Rock garden from coniferous plants. Magic transformation of the garden: which plants are suitable for an alpine slide

Alpine slides have been an integral attribute of almost any suburban area for many years. And even if you have a small area of land, there will definitely be a corner for an alpine slide. It will be easiest to invite a professional landscape designer, but at the same time, creating a site design with your own hands is very exciting and interesting.

Since the alpine hill is a mountain landscape in miniature, then the plants should be selected appropriately, conifers will look especially good.

The first thing to do is to study the features coniferous plants, their varieties, and select those that fit your criteria, that is, the height of the tree, the color of the needles, the intensity of growth. Remember that in the background the slides will grow more tall perennials that require more moisture. So you need to think about watering them in advance.

by the most suitable plants for alpine slides are low and slowly growing trees: various conifers, spirea, cinquefoil, juniper, spruce, fir, pine, thuja. Herbaceous perennials are also good, which grow into a beautiful thick carpet. Among them can be both flowering and decorative species.

Since almost all the plants that are planted in an alpine hill are perennials, they all grow with different speed, but rather slowly. In this case, it is best to dilute the planting of perennials with annuals, so that the height and density of plants can equalize in the first year and a half.

But be careful with your choice. annual plants- many of them produce a lot of self-seeding seeds, which in the future can create difficulties in the form of weeds you do not need. Such plants are well suited: undersized marigolds, gazania, sea lobularia. Before planting, carefully study the care and needs of plants so that they coincide with the main perennials.

Marigolds are undersized

Also, in addition to perennial and annual plants, stones and boulders are used to create a slide. different sizes, which are laid out according to the intended composition. Therefore, all plants are planted at a small distance from each other - somewhere around 20-30cm. Those places where there are no stones are usually covered with fine gravel.

If you have a small, rocky area (about 6 square meters), then the height of the plants for the slide should not be more than 50-70cm. For large plots with an area of more than 30 sq.m. - the height of the crown can reach more than one and a half meters. Therefore, as we said earlier, you need to know in advance about such things as the growth of an adult tree in order to harmoniously combine all the plants on the alpine hill with each other.

Now we will analyze the features of some coniferous plants, the height of which in its final form does not exceed one and a half meters.

Dwarf species of mountain pine:

"Winter gold" - crown shape - shrubby, spherical; the height of an adult plant is 0.5 m; diameter - 1.0 m; the color of the needles - in summer - bright green, in winter - golden yellow. Frost resistant variety.

"Mughus" - crown shape - shrubby, spreading, sometimes creeping; height of an adult plant - 1.5 m; diameter - 0.6 m; the color of the needles is dark green.

"Gnom" - crown shape - shrubby, dense, spherical; height of an adult plant - 1.5 m; diameter - 1.5 m; the color of the needles is dark green.

"Mors" - crown shape - shrubby, spherical; the height of an adult plant is 0.5 m; diameter - 0.5 m; the color of the needles is greenish-blue.

Dwarf pine Winter gold

Dwarf species of juniper:

Chinese juniper - crown shape - semicircular; height - 0.7 m; diameter - up to 1.0 m; the color of the needles is green or bluish-gray.

Juniper scaly - crown shape - cushion-shaped, compact; height - 0.5 - 0.1 m; diameter - 1.5 m; the color of the needles is bright, silver-blue. Frost resistant variety.

Common juniper - crown shape - creeping; height - 0.2 - 0.3 m; diameter - 1.0 m; the color of the needles is green. Frost resistant variety.

Juniper Cossack - crown shape - pillow-shaped; height - 0.5 - 0.8 m; diameter - 1.5 m; the color of the needles is dark green or bluish-green. Frost resistant variety.

Lying juniper - crown shape - semi-creeping, dense; height of an adult plant - 1.0 m; diameter - up to 2.5 m; the color of the needles is green or bluish-gray.

juniper chinensis

Dwarf types of thuja:

"Hoseri" - crown shape - spherical; the height of an adult plant is 0.5 m; diameter - 0.6 m; the color of the needles is dark green. Frost resistant variety.

"Little Dorrit" - crown shape - spherical; height of an adult plant - 0.8 m; diameter - 0.6 m; the color of the needles is dark green. Frost resistant variety.

"Danica" - crown shape - spherical; height of an adult plant - 0.8 m; diameter - 0.8 m; the color of the needles is dark green.

