Coniferous plants for alpine slides. Plants for an alpine slide

A rock garden is 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.

A rock garden 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 (only 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 supplement the composition with a waterfall or fountain.

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 cm.
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 a safe construction garbage, 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.

Ephedra

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 small slide use dwarf globular varieties 50-70 cm high, such as Winter gold and Mors. For a large rock garden fit varieties up to 1.5 m tall, for example Mughus and Gnom.

The evergreen juniper shrub is a light-loving, drought and adverse conditions 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. Suitable for small hills varieties Green Carpet and Andorra Variegata are 70 cm high. 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 green in adults. 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 ones - Conica, Nidiformis, Will's Zwerg.

ground covers

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 - r asthenia, which May be single or perennial. Blooms from May to August. Bush s form a dense carpet.Flowers can be blue, white, red, pink, yellow. Hardy and unpretentious plant, well propagated by rosettes.

M young - with ucculent, better known bycalled stone rose.Dense leaves form a rosette, which And Depending on the species, it can be green, pink, burgundy or crimson. Rosettes reproduce vegetatively, fill up fairly quicklythe space allotted to them.

Aubrieta - m perennial 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, which blooms in May-June. In the sun more buds appear, and in the shade grow faster there are withdrawals. flower growth need to be controlled.

blooming

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. It 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 continues t all summer until late autumn. The plant is unpretentiousto illumination, well transfers the sun and a shade.

Marigolds - I'm bright about mid-years and ki, which are bloom from early June until frost. There are a large number of varieties of different shades.

Roses in rock garden with look unusual, but very elegant. Usually require solo landing. A good background for them are coniferous plants and decorative elements. in nye 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.

Adult coniferous plants are usually watered 3-4 times per season, flowers - once every 7-10 days. For watering it is better to use special devices with moisture diffusers- a jet of water can wash away the soil. top dressing 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 either recreate the given examples of seating patterns, or change something in the composition or arrangement of plants.

Gone are the days when gardeners were mainly engaged only in beds, greenhouses and greenhouses. Today, many are fond of creating on their land 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 of conifers are widely used, 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.

The best decorative effect is 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, do not overload it big amount 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 form 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 out to be 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 that are not afraid of the winds, have frost resistance, and unpretentious 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 another species includes dwarf plants with 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 lower 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. Better fit sunny places or light shadow. 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.
The most widespread in the regions of Russia are dwarf forms thuja western. This tree is not too capricious, it is winter-hardy and long-lived. In natural conditions, specimens of a thousand years old are still found.
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 southern 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 hill will be created in a 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 is 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 it is 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 the overall look of the slide.

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 evergreen deciduous plants, iberis is often used for an alpine slide - a plant with white, purple or pink flowers in umbellate 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. Various types of saxifrage can bloom both in the shade and in the sun.

If you want your rock garden already in early spring began to please the eye, and until late autumn retained color, tuber-bulbous and bulbous plants should be planted.

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 unpretentious plants on top of an alpine hill, then the best choice would 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 and dwarf conifers at the foot of the hill, 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.

Quick navigation through the material

According to the canon, both alpine slides and flat rockeries should be decorated with plants of exclusively alpine origin. However, in central Russia, they are, firstly, not so easy to find, and secondly, to grow.

Therefore, today we will talk about which plants and flowers are as close as possible to the "Alpines" in terms of decorativeness and drought and frost resistance, as well as how to choose plants for an alpine hill and rockery so that the composition is harmonious and remains beautiful all season.

10 principles for choosing plants for a rock garden

Principle 1. You need to decide on the types of plants at the design stage of a rocky garden

It is best to work out the composition options on checkered paper / graph paper at a scale of, say, 1:50 or 1:25. Or at least draw an approximate scheme for planting plants and stones, taking into account the size of their growth (see the example below).

1 - Mountain pine, 2 - Creeping thyme, 3 - Canadian phlox, 4 - Evers stonecrop, 5 - Gray fescue, 6 - Rocky alissum, 7 - Angustifolia lavender, 8 - Stonecrop prominent, 9 - Fragrant rue, 10 - Steller's wormwood. Note: the scheme of the alpine slide is shown without taking into account the flowering time of plants

Principle 2. The composition of an alpine slide or rockery is made up of at least 5 groups of plants

Group 1. Conifers

Mandatory elements of any alpine slide or rockery, because due to them the composition remains beautiful all year round, they give the rocky garden texture and mountain flavor. The main condition is that only miniature conifers with a slow growth rate are suitable.

