How to Choose a Ground Cover for Rockeries

A rockery provides the perfect place to plant a ground cover for an overall effect of flowers and foliage. Flowering plants such as rockcress add spring color, and woody ground covers such as Cotoneaster dammeri provide winter interest.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Plants

1. Choose the right plants for sun or shade. Remember that "full sun" means 6 hours of sun a day.
2. Select a combination of woody and herbaceous plants so there will be something there through the winter.
3. Pick plants that prefer the well-drained soil pockets of a rockery - one good example is Rubus pentalobus.
4. Achieve an alpine look by choosing cushion-forming plants, such as thrift, that hug the rocks.
5. Decide how many plants you'll need to get by using rocks to represent the plants. Place them at intervals according to how wide the plants grow, then count up the rocks.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose plants appropriate for your USDA plant hardiness zone (see Related Sites).

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