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

[Tim Ingram]

Anne - I am really excited to see that Convolvulus flowering as it is one of the species I brought back from the Czech Republic. I will certainly be happy if it flowers like that (C. boissieri only flowers quite shyly for us). I have a nice little crevice between two blocks of tufa...!

[astragalus]

Tim, what you can't tell from the picture is that Convolvulus suendermanii is planted in a crevice on a slope.  The crevice is v-shaped and the top of the vee is filled with gravel.  I've done that with a lot of the crevices on the back of the cliff so that the plants won't be recessed and can be seen better.  Convolvulus boisseri blooms pretty well here as does C. compactus.  I have difficulty with C. assyricus, both in flowering and longevity.

[ebbie]

Tim, Convolvulus suendermannii is here absolutely hardy and requires no special demands. I think, other Convolvulus-Species are more difficult.

My Convolvulus suendermannii has been growing 14 years now without any protection in my rock garden. Here are two pictures from previous years (this year it is not yet blooming).

[astragalus]

Looks wonderful.  Hope mine will do as well.
Tim, some pictures of convolvulus for you.  C. compactus seems to like lime very much.  It will develop very woody roots in time.

    camera 1 160 Convolvulus compactus in '09.jpg
    convolvulus compactus 002 C. compactus a year later.JPG
    DSC03145 C. compactus, pink form.JPG
    DSC03142 C. compactus still expanding in lime bed.JPG
    005 C. boisseri in crevice bed.JPG

[Tim Ingram]

Ebbie and Anne - I'm lost for words; what tremendous plants! They certainly give me something to aim for...

[kindredspiritkevin]

A local farmer happened to mention that he had a one ton weathered limestone rock in his field. It was scored with deep grykes.  Off I set in my van and it was loaded with a little difficulty into it.

I then got it out of the van and manoeuvred it into position in the garden. I can assure you it's never going to move again! Heavy isn't the word.

There's no alpine nursery in this country so to make it presentable for now, I tore up a load of Sea Pinks from the front garden and stuffed them into the crevices. I put back some of the protruding bits of rock that had been knocked off during the manhandling.

I can take my time and decide what I'll eventually put into it but the Sea Pinks will do temporarily. The bits of railway sleepers underneath will be covered in time by the heather.

[astragalus]

Your rock makes quite a lovely display.
A few plants blooming now in the crevice gardens.  The unusual thing about the Oxytropis multiceps is that it is reblooming and still has seed pods.  The rebloom is a first.  The first picture has Moltkia petraea in the background and Linum spathulifolium in the foreground.  It makes a wonderful picture for the eye, not sure if the camera catches it.  Cliff Booker needs to be here photographing again!

    DSC07501 - Copy.JPG
    DSC07504 - Oxytropis multiceps.JPG
    DSC07507 - Moltkia petraea.JPG
    DSC07505 - Centaurea pestalozzae.JPG
    DSC07506 - Centaurea biokevensis.JPG

[ranunculus]

I'm heading for the airport as we speak ... !!! 

[astragalus]

Great, Cliff.  I'll get the popovers started and of course, there will be a huge supply of green beans for you!

[David Nicholson]

Great, Cliff.  I'll get the popovers started and of course, there will be a huge supply of green beans for you!

Green beans for a has been then?

[ranunculus]

Green beans for a has been then?

Only just recovered (slightly) from this very hurtful barb ... 

[David Nicholson]

Te He

[TheOnionMan]

Maggi, I recommend adding textual names for Anne's post, so that those fine plants can be found in a forum text search, worth reminding users about this too.

[krisderaeymaeker]

Some flowering plants in my little crevice ...

Veronica oltensis
Campanula dasyantha 'Superba'  (with Helichrysum milfordae)
Campanula rupicola

[astragalus]

How lucky that campanulas grow so beautifully for you.  Not many do well here because it's so dry.
Today was a very long work day building more crevices behind the cliff.  The most fun was starting to plant after finishing for the day.