Perennials: Rock gardening in non-alpine climates, 1 by Pistil

Pistil wrote:
I am still here, hoping Monday will improve things, took several days to rediscover this thread...
Things are really Spring-like here now, blooms everywhere.
Can\'t recall the name of this one, It\'s a European Alpine which has survived one winter here and is now blooming. It\'s fabulous!

Weerobin- I paid $$$ for the rock wall, my house is on a slope, and I decided to just \"bite the bullet\" and have some permanent work done, I was afraid to let anyone mow for fear of tumbling down on the wet grass and losing some toes to the power mower.

Birder- I have been looking at your photos. It actually looks more like a rock lined drainage ditch, and your mention of the water runoff seems to indicate this. A drainage ditch has a whole other set of issues. I would guess in Missouri, you get spring rains, summer thunderstorms, fall rains, and winter snowmelt, so it could basically flood at any time. This may mean you need to plant species that can tolerate wet roots, with droughts in between. Prairie plants often tolerate some seasonal flooding, but many are very tall and might look too weedy.
The California poppies might do best-sprinkle seeds every month or so, they grow and flower very quickly (I used to have them when I gardened on beach sand but they do not tolerate my clay here), they will probably drown when submerged, but then you could have a new crop. They are so bright it does not take many blooming plants to brighten up an area!
I have a similar area, that has standing water in winter-spring, then dries out in summer to a brick-like consistency. Last year I planted a Rodgersia \'Fireworks\', a corkscrew rush, a Toad lily (Tricyrtis \'Blue Wonder\', Bloody Sorrel, and a few other things I thought might survive such a tough location (a previous attempt with a Trollius failed). All of these have survived! I did water some last summer, it\'s near the hose so I made an effort.
Below are some photos I took at a local shopping mall, see what they planted in a seasonal drainage ditch. I think it looks pretty good! around here there was a big push a few years ago for people to plant \"Rain Gardens\" in swales that get runoff water seasonally. They even tried it in some public places. Many of these were later torn out, they were hard to keep weeded and so many plants could not tolerate the flooding they were mostly a weedy muddy mess. I think this is why so many people just put rocks there.