Perennial Plants For Rock Gardens In Seaside Areas

Try These Rockery Plants For Summer Color

Try these 7 perennial plants for rock gardens for coastal gardening. These perennials flower profusely and need little maintenance.

Choose from the following list of popular perennials for medium and larger sized rockeries.

For all year round interest mix those with compact shrubs like Phormiums, Hebes, Lithodora or Heathers.

Click on the links to find more information on flowering evergreen shrubs and dwarf shrubs that are also suitable for rock gardens.

7 Perennial Plants For Rock Gardens

Hardy Geraniums

Don't mix those up with the annual bedding geraniums! These hardy geraniums are very easy to grow. There are lots of different varieties available that vary greatly in size, foliage and flower color (pink, purple, blue or white). Some of them are great for groundcover like Geranium macrorrhizum. Choose a suitable variety for your needs.

Limnanthes douglasii - Poached Egg Plant

Strictly speaking, this plant is an annual but it reseeds freely and forms large areas covered in cream and yellow daisies that look like a poached egg. It flowers in spring to early summer. After the flowers are finished the plants die back but regrow right away from the seeds. They keep the ground covered (in mild areas) during the winter.

African Daisies - Osteospermum ecklonis and jucundum

African Daisies are great seaside plants that will flower from spring until late summer. The purple or white daisies thrive best in full sun to part shade. They can form large mats and cover larger areas. A great plant for the edge of large rock gardens even in exposed gardens. In areas, with hard frosts, this plant might not survive the winter. Take cuttings to overwinter inside or treat them as an annual.

Catmint - Nepeta Varieties

These popular perennials have a blue-green aromatic foliage. The blue flower spikes are very decorative and appear from early summer well into the autumn. For extra impact plant in clumps of three or five. Catmint is also a great ground-cover plant.

Shasta Daisies - Leucanthemum Varieties

Shasta Daisies are great rock garden perennial plants. They are very easy to grow and their large white daisy flowers add a great splash of color during the summer. There are many cultivars available. Their height and size varies from 40 cm to 100 cm so pick according to your space. The tall varieties are great as a background plant. They are a great seaside plant and very tolerant of wind and salt spray.

Campanula - Bell Flower

The creeping or trailing forms of Campanula are great plants for rock gardens. They form low carpets of mid-green foliage with blue, purple or white flowers during the summer. Try Campanula poscharskyana or portenschlagiana varieties. Also beautiful are Campanula carpatica 'Blue Clips' or 'White Clips'. These also look great in pots.

Carnation Flowers

Carnations and Pinks come in many colors from pink, white to reds. The flowers have a magnificent perfume and appear all summer. The silvery foliage is evergreen. Plant them in groups of three to five for more impact.

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