Groundhugging shrubs.

[Hoy]

On dry ground Betula nana forms low, creeping plants. Here with a lichen.

[Hoy]

Arctostaphylos/Arctous alpinus also grows close to the ground. Here with Empetrum nigrum. The Empetrum berries (krekebær) are very good if you are thirsty.

[Hoy]

Here is the alpine azalea Loiseleuria procumbens with fruit.

[Hoy]

Not for the rock garden: Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii. Some trees are dead. The leaves eaten by birch moth.

[Todd Boland]

Your three creepers also grow here, but Betula nana is replaced by B. pumila...I have no idea how to tell them apart.  We grow B. pumila in our BG, but the plants have become more upright over the years, although still under 3 feet in height.  The fall colour is bright red, quite unusual for a birch where yellow is more standard.

[Lori S.]

A tiny Betula nana 'Ingwersen's Form' (ex. Norway) in a dry trough... if only I could grow some beautiful lichen to make it more at home...

[Hoy]

A tiny Betula nana 'Ingwersen's Form' (ex. Norway) in a dry trough... if only I could grow some beautiful lichen to make it more at home...

Have you ever tried to grow lichens? Many spread by fragmentation, you can take pieces and just put them where you want them.

[Todd Boland]

I've never tried lichens but mosses grow VERY well in my troughs!

[cohan]

Arctostaphylos/Arctous alpinus also grows close to the ground. Here with Empetrum nigrum. The Empetrum berries (krekebær) are very good if you are thirsty.

Do these species grow near you? Or are they at higher elevations? Some of these I see in the mountains, not here, but not sure at what elevation they start, but also there is no dry or rocky or sandy soil close by, once you get to the edge of the foothills biome, things are quite different-sandy places, but also more precipitation....
We have one of the small birches, I haven't figured them out yet, with small round leaves, but it grows to at least a couple of metres tall here, in wet places... could no doubt be pruned to modest size, but not flat...

[Hoy]

Arctostaphylos/Arctous alpinus also grows close to the ground. Here with Empetrum nigrum. The Empetrum berries (krekebær) are very good if you are thirsty.

Do these species grow near you? Or are they at higher elevations? Some of these I see in the mountains, not here, but not sure at what elevation they start, but also there is no dry or rocky or sandy soil close by, once you get to the edge of the foothills biome, things are quite different-sandy places, but also more precipitation....
We have one of the small birches, I haven't figured them out yet, with small round leaves, but it grows to at least a couple of metres tall here, in wet places... could no doubt be pruned to modest size, but not flat...

My photos show plants from the interior high altitude (that is 1100-1200m) biome above treeline, relatively dry moraine and rocky outcroppings. All those shrubs grow here too but only as relicts on rocky outcroppings near sea levels. Some places here forests never established due to grazing and fire-agriculture since early ages. (Which is in rapid change now.)

[Spiegel]

I've never tried lichens but mosses grow VERY well in my troughs!

And  they grow very well on tufa, Todd - even in this dry, sunny garden.

[Lori S.]

Yes, moss LOVES tufa here too! 

[Lori S.]

Not exactly groundhugging but certainly small enough to be perfect for the trough or rock garden...
Ulmus parvifolia 'Davidii'.   It is amazingly dwarfed - the largest leaves I measured were 5mm in the largest dimension.


I'm not sure if these are hardy enough to survive here.  (Unfortunately, I stupidly murdered both specimens that I tried on different occasions by planting them in conditions that were way too dry... the poor things did not even survive long enough to see if winter would kill them.  )    

[Hoy]

An extraordinary elm, Lori!
I have never seen anything like it here.

[cohan]

That Ulmus looks familiar--was that Wrightman's or Beavercreek? Cute little thing..