No mercy for those who call a bunch of stones and earth a rock garden! Landscape designer Olga Kirillova reveals the professional secrets of creating a real alpine landscape in the garden and gives valuable advice. The author will analyze typical mistakes, and at the end of the publication a bonus awaits you: a large table with plant species and varieties for an alpine hill, features of their care and an indication of the growth rate.

If you are confident in your abilities - do not be afraid of strict criticism from a specialist, do as your heart tells you, based on the practical recommendations received. Moreover, some rules can be neglected, but some must be followed. Strictly, critically, to the point - this is the article that we bring to your attention.

Alpine hill in the country

An alpine hill, or rock garden, is a small architectural element of a garden plot, which is both a flower garden and a small architectural form at the same time. Roughly speaking, on an artificially created small hill there is a flower garden with stones and sometimes water elements. A hill can be created in absolutely any shape and size, but, in my opinion, it is fundamentally wrong to create a miniature-sized structure in the corner of a flower garden and call it an alpine hill. We'll talk about this a little later.

Almost every customer of mine asks to allocate a place for an alpine slide on his site, as this is a very common, although not cheap element of gardening. But, as the years go by, landscape designers, adhering to modern trends and guided by their own experience, try to use it as little as possible in their gardens, despite the fact that amateur gardeners insist on originality, uniqueness and the need for a slide in their plots.

In this article, I do not want to praise this form of site gardening so zealously, as the authors of other articles on the same topic do. I would like to talk with you about real things and real situations that you may encounter during and most importantly - after the implementation of the alpine slide on your site.

Variety of alpine slides

Each alpine slide is unique. There will not be a single stone and not a single plant that will be located in it in the same way. Of course, in their structure, all rock gardens are approximately similar, but they are often used to play with certain elements of the garden: stairs, retaining wall, uneven ground, a pond or a key beating on the site. Since the situations on the sites are always different, then the slide at each garden will have its own character and its own unique atmosphere.

For decoration, plants use perennials, coniferous and deciduous shrubs and sometimes dwarf trees, but this is not always the case. In general, the placement of coniferous trees and shrubs is not typical for a classic rock garden, but in order to preserve the decorative effect of a flower garden for as long as possible, this rule can be neglected.

All plants should be frost-resistant and undemanding to watering. It is desirable to select slow growing plants, then you can spend less time controlling the growth of planting zones.

Do it yourself or trust the designer?

This is what real alpine landscapes look like:

Beautiful, isn't it? Probably, everyone, admiring such landscapes, is ready to feel the frosty clean air with an admixture of sweet aromas of flowering plants. Of course, most gardeners want to get closer to the beautiful or bring the beautiful closer to themselves near their home, therefore, inspired by such photographs, a person who has no experience in creating begins to draw diagrams and plan where this structure will be located on his site.

Here's what happens in the end...

It doesn't seem like an inspiration to me. Of course, we have limited land plots and financially we are often not ready to spray, but why do such flower beds look so strange? A pile of land clogged with stones and randomly scattered plants cannot become the PEARL of your site. In my circle of friends among landscape designers, we call such alpine slides “dog graves” ... Please don’t get angry, those who still like this, but not beaten in any way, a small mound that has appeared among the lawn or at the corner of a flower garden, lined with pebbles and flowers with which it is not associated with anything else. Look again at the shapes of the slides shown in the photo above, at their location on the site - you should never do this!

Creating an alpine slide is really an extremely laborious process. Without the experience of creation, it is insanely difficult to make something with taste. I remember when I created my first slide… Now I can’t even look without tears. It is important to take into account absolutely every stroke, the stones that will be used, their location, the height of the embankment, the location on the site, the placement and abundance of plants on it.

In addition, this is not a cheap pleasure, if you do everything at once. On the most unattractive-looking flower garden, depending on the size, a self-taught owner can spend from 50,000 to 150,000 rubles. If you make a good slide of a decent appearance, then you need to count on an amount above 300,000 rubles (at least in the Moscow region).

The larger the flower garden, the more natural it looks, more natural and is not associated with anything bad. But, of course, the larger the size, the significantly more expensive.

Should I do it myself or trust the designers? Looking at what gardeners get, I still recommend contacting a designer who has PRACTICAL experience in creating alpine slides. It will not be much more expensive, if not for the same money that you yourself would spend, but it will look as it should, and not as it turns out ...

How to build an alpine slide with your own hands

When is the best time to start making an alpine slide

The construction of an alpine slide begins with the selection of a place on the site. It should be protected from the wind and slightly shaded.

