My favorite:
LEWISIA!!
click link to see!

WOW! That's beautiful! I'm don't know anything about rock gardening. Is this a full sun plant? Does it need a lot of moisture and when does it bloom? Tell me more!

Lewisia hails from the mountains of Washington down into Northern California (it may be in Canada too-have not checked). Imagine the face of a cliff wall or a steep gravely slope with large boulders in it and in the cracks around the boulders are plants of Lewisia!
I am in zone 9 in south central California (Northern Santa Barbara County) just 15 miles inland from the ocean. You would think that a NW mountain plant would not do that great here but!
Most people fail with this plant because they are used to growing in soil not in cliffs!!! Knowing how this plant grows really helps. For one thing it has a large thick taproot or caudex it may be called. This baby helps lodge the plant into that crevice that it is holding onto as the area of cliffs and rocky slopes are also areas of gravitational erosion in addition to water erosion and some degree of wind erosion. Not a particularly nice place to hang around if you are just some run of the mill plant. So with its thick root Lewisia survives both the forces of erosion and of drought! While the rains may fall most of the water that this plant gets is through capillary action or as I call it "dripulation" that is that the water will seep through the cracks and debris of the rocky slopes and sometimes actually collects in little pools within the slopes on between those massive boulders. The roots of Lewisa are probably adapted to do a fast sponge job on soaking the water up until the next spell of water. Also because water is stored in the root the plant can survive drought to some degree. One species dies back down and I suspect that all are capable of some degree of surviving die back but I am unwilling to test that theory!
Now in placing such a great little plant into your garden there are a number of options. For one I hang my plants!
The reason I have my plants hanging on their side is because the plant is VERY SENSITIVE TO HAVING WATER IN ITS CROWN! Maybe that is why it likes the winds blowing in those cliffsides. Being grown on its side allows the water to drain off and not set in the crown. Otherwise it is ROT ROT ROT!! And who wants to grow mush anyway!
So what I would suggest is to make your rock garden a rocky wall garden with a large and about 4 ft high wall of slabs of rock placed on each other with plenty of space in between for sticking plants. On one side of the wall you can mound up a bunch of rocks and coarse gravel for other types of rock gardening plants-there are oodles and they are very cool. And they seem to enjoy the weather extremes that your area provides-though I hope that extremely cold times are of short duration!
Once your wall is up just stick a plant in the wall. To water it I use a pressure sprayer and will stick my finger in to check the soil to see if it is wet. It is best to do this at night and use a flashlight as you can see the soil dampness. Then just squirt in some water. If the plant is really thirsty the leaves will look saggy!!! Limped over.
Happy plants will have erect leaves even if they are on their sides. I can email you images of mine in case you want to see! I just got a yellow flowered one at the local OSH and have not had time to hang it but I took it out of the plastic pot and stuck it in the clay pot and set it on its side on a shelf. It works! (the plants are sold locally in a plastic pot that is housed inside a clay pot!!?)
I hope this narrative piques your imagination as the best part of gardening with rocks is developing an image of what is suitable to your spot and will add interest to your gardening interactions! Cheers.

I noticed that I forgot about the plants that are imaged
on my webpage.
Click here to see my mug and the Lewisia over my right shoulder

One of my favorites is the American native Rosemary, Conradina verticulata. Tastes very similar to Rosemary, has pretty purple flowers and much hardier than the European.

I also like

Minuartia carolina, Sandwort
Minuartia glabra
Talinum teretifolium, Fameflower
Hylotelephium telephioides, Allegheny stonecrop
Selaginella rupestris, Rock spikemoss

Most of these are still fairly rare in the trade though.

Bellarosa: my favorite rock garden plants are: Anything that photosynthesizes! Okay, to be serious--most species tulips, most ornamental Alliums, most Dianthus varieties and species, and Lewisias.

Terrestrialman: So far I only have three Lewisias. I just plunked them in wherever in the rocks-over-landscape-cloth-over-clay-soil (punched through the cloth) and give them water same as all the other plants I've put out there (regular, but not heavy water) and they do fine. Of course, it's a LOT drier here than in your area (honest!), so rot isn't a problem. We only get 7" annual rainfall, and we consider 25% humidity stifling.

Lisa

Hi Lisa!
Right now my Lewisias (3 L. cotyledon hybrids) have finished or are finishing up flowering (the second wave this year) and I noticed that the soil mix is not drying out as rapidly as when they were pushing out their flower spikes. So I have cut back on the watering and am letting them dry out a little-if it gets too bad their leaves will droop but hopefully I will time watering (actually all I do is squirt some water into the crack between the soil ball and the clay pot.
Out here we get fog in the mornings. At this moment a storm front is coming in and will be out by Monday??
Hope it does not rain much down in this valley!!

I am mulling over how to build a cliff face-will have to look at possible materials-as I think a cliff face on my south wall will be ideal for the plants as the area gets shaded by 3PM. Would like to get L. redivva!!! but not too sure if I am cold enough to get it to flower here. The other species that interests me is that miniature species-cannot pull the name out of my memory at this time. Anyhow in due time!!

Jonny Jump ups! They look awesome in my rock garden. Under a tree in the shade and do very well, they are very big and pretty this year.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Does anyone have any pictures they'd like to share?

I haven't figured out how to post our photographs but the Campanula genus is a great rock garden group. Most are easy and the flower form is a stand out. Sedums are of course the easiest so they are our fillers. As we learn and figure out how to grow other genuses out comes another sedum. Dryas octopetela has nice foliage and has been easy with it's nice white flowers. We're hoping to try Dryas drummondii for its yellow flower and silver foliage. There are some great rock garden Clematis such as fremontii or hirsutisima. Not to mention species iris like Iris lactea. One thing I like so much about rock gardens is that the plants are generally small so you can have and try so many!
Tom

One of my current favorites is Soapwort - Saponaria ocymoides. It's been covered in pink flowers for a while now and I love the way it spills over rocks.

one of the best places to see alpine plants growing in the wild and in gardens is the Scottish Rock Garden Club web site. 'Flowering Now' is a monthly look at members plants

Here is a link that might be useful: Scottish Rock Garden Club

new to the web does anybody have or has planted a scree garden,starting one in the spring need to know what kind of plants do well,i am also creating a rock garden that is mostly in the shade any ideas would be helpful.
live,laugh,love.
cindi

Rock Soapwort has been my favorite so far! Here is a picture of mine at the top of my rock pile. I created a bunch of nooks and filled them with creeping phlox, forget me nots, canterbury bells, and yarrow. It gets very hot between all of these rocks! I water them daily.
{{gwi:370971}}

I'm fairly new, started my rock garden a couple years ago. I haven't taken any pictures yet this year, but here's one from last year. Many of the plants in the picture hadn't flowered yet. It definitely has grown more this year so far and is much more colorful, and I'm always looking for new plants to add.

{{gwi:371041}}

Judy

Judy, That is beautiful! Please post new pics from this year. I would love to see them! What do you have in there? Always looking for new ideas! Thanks, Tracy