Plants for the Rock Garden - Displayed by Common Name in Ascending Order

A beautiful plant for the garden bed or patio pots. Also makes an excellent gift. Grow as an annual or a perennial, where plants will be covered with blooms throughout the season. Extra-thick flower petals extend the time blooms are showy in the garden.

A beautiful plant for the garden bed or patio pots. Also makes an excellent gift. Grow as an annual or a perennial, where plants will be covered with blooms throughout the season. Extra-thick flower petals extend the time blooms are showy in the garden.

This selection forms a compact mound of green foliage, bearing inflated buds that open into star-shaped semi-double white flowers. The small habit of this variety makes it a good choice for rock gardens and mixed containers.

‘Midnight Masquerade’ produces a sturdy clump of deep burgundy purple leaves. The dark color of the foliage is most pronounced in direct UV sunlight. This variety's dark foliage can be enjoyed all season, but in bloom, the overall effect is stunning.

Rich lavender purple flowers have pure white interiors and are produced on dark stems just above the foliage. An improvement on other varieties, this superior selection boasts a fuller, more refined habit, more vibrant flower color, and a more consistent, floriferous flowering performance. A must-have addition to the sun perennial garden!

Deep rose pink tubular flowers appear in late spring and early summer. Compared with 'Pink Pearls', this variety has darker, redder flowers.

Like all of our Penstemons, this one takes the heat and humidity in stride but is also very cold hardy. It continues to provide terrific color in the landscape all season long.

With a dreamy palette of flowers, Elise makes an indelible impression! Glorious shades of soft and vivid pinks, rose, salmon, white, yellow, orange, soft purple and lovely bicolor patterns — an impressionist masterpiece. Prize-winning 4-6" variety flowers its first season without a cold period, working its magic in containers, beds and rockeries.

A low-growing, spreading, woody evergreen ground cover with small, crisp, 4-petaled white flower clusters and a mounded habit. Early to flower, the plant does not require vernalization. Prefers full sun and well-drained soil. Attracts pollinators; blooms mid-late spring. DO NOT cut back to the ground at the end of the growing season!

Compact plants have very colorful, medium-size leaves, making this an excellent choice for shade plantings. Separate colors – singly or in combination with impatiens or other shade-loving varieties – make striking beds,

Leaves have distinct veining and are a soft copper color that deepens as the season progresses. White spires of flowers appear in the spring. Plant to add brightness to shade landscapes or containers, wonderful winter hardiness and heat tolerance.

Ivy shaped foliage with dainty, heart-shaped flowers in mixed colors in shades of pink, rose, and cream. These are the old-fashioned style of Coral Bells, grown for their bright display of flowers in early summer.

An excellent groundcover plant with bright pink flowers in early summer which are more vivid than other pink varieties. A prolific flowerer and highly attractive to bees and other pollinators. The green, fragrant foliage turns to red in the fall.

This low-growing selection forms a trailing mat of grey-green leaves. The soft-pink flowers have a deep purple eye and veins, appearing on and off from early summer. Terrific in the rock garden, alpine trough, wall or for edging a border or pathway. Shear plants by half in midsummer if flowering stops, to encourage bushy growth and repeat blooming in autumn. Easily divided in spring. Received a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (1993/2006).

It’s a miracle that Leontopodium Blossom of Snow exists! This beautiful plant, also called Edelweiss, was almost extinct. The Sound of Music is partly to blame. This movie caused a real Edelweiss-craze. Fans went en masse to the mountains to pick Edelweiss. Now Edelweiss is a protected species. Fortunately we can enjoy Blossom of Snow to the fullest. This new Edelweiss variety blooms like no other. Not once, but twice a year: in summer and again in autumn. Blossom of Snow has characteristic, large star-shaped flowers. Its flowers are pure white with a yellow center, which gives a refreshing look combined with its silvery foliage. Blossom of Snow grows to 16" high and 24" wide. This perennial is an excellent choice for rock gardens, mixed planting, perennial borders and as solitary in a container. And did you know Edelweiss is also suitable as cut flower? That is because of its exceptionally long flower stems. Leontopodium Blossom of Snow is very hardy. Put the plant in full sun in well drained, sandy soil. Prune Blossom of Snow after it has finished flowering. Other than that, this gorgeous Edelweiss hardly requires maintenance.