The slide itself can be done at any time you like during the entire summer season, but with the time of planting the plants you will have to decide in advance. If you are going to sow some perennial species with seeds, then most often this is done in the fall, but it is better to plant perennial seedlings in the spring - it will be easier to determine the number and place of planting and replant if something happens. If the plants were purchased in pots, then there are no specific planting dates, since the root system is formed and does not suffer during transplantation.

As I said above, it is extremely important to organically fit the rock garden into the surrounding area so that it does not look like a randomly formed pile. To do this, be prepared to use a solid area. It’s good when the garden smoothly flows into an alpine hill, that is, as you approach it, stones and similar plants begin to appear more and more often, this will connect and balance the transition.

I recommend not to make artificial sharp borders of the flower garden. If on one side the rock garden limits the path, then extend its part on its other side. On the other hand, it is not necessary to lift the ground strongly and lay large boulders, a few strokes are enough to complete the composition. If the alpine slide, bounded by the path, is quite large, then it is not necessary to extend it on the other side.

When we drew a diagram of the location of the flower garden on the site and a planting diagram, I would also recommend making a flowering diagram. You decorate all the views selected and located on the diagram with the color of their main decorative effect in May, June, July and August. You will be surprised how clear it becomes where to plant, what to exclude and what to add to your rock garden for permanent decoration. Otherwise, it may turn out like this: your flower garden was green, then it bloomed all at once in the summer, and after that it began to fade with bald patches and locally lose its decorative effect.

How to start building an alpine slide

The construction itself begins with the calculation of the volume of the required material in cubes. If you need to create a fairly large level of a flower garden with terraces, but you want to save money, then you can lay inverted layers of turf as a base. They dug up a pillow with weeds where they get in the way and put them in the skeleton of an alpine slide - two useful things at once.

After we fall asleep according to the intended form of the earth. Try to keep it as natural as possible. In nature, round or oval mounds look alien ... The line of the flower garden should be landscape and dynamic.

Based on the situation, you should very carefully calculate the required volume of imported soil and stones so that you do not have to buy more, overpaying for delivery.

How to calculate the volume of materials for an alpine slide?

For large perennials, it is good if the fertile layer of the soil you pour is 15 - 30 cm. It can be less, but the less, the worse the plants will grow. If the area of ​​our flower garden is 50 m², and the thickness of the poured soil is 30 cm, then we order 15 m³ of fertile land. This is approximately one car. For the form itself, the skeleton, where we use turf or waste land, there is no approximate calculation. This will depend on the shape and height of the desired embankment. Rubble stone (fraction up to 50 cm) for such an area will also be enough 10-15 m³ (one truck).

While I was writing this article, one gardener asked me a question: Is it necessary to create a drainage layer of sand and gravel at the base of the slide?

I answer everyone who asked the same question: you can create a layer if there is nowhere to put an extra penny. In practice, there is simply no tangible difference. The only thing is, if during the construction of a house on your site there are heaps of spoiled earth with rubble, sand and stones, you can use them at the base, or arrange a slide directly on them (to save money and labor costs).

What tool will you need to create a rock garden

The best tool in creating an alpine slide is five workers ... But seriously, the construction of a flower garden frame with the placement of stones is an extremely time-consuming process that you can do alone only if you want to overstrain. The larger the boulders, the more picturesque they look, but it is extremely difficult to arrange them.

In addition to the heroic workforce, you will need shovels, gloves, rubber boots, pegs with thread for lining the form and a rake.

How long does it take to build an alpine slide

Depending on the funds and desire, as well as the start time of work on the alpine slide, construction may take no more than a year.

If in early spring you start making a frame of a flower garden with a height of more than 30-40 cm, arrange stones, then after the soil settles (about a month later, if it rained), you can confidently plant plants and not be afraid that the stones will crawl or form hole.

If the height of the rock garden is small, then plants can be planted immediately after the base is constructed.

What to look for so that the slide retains its beauty for a long time

Probably the most important thing to really pay attention to is the plants that will be used in your alpine slide. Namely, the abundance of species and their number per square meter.

I understand that there are a lot of plants suitable for her and they are all so cool that I want to use them as much as possible. BUT! Only large groups of the same species will look harmonious and natural. After all, we are creating an alpine landscape, and there plants, untouched by man, have grown over the years, forming indescribable carpets. These are the carpets we need to create.

