The winner: Catmint, 81/100. Runner-up: Coreopsis at 72. Lowest upkeep of the qualifiers: Mexican Sunflower at 67.
Rock garden plants live on inches of gritty soil. Admission requires a documented shallow-rocky-soil record; the ranking then favors the compact, dry-side species that belong between stones.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Lives on the dry side: dry to medium soil · Scaled to the stones: 30 to 91 · Bloom between the stones: 3 months
Flaws, not dealbreakers:toxic to cats; no vase data in the postharvest literature
Deer: rarely damaged (Rutgers A)Not for cat households
62/ 100tap for the breakdown
Lives on the dry side24 / 30dry to medium soil
Scaled to the stones10 / 2530 to 91
Bloom between the stones12 / 253 months
Care while it grows16 / 20low, medium (mean of range)
The protocol
How the score is built
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Lives on the dry side30 pointsthrives in dry soil 30; dry to medium soil 24; wants steady moisture 10; moist 3; wet 0; no data 12 Read from: how much water it wants.
Scaled to the stones25 pointstypical height under 30 cm 25; under 50 18; under 80 10; towers over the rocks 4 Read from: how tall it grows.
Bloom between the stones25 pointseight or more months 25; six to seven 22; four to five 19; three 12; two 6; one 3; no bloom data 6 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Care while it grows20 pointslow upkeep 20; middling 11; demanding 3; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 9 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Not ranked here: no extension source documents shallow rocky-soil tolerance.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
Every qualifier, ranked
The 9 highest of 9 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
no extension source documents shallow rocky-soil toleranceRoses, Tulips, Peonies and 73 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Catmint
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