Thuja Hoseri

Dwarf species of spruce:

"Little Gem" - crown shape - spherical-flattened; the height of an adult plant is 0.5 m; diameter - 0.5 - 0.7 m; the color of the needles is light green.

"Nidiformis" - crown shape - nest-like, with a deepened middle; height of an adult plant - 0.5 - 1.0 m; diameter - 0.8 - 2.0 m; the color of the needles is dark green.

"Will's Zwerg" - crown shape - narrow conical, dense; height of an adult plant - 1.0 - 1.2 m; diameter - 0.4 m; the color of the needles - young - pale green, old - dark green.

"Echiniformis" - crown shape - cushion-shaped, compact; height - 0.2 - 0.6 m; diameter - 0.4 - 0.8 m; the color of the needles is green.

Norway spruce Little Gem

Finally, we would like to say that the most milestone in creating an alpine slide is its planning. After all, you will have to familiarize yourself with big amount material for many plants before you can select the ones you need. So take your time, think everything over, and think big, presenting a finished composition when your trees are 2-3 years old. And only after approving each plant, get to work. I wish you success!

Gone are the days when gardeners were mainly engaged only in beds, greenhouses and greenhouses. Today, many are addicted to creating on their own land plots beautiful and original flower beds because they want to receive aesthetic pleasure. Alpine slides have become very popular, with which gardens are more and more often decorated. At the same time, mountain plants and dwarf forms are widely used. conifers, which allow you to admire the greenery of the flower garden all year round. In the article, we will consider which coniferous plants to choose for an alpine slide.

Building compositions

For the design of rock gardens, there is a rich selection of miniature conifers that have a variety of crown shapes - conical, spherical, flat, creeping, ovoid, cushion-shaped. Therefore, before you buy plants for an alpine slide, you need to think carefully about the composition, especially since seedlings of coniferous dwarfs are not cheap.

Best decorative effect achieved by a single arrangement of vertically growing plants with cone-shaped or ovoid crowns. The dominant plant is planted at the base of the hill or in its middle part. The space between them is filled with lower rounded or cushion-shaped forms. The basis of the rock garden are creeping ground cover species.

When creating an alpine slide with your own hands, you should not overload it with a large number of plants, otherwise they will lose their individuality and the beauty of the forms will not be visible. When arranging groups of conifers, you can play on the contrasts of shapes and colors, or make a gradual smooth transition from one shape to another. Stones, which are also decorative elements, should not be completely obscured by greenery. As a result of all efforts, the slide should look like a miniature natural landscape.

The choice of conifers for the alpine slide

Since the alpine hill is a non-monumental structure of immense size, the plants must also be selected so that their proportions correspond to the size of the flower garden.

Another condition that must be observed when choosing plants is their ability to grow in a given area and in a given climate. The gardener must learn everything about seedlings - what kind of soil they prefer, how they relate to light and shade, moisture and drought, how they get along with their neighbors, how quickly they grow and increase their mass.
Dwarf coniferous plants are ideal for placement among the rock garden stones: pines, spruces, junipers, thujas. The fact that they grow very slowly, only 3-5 cm per year, turns a big plus. This circumstance makes it possible to preserve the decorative effect of the composition for a long time.

Types of dwarf conifers

Dwarf pines, some species

Such pines look spectacular in rock gardens. Basically they are low shrubs, which are not afraid of the winds, have frost resistance, and unpretentiousness in care, which is very attractive for use in landscape designs.

For these plants, you need to choose places well lit by the sun and acidic soils with good drainage. Pines planted on alkaline soils begin to turn yellow. In such cases, gypsum is added to the soil.
There are about a hundred varieties of these ornamental evergreens. North American pine became the progenitor of varieties Arctis having a conical crown, blue Chappewa, TuckersDwarf and Compacta pines with rounded crowns, varieties Uncle Fogy and Pendula with weeping branches, creeping shrub Schoodic, Wisconsin with a lush cushion-shaped crown.
Very elegant low-growing cultures derived from weymouth pines. They have silvery thin and long needles, collected 5 pieces in a bunch, curly cones of light Brown color and dense crown. These trees are resistant to shade and cold, they are great for decoration. north side slides. At the miniature Pumila varieties spherical crown, Macopin has an extensive conical crown, Nana blue needles. The smallest is 50 cm pine Secret.
The most common in horticulture are two types with mountain pinusmugo, one of which includes dense creeping shrubs with very long needles (Mops, Varella, MiniMops, Ophir). And the other kind is dwarf plants having short needles and a dense dense crown (Gnom, Kobold, Pumilio, Hesse).

