Nurseries are well stocked with \"rock garden\" plants this time of year. You can grow sedums, succulents, candytuft, creeping phlox, herbs like santolina, plants with gray leaves like Artemisia, shrubs like rock rose, potentilla and barberry and annuals like ice plant. Many of the sedges and ornamental grasses can also adapt to rocky soil. Consider adding a bit of compost to the soil at planting time to help conserve water and mix in some slow release plant food like Osmocote when you plant, as rocky soil is often lacking in nutrients. One great design tip for rocky soil is to add a dry stream bed or river of rock that snakes through your property. This way you will have a convenient place to toss your rocks and place your boulders once you begin planting and must remove rocks and stones to make a planting hole. You might also want to build some rock walls, or create tables out of metal wire cages filled with rocks called gabions. Check out my blog from last year for a step by step lesson on making gabions. Go to www.binettigarden.com and than click on the link to my blog. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti