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Alpinarium – one of the most spectacular ways to decorate a garden, but its construction requires careful planning and a thoughtful choice of stones and plants. The latter are especially important, as they enliven the composition and make it unique. Let’s look at how to choose plants for an alpine slide.
What is a rock garden
Alpinarium – it is an area filled with stones at one or more levels, with plants growing in between. Such a slide can be both impressive (1,5–2 m high), and miniature (total 40–50 cm).
To arrange such a flower garden with your own hands, first of all you need to choose the right place. It should be well lit and beautiful. It is more expedient to place a round hill in the center of the garden, a one-sided one can be adjacent to a fence or a house. The rock garden next to the pond looks good. If it is not there, you can dig a small reservoir next to the slide itself and even add a waterfall or fountain to the composition.
Step-by-step instructions for creating a rock garden:
- Remove weeds from the selected area. If the groundwater on the site lies close to the surface, it is necessary to lay a drainage layer of 30–40 see.
- Install the first circle of massive stones with a ring. They must be unprocessed, of the same type, but of different sizes. Suitable granite, sandstone, limestone, slate.
- Inside the circle you need to make an earthen mound. To increase the height, you can use clay shards and safe construction debris, such as boards, broken bricks.
- Lay the top stones. Drive them in deeper so that they cannot roll or fall.
- Fill the spaces between the stones with a mixture of garden soil, sand and peat.
Video «Alpine hill with your own hands»
This video demonstrates in detail the process of building a rock garden, and also describes the rules for choosing and planting plants.
Plants for planting
Previously, it was alpine plants that were used in such compositions, but now the list of acceptable options has grown significantly. Consider the most popular of them.
Hvoyniki
Coniferous plants give the hill a special atmosphere.
Mountain pine is an evergreen perennial plant with a dense, fluffy crown. The needles are located on small shoots. For a small slide, dwarf spherical varieties with a height of 50 are used.–70 cm, for example Winter gold and Mors. For a large rock garden fit varieties up to 1,5 m tall, for example Mughus and gnome.
The evergreen juniper shrub is a light-loving, drought- and adverse-condition-resistant plant. Due to its unpretentiousness, it is suitable for beginner gardeners. Purifies the air, sometimes used in cooking. Leaves are needle-shaped, scaly. The crown, depending on the species, can be sprawling, creeping, columnar, cone-shaped. Green Carpet and Andorra Variegata 70 cm high are suitable for small slides. On average, tall varieties will harmoniously look rock gardens: Blue Star, Gold Coast, Gold Star.
Thuja, depending on the species, can be a tree or a shrub. The needles of the plant are scaly, light in young plants, dark in adults–green. The plant is photophilous, but in the hot midday hours it needs shade. Thuja care necessarily includes pruning. For small slides, spherical varieties Danica, Little Dorrit, Hoseri are suitable. For large slides, the Elwangerlana Aurea variety is often used.
The crown of spruce is cone-shaped. The color of the needles depends on the species, so it can be dark, light, bluish. For growing in the country, it is better to choose frost-resistant and unpretentious varieties: ordinary, Serbian, Canadian and prickly. For small slides, Little Gem, Echiniformis varieties are used, for large – Conica, Nidiformis, Will’s Dwarf.
Groundcover
Ground cover plants do not just decorate the hill – they protect the soil from drying out, prevent weeds from developing and help to fix the composition. In addition, many of them are flowering.
Most species can be planted on slides of any size.
Saxifrage – rasthenia, whichthere might be one– and perennial. Flowerт May through August. Bushs form a dense carpet. Flowers can be blue, white, red, pink, yellow. Hardy and unpretentious plant, well propagated by rosettes.
Мcool – withucculent, better known by called stone rose. Dense leaves form a rosette, whichиDepending on the species, it can be green, pink, burgundy or crimson. Rosettes reproduce vegetatively, fill up fairly quickly the space allotted to them.
Aubrieta – mperennial a plant that creates a dense, profusely flowering carpet up to 30 cm high. Flowering begins in May and lasts 5–7 weeks.
Both flowers and leaves look decorative. arabis, whichvetet в May–June. In the sun more buds appear, and in the shade grow fastertaps. Growth flower need to be controlled.
Blossoming
Bright flowers contrast beautifully with both the roughness of the stones and the monochromatic background of the greenery of coniferous plants. Usually they serve as the main decoration of the slide.
The following options are suitable for all types of rock gardens.
Carnation–grass reaches a height of 10–15 cm Blooms from late June or early July to mid-autumn. The leaves are small, elongated. Flowers up to 1,5 cm, can be white and red.
periwinkle flowers small, blue, and the leaves are thick, bright–green. Flowering continuesтXia all summer until late autumn. The plant is unpretentious to illumination, well transfers the sun and a shade.
Marigolds – Ibright aboutannualиki, whichbloom from early June until frost. There are a large number of varieties of different shades.
roses in rock gardens withlook unusual, but very elegant. Usually require solo landing. A good background for them are coniferous plants and decorative elements.вnye cereals. For slides, creeping and miniature varieties are often used, including floribunda.
In addition to the listed plants, herbs can also be planted on the hill, including those that usually grow in the garden: rosemary, thyme, etc.
You can also grow moss on the rocks. To do this, it must be crushed and mixed with kefir, then the resulting composition should be applied with a brush to the stones.
Basic rules of care
For the first time after planting, plants need frequent watering. If the soil sags, add it.
Mature conifers are usually watered 3–4 times per season, flowers – every 7–10 days. For watering it is better to use special device with moisture diffusers – a jet of water can wash away the soil. Feeding mainly in the spring, during the period of active growth.
Trim ground cover plants as needed to keep them from crowding out neighbors.
As you can see, you can build a stylish rock garden even in a small yard. You can how to recreate the given example circuits seating arrangements, so what–then change in the composition or location plant.