Popular plants: Dwarf spruce, mountain pine, creeping species of juniper, arborvitae, cypress.

Alpine hill with conifers near the firewood shed

Tip: Conifers on an alpine hill and in rockeries look good right next to the stones.

They also need to be short.

Popular plants: Cotoneaster horizontal, iberis, dryad, cinquefoil, barberry, ceratostigma, spirea.

Tip: Deciduous shrubs in an alpine hill / rockery are not very desirable, as they are required to clear the garden of fallen leaves.

Group 3. Herbaceous perennials

Perennials greatly simplify the care of a rocky garden, and therefore you cannot do without them, although most of the representatives fade by mid-summer.

Popular plants: Carnations, Carpathian bellflower, rocky beetroot, saxifrage, gravel, armeria, multicolor spurge, small-leaved hostas, bergenia, irises.

Group 4. Ground cover plants

Ground cover flowers are the backbone of the rock garden flora as they remain ornamental from early spring to late fall, are very unpretentious, grow rapidly and suppress the spread of weeds.

Popular plants: stonecrops, phloxes, jaskolka, alyssum, soapwort, cistus and many others.

Phlox subulate

Group 5. Bulbous

Thanks to them, the alpine slide / rockery blooms from early spring.

Popular plants: Snowdrops, blueberries, chionodoxes, late tulips, pushkinia, chickweed, autumn crocuses and autumn crocuses.

Tip: Since after flowering, most bulbs completely disappear, they are not given a special place, but planted along with ground cover.

Principle 3. The composition of an alpine slide or rockery is made up in such a way that any flowering plants are constantly present in it

In a rocky garden, withering foliage is especially noticeable and it is not always possible to hide it behind the "neighbors". Therefore, to create an alpine slide or rockery, it is advisable to choose those plants that will bloom all summer or will retain the beauty of the leaves after flowering.

In this sense, it is very good to include annuals in the composition, which, although contrary to the rules, compensates for the lack of flowers after the bulbs and perennials have faded. The main thing is to choose creeping undersized varieties from small flowers. For example, it can be: alissum, tricolor violet, lobelia or erigeron Karvinsky.

Free alpine slide with petunias in the first row

However, if your dacha has a lot of mixborders and flower beds, then a modest coniferous alpine hill or rockery from the middle of summer can, on the contrary, successfully set off a riot of colors and look fresh.

Principle 4. The basis of the flora of an alpine slide or rockery is ground cover plants

In order for an alpine hill or rockery to be picturesque and colorful, their flora should consist of 60-70% of ground cover plants. The rest can be allocated to other plants.

Principle 5. The flora of the alpine hill / rockery should not be too diverse

From a large number of assorted flowers and leaves, the composition can become too colorful and artificial, the stones will be lost against such a background, and in fact they should be the main focus of any alpine slide or rockery. Moreover, if we consider that most of the rocky garden is occupied by ground covers (ideally, about 1 square meter of area should be allocated for 1 species), then there will be very little space left for the rest of the plants. So, for example, for an alpine slide with an area of 10 sq. 6-8 meters of plant species will be enough.

Plants in a rocky garden should not interfere with each other and obscure their surroundings.

Principle 6. All plants, including conifers, should be undersized

For flowers and shrubs, the optimal height is up to 60 cm (during flowering). It is better to use conifers only those that grow up to 1.5 meters and grow very slowly (say, 3 cm per year).

The height of all plants should be commensurate with the stones. Creeping plant species should be selected for small and low stones, and tall and lush conifers, shrubs and perennials can be planted next to large boulders and boulders.

By the way, with the help of plants, you can visually increase the height of an alpine hill or rockery on a slope by planting conifers on top or, conversely, balance the elevation by planting tall plants at its foot.

Principle 7. Plants in rock gardens / rockeries should be unpretentious

To take care of the rock garden to a minimum, avoid actively growing ground cover and deciduous shrubs, and also plant more perennials and conifers.

Separately, we will talk about ground cover. Some of their species grow so quickly and actively that in one or two seasons they can hide most of the garden under their carpet, including large stones. Correcting the situation will not be easy. Therefore, when planting such plants, for example, sapling, phlox or stonecrop, firstly, be prepared to periodically cut off the excess, and secondly, take preventive measures - protect the plant with border tape or plant it in a wide container to prevent the spread of unwanted rhizomes. And, of course, do not use fertilizers.

Principle 8. Consider the impact of stones on the soil

Plants that prefer slightly alkaline soil should not be planted near granite and basalt. And next to limestone, on the contrary, you can not plant plants that need acidic soil.