Silvery, velvety foliage with white, star-shaped flowers. Edelweiss is a favorite wildflower of the Swiss Alps, best suited to growing in a well-drained rock garden, scree or alpine trough. Plants form a low clump of silvery grey foliage, bearing odd clusters of woolly white flowers in early summer. These can be cut, or even dried. Short-lived in gardens, these will sometimes self seed when happy. Best in regions with cool summers. Drought-tolerant once established.

Bellamy Blue was a Fleuroselect Gold Medal Winner in 2022 for being the earliest of all the blue Myosotis to bloom. This short and compact forget-me-not is simply stunning with its dense clusters of small sapphire blooms that brighten up garden borders, pots, and patios from spring through to early summer.

True blue flowers are a rare occurrence in nature, as only a handful of plant species produce naturally occurring blue pigments.

Abundant vibrant, tiny blue flowers cover compact, bushy plants. Attracts butterflies.

True blue flowers are a rare occurrence in nature, as only a handful of plant species produce naturally occurring blue pigments.

This new sport of ‘Jack Frost’ has more silver barring with with the bars connecting to form a silver collar around the perimeter of the leaf. In addition, there is a very light dusting of silver over the entire leaf surface.

One of the most distinctive types of Sempervivum. Aptly named, ‘Cobweb’ is covered with fine, white threads which crisscross between the leaves’ tips like a cobweb. Each rosette of pointy, blue-green leaves grows about 1 inch wide. Their color may vary from season to season. Unusual rose-pink flowers are produced on leafy stalks in midsummer.

An interesting collection of evergreen succulents. Many forms and colorations.

This selection produces medium-sized rosettes with narrow, pointy leaves of ruby red to smoky grey-red. Short spikes of pastel flowers in summer.

Emerald green fleshy rosettes with tips of red transform to gleaming sunset tones of orange in cool weather. Mature plants produce short thick flower spikes of star-shaped pink flowers. A carefree, sun and heat loving succulent.

For glamorous color where it's hot, sunny, and dry, we suggest this exceptional Denver Botanic Garden introduction. Nickel-sized blossoms are apricot to bright orange with a ring of hot pink to magenta color surrounding the white eye. They are produced prolifically, blanketing the foliage from late spring through early summer and then often reblooming sporadically throughout the summer months. A vigorous, evergreen carpet.

FIRE SPINNER® is a weed suppressing groundcover that typically spreads 18-24” wide in two years. Its succulent, apple green foliage is evergreen and takes on bronze tones in winter.

Like all Delospermas, this one is also highly heat and drought tolerant, making it a good choice for waterwise landscapes. It thrives in rock gardens, on slopes, in containers, and in the landscape.

The bright pink and white petals on this clump-forming plant have a shimmering, almost metallic appearance.

Unique, intense dark red foliage that enhances the landscape's visual appeal even without flowers. Eye-catching magenta purple flowers bloom abundantly from spring to fall on a neat, mound-forming habit.

This high performing new ice plant, like it's kin GRANITA® Raspberry, closely hugs the ground, vigorously spreads and is densely covered with large flowers in varying shades of rusty orange that are at once bright, earthy and iridescent. A beautiful way to enhance your garden, provide nectar for bees, and save water at the same time.

A beautiful and unique new ice plant discovered by John Stireman among his planting of FIRE Spinner™. A vigorous and floriferous plant with large, striking, iridescent raspberry flowers that are densely packed. Creates a beautiful, shiny, dark pink carpet at the front of a border or woven throughout a bed underpinning taller perennials and shrubs.

An exciting new variety that is covered in blooms from early summer until frost! Daisy-like flowers are pinkish-red with creamy white centers. This prostrate groundcover is perfect for rock gardens or front of the garden.

