Things to plant in very shallow poor soil

Creeping purple thyme grows well in shallow soil.

I was also going to suggest alpines. My dad used to grow them in his rockery which was always in full sun.

Beware grape hyacinths. They are thugs and will soo take over your whole garden.

While they are still in manageable clumps dig up any outliers or small spreading clumps.

I speak from experience. In our last house I loved the few clumps of GH that were in the borders, but they soon took over whole beds and I had days of digging them up and reducing their numbers to manageable amounts.

Churchview

Oregano seems to thrive on next to no soil in my garden and spreads itself around freely. Absolutely lovely when in bloom and wonderful for bees.

Beth Chatto famously made a wonderful garden in gravel. Lots of information and videos on the net about it and also her book 'Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden: Drought-Resistant Planting'.

This might be really helpful too. www.bethchatto.co.uk/conditions/plants-for-scree-gardens/

Her beautiful and rather wonderful garden is very close to our holiday lodge, we’ve been and it’s a wonderful place!

Mediterranean herbs should do well.

I have started a heather bed in a patch of dry poor soil that runs the length of my driveway. They tolerate dry conditions and poor soil. They’re doing very well and eventually they will knit together to make a sort of patchwork, as has happened in one of my rockeries.

I think these are pretty good conditions for a simple gravel garden. I’d try sedums, saxifraga, aubrieta, armeria, maybe some dwarf lavender varieties as they all cope well with a shallow soil. Also erigeron and small ornamental grasses (like festuca glauca maybe) work nicely too. There are programs like Gardenbox 3d or Sketchup for visualizing the overall look in advance, especially if you aren't sure if everything would work together, so drawing a "plan" could also be worth it.

Tickseed.

I’d go for rock-hardy plants like sedums, creeping thyme or sempervivums, since they barely blink at shallow soil
If you can tuck in a bit of compost under each one, they settle even better
For spots where nothing roots well, I’ve filled a couple of pots with houseplants www.houseplant.co.uk/collections/house-plants-indoor-plants to add some colour without wrestling with the gravel, and that’s been an easy workaround

I’d go for really tough plants like sedum, thyme, or creeping rosemary
They cope well with heat and hardly any soil
A few small grasses can work too

I'm doing well with Russian Sage in similar conditions, if you fancy something taller. Needs sun however, but appears to thrive on neglect.

If you fancy a taller plant , verbena bonariensis does well in poor soil and once established seeds freely - maybe a bit too freely but easy to pull up.

Chives grow in cracks in the paving slabs, but not nicely in a pot! Sage has rooted itself in cracks too, but given up in the herb bed.

Ajuga takes over here, so be careful. I've been given some, and had to dig it out, was given another two lots in a collection of plants and so I'm growing the ajuga in two pots.

Oregano was another thought for your gravel garden, but that tends to seed everywhere.

Trying again

Late to make a suggestion but Mexican Fleebane grows really well in any dry spot or wall and flowers all summer. Just strim it back in the spring

MayBee, that's funny because I have just cleared a load of Vinca Minor from the back garden as it was all getting out of hand. It came through the fence from next door originally, so I've perhaps not appreciated it as much as I should have done!

I've dug out some plants in my front garden but can't clear all pf the remaining roots so the soil is awful. An article I read advised Ajuga and Vinca Minor [can't remember the others as they were the only ones I knew of]. I once saw a whole bed of Vinca Minor at the Mackintosh house at Helensburgh and it was lovely. And in a cottage garden a bed of sedum planted on a circle and somehow tied in such a way as to keep them circular.

Hi there gardening Gransnetters, I'm just reporting back about how it's all gone since I first posted. I bought a load of various different sedum plants and they have settled in very well, so I'm delighted with those and can't wait to see some flowers from them. I also extended my thyme collection with some more plants and they have also gone well. I can't say it's been easy as the garden has been very dry so I've been watering them all individually. I don't want to use a hose as I'm hoping some of the weeds might be discouraged if they aren't given any water (as if!)

The only failure has been the tiny little lavender plants I have planted as only 2 out of 5 survived, despite lots of watering. I've also started on some thyme plants from seed in the greenhouse and they will be ready to go out soon. Some of the thyme has been so pretty, especially the low growing white one with tiny leaves and the bigger bright pink one.

I'm also planning to put in some little bulbs towards the end of the Summer, so that there is some early colour in Spring apart from the inevitable grape hyacinths. Any suggestions about really small bulbs that might survive in these conditions would be gratefully received!

Many thanks again for all these wonderful ideas Gransnetters - and thank you for taking the time to reply. I've now spent money on a load of baby plants so hoping to be able to get them in soon. I shall report back later in the summer if it's a success!

MaizieD

Hardy Cyclamen. They grow in dryish conditions and seem to love 'good drainage'. If happy they will self seed.

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/cyclamen/growing-guide

Oh, should have read all the posts first

MiniMoon

One of the survivors.

😯

A triffid!

Our front garden is just lawn because we have about an inch of topsoil on builders rubble!
Well, it's weeds and lawn.

MaizieD

I should also warn you that gravel is a very favourite seeding medium for many plants. You will be overrun with those grape hyacinths...

They're popping up all over our garden.

Cyclamen grow well in the gravel in our garden, they seem to suddenly appear everywhere and are a nice splash of colour.

One of the survivors.