Principle 9. An important factor in plant selection is the duration of illumination of a rocky garden during the day

Here are the lists of plants for a semi-shady and sunny rocky garden.

For semi-shady	For solar
hosta	Junipers (prostrate and creeping types and forms)
badan	Mountain pine (dwarf forms)
Wulfenia	Common juniper (dwarf varieties)
Geichera	Thuja western
Geranium large-rhizome	Cotoneaster horizontal, lovely, small-leaved, two-row, Dammer, etc.
jeffersonia dubious	Honeysuckle cap
Dicentra	Rosemary officinalis
tenacious creeping	Barberry Thunberg
Saxifrage	Aurinia rocky, or rocky beetroot
Pachysandra apical	carnation grass
periwinkles	Arenaria or gerbil
anemones	Iberis evergreen
Highlander related	Aubrieta cultural
Dyusheneya	Rezukha Caucasian
Oxalises	Phlox subulate
Cotula	Edelweiss alpine
lilies of the valley	Bieberstein's shard
Bow strange	Portenschlag bell
Cuff	Knifofia hybrid
umbilicus	Mesembryanthemum crystal
violets	stonecrops
Bluebell (most types)	St. John's wort and calyx
Phlox subulate	Ceratostigma Wilmott
	Sharovnitsa golostebelny
	Armeria maritime
	creeping thyme
	Muscari
	Evening rose
	Chistets Byzantine or woolly

Badan and styloid phlox in a shady rockery

Principle 10. The flora of a rocky garden should match the style of the site

If the house and plot are decorated in traditional style, then plants for rockeries and rock gardens should be selected diverse, with a large number of flowers and in a multi-color range.

But for modern dachas And country houses monochrome or contrasting compositions with a large number of mosses, conifers, evergreen shrubs and perennials, bulbous and even succulents are best suited.

10 average rating: 4,20 out of 5)

Recently, the so-called alpine slides or rock gardens have been very popular in landscape design - a rocky design site that is as close as possible in appearance to a mountain one and planted with mountain slow-growing (no more than 2 cm per year) representatives of vegetation.

There are several types of rock gardens, defining its shape (horizontal, located on a slope or resembling a small mountain or hill), style and choice of vegetation:

IN Japanese style the main attention is paid to the beauty of the stones (usually rounded), while the vegetation itself fades into the background and occupies the minimum possible space.
TO English style include alpine slides, consisting of sharp stones and slowly growing plants, mainly wormwood, coniferous and cereal species.
To compositions European style include the types of landscapes closest to us, where primacy is given to flowering slow-growing plants. They are selected in such a way as to ensure flowering in rock gardens throughout the garden season, constantly replacing each other and maintaining its unique appearance.
Recently, it has become very popular Czech rolling pins, which are also called "layered" or "slotted" rock gardens. Their appearance is closest to natural and is perfectly used in the design of large gardens and estates. This type of design is unmistakable as it uses flat stones of varying sizes and thicknesses with nearly parallel surfaces that are placed under different angles to the ground and to each other, and in between they grow various alpine plants.

Plants belonging to the alpine flora are quite rare in garden plots and therefore are of particular interest to connoisseurs of garden art. Such types are practically not used for curbs or lawn plantings because they require a special position and rarely take root in the wrong place.

It is very important to create exactly the right composition that will allow alpine plants feel comfortable and pleasing to the eye for many years.

Alpine slides are placed, usually focusing on south side and on most sunny areas taking into account the long-term prospect of no shadow in the future. Types of masonry can be quite varied and depend on the type chosen, but the most commonly used vertical installation flat stones maximally rotated by the larger surface to the south.

With this arrangement, the stones accumulate heat, and the plants have minimal competition for the development of the root system and receive sunlight. The disadvantage of this type of flower garden is the high consumption of stones and the need to use stone mulch to retain moisture and better develop the underground parts of plants, as well as to prevent the germination of weeds.

The range of colors for stone slides is very wide and allows you to combine alpine and subalpine species with their counterparts from forests and steppes, for example, bulbous, low coniferous and fern. In this case, special attention must be paid harmonious ratio their size and speed of growth, placing accordingly.

For example, such mountain species as antennaria, obrieta, awl-shaped phlox, grains are preferably cultivated on top tiers, having the name "plateau", and the slopes are well planted with a variety of sedums, stonecrops and ground cover species flora (zhivuchka, yaskolka, cloves, ground cover phlox), contributing to the preservation of the shape of the hill from erosion.