A fast-spreading ground cover from South AFrica with lustrous fuchsia flowers.

A creeping, moss-like, evergreen groundcover that can be used as a replacement for lawn in cool-summer regions. Irish Moss is especially beautiful growing between pavers and flagstones on a path or wall.

Update your lavender collection with this top notch variegated form. Soft grey-green leaves are accented by wide, creamy yellow margins which are showy even from a distance as the plant glows in the summer sun.

Strongly fragrant, soft lavender blue flowers are presented on very proportional wands beginning in early summer in the south, midsummer in the north.

This plant forms a neatly compact, dense mound of attractive foliage, making it perfect for use in containers, as edging, and in rock gardens.

Platinum Blonde™ is a multiple award winner including a nomination for Plant of the Year at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013.

This selection has large, upfacing rose-red flowers with white centers, up to six flowers per stem. Really a dramatic addition to a hot color theme.

Improved 'Double You' with double, bright orange flowers! 5-7 buds per stem; 60 days to force.

This selection has large, upfacing bright orange flowers with purple freckles. Really a dramatic addition to a hot color theme. The dwarf habit makes them useful near the front of any sunny border where they put on a great midsummer show. Also equally at home in the rock garden. The best effect comes from massing in good-sized clumps of one variety.

Sparkling white blossoms with high bud count. Produces 4-6 flowers per stem

Mat-forming, low-creeping groundcover with diminutive, bright green leaves produces purple-blue flowers, spotted red and yellow, in early summer. Withstands moderate foot traffic and competes successfully with grass. Very vigorous selection.

A Mexican succulent that forms large, loose rosettes of fleshy, spoon-shaped leaves in dark gray-green with cabernet-red stripes and margins. Slender flower stalks carry nodding, bell-shaped flowers in orange-yellow.

Happy Hour Banana is high impact color with its vivid bright yellow, semi-double blooms. The blooms have red in the eye.

Happy Hour Deep Red is high impact color with its vivid deep red, semi-double blooms.

Happy Hour Fuchsia is high impact color with its vivid fuchsia, semi-double blooms.

Fuller habit and large, semi-double blooms in vivid colors. Great for hot, dry, full-sun conditions, drought-tolerant Happy Hour is sure to please with its excellent garden performance.

Happy Hour Pink Passion is high impact color with its vivid pink, semi-double blooms.

Fuller habit and large, semi-double blooms in vivid colors. Great for hot, dry, full-sun conditions, drought-tolerant Happy Hour is sure to please with its excellent garden performance.

A warm season grass of exceptionally fine texture. Narrow green foliage creates a rounded, arching habit. In early fall sprays of rosy pink flowers spread over the plant. UNDAUNTED® is notable against previous cultivars for being more cold hardy and having a deeper shade of flower color.

Plants like Sedum sieboldii -- with stems that radiate outward from the center -- are the plant world's Fourth of July sparklers, but enjoyable almost all year. Most sedums are mounding, trailing plants grown as ground covers and in rock gardens, or as fillers for container arrangements. But Sedum sieboldii, also called October Daphne, deserves a pot of its own to showcase its beautiful scalloped leaves arranged in threes along arching stems.

If you've enjoyed the ease and beauty of A. 'Serendipity', then 'Bobblehead' is the next perennial you will want to check out! 'Bobblehead' supersizes 'Serendipity' as a much larger, robust plant, with bigger blooms, an earlier bloom time, and a lighter flower color. Globe-like 3-3½" pale lilac flowers appear in midsummer; persisting for many weeks before leaving behind perfectly spherical seedheads. Foliage is glaucous blue-green with a twist to each individual leaf. If the foliage is bruised or the clump cut into, the plant will give off a strong onion smell - translating into high deer and rabbit resistance.

'Bobblehead' has good heat and drought tolerance and is capable of surviving in a wide variety of soils. Site in sunny spaces with good drainage for the best results!

