Bukiniczia cabulica is one of the cutest rock garden plants you can grow. Its flowers are reported to be pink, but all I see is a tan color. This does not really matter because you don’t grow it for the flowers. This plant is all about leaves which are a beautiful mottled blue green.
Cotinus ‘Grace’ is a lovely smoke bush that stands out in any garden. It has vibrant red spring foliage that keeps it color all summer long, turning an even better red-orange in fall. Leaf color depends very much on the angle of the sun but when it is shining just right the whole plant glows. Leaves that are in shade will take on a dark green color. In summer it produces large dark pink clouds of blooms.
Chrysogonum virginianum ‘Norman Singer’ adds great color to an early summer garden and is easy to grow. It forms a mat that is thick enough to keep out most weeds, it does not need deadheading and it’s semi-evergreen, making it almost no-maintenance. The only thing you need to do is reduce the size of the clump every 2-3 years.
Doronicum orientale is a fairly common plant but a better option, a cultivar called Doronicum orientale ‘Finesse’, is not found in a lot of gardens. It is a lovely yellow color and fills that blooming void between spring bulbs and peonies. Easy to grow, and reliably hardy in many zones.
Penstemon pinifolius is not your average penstemon. It’s leaves look more like a pine tree and the flowers are an orangey-red, which are produced in succession for most of the summer. It is a great, mid-sized, rock garden plant that is a hummingbird magnet.
Camassia quamash seems to have it all; requires no maintenance, flowers blue after spring bulbs but before June perennials make a show, is not bothered by pests, is a North American native and you can even eat the bulbs. What more can you ask for in a plant?
Allium karataviense ‘Ivory Queen’ is a very unusual onion. The leaves are extra wide, grow close to the ground and cup a large head of white flowers. Even in flower, the plant is only about 8 inches tall. Common names include kara tau garlic and Turkistan onion.
Syringa pekinensis is a small multi-stemmed tree that would fit most gardens. It has large clusters of cream-white flowers and exceptional exfoliating bark. If it had great fall color it would be one of the most popular trees on the market, but unfortunately the leaves just go brown.
Iberis simplex is an easy to grow alpine that forms a loose bun and flowers a long time. It is a great addition to a rock or scree garden.
Clematis alpina is a very hardy, early flowering vine that adds a great splash of color to your spring garden and then goes on to make interesting seed heads in late summer. As seen in the picture below, I grow it in a planter, in zone 5 and leave it outside all year. You can also plant it in the garden and just about forget about it. It doesn’t need to be pruned, and it will not take over most trees and shrubs the way some larger clematis do.
Heptacodium miconioidesis a small tree or large shrub that provides year long interest, especially in late summer and fall when it appears to flower twice; once in white and then again in red. The white flowers form in bunches of 7 which gives the plant its common name of seven sons plant. After flowering, it forms small fruits and red calyx that are as large as and showier than the flowers.
Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’ is a wonderful little plant for the rock garden. It is not a show stopper, nor does it have big flashy flowers, but it does have a very unique look that gets people talking. It requires almost no care and has few pests.