Will this work?

ciaranmcgrenera

I have inherited a big concrete patio that I try to populate as well as I can with furniture and pots. At the divide between it and the grass is this wall with a trough down it’s center. The trough is about 5 inches wide, and 3-4 inches deep. 

I was wondering, since lavender is pretty good at surviving in most situations, would it work if I took out the stones, added soil, compost, etc, and planted it with Lavender?

Anyone out there have similar areas where they have come up with good solutions, do you think lavender would work? Long term I’d like to work towards a cottage garden type theme in the garden as a whole.

B3

I don't think lavender would work. You would probably be better with the kind of plant that is happy to grow out of a wall.

Buttercupdays

As long as the drainage is good, |I don't see why it wouldn't work. They don't mind poor soil, you could leave some of the stones and mix them in, even mound the soil slightly in the middle to raise the plants a little. I have some growing along the top of a drystone retaining wall and they are fine with it.

Hidcote grows smaller and neater than Munstead, so might suit your purpose better. French lavender is lovely, but not hardy and won't overwinter reliably.

Pete.8

You may get away with something like House Leeks and the like (Sempervivum), but 3-4" of soil will not support lavender I'm afraid

ciaranmcgrenera

Pete.8 said:

You may get away with something like House Leeks and the like (Sempervivum), but 3-4" of soil will not support lavender I'm afraid

Yeah I have my doubts too, maybe I’ll see if I can chisel it out a bit and deepen it. I’m looking for something that grows a bit taller as I want to discourage little humans from trying to use it as a shortcut and ending up hurting themselves!

Dovefromabove

I think that before you do anything you need to consider why it's there in the first place.  I suspect that it's acting as a drainage channel to take rain-water off the patio so that it doesn't flood onto the grass and cause problems there ... I'd check out what problems filling it with plants might cause later on before planting anything there.

Lyn

What about a Saxifraga, this is ours,  it may have found a bit of soil somewhere but it just travels along our gravel drive and over a few rocks.
There are other alpine plants that need little or no soil.

ciaranmcgrenera

Dovefromabove said:

I think that before you do anything you need to consider why it's there in the first place.  I suspect that it's acting as a drainage channel to take rain-water off the patio so that it doesn't flood onto the grass and cause problems there ... I'd check out what problems filling it with plants might cause later on before planting anything there.

No- a valid point for sure, but you can’t see it here, it’s horizontal to the patio, and there’s a drain running along the patio side of it. It’s definitely for “decoration”!

ciaranmcgrenera

Lyn said:

What about a Saxifraga, this is ours,  it may have found a bit of soil somewhere but it just travels along our gravel drive and over a few rocks.
There are other alpine plants that need little or no soil.

Feels like I may end up doing something like this or the succulents idea alright, barring a taller possibility.

madpenguin

You could also put some larger pots to stand either on the gravel or resting on the coping stones to give you height.
Or maybe houseleeks in the gravel and a small metal (plastic?) push in fence to stop anyone stepping over?

Lizzie27

Erigeron karvinskianus might work, it's a pretty pink/white daisy type of perennial which likes poor soil and self-seeds about - very cottage garden and insects love it.