The foot of the hill you can beautifully decorate with ephemeroid bulbs - muscari, quinodox, crocuses, tulips. Low shrub and wood species (Japanese quince, creeping cotoneaster, junipers and dwarf varieties of pines) are perfect as background species.

For northeastern parts of the rock garden usually shade-tolerant and shade-loving types are used, such as shade saxifrage, ferns, anemones and corydalis.

For top part Sun-loving is best drought resistant plants. Bathing suit flowers can become a real decoration of the slide.

The rock garden will always look great if you correctly coordinate the timing of the flowering of the plants planted in it, allowing you to admire the change of colors and shades throughout the warm season, starting in spring, when the Carpathian bluebell, excellent tulip, saxifrage, narcissus, blueberry, Japanese quince, stonecrop bloom , snowdrop, and until late autumn (gentian, cinquefoil, small-petal and yarrow).

At the same time, the main law of creating a slide is the inadmissibility of planting large plants next to small ones in order to avoid drowning and shading some species by others and hiding the beauty of stones under their lush foliage.

In a general sense, a rock garden is a collection of undersized and graceful species growing in a flower garden among a well-visible stone composition, and this must be taken into account when planning it.

In order to choose the right culture for your rock garden, there are several rules which will help in choosing the most successful solutions.

Design harmoniously

For the harmonious design of the slide are best suited:

various types of l tuber and tuber crops(galanthus, crocuses, scillas, irises);
rosette crops(rejuvenated, cuffs, orostachis);
bud cover flowers(cloves, thyme, sedums, daisies, bluebells, periwinkle, St. John's wort);
low and creeping coniferous plants(junipers, boxwood, mountain pine).

Consider the external features of plants

When choosing the type of rock garden and flower crops, it must be taken into account color scheme, flowering time and texture of plants and combine them with selected stones, their shape, location and shades.

Pay attention to climate change

It is necessary to take into account the climatic features of the region and the soil, and select plants in accordance with these conditions, however, visually reminiscent of a mountain landscape.

Consider the size of plants and rock garden

The size of the plants should be proportional to the created rock garden. That is, it is necessary to choose low, compact plant species. For example, herbaceous flowers and low shrubs such as heather, gentian, cereals are perfectly used for a small stone hill. Tall arborvitae, dwarf pines and junipers look great when creating large alpine compositions, which most often have a tiered structure.

The structure of the rock garden

Usually alpine slides are conventionally divided into 3 main zones: top, middle and bottom. Each of them has its own design features and different conditions for the growth of flowers:

Microclimate the top of the stone hill characterized by an abundance of sun, the highest temperature and low moisture content, so for this part it is better to select light-loving, drought-resistant species that do not require special care. Ideal in this case can be a snow-white carpet of iberis, or a colorful masterpiece of perennial cushion carnations that will fill your garden with a gentle pleasant smell throughout the summer. They will also give an irresistible look to the top of the hill, rocky beetroot, young, thyme and edelweiss, which can go without watering for a long time and love the abundance of the sun.
The middle part of the hill receives less heat and light, but at the same time it is more moistened and it is best to use ramonda, phlox, lobelia erinus, crocuses and daffodils for its design.
The lower tier of the rock garden usually highly humid and least sunlit. Light coolness and partial shade reign here, therefore, to decorate the foot of a stone hill, it is best to choose shade-tolerant plants that love abundant watering, such as ferns, bathing suits, shady saxifrages, corydalis. Often, for greater resemblance to the Alpine mountains, the lower part of the hill is planted with coniferous plants.

What plants to choose?

Coniferous cultures for a stone slide

Evergreen conifers always give the rock garden some naturalness, imitating the forests at the foot of the Alpine mountains, surrounding it with lush greenery and emphasizing the beauty flowering species. Alpine hill with coniferous plants looks harmonious and beautiful. At the same time, trees and shrubs retain the attractiveness and style of the slide even in cold season, making it a green island against the backdrop of a deserted garden. Thus, the design lower part of rock garden low-growing coniferous crops are always very advantageous.

In rock gardens, almost never use deciduous plants , because the foliage falling in autumn pollutes the hill, and it is almost impossible to clean it from the space between the stones. Moreover, this situation contributes to the processes of decay and the development of various diseases in a humid microclimate at the bottom of the hill, which will lead to the death of other "inhabitants" of the rock garden. Based on this, coniferous crops are always in priority, receiving, moreover, favorable conditions growth.

Today there is a huge variety of different coniferous plants, for any size and illumination of a rock garden from dwarf sun-loving pines, spruces, larches and junipers to shade-loving fir, cypress and thuja. And for very shaded places, you can choose hemlock and yew.