For ten years of the life of the form Brepo, Marie Bregeon and Pygmaea grow only up to 50 cm. They have a compact rounded shape. Extraordinarily beautiful cone-shaped stunted Alpenzwerg pine. It grows no more than 2.5 meters in height. It has dark green needles, which at low winter temperatures turn slightly golden at the tips, so in winter it seems that the tree glows.

To dwarf varieties pines retained their miniature size, it is necessary to periodically pinch the central growth buds and growing shoots, and also not to abuse fertilizers. Otherwise, the plants will grow, and the crowns will become loose.

Types of dwarf firs

In catalogs stunted spruces subdivided into semi-dwarf with a height of up to 3 m, dwarf - up to 1.5 m, mini-varieties - up to 1 m and micro-varieties growing up to 30 cm. The forms of crowns are conical or pyramidal, spherical and cushion-shaped.

The real finds for rock gardens are mini-spruces that grow to a height of up to 50 cm in ten years and have wide crowns. These forms include Port Alberta Globe (AlbertaGlobe), with a crown diameter twice its height.
The most popular are undersized e whether Nidiformis (Nidiformis), Echiniformis (Echiniformis). The latter has a slightly flattened shape and silvery needles.
The well-known forest beauty common spruce (Piceaabies) served as the ancestor of many undersized decorative forms. A spruce shrub with a nest-shaped crown is popular Nidiformis (Nidiformis), growing only up to 40 cm in height, and having a chic light green crown, reaching up to 1 m in diameter.

Little Gemm (LittleGem) has a dark green crown smaller than the previous spruce. It can be formed into a spectacular standard tree and grown in a rock garden or in a container.
The graceful shape of a narrow cone has a dense crown WillsZwerg (Will "sZwerg). This plant grows just over one meter in height. It is interesting in that the young growing needles are much lighter than the old ones. Therefore, the Christmas tree seems to be playing different shades green color.
Dwarf forms were also obtained from the species of prickly spruce (Piceapungens). One of them is excellent Glauca Globosa (GlaucaGlobosa). Its conical crown mainly grows not in height, but in width. It has elongated needles of a bluish color, slightly sickle-shaped. Very unpretentious. Well suited for creating compositions in a rocky garden.
For growing in rock gardens, dwarf forms of Canadian spruce, which have bluish bluish needles, are perfect: Conica (Conica) with a pyramidal crown Laurin (Laurin), Dwarf (Gnom).

Semi-dwarf spruce Daisy White (DaisyWhite) grows up to 2.5 meters in height and differs from all the others in soft yellow young needles, which change their color to green by summer. Its dense pyramidal crown will look spectacular in rock gardens, surrounded by more low plants with rounded crowns.
For spruces, fertile, well-drained soil is preferable, giving an acidic reaction. They do not tolerate stagnant water in the ground. Sunny places or light shade are best suited. To give more decorative bushes can be trimmed.

Tui in rock gardens

In nature, arborvitae are conical evergreen trees of the cypress family, having a dense symmetrical crown, and having a fragrant smell. They bloom imperceptibly. The needles are not needles, but flat, elongated scales adjacent to each other. Plants are easily and painlessly cut. Therefore, they are successfully used for decoration of flower beds and hedges.

Low-growing arborvitae, which retain their decorative effect all year round, are perfect for growing in alpine hills. In addition, most varieties are frost-resistant.
Most wide use in the regions of Russia received dwarf forms thuja western. This tree is not too capricious, it is winter-hardy and long-lived. IN natural conditions there are still thousands of years of age.
With dwarf slow-growing forms of western thuja, lovers are happy to decorate their rock gardens, for example, with a spherical shrub Danica. Its light green crown in 10 years grows in diameter to only 40 cm.

The rock garden thuja western will look original in the role of soloist Filiformis (Filiformis). The tree has a dense crown in the form of a wide cone. It grows up to one and a half meters in height and has long weeping shoots.
Grade Globoza (Globosa), on the contrary, has a rounded spherical gray-green crown, reaching 1 m in diameter. It is recommended to use it as an element of compositions. And here is a spherical Golden Globe (GoldenGlobe) has a smaller crown, but it has golden yellow needles.
An ovoid crown will look unusual in the composition Woodwardii, growing up to 40 cm wide and having light green needles.

In gardens located in warmer regions, forms obtained from thuja orientalis with fan-shaped needles are grown. These forms include golden yellow Aura Nana (AureaNana) with an ovoid crown, dark green columnar Justinka (Justynka). These varieties are not demanding on soil fertility, but do not withstand severe frosts.

Selection of junipers

A huge number of varieties and types of junipers puts gardeners in front of a difficult choice. These plants can have crowns that vary in shape and color. The shape of the crown can be cone-shaped, creeping pillow-shaped, sprawling, columnar. The needles can be golden yellow, green of different tones, silver-blue. And the shape of the needles themselves can be different - scaly or subulate.

The natural distribution area of these plants is almost endless - they are found in both northern and tropical regions. Junipers are unpretentious, can grow on any soil, do not put forward too high requirements for light and humidity, and tolerate winter cold well. For gardeners, this is just a godsend.
The most widespread for the creation of rock gardens are dwarf and creeping forms of Cossack juniper (J.Sabina): sprawling green shrub Tamariscifolia (Tamariscifolia), white-motley Variegata (Variegata), blue-green Rocker Jam (RockeryGem).

Of junipers horizontal interesting variety Andora Variegata (Andorra Variegata) only up to 40 cm high and with a wide cushion-shaped crown. Its unusualness lies in the variegation of needles: in summer it is bright green with white speckles, and in winter it acquires a purple-violet hue. A beautiful blue carpet creates a creeping grade Blue Forest (BlueForest). Its shoots directed upwards give the crown additional volume. Blue Ship (BlueChip) considered the most elegant creeping variety. A dense silver-blue carpet of its shoots low temperatures becomes purple.
In the solo role on the hill can be dwarf forms of medium-sized juniper. For example, grade Gold Coast (GoldCoast), growing up to 1 meter in height and up to 2 meters in width. This plant is decorative with its spreading golden yellow rounded crown. The same parameters are Gold Star (GoldStar) but he is more resilient. Variety Mint Julep (Mint Julep), on the contrary, it has a bright green weeping crown, reaching up to 2 m in diameter.

Junipers are planted in rock gardens, given the vastness of the future crown. Green varieties are placed on either side of the hill, golden yellow - it is better to land on the western or south side, and silver and gray - on the northern or eastern slope.

Today, a fairly extensive range of dwarf conifers suitable for placement on alpine slides is offered for sale. Evergreen conifers enliven the site in autumn, winter and spring, while deciduous shrubs and trees are at rest. The variety of shapes, textures and sizes of prickly beauties allows them to harmoniously fit into different landscapes.

An alpine hill is an artificial or natural mound of earth, a hill where growing evergreens, herbaceous plants and shrubs are formed with stone elements.

This element of garden design got its name due to the fact that alpine plants are planted here, which in their natural state grow in mountainous and foothill areas.
Read a detailed illustrated article on how to make an alpine slide with your own hands.

To learn how to make a palm tree from plastic bottles, read .

Basic rules for plant selection

A flower garden with a rocky garden is increasingly common on modern garden plots. It is not difficult to create an alpine hill or rock garden, it is enough to know the main plants that can be planted on a hill, as well as the principles of their placement.

In addition, the rock garden is easy to care for. The stone composition looks beautiful and original if you add several types of alpine plants to it.

We offer you the basic rules for selecting plants to create a decorative rock garden:

1. When creating a composition, it is worth Special attention give to low-growing plants. It is important that in size they correspond to the size of the slide, look harmonious.

2. Choose plants that will tolerate the local climate well. If the slide will be created on sunny area, then light-loving plants should be planted, and vice versa.

3. The intensity of tillering and growth of green spaces should also be taken into account. If you plant plants that grow well, close to undersized ones, small plants who love the light, then you will deprive them of the opportunity to grow and please the eye. For example, beautiful and unpretentious soapwort, yaskolka, obrietta, rezuha will negatively affect plants in the neighborhood.

4. Plants on the hill should be combined with each other in appearance, growing conditions, development and growth rates, flowering period.

