Stone gardens offer innumerable design possibilities and are surprisingly carefree as soon as they are laid. Plants that are suitable for this horticultural purpose often originate from the mountains or from rocky steppes. Many seeds can also be used for roof greening.

Alpine plants and blossoming plant of the Alps and high mountain regions

Alpine plants are an outstanding group of plant species, united by their extraordinary capacity to survive in harsh conditions, such as unprotected exposure to extreme weather and growing in meager habitats e.g. nutrient-poor or thinly spread soils in the mountains or narrow gaps and crevices in between the rocks.

Alpine flora is the term for those plants that prosper in the high locations of the Alps. The term "Alpine plants" in general, however, refers to all plants that can exist in high mountain areas above the tree line. Here, the climatic circumstances are extreme: When the sun is shining, sometimes with ‘burning hot’ intensity, the rocks absorb the heat too and alpine plants, therefore, need to be very resilient towards high temperatures but on the other hand also be able to cope with frosts and snow in the wintertime. In addition to that these plants often grow with hardly any soil to mention, which would offer nutrition and the means for storing water, and still, they survive well.

Wild shrubs, steppe plants and succulents

Another plant category that's very suitable for stone or steppe gardens is perennial steppe plants and wild shrubs. They grow on meagre, stony soil in full sun but are also sufficiently frost-hardy to survive cold winter at their location without wind protection. There are, however, some harder succulents and cacti that are worth considering.

Due to these amazing properties, alpines are ideal plants for rock gardens or for planting over flat roofs.