Today, the classic standards by which landscaping is created have undergone certain changes. Now, the owners of the plots, in addition to picturesque flower beds and plaster sculptures, can please themselves, as well as guests, with an alpine slide, which is also called a rock garden. Sometimes professionals are called for this. But it’s not at all difficult to make an alpine slide with your own hands. It will be a beautiful picturesque area that can become a real decoration of the landscape.
What is this what?
Alpine hill came to us from the Mediterranean. This exotic guest is able to instantly transform the appearance of the site, absorbing those features that wildlife has. Looking at such a piece of landscape, a person will certainly get a real feeling that next to him there is a piece of the Alpine mountains, including rock formations and lush vegetation. And all this is among the compositions familiar to our eyes.
Doing an alpine slide with your own hands is an unusually exciting activity that attracts with its extraordinary and beautiful option. It is impossible to spy on a ready-made solution from a neighbor. To create two identical alpine slides is unrealistic. This cannot be done even by the author himself.
What is an alpine hill (see photo below)?
This is a certain way selected combination of shrubs and plants, as well as organically laid stones. For rock gardens, it is especially important that its appearance does not look like a pile of ordinary stones lying among the green massif. This area should be in harmony with the rest of the landscape.
Seat selection
How to make an alpine slide with your own hands? The first item on the plan should be choosing the right place. Rock gardens are always in the spotlight so that from any direction they have a good view. In addition, this area should be lit by the sun most of the day. That is why the southern side of the site is most suitable for the implementation of the plan.
The most acceptable place is the center of the lawn. However, it all depends on the situation. Sometimes, due to the presence of other garden elements, alpine hills can also be built on the edge of the lawn, near a fountain or artificial reservoir, at the entrance to the arbor or at the track. The main requirement in this case is good illumination.
Alpine slide in the country should not be placed in the shade of shrubs or trees. It is better if they create only the background. But here it is necessary to take into account the fact that with their variegated colors bushes and trees should not distract the eye from the rock garden. In this regard, it is recommended to select plain plants for the background.
The bulges, slopes and elevations available on the site beat the alpine slide very well. It is located on natural hills or in the lowlands of the landscape.
Work planning
Those who decide to build an alpine hill in the country with their own hands are advised to preliminarily depict the future composition on a piece of paper. The compiled scheme will clearly demonstrate the placement of stones, a list of plants, as well as the overall compositional form. Such a step will avoid a large number of errors. It is important at the first stage to decide for yourself how many levels will be in the constructed alpine hill. This will determine the approximate cost estimate.
Rock garden selection
After deciding on the transformation of the territory, the owners need to decide what kind of alpine hill they want to see on their site. There are a variety of types of such landscape structures.
Consider the most popular types of alpine hills.
Container or miniature rock garden
These alpine slides on the site do not take up much space. To create them, containers are needed. They can be taken from any material other than plastic. Various containers for a rock garden can be various troughs or stumps, logs, stones with holes, clay vessels, and even walnut shells. Home designers to create an original rock garden can not limit themselves. After all, you can place such a structure where there is even a little free space.
You only need to beautifully design a miniature rock garden and choose the right plants for it. In this case, the pebbles should only be neat, small, well combined with the capacity. Plants for miniature rock garden pick dwarf or slowly growing. At the same time, multilayer composition laws must be used. There is some difficulty in this, but otherwise, a simple set of stones can eventually be obtained.
Mosaic
This alpine hill (photo below) can also be arranged in a small area. The costs of its creation will be minimal, and the garden will acquire much more charm, comfort and beauty.
Description of the alpine mosaic slide allows us to conclude that the main material for its construction are small pebbles. They can be both monophonic and multi-colored. The final version will depend on the planned composition.
The mini-rock garden allows you to save space and at the same time create original streams and waterfalls in a small size.
Piedmont or rocky alpine hill
This is a larger landscape composition. It is a vertical rock garden. Very often this type is used in the construction of terraced slopes and raised flower beds.
How to make this type of alpine hill? The technology of its manufacture is similar to the construction of a retaining wall made of natural stones. The differences lie only in the fact that during masonry, grooves, niches and crevices are left in the structure. Such holes serve for planting unpretentious alpine plants that grow well with a minimum amount of soil. Their list includes thyme, various species of the moss family, grass, cloves and juveniles.
If it is possible to leave niches of large sizes during masonry, then the plants for the alpine hill may be somewhat different. In this case, creeping juniper and dwarf shrubs are planted. It should be borne in mind that vertical rock garden requires quite active decoration. This can be achieved by planting various types of plants.
The advantages of a rocky alpine hill are that it:
- It does not require special care for plants. For their growth, only rare fertilizing with mineral fertilizers will be needed to bring the solution to a weak concentration.
- Can be created in different sizes. With a height not exceeding 50 cm, only flat rocky blocks can serve as the foundation of such a wall. A larger rock garden will require a concrete or gravel pillow. In this case, under each tier, nutrient soil should be lined, on which the next stone row is laid. Concrete solution is not used. The alpine wall is strengthened by the roots of plants. To increase the stability of the structure, the stones with their narrow part are placed inside the composition, subject to a slight bias to the base.
Retaining alpine step
A similar structure is created low. Made of natural stone, it is similar to the usual step. The main feature of this type of composition is the arrangement of plants. They land horizontally in the recess of the structure. At the same time, drainage is laid on which the soil is poured. After that, a stone composition is created, which includes various plants. The resulting design resembles in its appearance a flowerbed-step, which is decorated with stones. Sometimes it is executed as a separate element. Sometimes it is attached as one of the steps to a real garden staircase.