This ornamental onion has snaky, twisty leaves that will remind you of the snake hair from the Medusa legend. ‘Medusa’ forms a low mound of grey-green, narrow foliage with leaves the twist slightly at the end. The nodding buds look like snakes at the tips of the stems, before they straighten to form 1.75-2” rounded clusters of light amethyst purple flowers. Similar in flower color and flower foliage to ‘Blue Eddy’, but in a much larger form. Butterflies and honeybees adore the flowers’ sweet nectar but deer and rabbits steer clear of this perennial beauty.

‘Millenium’ forms a compact, upright clump of glossy green, thick and strappy leaves which emit a slight smell of onion when crushed. In late July and August here in Michigan, a profusion of large 2”, bright rosy purple, tightly rounded clusters of flowers appear on strong stems just above the attractive foliage. Butterflies and honeybees adore the flowers’ sweet nectar but deer and rabbits steer clear of this perennial beauty. This plant has not been known to reseed in the landscape and is very easy to grow.

Pendulous bunches of showy, pink bracts and weeping branches of oval to round leaves oppositely arranged create quite a display all season long. A delicate, dramatic plant to drape over walls or mix into rockeries, containers and low borders.

Exciting and versatile, 4 Luck Coco Mint is an excellent component plant for containers with a great amount of diversity in colors. It grows low and spreads, then with maturity cascades over the edge of containers and baskets. It performs as an excellent groundcover because the stems will develop from the plant base under the soil, filling a small area in a single growing season. With that stated, trifolium is not categorized as an invasive plant.

This selection of the common creeping clover makes a handsome edging or groundcover plant. It was named for the number of four-leaved clovers usually found but there also may be three leaves. Leaves are three-toned, dark green with burgundy red triangles and silver gray on the outside. A very nice filler plant in tubs or mixed containers. Because of its vigorous habit, do not plant next to slow-growing alpine plants that might get smothered. Trim back hard in midsummer to rejuvenate the foliage, if plants begin to look scruffy. Easily divided in spring or fall. May be used as a lawn substitute and mowed at any time to the desired height.

Black Four-Leaf Clover. A vigorous perennial with charming leaves and small white flowers that bloom in summer.

Canary yellow, mildly fragrant, 3 inch wide flowers are produced in great numbers over dark green, lanceolate leaves from early thru midsummer. Following the substantial blooms, seed pods are produced which are beautiful in dried arrangements.

Interesting plant with furry buds opening from April-May into cup-shaped flowers. Use for rock gardens, borders.

An outstanding performer! Deep pink, fragrant flowers bloom so profusely they nearly hide the foliage. Remarkably heat and drough tolerant.

Lavender-purple flowers witha dark purple eye in mid- to late-spring.

A profusion of flowers carpet the garden. Creates a colorful spring show in mass plantings or with spring bulbs.

Long barrel shaped green leaves bristled with soft spine-like white hairs. They look like Gherkin pickles! Pale yellow flowers appear late winter through fall. This low, sprawlingn succulent can grow up to 18" tall.

‘Paint the Town Magenta’ is one of the earliest Dianthus to bloom, producing ¾-1” wide, single vibrant magenta pink flowers and incredibly serrated petals. Flowers completely cover the plant when it’s in peak. Its glaucous blue foliage set it apart from other Dianthus of its type.

Bright red, single flowers with fringed petal edges cover compact, dwarf plants.

The intricate leaves of ‘Hiippo Rose’ are deep green with rose blotches and plants are slow to bolt leaving more time for the brightly hued foliage to sparkle.

Fast growing plant with dark round leaves splashed with either white, rose, or red. Pinch growing tips to shape.

Quick growing plant has leaves splashed with rose pink. Pinch growing tips to shape.

Highly praised for its large flower size and clear, vibrant colors. Flowers freely in a wide range of colors including yellow, maroon, lavender, white, pink, and blue-violet. Most have large eyes of contrasting colors. The ‘Pacific Hybrids’ put on a fantastic color show in early spring.

Flowering succulent features large, yellow blooms with orange centers.

Flowering succulent features large, yellow blooms with orange centers.

