Landscape Design: Alpine Hill

Much later, there were public gardens created for mass promenades and idle festivities. And only recently landscape design began to seep into private residences and household plots of our contemporaries. Today, landscape art is available to every landowner who has good taste and rich imagination.

The now popular Alpine hill (or rock garden) was widely known in Europe at the end of the 19th century. It is a composition made in a free style, reminiscent of a mountain landscape. In fact, the alpine slide is an ensemble of various stone rocks, and its central place is occupied by either one large stone or several medium sized cobblestones. The slopes of the rock garden are equipped with areas resembling mountain terraces. They planted squat types of shrubs, perennial and annual plants.

Unusually look ponds, the banks of which are decorated with stone compositions in the form of alpine hills. The basis of this composition can become a waterfall, which slowly flows down the terraces to the pit of the reservoir. The coast can be decorated with green plantations from coastal or mountain plants: juniper, phlox, iris, sedge, etc.

Choosing a place for rock gardens, you should pay attention to the landscape of the surrounding area. Do not place a stone composition on the background of the fence. The slide, imitating the natural relief, will look great against the background of green plantations or in a shaded forest zone. Such a zone can easily be created using large-sized plants that are planted, as a rule, in the winter. Already next spring, during the vegetation period, it is possible to proceed with the arrangement of the Alpine hill.

Choosing a location for the Alpine hill

Today, the rock garden can be of various shapes and sizes. Everything depends on the landscape of the site and the imagination of the owners. However, you should correctly correlate the size of the garden and the future stone composition, so that the hill does not look too bulky and heavy.

The main factor in choosing a place for a slide is the illumination of the territory. Since the classical rock garden should repeat the mountain landscape, it should be borne in mind that the alpine plants are quite light-loving. Strong shading will slow their growth and development.

In advance, you should take care of a good drainage system. Mountain plants are accustomed to stony, poor soils that dry up quickly. Therefore, it is extremely important to take care that water stagnation is not formed, which is harmful to mountain plants.

Choice of stones for the Alpine hill

When choosing stones for the Alpine composition, it is better to stop on one or two rocks. Cobblestones should be similar in structure. Therefore, it is better to use purchased materials, rather than stones collected from the nearest meadows and fields. Do not save on it, because the stones are an important element of the future landscape composition. They must have a heterogeneous structural surface and be in sufficient quantity. Also, it is necessary to take into account the ecological characteristics of the varieties that will grow on the hill. For example, using limestone, it should be remembered that some plants do not tolerate limestone soil.

The space between stones and plants can be decorated with marble, crushed stone or granite crumb, as well as shell rock or even bark. This will give the stone composition a finished and aesthetic appearance.

Selection of plants for the Alpine hill

The main plants for the classic rock garden are various varieties of grass and shrubs that grow in mountainous areas: alpine poppy, eremurus, edelweiss, saxifrage, proglazed, etc. The natural habitat of data of representatives of the flora is located above the forest belt. Cultivation of such plants at home is a rather time consuming and difficult process. Therefore, to facilitate the task, it is possible to use varieties simulating mountain representatives.

Dwarf woody plants are an excellent option for the green backbone of the Alpine hill: black spruce, mountain pine, rock juniper, etc. Also, some deciduous varieties are suitable: horizontal cotoneaster, barberry forms of barberry, azalea, rhododendron, etc. Dwarf varieties of bulbous plants can perfectly fit into the general appearance of any alpine hill. Planted with small groups of crocuses, daffodils and muscari adorn any composition.

You can also safely use perennial plants: subulate phlox, Iberis, thyme, sunflower, viable creeping, dwarf species of onions, erynus, armeria and many others. The list is incredibly diverse. And not far from vegetation arrange street furniture: a small table and several designer chairs. Make sure the upholstery of the furniture is made of special street cloth. Correctly picking up the vegetable "community", you can achieve that the Alpine hill will bloom and delight the owners from early spring until late autumn.

Care of a rocky garden

All the plants that decorate the alpine hill must be watered in a timely manner, as well as loosening the soil under them. Also, you should regularly pour the soil under the plants so that the root system is not denuded. Otherwise it can lead to the death of green plantations.

To alpine hill always looked neat and fresh, you need to periodically cut overgrown bushes. Stone composition will require frequent weeding. Expanded weeds not only spoil the beautiful picture of the composition, but also weaken decorative plants, preventing their normal growth and development. Also, you need to make sure that the stones on the hill do not settle, otherwise the rock garden will quickly lose its decorativeness. If the sediment of the stones does occur, it is necessary to restore the initial position of the cobblestones.

Preparing for the winter, you should take care of the non-resistant "inhabitants" (perennial crops and conifers) rock garden and how to cover them. Deciduous varieties can calmly overwinter without artificial cover, under a thick layer of snow.