Things to plant in very shallow poor soil

ground cover sedum, I have that instead of lawn, it behaves itself, spreads and has lovely flowers. These sedums are good in shallow soil, they also do well on sedum roofs and can be dry

What about some alpine plants. I think they have quite shallow roots and will grow through gravel.

Is this any help?

www.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/7-growing-secrets-of-the-alpine-gardener/

Thank you! Lots to have a look at now - I might buy a few sedum and see how they go. Also looking at alpine plants!

You could add some deeper rooted plants in pots and troughs, treating it more like a courtyard garden.

In my area the small front gardens have become carpeted with primroses which flower most of the year. Mixed with blue grape hyacinths and also Anemone Blanda they are a picture!

Centranthus ruber (? sp - red valerian) thrive on poor soil is bigger and attractive in the summer. Can be a prolific self-seeder so either cut off the flowered heads in good time or cull the seedlings.

Lovely ideas, thank you. I'm now motivated to get this sorted this year. We've been in the house for 4 years now, and it's about time to tackle it!

Creeping Jenny is lovely as is sedum

I have an area of gravel in my front garden and in it grows Aquilegia and Californian poppies. I made the mistake of scattering some poppy seeds in the back garden and they grew everywhere. I’ve only just got rid of them.

I think I'm getting my very late plant education as I Google all these plant names...thank you all.

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/

You could make a very pretty garden using some some of the following ;
Echeveria -has a huge variety of succulent rosettes.
It was the first plant that I discovered as a child .
I was fascinated by the fact that I could separate one and plsnt it somewhere else and it would be a guaranteed take .
Blue fescue grass and possibly other grasses.
Heuchera
Cone flowers
Lavender and Rosemary are said to be OK with little soil,but I think that you need to add some soil.
Ferns will grow in a damp area ie around a
drain outlet .
Scatter some Petunia seeds around-they should germinate.

Sempervivums (also called 'house leek') would grow well in this type of area.

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

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

I was going to suggest sempervivum but kibera beat me to it.
We planted some in a wall. Several were stolen by some passer by.

One of the survivors.

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.

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

MiniMoon

One of the survivors.

😯

A triffid!

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

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!

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!

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.