The little rockery in the back garden in April

 This is the view of the little rockery in the back garden. It is about 15 feet long and maybe 4 wide. I have added sand and compost to the soil, and a top dressing of pea gravel.  This pea gravel seems to slowly sink into the soil.  I am not sure of the name of the plant in the strawberry jar.  I recently had that label in my hand and cannot now find it.  I seem to remember it being an erinus.  It is covered in little pink blossoms right now.  Beside the strawberry pot is a Daphne - cneorum - 12" - 15" very fragrant.  There is a tiny Daphne domini just below the strawberry pot.  It will get as big as the other Daphne, but it has room to grow.

 Closer to the entry way to the strawberry patch/cutting garden I have an Basket of Gold Alyssum - full sun, sharp drainage, 8 - 10 tall x 12 -14 spread. It was in very poor shape when I transplanted it to this spot last summer, but it is coming along now with a nice blig bloom for the size of the poor little plant.  I have transplanted some globalaria in this vicinity.  I do hope they survive, because the purple of the globalaria and this gold alyssum  blooming at the same time will be a fine show for this end of the little rockery.

this is the Campanula raineri.  It seems this is a rare plant to have growing in the open rockery.  For me it has been a very tough land lovely little plant.  I must feed it some compost to get it to spread out more.  I should like to take some cutting of it some time.  In Harry Jans website I read where he 'blows' seeds of alpines into his tufa rock holes... this being one of the plants he mentions as having started from seed.  I have just managed to find this information on this plant, so here it is:    Campanula raineri (Rainer's bellflower, Rainer's harebell) is a species of flowering
     plant in the genus Campanula of the family Campanulaceae, native to the Swiss and
     Italian Alps. It is a low-growing herbaceous perennial growing 5–8 cm (2–3 in) tall
     by up to 20 cm (8 in) wide, with pale lilac bell-shaped flowers in summer. It is
     suitable for cultivation in the alpine or rock garden. It spreads by underground runners.
     Tufted in habit with erect stems about 5cm (2 in) in height. Basal leaves greyish, ovate
     to obovate, remotely serrate, almost stalkless. Stem leaves narrower, crenate-serrate.
     Flowers erect, broadly funnel-shaped with rounded lobes, mid-blue. South-eastern Alps
     among limestone rocks. It is evergreen.
     Not an easy species and best in a limestone scree, or crevice, or the alpine house. When
     growing really well it spreads by slender rhizomes. A white-flowered plant is known and
     a fully hairy one known as C.r. var. hirsuta. Flower color can be: purple or blue, the
     flower grows in the end of the stems and in bell shape.
Mine grows in the gravely soil.  It needs more compost added.  It previously grew in a cedar trough in potting soil.  It had really long roots.

 The Daphne cneorum starting to bloom with its wonderful fragrance.  It is finished blooming now and seems to be happy where it is growing. 

 this is the DELOSPERMEUM Cooperi -  fire spinner -  lovely ice plant.  
    Delosperma Fire Spinner® has vibrant tri-colored flowers of orange, red and lavender that are 
    unique in the world of perennial flowers. Outstandingly colorful. An evergreen groundcover,
    this ice plant blooms in late spring. A 2011 Plant Select winner. Drought resistant/drought
    tolerant plant. 
It is beginning to spread it and just starting to bloom.  
I had another Delospermeum but I think it died.  At any rate I should like to get another one with yellow flower colors perhaps. 

 Gentiana Acaulis - in front of the big gentiana (gentiana stemless)Gentiana acaulis, commonly known
    as stemless gentian or trumpet gentian, is a much-loved, dwarf, mat-forming, blue-flowered,
    alpine perennial that typically grows to only 4” tall but slowly forms a spreading ground
    cover-like carpet to 6” wide or more. It is native to alpine grasslands, rocky meadows, screes
    and alpine/subalpine coniferous forest at altitudes up to 9700’ in a number of European mountain
    ranges including the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, Cevennes, Cantabrians, Carpathians and Sistema Iberico.     Glossy, evergreen, elliptic to lanceolate leaves (to 1” long) grow in small basal rosettes which
    form a tufted carpet over time. Showy, deep gentian-blue flowers (each to 2 1/2” long) in the
    shape of upward-facing trumpets bloom singly in May-June. Flowers appear to sit directly on top
    of the basal foliage (flowers are stemless as indicated by the specific epithet). Each flower
    has 5 sharp-pointed corolla lobes (petals) and a green-spotted throat. This gentian is noted
    for its deep true blue flower color

Gentiana septemfida var. lagodechina  is a low-growing perennial to 10cm tall, with trailing
    stems clad in paired ovate leaves and ending in 1 - 3 mid-blue, trumpet-shaped flowers
    4cm long in late summer.  Grow in moist but well-drained, humus-rich soil. Suitable for
    the front of borders. Performs best in sunny conditions

Gentiana depressa  is a tufted to cushion-forming, semi-evergreen perennial with dense,
    overlapping, ovate, dark green leaves and, in autumn, bell-shaped flowers with pale
    green tubes and blue petal lobes. Evergreen
    Gentiana depressa (Gentiana depressa) will reach a height of 4 inches and a spread
    of 12 inches after 2-5 years. 
    Suggested uses: Rock, Ground Cover, Gravel, Cottage/Informal 
    Cultivation:  Grow in reliably moist but well-drained, humus-rich, acid soil.
    Plant in full sun where summers are cool and damp. Provide shade from hot sun
    in areas with warm, dry summers. Suitable for an alpine or rock garden. 
    Soil type: Chalky, Loamy, Sandy
    Soil drainage: Moist but well-drained
    Soil pH: Acid Light
I think these 3 gentianas can go out to the front new reno.  Add sand and compost for good drainage.
and PEAT MOSS for acidic soil.  Can be in shade but keep them watered. YES! They can go to
the back of the new reno and the saxifragias in front on their tufa rocks. OR 2 of them in the empty spaces by globalaria and by the campanula glomerata (Sandy's plant)

 Lewisia columbiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known
  by the common name Columbian lewisia. It is native to the western United States and British       Columbia, where it grows in rocky mountain habitat. It is a perennial herb growing from a short,   thick taproot and caudex unit. It produces a basal rosette of many thick, fleshy, tapering, blunt-   tipped  or pointed leaves with smooth edges, each 2 to 10 centimeters long. The inflorescence arises   on several stems up to about 30 centimeters tall, each stem bearing an array of up to 100 flowers 
 each. Near the flowers are small, pointed bracts tipped with shiny spherical resin glands. The
 flower has 4 to 11 petals, each up to about a centimeter in length and oval in shape with a
 notched tip. The petals are white to pale pink, usually with sharp dark pink veining.

 Red Mossy Saxifragia.  When I get to cleaning up and fixing this little rockery, this saxifragia is going to be moved to the front little rockery renovation, with the other saxifragias that I have in the pots on the deck with the tufa rocks.

The little   SPRUCE - ABIES  balsamea 'nana'  lives as at April 2014, 2015 and up  to 2020 is looking very good.
When I get this little rockery cleaned up and a small renovation done on it; I will be moving the saxifragias and the genitianas.   So, I might have a bit more space.   I would like to get more lewisias to add to the mix, along with another ice plant and the globalarias.