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The beauty of the mountains fascinates us so much that we want to have a small part of it even in a small area near the house. Because, probably, rock gardens and rockeries are becoming more widespread. These are plantings in which stones are combined with plants, and they differ from one another in the ratio of these components. Stones predominate in rockeries – they are the absolute majority. Plants are present only in very small quantities. In alpine slides – rock gardens – there can be a significant number of plants. They imitate alpine meadows with characteristic vegetation. Moreover, making an alpine slide with your own hands is not so difficult: you need to know its characteristic features and construction rules, which you can then put into practice. About all the intricacies of the dispensation of the rock garden and will be discussed further.
What are the
Since alpine slides copy real mountains, they can differ greatly in the shape, quantity, size and type of stones, the way they are laid, and also in relief. For example, there are layered rock slides, which are also called “Czech rolling pins”. They differ in the vertical arrangement of layered rocks.
Rocky hills – the most common type of rock garden in our area. This is a small earthen mound on which stones are laid out. Stones are layered or boulders, the space between them is filled with crushed stone, pellets, pebbles or smaller boulders. This will be the rocky hill.
But there are those in which the fertile layer occupies a significant area. In this case, single stone blocks stick out from the greenery of the lawn, flowers and small coniferous plants stand out as bright spots. Such landings imitate alpine lawns.
There are alpine ravines. If the site has a similar relief, you can equip it by making an artificial stream. To do this, lay out the bottom and edges with stones, make a small pond below, from which water is pumped to the top of your “cliff”.
Plant moisture-loving plants along the banks of the stream and pond, on the stones – suitable for their alpine herbs, flowers and perennials. Such a structure, of course, is technically more difficult, it requires more and costs – a pond, a stream, a hill – everything requires investments. Such complex systems are already considered landscape slides, as they partially change the appearance of the entire site.
And another type of rock gardens – terraces. Dividing the site into terraces is necessary if it is located on a slope. Then a multi-level device is the best way out. Retaining walls are laid to level the ground. They are often made of reinforced concrete, and then decorated with boulders. On these retaining walls, ground cover plants also feel great.
The same principle – the organization of terraces – is used on flat areas, but with a different goal: to make it more picturesque. In this case, the height difference is created artificially, and this is a large amount of land work.
Stones: what and where to get
The basis of a slide of any type is stones and it will take a lot of them – several tons, and of different sizes. Choose from those breeds that are more common in your area. Chopped blocks look best, but already stale, with dark edges. You can use pellets with smooth sides, but creating a natural composition from them is not easy. It will take about one-fourth of a large size, about the same amount of medium – the rest is small stones.
Granite looks great. But it is hard and “cold”, even the most tenacious saxifrages can rarely grow on it, and the soil next to it quickly acidifies. This, too, must be borne in mind and periodically adjust the acidity (or plant plants that love acidic soil).
It is best to use tuff. It drains water well, water flows well through it, and more importantly, plants grow well right on it. More importantly, it neutralizes acidity, which is what Alpines like.
Limestone slabs are also good, but they go exactly with slabs, they are good for decorating alpine plains or very low and gently sloping hills.
How to make an alpine slide
First, select the area where the rock garden will be laid out. Depending on the conditions on it, they choose the type of slide and the plants that can be planted on it.
Experts recommend not making a “grave” – a mound in the middle of a flat area looks just like that. If there is at least a small natural or artificial “foundation”, it is better to start the hill from it. It can be a well, a large old tree, even a wall of some structure, from which a rock garden descends in ledges. On a flat surface, rockeries are more appropriate – a flat structure made of stones and plants.
How to choose the type of rock garden
If the site is swampy and located in a lowland, you can equip a small pond or swamp, the edges of which are decorated with stones. But even on stones, in this case, moisture-loving plants are planted – they will successfully drain the adjacent area. If, however, drought-resistant rocks are planted in such a place, they will wither until they die – they require different conditions.
For a sunny or shady, but dry area, it is possible to organize a slide of any type. It is difficult to create a large elevation difference on a flat area – it is more appropriate and easier to do something like a mountain valley, an alpine meadow or a low hill. If there is a height difference, you can arrange it in the form of a rockery or increase the existing height difference by arranging a hill on one side, from which the rock garden will “run away” with terraces or a covered slope.
When to start
Unless you beat the existing terrain, you will have to shift and pour soil and stones, sometimes broken bricks and other similar construction debris are poured into the base of the hill. All this is sprinkled with soil and rammed, then earth is poured on top, which is interspersed with stones. And so from the foot, to the very top, stones with earth. It is clear that the whole structure will shrink. And decent – up to 1/4 height. For this reason, do-it-yourself alpine slide is often created in two stages: the first – ground work – is carried out in the fall, the second – planting – in the spring.
So that during wintering with or without plants, rains and melting snow do not wash the soil very much, the most problematic areas are fixed with a mesh, burlap. You will see where the water drains the most after the first rain. You can speed up the process by watering your slide with water. In those places where the water drains the most, lay a net, sprinkle with small stones. In the following winters, the roots of plants will gradually hold the ground together, but they will finally grow only after a few years, so the soil will need to be covered with stones for the next winters, only this time carefully.
Do-it-yourself Alpine slide: a sequence of actions
Regardless of the type of landing chosen, the sequence of actions during the arrangement will be almost the same. It all starts with simple, but voluminous earthworks, then exercises with weights follow, and only then – landing.