 

Mojave® Tangerine shines with large, saturated orange blossoms that don’t fade in the heat and attract pollinating bees and butterflies. Like others in the series, they are self-cleaning so they won’t need to be deadheaded to keep on blooming all season.

Flowering succulent features large, yellow blooms with orange centers.

 

 

 

The sky's the limit on this tropical looking plant! Coral orange flowers open creamy white on perfectly formed spikes. The beautiful bicolor flowers are produced above a large clump of foliage and blooms for many weeks beginning in early to midsummer.

Uniform, compact, globe-shaped habit, with bright pink flowers.

Bright coral - orange blooms cover this small mounding shrub from mid-spring to mid-fall. Coral Drift® has the most vibrant flowers that catch your eye from anywhere. Mix and match with similar or contrasting colors to really wow. Fully winter hardy and disease resistant.

Stunning bouquets of pink and white bicolor roses on a fuss-free shrub that will endure the trials of a long, hot summer with an unwavering blooming zeal. An outstanding, disease-resistant, own-root, self-cleaning rose that thrives coast to coast in heat and humidity as well as dry, hot summers. A dynamic hedge, barrier, or accent plant. Deciduous.

An eye-catcher of a trailing variety with pudgy, bean-shaped leaves that hang on stems up to 2’ long. The whole plant can flush a striking shade of magenta when moderately stressed by direct sun, drought, or cool temperatures. It grows fine, white tufts of fuzz in the crevices between stems and leaves. It produces small, yellow, daisy-like blooms and re-roots easily from stem cuttings.

Silver Ocean is a highly ornamental herb that's perfect for an edible landscape. A very winter hardy perennial, this edible plant has crispy, silvery-blue grey-green leaves that have the savory flavor of fresh oysters, often used in gourmet cooking. It grows to a mature size of 8" to 10" tall and 12" to 16" wide and blooms in clusters of pink buds and purple pendent flowers in summer.

Small, succulent leaves emerge coral and mature to green, becoming reddish-bronze in winter. Small, white star-shaped flowers appear above the foliage. A vigorous groundcover or rock garden subject. Evergreen.

A cheerful midsummer display of bright yellow starry flowers on upcurved stems in midsummer. Interesting blue-green pine-like foliage endures all year ‘round.

Fleshy leaves have bright variegation. Clusters of rosy-pink flowers.

An upright evergreen succulent plant growing to 4 to 6+ feet tall by 1 to 2 feet wide that branches at the base with multiple vertical stems holding 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inch long flattened lanceolate to sickle shaped whitish gray-green succulent leaves. In late summer into fall are produced the unremarkable looking small white composite flowers (all disk flowers) held on short, branched inflorescences at branch tips.

A silver-grey carpet of pointed leaves covered liberally in early summer with masses of crisp white silky flowers with an almost luminous quality. Foliage is a useful, year-round contrast to stronger colors.

An undemanding groundcover for full sun and poor soil. In other words, a dream come true! Highly valued for its woolly gray foliage, ‘Snow in Summer’ lives up to its name in late spring and early summer when the foliage is smothered in luminous white flowers.Though Cerastium can be a rapidly spreading groundcover, ‘Yo Yo’ has a more restrained, compact habit, making it easier to control. Try growing it in pockets of stone walls, on slopes, or in poor, dry soil where other perennials struggle.

One of the best landscape plants for all-season color. ‘Bonfire’ PP18585 is one of the most colorful spurges ever invented! The top growth is a fantastic combination of deep purple, red, and orange leaves with a touch of chartreuse, while the undergrowth is green. The foliage tends to deepen to burgundy red at the height of summer. Turns rich red in the fall.

In late spring, crackling sulfur yellow bracts light up the whole plant for several weeks. But really, who needs flowers with foliage like this?!

Looking for a beautiful groundcover? 'Yellow Brick Road' is your answer! This perennial will cover its dark green leaves and red stems with fine-textured yellow flowers mid to late summer. This forms an impeccable habit with little to no lodging, a problem that plagues many Sedum. This variety blooms a few weeks later than the standard summer flowering Stonecrop Sedum kamtschaticum (Russian Stonecrop), bridging the gap between summer and fall flowering groundcover Sedum.