Rock garden
Such a rock garden contains a minimum of plants or does without them at all. The main condition for creating a rock garden is the predominance of minerals. In this case, plants should not distract from the contemplation of the composition.
That is why large shrubs and trees with this option are not used at all. Stones are selected in various combinations. Their form does not play a special role. For example, in such a garden there are large boulders and small pebbles, as well as medium-sized pebbles.
Alpine garden
Under this name, a special composition stands out. It includes a group of plants called “Alpines”. In general, the created plot is very similar to a small garden. In it, stones create a much lesser emphasis than plants. There are few of them, but at the same time, in terms of their location, the minerals do not allow the rock garden to turn into an ordinary flowerbed.
Such a garden looks great on a slope or on a flat surface. The options for its design are quite diverse, starting with the monosad and ending with a luxurious combination. To arrange such an alpine hill, a little space is required. At the same time, such an inclusion in the design will perfectly emphasize the style of the entire site.
Alpine ravine
This composition is able to help out the owners of the site if it is necessary to artificially lower it. This type of rock garden is placed in some recess. Its edges must be necessarily reinforced with dead stones. Build a composition in the form of a slide, beating with various types of moss, an artificial stream or a waterfall.
Such a ravine looks very original and decorative. One of the varieties of this composition is the alpine gorge. A place for its location is chosen between two hills. The use of such a landscape composition allows you to beat the stones with light if the wall of them is constructed of different heights.
Alpine hill
This version of landscape composition is the most popular and famous. When creating it, the owners will need to allocate a certain area and stock up on some knowledge.
If the site is small, then such a slide will look too bulky on it. After all, its design implies bulkiness and the presence of a large number of layers. Doing an alpine slide of stones with your own hands will require knowledge of the technological process of arranging such objects, as well as the ability to combine different types of plants and stones.
Other types of rock gardens
In addition to the above types of landscape compositions, there are a large number of others. Let us consider the names of the Alpine hills most often found in areas and their main characteristics.
- Hillside. When arranging it, small stones are located at the base, and large - at the top. Such a rock garden is similar to a high mountain slope with plants characteristic of it.
- Valley. A similar composition is placed horizontally. It consists of stones of various sizes, which are in a free arrangement. Plants are taken from various species.
- Lawn. This composition is stylish, but difficult enough to create. Sometimes it is part of an artificially created hill, slope or valley. To equip the alpine lawn, only wild plant species that grow in the highlands are taken. Among them - edelweiss, carpet saxifrage, creeping willow and dwarf hyacinth.
Construction
How is an alpine hill created? The step-by-step instruction contains several sequential actions that are creative and very exciting.
The construction of the rock garden should not deviate from the intended scheme, which is carried out on a scale with careful planning of the layout of stones and planting sites. If you intend to place the composition in depth, then certainly the location of the tracks leading to the zone of its location must be taken into account.
At the first stage of arranging the rock garden, they mark it up on the site, based on the dimensions of the previously drawn diagram. The optimal width of the alpine hill is within 100 cm. A larger value of this parameter will make it problematic to care for plants located in the central part of the composition. The site is preparing a larger size than that required for rock garden.
Consider the main stages of the construction of the composition:
- Soil preparation and arrangement of a drainage system for water drainage. To complete this stage, you must select a sunny day. Work begins by removing the topsoil and freeing it from debris, roots and weeds. Several layers are laid at the bottom of the resulting recess. The first of them consists of small brick fragments. Then sand is poured onto which gravel is laid. After that, the purified soil is returned, which is pre-mixed with peat, sand and lime.
- Stacking stones. Of all the prepared rock fragments, those that are most suitable in shape and size are selected first. This can be limestone and sandstone, travertine and dolomite, forest boulders overgrown with lichen and moss, as well as basalt. They will allow the most realistic recreation of the mountain landscape. Rounded stones, as well as broken lines with sharp edges, are not recommended. The most original rock garden will give several large minerals. Work begins with laying several large stones around the perimeter of the intended site. This will protect the soil from erosion.
- The design of the site. At the second stage of work, a slope is created or, on the contrary, the surface of the site is leveled. The actions performed will depend on the type of rock garden that the hosts have chosen. When the site is designed, stones are laid out, which are naturally arranged in the form of a plateau, gorge, cliff or terrace. If they are heavy, then such work will require the application of the efforts of several people. Large stones are stacked in a pre-prepared hole. After that, earth with crushed stone is added under their base, which is carefully compacted. The gaps between the stones are filled with soil, but at the same time a place should be left for adding the planting mixture. It is prepared from crushed stone or broken stone, turf land, peat or high-quality humus. The ratio of all parts is 1: 1. Based on the needs of the plants to be planted, sand may be added to the mixture.
- Planting green material. Determining the type of plants that will decorate the rock garden, it is necessary to take into account the degree of their growth. Immediately before landing, the data for each of them must be checked additionally. It is also required to find out how selected plants are demanding on irrigation, lighting, nutrition and soil composition. An important aspect is the flowering period. You should not plant only those plants that will create the greatest decorative effect in the same period. The timing of their flowering should be different.
How to plant plants? These works are carried out subject to certain rules. So:
- tall plants should not be located on top of an alpine hill;
- coniferous dwarf trees do not connect in groups;
- ground-cover plant species are planted near stones, which allows them to grow well.
For rock gardens, you can select along with ground cover and bulb crops.