Leaves draping over colorful stones… flowers blooming among decorative outcrops… rock gardens are a form of art. You can have a the desert look, the mountain setting or even the oriental design!
Think about it; even a small rock garden can literally make the difference between a boring back yard and a fabulous green haven with the extra factor! But can you use any plant in a rock garden?
The answer is no; some plants are far morse suitable for rock gardens than others. It depends on the size, habit, growth rate and overall look of the plant you choose. Some like trailing plants and succulents are usually perfect, but there are others, including ferns, bulbs and small flowering species.
The best methods and a selection of the best plants to design and grow a wonderful and original rock garden are all laid out like a carpet of flowers for you, as long as you stay with me for a few more minutes!
15 Ideal Plants for Rock Gardens
For a “pile of rocks” to turn into a creative garden you need the right plants, draping, small, colorful and full of personality. And here are the best 15!
Of course, before you start choosing, you’ll need a few rules and ideas about how to grow a great rockery. And they are up next…
Types of Rock Garden
A rock garden can have different designs. You may like the naturalistic look, for example, and in this case, you want your rocks and plants to look like Nature put them there. But rock gardens also adapt to formal layouts.
Formality in gardening is far less popular than informality nowadays, but if your garden is already so, just choose regular looking stones and place them in geometric patterns…
But there is more. Rock gardens can have themes. For example you can have a seaside theme, adding shells, maybe small boats and choosing plants accordingly. The mountain theme is one of the most popular with rock gardens indeed.
Reproducing the side of a steep mountain is real fun! Make sure you choose plants that look temperate and that your garden is on a slope.
And how about a xeric, or desert themed rock garden? The combination is perfect: lots of succulents and heat loving plants, a nice color selection for your stones and some gravel..
l And if you really like harmonic gardens, and you have time to manicure your project, you could even try the oriental garden look!
Flat and Sloping Rock Gardens
Rockeries are usually on a slope, but there is no reason why they can’t be flat. In fact desert inspired ones are usually on a plain…
The choice is yours, as is how steep you want the slope. If you have a natural one, use it by all means. If you don’t you can build one, and make sure it has perfect drainage.
Rocks and Plants
It is clear that the two key elements of a rockery are rocks and plants. Yet you need to balance them very carefully. If I said 50-50 overall it could be a rough general rule, but maybe in a desert garden you want more rocks and fewer vegetation while you may like the other way round in a lush tropical design.
But what really matters is that you mix, mingle and integrate stones and plants. A rock garden is not “plants with some rocks thrown in”. You need to make it look like the plants belong there and so do the rocks.
For this reason, trailing and draping plants are a must in rock gardens. They integrate the two elements perfectly.
When it comes to the rocks, choose them of a fair range of sizes and shapes. Build “nesting places” for plants, like “natural pots”. And yes – you can even hide real containers in there! Many gardeners use this trick!
Finally rocks don’t need to be gray! Think about the colors you want very carefully.
Plants That Are Good for Rock Gardens
You cannot use any plant that comes to your mind for your rock garden. Let’s start with the premise that you don’t have a space as wide as Hyde Park in London for your rockery, ok? I think it’s a fair assumption. This already eliminates big trees and massive plants.
Most plants for rock gardens have a limited adult size. Note that the soil may be limited to nooks and crannies among the stones as well. But on this topic, you will also prefer slow growing plants to fast growing ones. The fact is that you don’t want a sudden disproportion in your art work…
Succulents are on average very good plants for rock gardens. They are low maintenance, slow growers, they look great in a rocky context. And there are succulents that love cold weather, like hens and chicks (Sempervivum spp.), which actually come from mountains in Europe and the Middle East!
Trailing and draping plants are excellent. We have already said why. They also bring the eye back into the composition, so the keep the focus on your beloved rock garden.
Plants with fronds, like ferns and small palms are an excellent choice too. The “frond look” just mixes in with rocks so well
Small bulbs and flowering plants, like crocuses, dutch iris, dwarf daffodils etc. really look great and they give the extra humph…
Small evergreens, like dwarf pines, firs, spruce and cypresses can keep the green (or blue, gold?) foliage going all year round and they “hug” rocks in a very naturalistic fashion.
Keep all these points in mind, and also remember to add some features (a broken amphora, a small statue etc.) and your garden will look great.
But now it’s time to look at our selection plants for rock gardens. This is a small selection, to give you an idea, similar plants are very good as well.
1: Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum spp.)
