Conditions: Full sun; sandy or gritty soil       

Thrift (Armeria spp.)
Height x Spread (cm): 30 to 50 x 25 to 30  
Description: Mat-forming, tufted evergreen; tiny pink, white or mauve flowers in late spring and summer; Zone 4    
Growing Conditions: Full sun; dry, well-drained, sandy soil     
    
‘Dickson’s Gold’ Adriatic bellflower (Campanula garganica ‘Dickson’s Gold’)
Height x Spread (cm): 10 to 15 x 30  
Description: Heart-shaped, gold foliage; light blue flowers in summer; Zone 5    
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade; moist, well-drained soil

‘Sooke’s Variety’ shooting star (Dodecatheon pulchellum ‘Sooke’s Variety’)
Height x Spread (cm): 10 to 30 x 15  
Description: Magenta flowers on short stems in mid- to late spring; Zone 5    
Growing Conditions: Shade; moist soil 

Rock stork’s bill (Erodium cheilanthifolium)
Height x Spread (cm): 10 to 20 x 20  
Description: Tufts of silvery green leaves; lilac-pink flowers in summer; Zone 5    
Growing Conditions: Full sun; tolerates wind   

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
Height x Spread (cm): 20 to 30 x up to 60  
Description: Often evergreen; small shrub covered with white flowers in spring; Zone 3    
Growing Conditions: Full sun, good drainage; prefers alkaline soil

Siskiyou lewisia (Lewisia cotyledon)
Height x Spread (cm): 30 x 25  
Description: Succulent rosettes with pink to red-orange blooms from late spring to early summer; Zone 6    
Growing Conditions: Light shade; moderately fertile, humus-rich, well-drained soil

Moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
Height x Spread (cm): 5 to 15 x 50 
Description: Forms a dense mat; loose clusters of pink, rose, blue and white blooms in spring; Zone 3    
Growing Conditions: Full sun; sandy, stony soil; water sparsely

Saxifrage (Saxifraga spp.)
Height x Spread (cm): 5 to 15 x 5 to 30 
Description: Most are low-growing, spreading perennials that form dense mats; Zone 3 to 6
Growing Conditions: Part shade or light sun; well-drained, gritty soil

Speedwell (Veronica bombycina)
Height x Spread (cm): 2.5 to 5 x 15
Description: Mat-forming, with tiny, silver, felt-like leaves; blue flowers in May; Zone 6
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade