A relatively new trend in landscape design is the construction of alpine slides. They changed the classic flower beds and rabatki and serve as an ornament for summer cottages and country houses.
Garden alpine slides are an island of artificially created wildlife of the Alpine mountains. For their creation, rock stones are laid down and lush vegetation is planted among them.
From such a work of art and breathes pristine purity of nature. Having such a garden decoration is a true aesthetic pleasure.
Some arrange a rock garden with the help of specialists. But the alpine slide with their own hands - quite real, and in a fairly short time. How to equip the alpine slide and what is needed for this - we will tell about all this further.
Rock garden in the country - the ability to make the garden brighter and more original
Those who wish to diversify the landscape of their garden with unusual elements should definitely pay attention to rock gardens. With the help of rock garden you can make the garden original and bright. Each alpine slide project is unique in its own way. The general rules of their arrangement exist, but the realization of ideas is a creative process.
Examples of alpine slides in the country are countless. As a result, one set of raw materials can turn into an infinite number of variations. Anyone who creates a slide on a sketch can get it similar to the source in general, small details will always be different.
Rock gardens have required attributes.. One of them is a large stone that will symbolize a mountain peak. Conditional slopes of such a mountain are planted with plants that would organically feel themselves in a mountain climate.
It should be understood that simply folded stones and plants, making their way between them, will not be an alpine slide. This landscape composition requires strength, good imagination and some financial investments.
Where it is better to place the alpine hill, types of rock gardens
The choice of a place for an alpine slide is one of the important stages in its creation. The main criteria for choosing the location of the alpine slide:
- open space - the building is quite massive, respectively, it will need space;
- illumination - for alpine slides need a lot of sunlight;
- overview - this is still a flower garden and decorative structure, it should be clearly visible.
Each site has its own characteristics. Therefore, you need to choose the right kind of rock garden, so that it is in harmony with all elements of the landscape. Different options are chosen for different gardens with different types of plants and with different climatic conditions. Taking into account all these factors, you can choose the best option that will harmonize and please the eye.
Slides in the country are the following types:
- Mosaic - suitable for creating small rock gardens. Represents drawings, emblems, compositions of small stones;
- Flat rock garden - easy and affordable kind of garden decoration, which is a slightly raised flowerbed, lined with neat stones. Characteristic crops are planted in such rock gardens. It is small, but very decorative;
- Alpine Hill - a traditional view, although it requires a lot of space and knowledge in its creation;
- Miniature rock garden - placed in containers, due to which it can be moved from place to place. They are settled in places where ordinary rock garden will not work - on the terraces, in the gazebos, around the pool;
- Stony wall - used to create raised beds. They planted low-growing crops that grow slowly. The main requirement - the site should be oriented to the south, so that there is a minimum of shadow.
Important! In small areas, alpine slides look a bit awkward. They are large and in a small garden will look too cumbersome.
A good place for a rock garden is an open sunny glade. Relief areas look as natural as possible, and different bodies of water and paths are a great addition.
When and how to start work on the creation of rock garden
In the question of how to properly design an alpine slide, you must follow the rules so that the design looks harmonious, and the plants on it feel good. The work associated with the creation of rock garden, held in different seasons.
The formation of the basis of the slide, the falling asleep of the earth, the laying of drainage is carried out in the autumn. Stones are stacked in the spring, planting flowers also produced in spring time.
The place reserved for the rock garden, you need to clean the plants, weed roots and excess items. If necessary, an artificial mound of the hill is created. According to the plan of the rock garden, a layer of soil of 20-30 cm is removed on the marked area. The base of the alpine slide is laid in its place. Alpine slide layout:
- The first layer is drainage. It is 10-15 cm thick;
- The second layer is coarse sand 5 cm thick, well rammed;
- The third layer is fertile. It is necessary to fill the remaining place with fertile soil, for example, one part of the sod land, peat, humus and sand.
Drainage technology is very simple. Before backfilling it you need to make sure that there are no weeds left in the soil, otherwise they will penetrate the stones and destroy the alpine slide. Practicing laying under the drainage of geotextiles.
Alpine slide: how to choose and prepare stones
For rock gardens choose different types of stones. Important criteria - the natural texture and the right combination of stones. It is important to choose the right combination of stones of various sizes and shapes in order to create a harmonious view of the hill.
