Crevice Gardens

Cliff Gardens, Rockeries
and Alpine Screes with a Twist

The solar heat absorbed by the stone lends a few precious days to the growing season, giving them just enough time to produce their seeds.

Happy Sempervivum growing in a Crevice

The roots of many succulent and alpine plants are far reaching, finding the tiniest amount of moisture deep in the ground.

Planting them at the base of large rocks enables them to thrive in even the driest and most challenging of conditions.

The conditions of the vertical rock garden gives them the cool root run of the soil beneath the rocks, as well as perfect drainage.

You can tailor the soil, drainage and sun exposure to their exact requirements giving these precious plants the conditions they need.

Soil

Experimenting with the soil you have that packs well, and adding some turkey grit for drainage may give the best results for crevice planting. You don’t want the soil to erode out of the crevices exposing the roots.

Crevice Garden Under Construction

My Crevice Garden

It’s fairly fragile and chips and breaks easily, but using it this way in a vertical orientation and with no load on it should stand up well.

I’ve planted it with many different Sempervivum which will spread to fill each niche.

Use a layer of coarse gravel for drainage at the base of the rocks, then top with the amended soil. After you finish planting, mulch with gravel or lava rock.

The crowns of the plants need the protection from excess moisture, and the mulch will also prevent the soil from washing away.

Raising the growing area to emulate a mountainous region and planting the tiny plants or seeds in the crevices among rocks, or even hand built hypertufa slabs. Your crevice gardens made with hypertufa will look amazing once planted and weathered for a while. Don't have room for a full sized crevice garden? Why not make a hypertufa fissure to give you the same look in miniature? See more about hypertufa fissures on Blue Fox Farm.

A Crevice Garden

Finding beautiful rocks on your travels and displaying them in the form of a make-believe mountain side to grow moss and lichen or wildflowers and alpine plants is an art form.

Try some Lewisia or a collection of saxifrage for a very special jewel like display.

Place your cliff garden in a scree or gravel bed mulched with shale or other rock to give the look of a true mountain peak, or take out some of the pavers of a patio for a pocket garden, making it look as though it’s erupting through the patio.

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go to Xeric Gardens

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