Types of plants to create an alpine slide

Alpine slide created for a long time. When choosing plants for an alpine slide, give preference to cinquefoil, spirea, conifers, which grow rather slowly, but create a dense layer.

Tall herbaceous and woody plants look best next to large stones, and experienced gardeners are advised to avoid symmetry when planting such plants.

To eliminate the gaps between perennials, which at first will not be able to fill the entire space of the rock garden, such places should be planted with annuals. flowering plants: gazania, large-flowered purslane, marigolds, gypsophila, marine lobularia and others. These plants love the sun and are unpretentious to the constant receipt of moisture, so they will fit perfectly into general form slides.

A properly created alpine slide will turn any site into a small natural wonder.

Each gardener must answer for himself the question: in what colors does he want to see an alpine hill? It is also important to create a slide plan on paper - schematically draw the shape of the slide, mark the location of the stones in the figure, and also paint over the rock garden sections with different colors to see the whole picture.

Dwarf coniferous plants look beautiful on the alpine hill, which will favorably highlight your hill all year round. Popular dwarf spruces can have several shades and favorably emphasize the element of landscape design. The same group includes juniper - an unpretentious plant in care, cypress - a coniferous plant with a golden top, as well as thuja.

Preferring deciduous plants on an alpine hill, exclude species with falling leaves, which will only spoil the overall look. Among the evergreens deciduous plants for an alpine slide, iberis is often used - a plant with white, purple or pink flowers in umbrella-shaped brushes.

The dryad looks beautiful due to white catchy flowers, as well as horizontal cotoneaster, which begins to blush in autumn and stands out favorably among other inhabitants of the alpine hill.

To make the alpine hill look harmonious and beautiful, it is worth planting shrubs and conifers one at a time, and filling the gaps between them with undersized plants.

Between the stones, along with coniferous plants, carpet plants should be planted, which in a few years will braid the hill with a beautiful canvas. These include rocky beetroot, which is distinguished by gray-green leaves that retain their color all year round. Burachok blooms with small bright yellow flowers in panicle inflorescences.

You can give preference to a short-stemmed carnation, which blooms richly with bright beautiful flowers. Saxifrageforming dense rosettes from their rosettes beautiful pillows, are a mandatory attribute of the alpine slide. Different kinds saxifrages can bloom both in the shade and in the sun.

If you want your rock garden to start pleasing to the eye already in early spring, and retain color until late autumn, you should plant tuber-bulbous and bulbous plants.

Early color will provide blueberries, snowdrops, chionodoxes. But until late autumn, their flowering will please the eye autumn crocuses, late tulips, avian, colchicum.

The Alpine hill will be perfectly complemented by a small "mountain" waterfall

The principle of tiered planting

To make the alpine slide a real decoration of your garden, you should follow the rules for planting plants, depending on the tiers. So, let's start with the top tier.

top of the hill

The top of your garden decoration is more open to the sun's rays, so it is advisable to place light-loving plants here. In addition, there is practically no moisture left at the top, so the top of the rock garden should be framed by plants that require the least moisture.

To ensure that the top of the alpine hill blooms all year round, choose ground cover plants that will bloom one after another. Browse through various plants for an alpine slide, photos and names of which will help you make your choice.

For example, in May-June, the top of the hill will be covered with fluffy iberis, and throughout the summer and autumn, the upper tier will delight you with the flowering of cushion-like bushes of perennial carnations that live in mountainous areas.

If you want butterflies and bees to always hover over the top of the rock garden, you should plant plants with a pleasant honey aroma, for example, creeping thyme, which forms a carpet on the surface.

Alpine edelweiss is one of the main elements of the top of the hill. This plant loves the sun very much, and in natural environment lives on rocky slopes high mountains, however, for excellent plant growth, it will be necessary to prepare the soil mixture.

If you want to grow on top of an alpine hill unpretentious plants, then the best choice will be young.

We form the middle tier

In the middle of the hill should be plants that love the sun, but at the same time tolerate the shade well. In this place of the hill, the soil is more humid, so there will be a lot of variations for planting.

To ensure lush flowering in May, plant styloid phlox, blooming in blue, pink and white flowers. As a background plant for such bright colors three-vein anfalis, woolly chistets, Schmidt's wormwood can act.

If you prefer to decorate the middle tier of the slide not only with flowers, but also with green foliage, then universal choice there will be a brietta. This plant not only blooms beautifully from the end of May, but also has decorative foliage.