Another important feature of evergreen conifers is the variety of various forms of the crown, its color and appearance. They can be in the form of narrow pyramids or balls, they can spread along the ground, have an arrow-shaped or candle-like shape, and color shades from dark green to blue and yellow provide the landscape designer with a huge field for a creative flight of fancy.

In rock gardens use undersized and dwarf species coniferous plants, often with curved trunks, close to the species growing in the natural Alps:

Juniper medium- the owner of a dense light green sprawling (up to 0.8 m) crown, slightly "gilded" at the ends. Depending on the season, juniper changes color from lemon in spring to lime in summer. Loves sunny areas. Perfectly refreshes dark layered stones.
Thuja western- a winter-hardy shade-tolerant plant with an irregular narrow crown, which can acquire a spiral shape, be in the form of a pyramid or column. Often has multiple tops. It loves loamy soil and grows about 5 cm a year.
Pseudotsuga Menzies- in appearance it is very similar to prickly spruce. However, due to the wax coating, it has a bluish tint and softer needles are somewhat randomly arranged, which gives the plant a unique “shaggy” look. Grows well in both sunny and shady areas. He loves loamy soils and grows by 4-6 cm per year. It requires regular prevention from fungal diseases.
Also good for rock garden decoration spruce varieties(Serbian, Oriental, prickly, common), mountain pine, dwarf pine, Korean fir, larches, microbiota, hemlock, tuevik and many others.

Creeping and ground cover species

Creeping and ground cover plants are excellent decorators for alpine slides, perfectly decorating the gaps between the stones, giving the slide an unimaginably picturesque look. Another plus in favor of these low, but surprisingly beautiful plants is the protection of the composition from drying out and weeds.

These cultures include:

Zvezdovka- decorative beautiful plant with bright toothed leaves and small umbrella-shaped flowers forming a yellow-green carpet. Each flower is framed by an asterisk of five green leaves, which gives the plant a surprisingly attractive appearance.
Dryad- the most beautiful alpine woody plant. It has small (2-3 cm) dark green leathery leaves on top and covered with light gray villi on the bottom leaves on low petioles, which makes it especially decorative look. The stems of the dryad are creeping, and this allows her to penetrate into the most inaccessible places and decorate them with her presence.
diascia- magnificent creeping plant, which is very popular among gardeners due to its green foliage, which creates a dense juicy carpet decorated with an abundance of arcuately drooping bright orange open small flowers collected in inflorescences.

The variety of creeping and ground cover plants for rock gardens is so great that it would take several volumes just to list them. Among them are such plants as brunner, rezuha (arabis), succession, daisy, tenacious, cat's foot (antennaria), anafalis, cuff, etionema (winged stalk), arundinaria (bamboo), acena, bergenia, periwinkle, euonymus, budra (glechoma ), buharnik (cholkus), viola, pansies, gentian, gentian, ramonda, saxifrage, yaskolka, soapwort, subulate phlox, iberis and many others.

Perennial plants for rock gardens

In rock gardens, perennials are most often grown, which makes it easier to care for them and makes it possible to enjoy the beautiful alpine landscape almost all year round, and bloom from early spring to late autumn.

The choice of perennials is very large. You can note such masterpieces of nature as:

ramonda- incredibly similar to violet. Delicate and delicately smelling, it will perfectly enliven any rock garden. It is very unpretentious, loves slightly shaded areas, therefore it is preferable on the northwestern slopes, painting them from May to early July in a light lilac color.
Alyssum (rocky alyssum)- during the flowering period, fills the air with a sweet honey smell and turns the place of its growth into a bright yellow carpet. It goes well with other colors and allows you to create picturesque paintings in rock gardens.
Orieta- an evergreen perennial blooming with magnificent flowers of lilac, purple and pale pink. This is a rather capricious culture and requires special treatment and care for it. He likes a temperate hot climate and fertile land.

Among the perennials for the rock garden, one can also list spring adonis, aquilegia (catchment), armeria, alpine aster, prostrate veronica, thyme-leaved veronica, wolfberry, or daphne, carnations, Dalmatian and Dalmatian geraniums, creeping gypsophila, gentian, dwarf iris, saxifrage, bluebells, cat's paw, cotoneaster, cypress, crocuses, euphorbia, forget-me-not, different kinds ferns, wormwood, primrose, and many others.

Thus, properly selected flowers planted in rock gardens will bring a feeling of special comfort, peace and beauty to your garden.

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