I have a spot in the back yard which is very gravelly (dusts of crushed gravel). This area gets a lot of sun. I have hens and chicks there right now. Is there any flowering plant that will do well in such poor conditions(I don't want to do a lot of soil modifications in this spot)? I'd prefer it to be a perennial. I have very little seedlings of blanketflower,asters and hollyhocks in the little pots. If I put any of them in this spot will it do well? Thanks.
I think all of those like a richer soil than that which you describe. In my gravel area we have Sedums, and a lot of self seeded Dianthus, plus various thymes.
At our old house the Hollyhocks had re-seeded on the gravel driveway. They grew very well there-maybe TOO well!
be careful of invasives...... even in gravel mints are extremely invasive. I rue the day years ago, when Martha Stewart enticed me into planting a kitchen herb garden at the front door- her suggested mint and chive plants can't be killed by any means. the wildlife won't eat it so i'm stuck with it. many years after dismantling the herb garden, i'm finding mint seedlings in places far from the garden and apparently they ignore hardscape barriers and somehow climb hills. i yank it out of cracks in the driveway and paths. it hopped into planters. i only planted three plants. if you plant mint, be sure you really want it forever and perhaps use a lot in tea and cooking. nearby neighbors would have to love it too. if you have a yard that's barren, plant one and you won't have to worry about groundcover.
flowers in gravel i have had great luck with mexican evening primrose ( oenothera) or as i call them "sundrops" good luck
I had small gravel in an area under my hanging baskets where we used to live and I had petunias, violas, bacopa and everything else that seeded and fell to the area...It was so pretty and kind of funny because the grandkids would try to walk through the area, moving right and left and jumping to miss the flowers...
