Now this is from someone who has been removing gravel steadily from her backyard.... You need to think about this carefully or you will have mistakes added over mistakes. Think about whether is is best overall to maintain a gravel "look" in which case you would do things that make gravel stay neater longer, but you want to add some living presence. Do you have a photo? I can't tell whether you are dealing with an area that could be treated kind of like a patio, like a garden floor, or whether it is totally not suitable for that. You could scope out southwestern and desert-type gardens and find examples such as gravel area with one or more large stone planters planted with sedums, even desert-y shrubs--often a low bowl shape looks really good, or sometimes even a driftwood look. Or you could go sort of Japanese, with JM's in containers and other related plants. It can take some doing to make it look restrained and architectural and not just tacky. In these example you are not going for a lot of planting, but some kind of living focal points in the gravel area. There is a book, female author, on planting in gravel, also book on growing on hard surfaces! This works when you are in fact planting somewhat into an underlayer of soil, or, as I have done, in really "dirty" gravel which functions like sharply draining soil. There is more maintenance with this approach as it is planting stuff through a gravel mulch deal and can get messy or look spotty. If you have six inches deep of pure fresh gravel, I don't think you culd dot around small plants and expect them to establish well and spread fast--but they might--but you certainly could plant a large specimen shrub or small tree. You also might be able to edge the area with plantings as you would be accessing the soil there, and keep the center clear. If it is an unmitigated boo-boo, only you will know whether y'all can agree to undo it.

If we believe that bulbs do not need fertilizing when first planted, then putting blood meal where the bulb, when it forms its roots, will take up its heavy nitrogen content, and may force it to grow in earnest too early, bringing foliage up while the ground is still in a frost state, I'd say using blood meal is not the thing to do. Whether putting bone meal or another phosphurus adding material to the ground can help....experts say YES...helping the bulb to feed its roots is a way to improve the foliage and flower production. But it is mixed with the soil when first planted...not sprinkled on top. If a squirrel has the intention to dig, nothing short of removing its claws, will prevent it. The chicken wire, if its small enough, but large enough to allow the foliage to come through it, can work if the squirrel has a time to get by it. Sensing the soil there is soft from digging, the wire will move easily with the animals digging and probably only put up a barrier for a short time. Put a preying bird ontop of the ground, he might take a look and run for cover....or he may laugh at the silliness of the planter to think he can be fooled so easy and take a bite out of it as well. A snake of the same intent will probably leave the animal guffawing and rolling on the ground in hysterics. But, what the hey, it can be tried. They sell plastic owls in stores....but move it around, the squirrel might be fooled once.....shame on him..... but fooled twice...shame on you for not thinking of it sooner.

Interesting question for me because I have considered replacing part of my lawn with iceplant for several years. If we have another dry summer -- and it's certainly looking that way right now -- I will probably do it. My house is on a south-facing hill, and the grass really struggles in dry weather. You might want to consider iceplant rather than sedum. I have both of them in my yard, and iceplant is much faster growing and blooms for a much longer period of time. It has a coarser texture than the small sedums, but it attractive. The flowers are spectacular, bright magenta red/purple similar to thrift and bloom from spring to frost (although heaviest in spring). The variety I have is Delosperma cooperi. It is fully winter hardy around here. I also have a yellow-flowered variety, but it is not as hardy and only blooms for a short period. Finally, I don't think sedum or iceplant would take much foot traffic. A little wouldn't hurt, but most succulents don't like being stepped on.

Deirdre-- Don't move them, just begin putting composted manure over them. They need to be able to put their roots in something and then they will be able to take the heat. You can buy BLACK COW manure from Home Depot or Lowes. Spread this over the existing plants bringing all new growth to the surface. They will take off. Sedum roots in water so you can also take cuttings and root them to help spread this patch faster. Now is a great time to add the manure. Most all sedum begins to surface about this time of spring. HTH Ronda