Growing Plants On Rock Walls

The plant will cascade over rocks and low stone walls in a rock garden to soften the setting.

Growing plants on rock walls.

Plants with a trailing habit such as ivy leaved toadflax are designed for cascading down rock faces or scree slopes and can thrive in a wall. Hens and chicks are great plants for any rock garden because these small plants multiply as they grow and because of their size they are able to creep into the smallest spaces in the garden to make it fuller. It readily grows in nutrient poor soil as long as it has good drainage. Commonly called basket of gold perennial alyssum makes a wonderful wall or rock garden plant.

Alpine plants which often dislike wet conditions and are adapted to growing in poor soils are another option as are many wild flowers such as welsh poppy which thrive in poorer soils. In warmer regions this plant can be short lived so replant every year or two. Every spring it develops masses of cheerful yellow flowers that look terrific tucked between rocks and boulders. To drought tolerant plants with minimal root systems like hens and chicks echeveria imbricata or other succulents.

They do not need a lot of water to grow which makes them ideal for rocky soil that will not retain water. Plants that do well in a rock wall are varied in nature from small delicately leaved creeping plants like woolly creeping thyme thymus pseudolanuginosus or prostrate rosemary rosmarinus officinalis. There are many plants that can grow well in the crevices of rock walls so be sure to weed out any tree seedlings or other volunteers that may settle in between rocks.