How to Plant in Rocks & Gravel

Remaking the Bed

• 1

  Rake the gravel aside using your hands or a small trowel. Wear gardening gloves to protect your hands from the stones.

• 2

  Cut a circle in any ground cover or weed cloth under the gravel large enough for the root ball.

• 3

  Dig a hole in the soil 1 to 2 inches larger than the roots. Root ball diameter varies depending on type and age of the plant.

• 4

  Take the plant out of the nursery pot handling it by the roots. Use your gloved hand to rough up any roots growing on the outside of the soil.

• 5

  Put the plant into the hole, and refill the soil around it patting it down as you go. Push the gravel back up around the base of the plant, but keep it away from the base of the stalks.

In Deep Gravel

• 6

  Rake the gravel back from the planting area.

• 7

  Dig up and loosen the soil in the planting area using a trowel. Add more soil to create a mound that comes up to just below the gravel level. Make a hole in the center of the mound just large enough for the root ball.

• 8

  Remove the plant from the nursery pot and plant it in the hole with the base of the stalk level with the soil. Refill the hole and pat it down.

• 9

  Replace the gravel around the soil mound and up to the base of the plant stalk.

The Flower and the Stone

• 10

  Find a crevasse in a rock wall half as wide as the root ball. In rock walls with tiny nooks and crannies, you can plant small succulents with root balls 1 inch in diameter or less, such as stonecrop. Vine plants with tendrils will crawl across the stones on a wall. Drought-resistant plants with small root systems work well in rock walls.

• 11

  Fill in the base and back of the crevasse with loamy potting soil.

• 12

  Place the root ball into the crevasse and add soil around it. As the roots grow into the cracks in the wall it will secure the plant in place.