STEP 1. We mark the contours. In the selected place, outline the contours of the future slide. They don’t have to be symmetrical – they have to look natural. In any case, this is worth striving for. Therefore, it is better if the shape consists of different broken and rounded lines. First, you can develop it on a piece of paper, then transfer it to the ground using a colored rope or cord (you can outline the contours with a path of sand, for example, etc.).
STEP 2. We remove the fertile layer, organize drainage. In the outlined area, the soil is removed, the roots of the plants are removed. If the soils do not drain water very well, crushed stone is added and rammed. This is a drain to drain water and maintain normal humidity. Plants growing on stones do not tolerate stagnant water and waterlogging. They are accustomed to a minimum of moisture. And it is necessary to create similar conditions for them. More sand is poured on top of the rubble, with a layer of 10-15 cm, and on top there is already a fertile layer or a special substrate for selected plants.
If the soils drain water normally, it is not necessary to pour crushed stone, but it is necessary to remove the vegetable soil: the plants will break through the stones and it is difficult to deal with them. Therefore, clean everything qualitatively.
There may be another problem with sandy soil: it may be too loose (silty sands). Then the stones on it will “float away” all the time. You can solve the problem if you fill in crushed stone and drive it well into the ground, if this is not possible, spread geotextiles in the pit (used in road construction and landscape design) and fix it along the edges of the pit. In this case, it is desirable to take dense, so that it can withstand the mass of soil and stones. He will not allow the stones to change their location and will hold the entire structure. In particularly severe cases, it may be necessary to pour a concrete base – a reinforced slab.
Step 3. Formation of a relief. A layer of soil about 20 cm thick is poured onto the sand. Arrange the first, largest stones. They partially need to be “drowned”. This will look more natural. For a traditional slide, the stones are stacked, not placed upright. When organizing the Czech rolling pin, on the contrary, all the plates are placed upright. But these are fundamentally different formations and we will talk about the manufacture of a rolling pin a little lower – there is a different principle of formation.
The heaviest stones are laid in the first row. The gaps between them are filled with soil, which can be interspersed with smaller “non-format” stones that will not look good in the open. Having laid the stones, they check their stability: you need to jump on them. If it stands, does not move, you can continue to work. Spread the second tier – the boulders are slightly smaller. And in the same way they fill the distance between them with smaller stones and soil.
The third tier is formed according to the same principle – small stones are already laid here, which can be interspersed with very small ones.
Step 4. Planting the plants. As already mentioned, this stage can begin six months after the formation of the relief. Since the conditions are different for everyone, the plants are selected based on them. But if we talk about an alpine hill, then, in theory, only those plantations that grow in the Alps should live on it. Basically, they are not very bright, and they feel bad in our latitudes. They are planted by true connoisseurs of mountains. And the vast majority in dachas and household plots plant plants that they personally like best. Strictly speaking, this is already a flower garden or a composition with stones … But, no matter how the structure is called, it has the right to exist if it brings pleasure to the owner.
What is the difference between the device of the Czech rolling pin
As already mentioned, the Czech rolling pin is made up of vertically placed plates. Such plates in our market can be bought from sandstone or limestone. Find more or less one color, but different shapes and thicknesses – from one centimeter to dozens. And look for those in which at least one face was dark – weathered. They are put outside. Some more will be needed with two “tanned” edges. When compiling a slide, they are put outside – it’s more beautiful and “more natural.
It all starts the same way: marking the site and excavating the soil, backfilling the drainage layer. This is where the differences begin. “ridges” are formed from large plates and they are placed along the edge with a slight slope – about 5 °.
We lay out smaller layers between the dominant ridges, fill the gaps between them with a substrate or soil. If you are going to plant alpine plants, they do not need too much nutrient medium. They may even die in it. They need to create conditions close to natural, so you have to adapt to them and make up your own soil mixture for each type. The basis can be considered as follows: in equal parts, mix light meadow soil, river sand with large grains and stone chips. In order for the soil to better hold the water of brick chips: the temperatures in summer are higher than in the Alps and it dries faster and faster. With this soil mixture, fill in the gaps between the plates.
Plants are planted in these “rocky outcrops”. Then the remaining gaps are covered with a layer of fine stone chips of the same color with a layer of about 2-3 cm. This, firstly, will add naturalness, and secondly, it will protect it from drying out. The problem with the outflow of water is solved automatically – it goes perfectly into vertical slots. And since the soil mixture is loose, no stagnation is formed.
Plants for an alpine slide: landing rules, names and photos
To obtain a decorative effect, not only and not so much flowering plants are more important as those that have beautiful and lush foliage that retains decorativeness throughout the entire period: from spring to late autumn.
The planting of shrubs and trees must be approached very carefully: they grow, still decent in height, attempts to cut them only harm their appearance. Look for dwarf varieties if you like, but specify their height. We can recommend horizontal junipers – they grow to the sides, and almost do not grow up. You can use mountain pine or nesting spruce. But this is at a sufficient height of the relief. Trees and shrubs are planted in any case in the “lowland”, and so that it does not block the view.
Plants are planted in groups, but so that between them there is a solid free space filled with stones or small crumbs. Solid carpet is not for rock garden. Here, each plant is a soloist and there should be a separate stage for each. Therefore, in the foreground – the shortest, behind them – the average height and the highest – in the background.
Some plants that are often planted on rockeries in the country or near the house with a photo are presented in the photo gallery. Please note that there are mainly one or two varieties depicted, and there may be more than a dozen of them (as it usually is).