Sep 2010 When you choose sunny plants for rockeries remember: a rockery features stone as well as plant.

All that beautiful rock you chose; red, grey, limestone? You don’t want to hide it completely so when you buy sunny plants for your rockeries make sure you’re going for the right ones. Think rocky coastline and how the flowering plants in summer cling to the cracks and crevices forming a beautiful sculpture with the weather beaten rock and grass that grow in the poor sandy soil.

The best sunny plants for rockeries (and for rockeries, sunny or drought-resistant plants are the only candidates) are low-lying ones like aloe or clinging shrubs like lamb’s ear and like well drained gritty soil. There’s a whole gardener’s class of sunny plants good for rockeries: they’re called “stonecrop” plants and are typified by the “sedum” plants like Autumn Joy. “Sedum” is Latin for “sit” – sunny plants friendly for rockeries are often known as sedum because they appear to sit on the stone. Sedums come in all different sizes from the very miniature ones to the large variety where the flower heads dry well to provide impact right through the autumn and winter. Sunny plants for rockeries are commonly clump forming (they “break out” in little colonies in the rock fissures) and have succulent leaves. Succulence is almost universal in sunny plants that are good for rockeries: a succulent leaf is thick and fleshy, which enables the plant to store what little water it gets and parcel it out for use over months at a time. Dianthus another good rock plant, come in different sizes and clusters and have pink flowers on a cushion of grey leaves. The perennial Alysum is deep rooted so once established with provide a tumble of yellow flowers over your rocks each year.

Owners of larger rockeries will want to look for bigger sunny plants. If you’ve got a regular Mojave in your back garden you can start thinking about cacti – the cactus is the grandfather of all succulents and some of the biggest are excellent sunny plants for the kind of rockeries that have proper gaps between stones. The Mexican Lime Cactus (Ferocactus pilosus) will add a fiery red-and-green combo to the colour of your rocks; while the Suguaro or Organ Pipe varieties will make you feel like you have your very own Western stage set in your back yard! Remember, though – the size of the sunny plants you choose for your rockeries depends very much on the appearance of your rocks – and the spaces between them. Although succulents – sunny plants – for rockeries appear to be growing on the stone itself, they aren’t. The sunny plants good for your rockeries need soil to put their roots in: the bigger ones need larger areas of soil. Choose wisely and you’ll have a feature that perfectly balances the bright leaves of succulents with the natural colours of the rock.