Marianne's Response

What can I plant between a boulder fence so that water doesn’t drain out of my garden?

I have a flower bed which was made by putting very large rocks around the bed and then putting the soil in it. (It would take at least 5 men to pick up each rock.). My problem is that the water drains out through the cracks between the rocks. Is there anything I could use to line the bed so water could still drain out but at a more normal rate?

Posted by Patricia Rickmann on April 27, 2015

Marianne's Response

Sounds like your boulders would be perfect for growing sedums and succulents or groundcover plants such as creeping phlox between the cracks. The easiest plants to add to small cracks are sempervirens or Hens and chicks and the bright gold sedum Angelina. Break a clump of these sedums apart and using a chop stick or screw driver poke an opening into the crack and fill this with a bit of sphagnum moss. Next insert the end of the succulent piece and if necessary pack around the roots with more moss to keep the plants in place. Soon the roots will grow into the moss and knit the cracks together. In a year or two I hope you send us a photo of your living rock border. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti