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Size Guide

3.5
3.5" Perennial
3 or more $6.00 ea
Regularly: $6.99 ea

Creeping Rockfoil 'Marto™'

Scott's Nursery Ltd.

$3.50
Title

Wake up your early-spring garden with a breathtaking cushion of pure alpine luxury. This phenomenal, heavy-blooming groundcover features a tight, moss-like carpet of bright emerald foliage that becomes completely buried under hundreds of exquisite, jewel-like starburst blossoms. Its uniquely dense and uniform shape stays picture-perfect, radiating a vibrant, high-impact glow that brilliantly frames rockeries, stone walls, and premium early-season patio bowls.

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Plant Details

Mature Size:

5" H x 6" W

Zone:

4-9

Watering:

Medium

Type:

Herbaceous Evergreen Perennial

Growth Rate:

Moderate

Light:

Full Sun/Part Sun

Plant Profile

Common Names:

Marto Creeping Rockfoil, Mossy Saxifrage, Marto Alpine Rockfoil

Scientific Name:

Saxifraga × arendsii 'Marto™'

Type:

Filler / Spiller / Rockery Groundcover

Growth Details:

Mature Size: 4 to 6 inches tall with a dense spread of 5 to 7 inches.

Growth Habit: Mounded, compact, and mat-forming.

Form: Low-profile, tight, moss-like cushion.

Growth Rate: Medium.

Flowering: Profuse canopy of cup-shaped, five-petaled, starry blossoms.

Flowering Time: Early spring through early summer (Typically March to June).

Flower Colour: Vibrant hot rose-pink, rich red, or red-and-white picotee with bright yellow-green centers.

Environmental Needs:

Exposure: Partial sun to full sun. Prefers cool morning light and filtered afternoon shade.

Soil Preferences: Rich, gritty, evenly moist loams with exceptional drainage properties.

Soil Tolerance: Highly tolerant of sandy, gravelly, and rocky substrates provided they do not dry out completely or pool water; intolerant of heavy baking clay or severe drought.

Watering: Moderate. Water weekly to maintain even moisture levels.

Container Role: Functions as an elite, structural Filler or texturizing, compact Spiller in premium early-spring window boxes and cold-frame pots.

Special Features:

Disease Resistances: Naturally resistant to most common garden pests and foliar diseases; sensitive only to crown rot if the soil is saturated.

Native Species: No (A modern, highly improved garden hybrid bred for improved heat tolerance and longer bloom times).

Fast Growing: No.

Attracts: Provides a welcome, early-season nectar source for emerging solitary bees and butterflies.

Uses: Rockeries, walkway edging, container accenting, stone wall cracks, and fairy gardens.

Resistance: Excellent frost and freeze resistance; highly deer-resistant and rabbit-resistant due to its dense, cushiony growth profile.

Care Guide

Ornamental & Landscape Value

Seasonal Interest:

Bloom Information: Highly showy, long-lasting sheets of color that blanket the foliage for up to three months.

Fall Colour: No change; the needle-thin, lobed foliage rosettes remain rich emerald green throughout autumn and winter.

Garden Value:

Ornamental Interest: Dense, cushion-like, mossy texture topped with a spectacular, carpet-like display of star-shaped blossoms featuring bright golden eyes.

Landscaping Uses: Perfect for filling pockets in stone retaining walls, path edging, rock gardens, alpine troughs, and groundcover borders.

Garden / Landscape Benefits: Offers an exceptionally early flowering window that brings colour to the garden when most plants are still dormant. High cold tolerance provides reliable frost forgiveness.

Wildlife & Human Value:

Wildlife Value: Offers critical, early-season sustenance to valuable wild insect pollinators when few other flowers are open.

Human Value: Provides instant, reliable early-spring curb appeal for patio collections and entrance containers without requiring complex maintenance.

Planting & Care Guide

Planting Considerations:

Best Time To Plant: Early spring or early autumn when the weather is cool and damp.

Spacing: Space individual starts 7 to 9 inches apart to form a continuous, seamless mossy carpet.

Location Tips: Select cool, partially shaded positions with flawless drainage; avoid hot, sun-baked south-facing walls or low, muddy spots.

Companion Plants: Pairs exquisitely with early-spring Primroses, low-growing Bleeding Hearts, Creeping Phlox, and miniature spring bulbs like Crocus and Dwarf Iris.

Care:

Light Requirements: Thrives beautifully in partial sun to full sun; requires protection from scorching, intense afternoon sun in hot climates.

Moisture Requirements: Needs moderate, regular watering; soil should stay consistently damp but never waterlogged or stagnant.

Maintenance, Fertilization: Low-maintenance. Lightly clip off the slender spent flower stems down to the mossy foliage mat after summer blooming concludes to maintain an immaculate cushion form. Apply a dilute, balanced slow-release fertilizer in very early spring if needed; do not over-fertilize.

Tolerances:

Exceptional tolerance for late winter freezes and early spring frost; good tolerance for cool, damp weather conditions.

Tips For Success:

Thinning / Pinching: Not required due to its naturally self-limiting, compact mounded genetics.

Support / Staking: Completely unnecessary; stays tucked tightly to the ground line.

Special Needs: Consistent moisture is essential. Do not allow the root zone to bone-dry during dry summer spells.

Mulching: Use a very light layer of fine grit or gravel around the base of the plant to keep the trailing foliage rosettes off wet soil. Avoid burying the crown in heavy organic wood mulch.

Winter Protection: None needed; safely tolerates severe winter temperatures and heavy snow cover.

Fruit Profile