In our latitudes, geyhers, alpine aster, armeria bushes, bulbous plants, primroses are perfect for the middle tier.

To learn how to properly lay turf, click .

Create the foot of the hill

The lower tier of the slide serves as its foot, a logical conclusion. This is where the slide should connect with the rest of the garden.

The lower tier of the rock garden must be filled moisture-loving plants who feel at ease in the shade. Shrubs and tree-like plants are well suited for this, which will be an excellent accent.

To make the foot of the hill bright, you can plant lyatris with spike-shaped flowers, as well as saxifrage in the form of bushes. Having planted rhododendrons at the foot of the hill and dwarf conifers you will be satisfied with the result.

On the choice of plants for the alpine slide, see the video:

Examples of creating an alpine slide

Consider some examples of simple alpine slides.

A small alpine slide, consisting of fragrant plants, looks good.

Plant an oregano at the top to attract insects. middle tier decorate with beautifully growing hyssola, monard and sage. And decorate the lower tier of alipinaria with thyme, basil and nasturtium.

This combination of plants will create beauty in your area, and the combination of fragrant herbs will improve your mood.

Alpine slide scheme will help create beauty on your site

For lovers of a wide variety of plants suitable option alpine hill, on top of which coniferous plants are planted, for example, thuja. Near it, the coniferous ensemble can be supplemented with mountain pine and prickly spruce.

Rock gardens cannot be imagined without coniferous plants, but some gardeners go further and create compositions made entirely of conifers. The desire to use them is understandable - conifers for an alpine slide are simply ideal, they are decorative, unpretentious, retain an attractive appearance all year round and allow you to create a spectacular corner in the garden, even if there is not too much time to take care of the plantings. The main thing is to observe the naturalness and imitation of the natural mountain landscape.

Features of the construction of an alpine hill from coniferous plants

The advantages of an alpine hill from conifers include the fact that you do not need to select plants according to the timing of flowering and you can almost immediately make the hill the way you intended. Minus - coniferous seedlings are not cheap. A compromise option is to plant young plants, hoping that they will grow, but for now, decorate voids with stones or ceramic elements.

When planting conifers, you need to remember that they need space

Choosing a place, taking into account the conditions necessary for conifers

In all the photos of the alpine hill of conifers, it can be seen that it looks spectacular if you choose a place that is viewed from different sides, preferably sunny. Some types of spruces, pines and arborvitae tolerate shading well, but junipers will suffer from a lack of light. Plants with colored needles must be in the sun. When creating an alpine hill from conifers in the country, it should be borne in mind that most of these plants:

photophilous;
need space for normal development;
usually grow well on sandy-clay or even stony soils;
unpretentious, but do not like the high level of groundwater.

Unpretentious thuja will decorate any rock garden

Creating drainage and forming a slide

Since coniferous trees for the alpine slide do not like excess moisture be sure to do drainage. To do this, remove the top layer of soil and cover the hill with crushed stone, pebbles, small construction waste. The height of the drainage is from 10 to 20 cm. The soil layer is poured on top and the laying of stones begins. The stones are laid parallel throughout the hill. First, choose a place for larger ones, then put small ones.

So that the hill does not warp, there should not be cases when the stone lies on the lower cobblestone with one end, and presses on the soil with the other. Coniferous trees and shrubs have developed large roots, so pits are made between stones for their planting. The voids are filled with soil. After the construction of the hill, you need to let the soil settle, so it is better to start planting after a while. Ideal option: in the fall - to build, and in the spring - to plant.

Combine different types hvoynikov - real art

What types of conifers are suitable for rock garden

For coniferous rock garden fit trees and shrubs small sizes or dwarf species. Creeping varieties must be present. Combination different shapes crowns and coloring needles creates interesting solutions. There is a green, bluish and yellowish shade of needles. Some are bright yellow in color.