'Pure Joy' has become a garden staple for the late summer/early fall garden. Now joining the light pink 'Pure Joy' and the white-flowering sport 'Bundle of Joy' comes the dark pink 'Pride and Joy'. This sport of 'Pure Joy' shares the same impeccable habit, serrated leaves, and bloom time as its parent, but with darker leaves and darker pink flowers.

Great contrast between the foliage and flowers with colors reminiscent of a traditional banana split: dark-gray-purple foliage like the chocolate sauce and creamy yellow flowers like the banana. Compact habit and strong stems that don't flop, great performer in the rock garden, perennial border, for mass planting or container.

The cultivar ‘Weihenstephaner Gold’ has especially showy golden-yellow flower that age to orange-yellow. The starry yellow flowers appear in leafy clusters in summer, followed by russet-red fruits that provide fall and winter interest. The spoon-shaped, fleshy, dark green leaves are densely borne on sprawling reddish stems. The leaves turn purple in fall.

A rare trailing hybrid succulent that is a cross of String of Pearls and Candle Plant. The leaves lining its string-like stems really look like dolphins leaping off the plant, making it a true novelty in the natural world. If properly cared for, it can send up bloom stalks with pompom-like clusters of tiny white flowers that smell of cinnamon.

String of Pearls, named after British botanist Gordon Rowley, is an unusual succulent with nearly spherical leaves from South Africa. Massively long “stringsof pearls”.

Single flowers in a wide color range over compact plants.

A darling plant in the shape of a heart, making it a perfect gift! This leaf cutting of the Hoya Kerri will stay the same size its entire life, since it has no node or bud to form new growth; it prefers plenty of bright indirect light, but avoid direct summer sun; water only when top soil dries out; an interesting indoor novelty plant.

A darling plant in the shape of a heart, making it a perfect gift! This leaf cutting of the Hoya Kerri will stay the same size its entire life, since it has no node or bud to form new growth; it prefers plenty of bright indirect light, but avoid direct summer sun; water only when top soil dries out; an interesting indoor novelty plant.

A highly desirable and popular groundcover, forming a dense low mat with spikes of lilac-white flowers throughout summer, beautiful fragrant variegated foliage that is larger and more broadleaf; needs a dry and sunny location, can take light foot traffic.

Variegated Broadleaf Thyme is smothered in stunning spikes of lilac purple flowers with white overtones rising above the foliage from early to mid summer, which emerge from distinctive burgundy flower buds. It's attractive fragrant round leaves remain green in color with showy creamy white variegation throughout the year.

Culinary herb for gardens and containers. Commonly used for seasoning meats, fish, poultry, soups and vegetables.

One of the first thymes to flower each year, this charming and reliable cultivar bursts into bloom in early spring with unique salmon-pink flowers. Its fuzzy olive-green foliage forms a mat 1 to 2 inches tall and 18 inches wide. It is one of the most tolerant of thymes of dry conditions, but grows robustly with plenty of water.

Thymus citriodorus ‘Archers Gold’ is a low-growing, mat-forming lemon-scented thyme, bearing golden-yellow-green leaves and pink flowers in summer. It’s perfect for use in culinary dishes, particularly chicken and fish recipes.

Creates an eye-catching carpet of gold and green variegated leaves when in bright light. Lemon scent is released when leaves are crushed. Makes a wonderfully fragrant groundcover or container plant. Attractive in rock gardens.

Vibrant flowers attract butterflies to the garden. An excellent choice for rock or alpine gardens or containers. This hardy relative of the popular annual makes a great small-scale ground cover. Lovely planted with African daisy and veronica.

Wallflower Erysistible™ ‘Tricolor’ blooms for weeks in a tapestry of orange to coral-red and magenta. Fragrant flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds that will return to your garden year after year. A compact, bushy form is perfect for containers and patios. Excellent heat tolerance makes this plant perfect for hot, sunny garden beds. Long-lasting blooms in striking colors make excellent additions to cut flower arrangements.