If we use ground cover plants, then it is worth taking only a few species, but a lot, organizing a carpet or a basis for a future carpet. When we add simple perennial bushes, we add them locally and a little so that they grow quietly in the area allotted to them and do not outweigh the composition. Coniferous shrubs and undersized trees will look great. They will be the basis for year-round decoration.

If at the initial stages you do not overdo it with the thickening of planting, then in the near future you will not have to urgently plant them. I often encounter such a problem as an excessive excess of plants in the flower beds of customers. Of course, almost always the owner wants to have a visually completed and finished element of the garden, but there is no understanding that literally in the second year the plants begin to grow and stifle less aggressive species that get lost, wither and eventually spoil the overall look. We have to dig, turn up the entire planting, damage the established plants and look for a new seat for the vacant ones. In addition, this is an overpayment for planting material, and even wealthy people do not need extra expenses at all.

How to choose stones for rock garden. Laying stones for an alpine slide

Don't turn your rock garden into a rockery or a pile of rough-hewn cobblestones! Very often I meet people who go too far with stones. They are available in a wide variety of colors and shapes on the market. So beautiful, already salivating, and, of course, I want to decorate the site with them as much as possible.

Illustrative examples of enumeration of stones.

A large number of stones will look good on large areas with a corresponding transition of the site into a rock garden.

But if you set out to create an alpine landscape on a small plot, we forget about the impossible beauty and the same impossible high prices. We buy an ordinary rubble stone of large fractions and place it in groups on a flower garden and a little on the site. As you understand, it is possible to guess where all the stones will lie only approximately, so we focus on the spot.

If you are going to create a beating spring with a stream on your alpine hill, then you can use fine gravel or rubble to fill the gutter. Materials should be used only similar in structure. Otherwise, it will look foreign, beat in the eyes.

If you use a rounded flat stone or flagstone, then, as you understand, this will go against the alpine theme.

Near the spring, it is good to create an imitation of a rockfall: large rubble stones interspersed with rubble rubble of large and medium fractions. Thus, it is possible to make the transition from large stones to filling the gutter of the stream.

Plants for an alpine slide

For landscaping an alpine slide, you can use annual, perennial, cereal plants, as well as coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs. Of course, trees in this case mean dwarf compact forms.

All plants selected for rock garden should be undemanding to moisture and frost-resistant. Since you are creating an artificial hill, you should be prepared for faster moisture loss and weathering. It is best to protect plantings from the north side to protect them from cold northerly winds.

When using any plant in an alpine hill, special attention should be paid to its growth rate and aggressiveness. Since we need to create a harmonious and more or less diverse carpet of plants that would look neat, we should limit the growth of "aggressors" by digging a plastic or metal edge around the growth zone so that we do not have to thin out the plantings later.

To fill the gaps among freshly planted perennials, trees and shrubs while they grow, someone uses decorative mulch, but I recommend planting annuals. Mulch is washed out pretty quickly and spoils the whole look, and with the help of annuals, you can diversify your flower garden with different colors for the first couple of years.

Steps to create an alpine slide on the site

And now let's put it on the shelves what you have to do if you decide to build an alpine slide on your own.

1. We create a plan-scheme for the location of an alpine hill on a site with a calendar of flowering plants.
2. We calculate the volume of required materials: earth, stones, plants and seeds, as well as other materials (in case a stream, fountain, spring, etc. will be created).
3. We mark the future flower garden with pegs, adjust the shape in place.
4. We create a skeleton of a slide from an inverted turf or soil spoiled during the construction.
5. Laying large boulders.
6. We pour the soil to give the final shape of the flower garden.
7. Water and let the water soak in. We are waiting for shrinkage if the rock garden is high.
8. If you are making an artificial cyclical stream, then we lay a PVC hose or pipe on the side of the gutter. We also hide the wiring of the backlight and the pump in a black corrugation or HDPE pipe.
9. We lay geotextiles (or used advertising banners) in those places where there will be a stream chute and a bowl at the source of a spring or fountain.
10. We add soil in places where the earth has sat down.
11. Pour small stones or rubble rubble.
12. Planting plants and watering.

Assortment of plants for the alpine slide

When choosing plants for an alpine slide, it is most difficult to determine their species and varieties. After all, they have different needs, growth rates and sizes.

Especially for you, I have compiled a table of perennial plants, which displays the types and varieties of plants, sizes, their relationship to light, watering and growth rate. I hope this will help you in creating your original rock garden.

Of course, these are not all possible types of plants that are used on an alpine hill. These, in my opinion, are the most interesting and deserve your attention.