Miniature cypress is ideal for landscape compositions

Names and photos of the most suitable species

For the middle strip of conifers for an alpine slide, you should choose:

thuja - plants with a dense crown, which tolerates a haircut well. Most of the varieties common in Russia come from the western thuja: Danica with light spherical crown, Filiformis resembling a cone, Golden Globe with yellow needles. Thuja propagates by cuttings, but it is better for inexperienced gardeners to buy a ready-made seedling;
cypress trees - fashion idea for rock garden from Europe (hedges from this plant are popular in Britain). Not all varieties are hardy. The easiest way to grow Lawson's cypress and pea. It is better to overwinter low plants that can hide under the snow. Cypress trees love to spray, but the water should not be icy;
ate - a lot was bred undersized varieties: dwarf - up to 1.5 m, mini-varieties - up to 1 m, micro-specimens - up to 30 cm. For example, the Alberta Globe variety with a crown resembling a ball squeezed from above grows by 50 cm in 10 years. Nidiformis spruce is very beautiful with silvery needles. Attractive varieties of Canadian spruce with small gray needles and a pyramidal crown;
pines of all kinds are valued by gardeners. Dwarf and slow-growing varieties have been developed. Fluffy bushes of Scots pine Watereri or mountain pine Cobold with emerald needles fit perfectly into the landscape of rock gardens. The slow-growing dwarf Globosa Viridis reaches a height of only one meter and is suitable for a small garden;
junipers of all kinds. Pyramidal plants are planted both singly and in small groups, creeping ones are arranged so that they have room to grow. They cover the ground and contrast with more high grades. In winter, many junipers need shelter with spruce branches.

Juniper Dahurian

Coniferous plants for the alpine slide, the photos and names of which were given above, are suitable if you take specially bred dwarf varieties. To prevent them from growing, you need to pinch new sprouts and pruning in a timely manner. Fertilizers should not be abused. It is also undesirable to allow animals to "mark" the trunks of "babies". If this happens, rinse the affected area with water.

Alpine hill has many styles and options for decoration. Best location - slight slope. It can be laid out with stones, and planted between them undersized plants characteristic of the mountains. As a basis for a rock garden, a slope running along the terrace or near the edge of the site can serve.

When a rocky garden is created, irregularities and elevations are always formed. In addition to placing large stones, crushed stone is added to the soil.

In order for the alpine hill to bloom profusely and be well visible, you need to place it outdoors with plenty of sunshine. Some mountain plants are able to live in a poorly lit space, such as near a house or a fence, but they should also be illuminated by the sun for at least a few hours a day.

If you plan to place a rock garden in the shade of trees, then the choice of plants will be very limited, since after rain the water under the crown will dry out very slowly. In this case, you need to install massive stone blocks and plant ferns, such as ostrich and kostenets.

Drainage formation

The top layer of soil must be removed, usually it takes about half a meter.
Laying a layer of gravel or broken brick provide a quick runoff of water from the roots of plants.
Crushed stone or gravel is added to the garden soil, mixing with it in a ratio of 3: 1. If the soil is clayey, and also heavy, you need to additionally mix coarse sand.
Aesthetic stones should be laid on the surface in free placement, as the composition should look natural. The stones are laid a third underground with the flat side.
When choosing stones, several types should not be mixed, for example, solid boulders along with granite fragments. Depending on the color of the stone, plants can be selected. If they create a dark background, plantings that have green foliage with a silver sheen work well. A light background allows the use of dark, saturated leaf colors or their burgundy hue. If you can pick harmonious combination more small stones with massive, the site will resemble a highland landscape.
Plants sit in the gaps between the stones. If those varieties are selected that deteriorate from waterlogging, a layer of gravel is poured on the bottom of the dug hole before planting for drainage.

Rock garden from conifers

Spruce best suited for rock garden. Caring for her is not difficult, and the choice between species is great. For alpine slides created in middle lane, spruce, Serbian, Canadian, prickly are considered the most suitable. They are quite hardy, show resistance to frost. Need to land on open places, in the shade it is not desirable to have. With drought or excessive soil moisture, these plantations usually do not get sick.

It should be taken into account that Canadian spruce should not be in bright sun, as it may burn a little.

Pine- quite a popular tree. Usually used for rock gardens Scotch pine. You can not spend a lot of time caring for this plant. Depending on the overall design, low pine, mountain pine or wanderer cedar are used. Mountain pine is usually a large plant, but some varieties are strikingly compact. The cedar wanderer does without cultivars, however, it is excellent according to the criteria for a rock garden.