Hens and chicks with its hardy rosettes is a must in all rock gardens! There are varieties of many sizes, some green, some purple, others with a “cobweb on them”. They look like fleshy flowers among the rocks but they do much more…
They spread sideways with pups and they grow stolons that drop down among your stones and create cascades of beautiful rosettes! And they also blossom regularly, with small but beautiful flowers.
They are cheap, they are hardy, they are drought tolerant they spread fast! What is more, they really adapt to any design: they look at ease in a desert garden as well as in an Alpine inspired rockery!
2: Southern Maiden Fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris)
Southern maiden fern will fit in perfectly in the little crevices among the rocks and it will fill them with its emerald green fronds with fine texture.
The leaflets are so beautiful each looking a bit like a miniature Ginkgo biloba leaf, and they are attached to a very thin black stem. The effect is delicate, like filigree
Most ferns will be fine for rock gardens, but I think this species is extraordinary. It can really solve you that problem with the small empty space and it will even look good in a Japanese style garden!
In colder regions, you can grow them in tiny pots to nestle among the stones, so you can shelter it during the scold season.
3: Prairie Nymph (Herbertia lahue)
Let me charm you with prairie nymph, a delicate bulbous flower that’s perfect for natural looking rock gardens. It looks a bit like a Dutch iris, with three lavender petals like rays,
and then you get a deep violet and white pattern at the center. It is elegant and unusual, and it will bloom again and again every spring.
You could just grow a Dutch iris instead, especially if you live in a cold region. Or again, if you really love this lesser known beauty… there’s always the tiny pot hidden among the rocks trick!
4: Elephant Bush (Portulacaria afra)
Elephant bush never dies and it looks great in pots and in rock gardens. This succulent grows unruly purple branches with small, heart shaped leaves scattered along them. For this reason it can spread among rocks and stones, adding a bit of green, but without hiding them.
It is a slow grower too and you can easily cut it back. It has arching and partly draping branches, especially if grown among rocks. So it’s ideal for a large solution to a rockery.
If you want a very forgiving shrub like plant, then elephant bush is your man! And the leaves are medicinal too:
they cure stomach ache when ingested and they heal insect bites when rubbed against the skin. It’s like having a wild looking green pharmacy in your rookery.
5: ‘Lady Jane’ Botanical Tulip (Tulipa clusiana ‘Lady Jane’)
Small and dwarf tulips look great in rock gardens and ‘Lady Jane’ is an outstanding cultivar! The pointed petals have a white shade with a very light touch of pink, and they turn yellow at while,at the back they are purple red.
Let me tell you they remind me of magnolias, but they grow on short stems and for this reason they will stay among the stones of your garden.
‘Lady Jane’ blossoms in spring and it is a winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society – not surprisingly!
I would really want ‘Lady Jane’ tulip in an oriental looking rockery, but even in other designs this is a show stopper! Of course, there are similar varieties you can use as well.
6: Cranesbill (Geranium spp.)
Cranesbill or hardy geranium is a rock garden favorite. The foliage is perfect to cover the rocks partly, and to soften them with its delicate and refined texture.
Then, the little flowers add that extra touch, and there are so many varieties that you can choose among a wide range of colors.
The palette of these sweet looking flowers is very generous in the rose to purple via lavender range, but don’t forget the blue varieties or my favorite… Caucasian cranesbill, white with purple veins!
Low maintenance and florid, cranesbill plants are great in temperate looking rock gardens but they will also fit in desert and Mediterranean looking ones. They also bloom for months on end, in fact from late spring to fall, so… you get your money’s worth with hardy geraniums!
7: Cheddar Pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Firewitch’)
Cheddar pink has a sweet but wild and natural look and it will turn your rock garden into a super fragrant composition! It’s a small carnation with single magenta flowers and blue leaves.
Winner of the Plant of the Year Award by the Perennial Plant Association in 2006, it is easy to grow and a real asset for rockeries with its long, intoxicating bright blooms. In fact, it will start in mid spring and it will keep going till the first frost!
Any natural looking rock garden can be home to cheddar pink. There are other similar pinks, even doubles you can grow, including the iconic ‘Mrs Sinkins’. Choose a string and hardy one and you will have it for years!
8: Mexican Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)
Mexican daisy will scatter its beautiful white or purple flowers with yellow disks all over your rock garden, with generosity and brightens.
The little green leaves render the overall effect fresh and soothing, but remember that the blooms will last from mid spring all the way to the beginning of winter!