Often for rock gardens use coil, quartz, sandstone, gabbro, granite, marble and other rocks of stone. The composition usually requires 5-6 large stones. Need and small stones - gravel, rubble.
Stone laying on the alpine hill
The next stage in the plan for the construction of the hill - laying stones and filling the soil.
Stone composition begin to spread from the base to the top. First of all, it is determined where the large stones will lie, then the place of the stones is smaller. The rocks of the stones are buried in the soil at least one third the height.
When the stones are laid out, it is necessary to fill the spaces between them with earth. This will give the hill a more natural look. After that, the rock garden is well watered, so that the soil and stones take their natural places.
Immediately planting plants on a hill is not recommended, the rock garden should stand for two or three weeks. But ideally, a slide is made in the fall, and the plants are planted in the spring.
Important! Stones in rock gardens should be placed in such a way that rains and melt waters do not wash the soil between them. If the land will be leached, you need to constantly make adding, and the plants will suffer because of bare roots.
How to choose and plant plants in the country alpinarium
For alpine slides unpretentious flowers are best suited. It is better to arrange flower slides for gardening with unpretentious plants that do not need thorough care.
In the Alps, the harsh atmosphere, the plants there are fighting for a place in the sun. They must be able to withstand heavy rains and strong winds. For ease of annual renewal of rock garden, you can choose annual plants. It is also better to calculate when the plants are blooming, so that they alternately alternate each other throughout the season.
For alpine slides fit these plants:
- Edelweiss is a symbol of the Alps. The plant is resistant to cold, it grows and, like a carpet, covers the slopes of an alpine slide;
- Sill is an unpretentious plant with creeping stems. Used as a rock garden edging;
- Rejuvenated - a popular plant for alpine slides. It has fleshy beautiful leaves and light purple flowers;
- The saxifrage - grows a carpet, which is covered with small flowers. Green shoots and leaves wrapped stones. The plant prefers dark areas;
- Lumbago - flower of the buttercup family, very good for growing on alpine hills. It is also called sleep-grass. It blooms in early spring.
- Juniper;
- Crocus;
- Dwarf barberry;
- Phlox awl;
- Aquilegia;
- Japanese spirea;
- Alpine aster;
- Viola is horned.
Alpine slide has landing patterns. Between the stone placers should be enough space for the growth and development of plants. Small pits are made at an angle in which the seedlings are placed and their roots are covered with earth. The ground around the stem is tamped and watered.
Did you know? When watering plants on an alpine slide, water should be poured from top to bottom. When draining, the water will saturate the soil well.
Rosette flowers on the hills should not be planted with ground cover, as the latter will grow quickly and supplant rather delicate flowers. To the rhizomes of plants on the hill did not grow, they are planted inside the limiter, which can be a jar or a bucket without a bottom.
Important! Ground cover plants are well placed on the slopes of the alpine slide, because in this case they will prevent the erosion of the slide.
Planting bulbous plants in the rock garden, you need to leave between them a place for growth. Places that are temporarily empty, mulch with pebbles or tree bark.
Grassy plants on a hill until late autumn retain their attractiveness - before and after the blooming of the other plants. They serve as the background and rich decoration of the slopes.
On the most spacious areas of the hill dwarf trees and bushes are planted. You should not place them at the top or at the foot, the optimal place for them is near large stones at the edges of the hill. They need to be placed at a great distance from each other.
One planting scheme can combine plants of different species. For example:
- dwarf spruce, sedum, Siberian pellet, Adonis spring, Himalayan astra, backache, stemless gentian, short stem, sedum thin, Tianshan gentian;
- Carpathian bell, white flowers, excellent tulip, Obrietta, Kaufman tulip, saxifrage, narcissus, slate pine, Japanese quince, bird leech, stonecrop;
- thuja western, juniper horizontal, carnation travyanka, juniper, yaskolka felt, arabis, thunberg barberry, bearded iris, fragrant violet, mountain pine, primrose, antennaria, cotoneaster.
The garden hill the hands - quite real project. In one day at the summer cottage rock garden does not create, it is quite time-consuming event. It is important to design the work correctly - lay a drain, fill up the ground and form slides, lay stones and plant flowers.