Plants should be planted in March at a depth of 70 cm to 1 meter. During planting, the root should not bend. Sod needs to be mixed with river sand. by the most harmful factors that can disrupt the vital functions of pine are excessive moisture or a strong, long drought.

cypress trees quite rarely used as plants for rock gardens. Most plant species cannot be planted in mid-latitudes, so choose suitable option quite difficult. Scientists are trying to frost-resistant varieties Lawson's cypress, however, attempts to grow it in cold regions do not lead to success. Pea cypress can be adapted, but additional conditions will need to be provided. It should be in the shade, and in the spring to hide from the bright sun. Cypress blunt must be additionally wrapped in winter.

Reduced soil and air humidity is detrimental to these plants, therefore, before planting, it is necessary to provide an opportunity permanent care after them.

Larch differs from other conifers in an unusual appearance. Quite unpretentious in care, can tolerate pollution, but for full growth it must be located on nutrient soil. Do not allow it to dry out or expose the plant over watering. Japanese, European, Latin American larch look great on the alpine hills. They always shed their needles before the onset of the cold season. Among the varieties, you can choose between options with winding branches or weeping.

Fir, hemlock, thuja are considered elite plants. Classic fir will seem too bulky for a rock garden. One color, balsamic or subalpine is suitable for him.

Moisture should always be enough, you need to check the soil before watering for its excess. Among the thuja, the western thuja will be the most suitable. It must be planted openly and the soil regularly watered. To decorate the rock garden is suitable canadian hemlock, it can be planted even in the shade. These plants do not require special measures to care for them.

Juniper It has big variety varieties and species. Almost all of them can be used in cold climates. Varieties with blue needles can burn out on spring sun, therefore, care should be taken to build a temporary fence for them. Only Cossack juniper does not need additional protection. Columnar plants for the winter need to be linked, as there is a risk of their deformation under the influence of a mass of snow. The most favorable wintering was noted in creeping varieties.

Juniper should be planted in a rock garden by choosing between early autumn and early spring. Between seasons, you can put the plant in a plastic container. The distance between the juniper and other plants should be from one and a half meters. The pit breaks out with a depth of about 0.7 m. If necessary, it is filled up with earth. The main thing is that the tree does not drown in it. It is imperative to take care of the plant.

The plant is watered 3 times a season, the crown is sprayed regularly, once a week, it is necessary to periodically mulch the soil with peat.

This video talks about conifers for an alpine slide.

With pond and waterfall

To build an alpine slide, complicated by the design of a reservoir or waterfall, you need to familiarize yourself with the stages of their design and arrangement. To make them yourself, you need to understand the general scheme and order of work.

The construction is divided into stages:

The place under the reservoir is pre-marked using driven pegs and a rope. Next, a pit of the required depth is dug.
A shape should be established in the pit garden pond, then checked general level. The resulting container is slowly filled with water. The surrounding space must be covered with sand, while pouring it with water. It is necessary to seal it along with filling all the voids formed. For convenient watering, you can connect a hose.
A hill is poured from the sand, the stones are laid with a slight slope back, however, parallelism should be visually indicated. To make the embankment natural, all lines should diverge smoothly. If the site has a slope, then the embankment does not need to be made, and it is better to place the reservoir at the end of the slope. If the place is chosen absolutely flat, then the hill is strengthened retaining wall built of brick or stone. At the same stage of construction, a cascade is made, it is needed for a waterfall. For this you can buy finished structure, however, the location of flat stones at a given height is possible.
There must be a pump in the reservoir, which must be placed completely under water. The hose runs through the ground, so it needs to be buried a little, it is well camouflaged by plants and stones.
A layer of fertile soil should be built on an alpine hill. It is made from compost, sand, crushed stone and sawdust mixed with soil.
Plants can be planted both on the shore, alpine hill, and inside the reservoir.

Alpine slides in the garden in the country and on the site of your house: photos of different designs, diagrams

Before planning a design own rock garden, you need to familiarize yourself with successful options its formation. You need to compare your site, the possibilities with the sample you like. Emphasizing interesting solutions from the schemes and their implementations, you can safely use them in the design of your own alpine slide, decorating with your own developments.

Photo gallery: Alpine slides in landscape design with a waterfall, a pond, with conifers and other photo examples.

And this video tells about alpine slides from cereals.

When choosing it is necessary to take into account their need for care, fertilizers, watering, as well as the correspondence of requests to the weather conditions of a certain area.

The selection of ornamental and coniferous plants, the arrangement of a reservoir and a waterfall are additional difficulties that must be taken into account when planning work.

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