Recommendations: What to plant in a rockery

NIMAN

We have just dug out a rockery that the previous owners had.

Lots of weeds in it. Plus it was also a vegetable/herb garden for them, so there were spuds, rhubarb, chives etc in it.

It is now down to bare soil, but think I will have to weedkill it first and let it rest. Then planning to get more soil on top.

How long would I need to leave it after applying weedkiller before planting anything?

And then comes the topic of thread, any recommendations of plants/shrubs/flowers to plant that will be low maintenance?

looksee

The mind is boggling slightly at the idea of spuds and rhubarb in a rockery! Any chance of a pic? Which direction does it face/how much sun does it get.

Edit: there isn't a whole lot of point in weedkilling on bare soil, you might want to wait until the weeds are coming up with enthusiasm and then spray them. Or just miss the weedkiller stage completely, the weeds are going to grow anyway and if you destroy the soil enough to stop them, nothing else will grow either. The new soil will probably be full of weed-seeds too!

NIMAN

Sorry, no evidence left of their crazy veg patch.

Might rake out the soil as best I can and then re-plant, but its what to replant?

The piece of ground is at the rear of the house and would be facing NW, but I don't think its blocked much by the house itself and should get plenty of light and sun during the day - must double check that.

looksee

Sorry, I didn't mean a pic of the spuds and rhubarb! :-) I meant a pic of the area so that we can see what would be suitable for the site.

looksee

The reason I am asking for a look at the site is that I don't think you actually want a rockery? You just want a flowerbed that will look attractive, am I right? In that case you might be better to move the rocks into another arrangement. What tends to happen with rockeries is that weeds grow, but because of the rocks it is difficult to weed. So your hope for low maintenance is already looking doubtful. Also specialised rockery plants tend to be high maintenance, you are probably looking for things like prostrate ceanothus, brooms, helianthemums (if there is sun) and vigorous herbaceous type plants like veldt daisy, geraniums, ornamental strawberry.

NIMAN

Yeah you are right, its probably a flowerbed I'm after.

It wasn't really a rockery in the proper sense of the word. It was an area of flowers, herbs and veg surrounded by rocks. I have since removed these and don't plan to put them back. So I now have a flat, semi-circular area of soil which I would like to plant. I see plenty of homes with areas outside that have gravel and various shrubs and flowers in them - this is sort of what I'm after.

The Garden Shop

Hello

I see you want to apply weed killer but you mentioned that the rockery is down to bare soil.
Most weed killers only work on plants that they come into to contact with.
Weed killer enters plants through the leaves.

So, you won't kill the roots or undersground shoots by apply weed killer now.
Useless you used a residual weed killer - NOT ADVISED
Residual weed killer(pathclear) kills the soil for up to 6 months
So if you used this you would not be able to plant the rockery until after that time

If the rockery isnt too big, you should dig it over with a shovel / spade and remove the tap roots / perennial weeds

Some plant suggestions:
Alpines: Saxifraga / Sempervens / sedums
Aubretia & Alyssum

looksee

That sounds easier! So yes, you just need a selection of low shrubs with maybe a few bulbs and herbaceous plants, and some sort of mulch. If you want pebbles I would regard it more as a pebbled area (on a membrane) that you then make holes and plant shrubs in. Or if you want a flowerbed, plant it then add a mulch of tree bark or whatever.

Don't put pebbles on bare soil. I am rapidly going off the idea of tree bark mulch on membrane, it doesn't seem to stay tidy looking. I think I am going to just put bark on the beds and let it rot so I have to replace it occasionally.

As to shrubs, there are simply so many possibilities its hard to know where to start. You might be better to have a look round a garden centre and see what you like the look of. Get a mix of evergreen and deciduous, look for coloured leaves as well as/instead of flowers, check they are not going to grow too big (60cm is enough for a small bed), look for different leaf shapes and plant shapes for interest.

NIMAN

Thanks folk for the replies, good info to go on there.

Forgot to add, this bed will be at the end of a piece of decking, and as such it would be nice to plant things that would not attract too many wasps or bees, which would make the idea of sitting out close to it in the summer a real pain.