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Plants recommendation for stone wall

StefaanStefaan Posts: 5
in Garden design
Hey all,

I have a small wall in my garden made of boulders. 



Are there plants that will grow in the nooks and crannies without the need for a lot of soil or fertilizer ? Can I just buy for example succulents, shove them in a hole and forget about them, or will they need more care after a couple years ? Other plant recommendations also welcome :)

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    It's a lovely wall and there are plenty of plants that will potentially grow there. You can look up rockery plants (the clue is in the name :)) and you will find lots of lovely things to choose from, but there are a few things to think about first.

    How much sun does the wall get? Not all plants can cope with being baked in a south facing position.
    How acid is your soil? Many rock plants, unsurprisngly, are specific to a certain type of rock. For example, my soil is acidic. I have lots of suitable rocky positions in my garden but Dianthus  will not grow or thrive for me.  Aubretia is another fail. One I haven't tried, in case it succeeds too well, is Erigeron karvinskianus which you can  easily grow from seed. It's very pretty and I like it, but don't want to be forever weeding it out of the cracks between the flagstones!

    So, match your choice of plants to your conditions and you are off to a good start. Your plants will need some help to get established, but after that should be fairly maintenance free.
    Most, even succulents, will need at least some soil to grow in and you need to match your plant to the hole, don't try try to cram a large plant into a small crack, start small and it will grow to fit.
    For smaller holes just push in bit of soil, position your plant and then, a bit more carefully,  push in some more to cover the roots.
    For larger ones, a good tip I learned on this forum is to put some soil into the toe end of an old sock and poke it into the hole, thus stopping the soil disappearing into the cracks. Pop in your plant, and once its roots have grown they will hold onto the soil themselves.
    Hope you haven't already done a lockdown tidy on your sock drawer, but now you've got a good reason to start!
    Now the fun begins - get searching and enjoy :)




  • Gardener LizGardener Liz Posts: 10
    Oh I like the old sock toe idea , thanks, going to pinch that idea.
    Some ferns will grow surprisingly well in walls. I have some Hearts Tounge Fern growing on my brick wall of a raised bed, and they have seeded themselves. 
  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    Californian poppies?
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Welsh poppies would be better! I have loads and perennial too. They do seed around but I leave them in most places unless they are in the way.
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