Crevice Gardening ......in defence of rock.....

[ranunculus]

Hi Anne,
Would it be possible to drill planting pockets intermittently up and down those vertical crevices?  The small ferns are obviously establishing themselves and it is such a magnificent chunk of stone!  The footprint would probably cover my entire garden.  
We are SO looking forward to visiting you in three months time!!!  

[Lori S.]

It's "graywacke" (NB. sp.)... with the word derived from the German (not from anything about it's resistance to being "whacked"!   )

[astragalus]

Mark, nice to hear from you.  My garden is a series of stepped ledges ending in a small cliff.  It faces WNW and is exposed to all the winds of winter.  Windbreaks are not possible because of the amount of rock and lack of root space.  We have some large trees but very widely spaced.  I tried the Mexican phloxes when they were first popular - none survived the winter and after three years I gave up.   I really prefer the phlox from the Rockies etc anyway.  
Harold Epstein used to bring me epimediums every time he visited the garden and I'm very fond of them.  Actually, this is a garden with very little shade and Harold always brought me wonderful shade plants (double trilliums, Iris gracilipes, Glaucidiums etc).  Maybe he thought he ws giving me a challenge (he was!) but I was always nervous when he visited lest he find one of his gifts dead.
1. another part of garden - rock at sunset
2. Phlox borealis in "greywhackie"I

[astragalus]

Hi Cliff - Drilling this rock (however you spell it) usually ends up with a mess.  There are a number of nice crevices and if I could only clone myself I would have the time to clean them all out and plant them.  I did do that for a draba which worked out nicely.  Still don't have the hang of posting more than one picture.
1. another part of garden - late afternoon April '08

[ranunculus]

Anne, your lovely pictures are already attracting lots of interest and are adding to the myriad glories of this wonderful forum.
I suspect you are still using 'amend' images instead of 'Additional options' -'Choose file' - and 'More attachments' for further images up to a total of ten in any one posting?
The Phlox borealis image is particularly inspiring.

[Maggi Young]

Still don't have the hang of posting more than one picture.

Anne, I've sent you an email which I hope will be helpful to sort out the picture posting......
 


The photos are amazing.... such a garden setting, with those phlox looking so very happy.... sigh!! 
M

[TheOnionMan]

1. another part of garden - rock at sunset
2. Phlox borealis in "greywhackie"

Anne, those outcroppings are massive, I'm envious.  I think I have as much rock here, but it is all a few inches under the soil !  The ledge filled with Phlox borealis is a fantastic sight.  It is one of the best species of Phlox, better than P. subulata because it keeps such nice dark green foliage even after flowering.  I grew it for years (originally from SRPN), where it grew side-by-side with Hypericum buckleyi, one of the south eastern dwarf woody hypericums.  They both flowered at the same time and made a memorable yellow and pink combination.  Both are long gone here, much of my rock garden plantings lost to neglect during those years where my two daughters were small and I worked too much and commuted too far and life was too hectic.  Your photos are strong inspiration to start again.

Regarding Epimediums and Harold Epstein's choice woodland plant gifts, at least with Epimedium, I find many grow perfectly well in bright light to full sun.  When I was working all these many years, I was rarely around to water the garden, so the "eppies" had to withstand dryness and neglect, which they do admirably. Even Iris cristata will grow and flower in full sun.  Now Kirengeshoma, they're another story... and after a decade, finally found a spot where they don't collapse daily from heat and drought.

[astragalus]

Mark, I agree with you about Phlox borealis.  It is one of the earliest things to bloom here and it's such a good doer.  It has never been watered, is out in the blazing sun and takes wind in stride.
The epimediums seem to be very tough and the E.grandiflorums seed themselves nicely, doing your work for you.  I wouldn't want to be without them and yes, they seem to do well in a lot of sun.  The epimediums in the picture I posted take the full wrath of the afternoon sun and do OK, ditto dodecatheon meadia and Haberlea rhodopensis.  The last was a surprise.
  The story about "greywachie/greywacky/graywacke") was told to me by the geologists who mapped the rock here as part of a New York State mapping of rock formations. Perhaps it is apocryphal but I always liked the explanation and can attest to the difficulty of breaking the stone.
1. another part of the garden
2. more rock

[Jiri Papousek]

Dean Anne,
really nice crevices. Let me defend rock with you  , here are sample of my new garden under development, inspired by ZZ too.

[Ragged Robin]

Anne, your rocks are quite spectacular and I love Phlox borealis in "greywhackie"I nestling on the ledge with roots tucked into the crevice.  do you plant most things from seed because of thin soil?  Congratulations on you efforts in such a challenging rock garden 

[Maggi Young]

Terrific to see these gardens!! 

[Lesley Cox]

It's "graywacke" (NB. sp.)... with the word derived from the German (not from anything about it's resistance to being "whacked"!   )

Thought so. We have it here too, in the mountains behind the Canterbury Plains. It is frequently replaced in Otago (inland) by schist. All lovely stuff for a rock gardener.

[astragalus]

I do grow a lot from seed but not because of thin soil. It's difficult to explain the situation here.  We've found fossil rocks with shells.  This was all covered by a glacier which, when it retreated, left part of the stone as smooth as satin but with glacier scratches which you can still see. The middle part of the ledges was totally buried when I started gardening. I hit a submerged ledge with a pickaxe.  When this happens, your shoulder and elbow immediately tells you you've hit ledge.  I decided to explore and uncovered the buried ledges. They go straight down for a few feet and then you find that the water etc carved the ledge underneath at an angle.  Following that angle (roughly 45 degrees if I remember correctly) for the length of the tool plus arm, you have about 8' depth of soil which was clay and rock and was all dug out and replaced.
This seems to be true of all the ledges.  That area remains cool and must hold moisture because everything there has done well with no watering at all. 
I just switched to digital in the last year and most of my photos are slides. 
The following are the best I can find of the digital photos.

[astragalus]

Jiri, your pictures (and garden) are wonderful.  Great that you have taken pictures as you go along, I'm always forgetting to do that.  It looks beautifully planted.  Can you tell me some of the things you have planted? And what has worked well for you? The best ideas always come from other gardeners.  I think Zdenek has been an inspiration for many people and if this thread continues we may get to see more of their results.

[TheOnionMan]

...here are sample of my new garden under development, inspired by ZZ too.

Inspiring!  Great to see your new garden under construction.  Sometime show us some closer views of plants growing in those crevices.