The cold winters and temperate summers in Toronto allow you the opportunity to take advantage of a truly amazing range of alpine plants. While the choice of rocks and their positioning on the mound is important, it is really the plants and moss that punctuates the garden and really sets the mood.

The classic crevice garden mimics the look of an alpine slope and with the weather here in Toronto, this is definitely the appropriate look to strive for and the climate is simply ideal for alpine plants.

The following is a list of some of my favorite plants for crevice gardens:

Heron’s Bill: Heron’s Bill, or Erodium Manescavii, is a beautiful, hardy alpine plant that blooms lovely magenta/purple flowers throughout the summer. This plant loves direct sunlight and gritty soil with lots of humus. If the conditions are right, you can expect an extended period of flowering as well as self-seeding. Be sure to pull some plants if you start to notice the formation of a congested colony.

Airemist: The scientific name for this flower is Primula Allionii and it is truly lovely. The plant itself stays quite low to the surface and flowers in beautiful domes of pure white flowers.

Rock Jasmine: This is definitely one of my personal favorites. Rock Jasmine, or Androsace Alpina, is endemic to the Alps and is exceptionally hardy, being found at well above 4,000 meters. While it doesn’t enjoy the longest flowering period, it does enjoy one of the loveliest. The plant produces small white and pink flowers that completely cover the entire outer survace of the plant so as to produce a flowery dome.

Woolly Turkish Veronica: The Woolly Turkish Veronica, or Veronica Bombycina, is an amazing groundcover plant originating from Western Asia. This perennial enjoys well-drained soil and blooms into a lovely mat of light blue and white flowers.

Woodruff: Woodruff, or Asperula Gussonii, is a very hardy plant with really nice emerald green leaves. In the late spring, the plants explode in small, tubular, light pink flowers.

Siskiyou Lewisia: Also known as Lewisia Cotyledon AGM in an evergreen perennial plant that forms beautiful rosette flower in the spring and summer that can be purple, orange, yellow or white.

Dickson’s Gold: Dickson’s Gold is also known as Italian Bellflower, or Campanula Garganica. This plant stays very low and compact with bright yellowish green leaves and amazing clusters of blue flowers throughout the summer.

Have Landscaping Toronto design the crevice garden of your dreams. We carry all of the very best plants, perfectly suited for putting together the ideal rock garden.