The patches of flowers between stones give a very wild and natural look to your design. For this reason it is ideal for mountain or prairie inspired rock gardens and even for a Mediterranean design, but surely not for a formal garden.
9: Carpathian Bellflower (Campanula carpatica ‘Deep Blue Clips’)
Carpathian bellflower is a low growing perennial with lovely green foliage and delicate lilac bell shaped flowers that open upwards. The blooms have an “origami” look and paper texture, and the shade is very delicate.
They will start at the beginning of summer and keep going all through fall. Placed amid rocks it softens them and links them with the delicate and bright shades of the blossoms and finely textured foliage.
The little “cushions” of green and lavender of Carpathian bellflower are ideal for fresh looking, natural inspired rockeries.
10: Creeping Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’)
Creeping juniper forms carpets or cushions of silver blue needles that last all year and are a perfect match for beautiful rocks. The plant is carpeting, scented and it drapes over slopes with elegance and thick foliage. It is very short but is spreads out, like a soft blanket…
In winter, the needles turn slightly purple, so you get an extra effect. Note that you can play with it, using stones of a shade that sets off the amazing coloring of this dwarf juniper.
Creeping juniper gives you an example of what you can do with evergreen conifers in a rock garden. I would always suggest using some; in fact, they give you the “all yearvround effect” and they are so elegant that they suit both formal and informal gardens.
11: Creeping Phlox ‘Scarlet Flame’ (Phlox subulata ‘Scarlet Flame’)
You can choose creeping phlox if many colors for your rockery. It ranges from white to purple, and there are blue, sky blue, pink and magenta varieties too. One that stands out is ‘Scarlet Flame’ which can set your rock garden alight with its sea of bright red flowers.
In fact, they cover the needle shaped foliage completely when they are in bloom in spring. And when the bloom is spent, the finely textured foliage will stay on all year round, as it is an evergreen.
Creeping phlox will give your design a large and bright patch of color. Thus it is ideal for a strong effect, as it can take over all the composition when it is in bloom.
12: Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina)
Lamb’s ears has silver colored oval leaves covered in a white fuzz, and this makes it ideal to nestle between rocks. I would compare them with rabbit ears, and in any case they have the soft and playful look that children love.
In spring and summer, you also get small purple pink flowers, though its main interest is the unique evergreen foliage.
It’s a perfect accompaniment for any rock garden; it is interesting but it does not take over from other plants, it is evergreen and it also gives texture to your composition.
13: Rock Rose ‘Raspberry Ripple’ (Helianthemum ‘Raspberry Ripple’)
It just sounds natural that rock rose would suit a rockery, and it does. The delicate looking rose shaped flowers with very thin petals that hover over and between rocks give you that special mountain look.
There are yellow varieties as well as pink, white and lavender, but the one we chose, ‘Raspberry Ripple’ is on the rose to crimson shade, and it blooms in late spring and summer.
Any variety of rock rose you choose will be ideal for natural looking and informal gardens, especially those that are inspired by mountain and temperate landscapes.
14: Blue Chalksticks (Senecio serpens)
Succulents are great for rock gardens and if you want a special effect look at blue chalksticks! This carpeting and crawling plant has leaves that look like sticks of chalk, in fact, and they point up to the sky with their distinctly blue color.
I am sure you can see the merit of this plant among stones and rocks. It will also bloom keenly in summer and fall with small but gracious star shaped flowers of a delicate cream shade.
Draping over rocks, blue chalksticks is one of the many succulents you can use for your rockery, it is excellent for tropical, Mediterranean, desert and even formal designs.
15: Myrtle Spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites)
Let’s close this list of rock garden plants with a lesser known succulent: myrtle spurge. This carpeting evergreen has bluish green foliage that forms little towers of rosettes, one next to the other, till you get a very interesting effect, like a very refined decoration of spiraling leaves that forms a carpet.
And it sneaks perfectly between stones adding a very elegant effect. The flowers are star shaped and yellow green, but they have showy yellow bracts, so they will lighten up your summer days too!
Once more, each succulent its great merits in a rock garden, and myrtle spurge may just offer you that elegant and sophisticated look, ideal for most garden designs and inspirations.
Rocks, Leaves and Flowers
I really love rock gardens and there are many other plants you can use to let your imagination run wild. But I hope this article and the chosen sample list has given you a few ideas bout how to design one and how to choose the right plants.
For the rest, my last tip for you is this… When you actually design your rockery, just imagine being still a child…
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.