Transforming Rocky, Shaded Areas of Your Yard into Vibrant Crevice Gardens – Master the Art of Growing Alpines, Herbs, and Succulents in Crevices this Summer

Transforming Rocky, Shaded Areas of Your Yard into Vibrant Crevice Gardens – Master the Art of Growing Alpines, Herbs, and Succulents in Crevices this Summer

Rock out your landscape with a crevice garden! These plant havens are all the rage among landscape architects and garden enthusiasts. Not only are they a breeze to build and maintain, but they're excellent for drought-tolerant plants and xeric landscapes. They offer a world of new planting possibilities, making them the perfect summer yard project (no green thumb required!).

Ooh, check out the three monstrous crevice planters in the Steppe Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens—they're eye-catching examples of the garden's potential. So, what's the deal with these crevice gardens?

Imagine a series of slimline rocks standing tall and proud, like the natural rock formations you'd find in a mountain range. Once placed in a vertical, parallel arrangement, they create shallows, gullies, and crevices that can be filled with grit, sand, and peat-free potting soil. From there, you can plant a variety of alpines, succulents, and other rock garden plants.

Crevice gardens are easier to maintain than traditional rock gardens, where weeds tend to overrun everything. These gardens add a touch of contemporary drama with their clean lines and undulating forms, offering a brand-new world of miniature plant life for your ogling pleasure.

Crafting Your Crevice Garden

It's easy-peasy to create a crevice garden that suits your yard, climate, and location. Master gardener, Tabar Gifford, says, "Once planted, your crevice garden will slowly knit together into a living tapestry of textures, flowers, and colors—and the best part? It's almost self-sustaining once established."

To get started, remember these dos and don'ts:

1. Mimic Mother Nature: Aim to replicate the natural look of rocky mountain environments, where hardy plants thrive in narrow pockets of soil between towering vertical rock faces.
2. Plot your Plan: Determine the area you wish to use for your garden, keeping the proportions in mind. Using sand, blocks, or a spray paint marker helps visualize the end result and make any necessary adjustments before construction begins.
3. Shape a Soil Berm: Create a mounded base for your garden above the surrounding soil.
4. Lay the Stones: Place flat stones like flagstone, slate, or sandstone vertically, angling them slightly backward to create deep, narrow crevices between each slab.
5. Vary the Space: Make sure you have narrow and wider gaps between the rocks. The idea is to closely emulate nature, where nothing is perfectly even.
6. Choose Well-Draining Soil: Mix 3 parts coarse, washed sand and 1 part topsoil for your soil blend. Make sure to tightly chink it between the rocks to prevent uneven settling.
7. No Air Pockets: Ensure the soil fills each gap fully, banishing air pockets from your crevice garden. Use the handle of your spade or hand trowel to help ram the soil mix into each crack and crevice.

Green Thumb Tips

To ensure your crevice garden thrives, follow these planting best practices:

1. Plan before planting. Arrange your plants in the garden before removing them from their pots to get a feel for the layout.
2. Deliver a Drenching: Soak your plants in water before removing them from their pots. Gently tease out the roots to encourage growth.
3. Plant Deep: Plant your plants to the same depth as they were in their containers. Firm the soil around the base and top with grit or gravel for added support.

Stone Selection

Choose stone based on both aesthetics and suitability. Generally, sedimentary rocks like sandstone, siltstone, shale, and limestone work best as these tend to break into flat planes, making it easy to mimic natural crevice gardens. Todd Boland, President of the North American Rock Garden Society and Horticulturist, recommends stones that are flat on two sides so they can be placed parallel to each other.

When laying out the stones, remember that north-facing slopes work well for alpine plants that need ample sunlight, while west-facing slopes offer the perfect spot for succulents and cacti. Eastsiders enjoy morning sun, and the west side provides afternoon light. Make sure to anchor your stones securely to prevent heaving.

Tools & Materials

Ready to roll up your sleeves and get started on your crevice garden? Here are some essentials:

1. 6ft (2m) Rock bar (like this True Temper Pinch Point 66inches Crowbar from Amazon.com) for moving heavy rocks
2. Spade (such as this Heavy Duty Square Shovel from Walmart) to make shoveling loose soil a breeze
3. Trowel (like this slimline design from Walmart) for filling narrow crevices
4. Soft bristle hand brush for cleaning stones and grit off your hands
5. Various flat stone slabs (limestone, flagstone, slate, or sandstone)
6. Well-draining soil mix (consisting of 50% garden loam and 50% coarse aggregate)
7. Crushed gravel mulch (to top dress the planting channels)
8. A selection of small rockery plants from appealing sources like High Country Gardens and Wrightman Alpines

With your newfound knowledge and love for crevice gardens, you have the green light (or should we say, stone light?) to create your very own landscape masterpiece. Happy gardening!

Enrichment Data:

• When laying stones for a crevice garden, it is crucial to consider not just their appearance but their suitability. Sedimentary rocks, such as flagstone, slate, and sandstone, are favored because of their naturally flat layers and root-friendly crevices.
• A successful crevice garden requires attention to stone arrangement, ensuring proper water flow, and choosing plants that suit the specific conditions provided by the garden setup. Mixing stone shapes can contribute to visual interest and help guide plant placement.
• Components like a rock bar, a high-sided spade, a trowel, a soft bristle hand brush, flat stone slabs, lean, fast-draining soil, crushed gravel mulch, and a selection of small rockery plants are essential for creating a successful crevice garden. Sources for these materials include Amazon, Walmart, Stone Farm Materials, High Country Gardens, and Wrightman Alpines.

1. To create a stunning crevice garden that's perfect for succulents and other rock garden plants, consider investing in tools such as a rock bar, a high-sided spade, and a trowel for maneuvering stones and soil.
2. In addition to essential gardening tools, sourcing the right stones like flagstone, slate, and sandstone, along with well-draining soil mix and crushed gravel mulch, will help you achieve a beautiful and self-sustaining crevice garden that adds a touch of contemporary drama to your home-and-garden lifestyle.

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