An alpine slide on a garden plot, created with your own hands, is a very bold and original solution that not every amateur florist can do. Only a purposeful and persistent lover of nature and his personal plot will be able to put his plan into practice. This will require some knowledge of the plants growing in alpine meadows and their requirements for soil, moisture, lighting and air temperature. For example, at the very top of a slope, the soil will dry out very quickly and must be planted with drought tolerant plants. In a lowland, quite the opposite, the soil will remain moistened for a long time, and the plants on such a site need appropriate ones.
Before planting various vegetation on an alpine slide, experienced florists recommend drawing a sketch of the expected result. It is necessary to reflect not only the number and types of plants, but also to plan a natural beautiful view, taking into account the height of the plants, their color palette and flowering time.
Types and varieties of plants for an alpine slide
Bulbous plants
Among the large family of bulbous plants, there are early flowering species that adorn the rock garden with the arrival of spring and continue to give bright colors and a pleasant aroma until summer. As soon as the snow melts, magnificent tender snowdrops, crocuses and cyclamens appear on the thawed areas of the alpine slide. Almost simultaneously with them, clivias, brandushki, pushkinia bloom, and then hyacinths, arum, romules, lilies of the valley, daffodils, tulips, dahlias and irises.
With the correct arrangement of plants when planting, the rock garden will overflow with a variety of colors and shades for a long time. The surface of the flower garden will be covered with white, blue, red, yellow, lilac single flowers and lush inflorescences. The bright aroma of each flowering plant will merge into one unique blooming bouquet of smells.
The ideal place for dwarf flowering herbaceous bulbous plants is a sunny and well-lit area. Receiving the necessary amount of heat and light, these plants will transform the rock garden into a multi-colored carpet. Pancratium, tritonia, brimer and sparaxis will color the alpine slide closer to summer in a palette of blue, white, yellow, red and blue shades.
Bulbous plants that bloom throughout the summer not only make the flower garden luxurious, but also give you plenty of time to enjoy the scents and beauty. Orchard buttercup, Achimenes sizirinhium, Rhodohypoxis babiana are the most popular long-flowering crops for use in rock gardens.
The blooming period continues and ends on the alpine hill sternbergia, merendera and crocus. These are late-flowering bulbous plants that begin to bloom only towards the end of the summer season and present their flowers until the first fall frost.
Ground cover perennials
These crops cover the surface of the flower garden with a dense carpet and make it not only more charming, but also prevent the appearance of weeds. The decorative advantages of carnation, iberis, dwarf phlox, razuha, thyme, periwinkle are that even after the end of the flowering period they have an attractive appearance and do not lose it before the real autumn cold weather begins with the first frosts.
Succulent plants
Succulents with succulent fleshy leaves for the alpine slide are the most popular perennial creepers. They have numerous decorative qualities and are the most unpretentious. Rejuvenated, spurge, bastard, geychera, stachis, wormwood very quickly grow on the surface and become an unusual decoration in the form of beautiful green leaves, as if collected in neat herbaceous bushes.
Their decorative effect persists for a long period - from early spring to late autumn. The soil at the growing site does not matter. The poorest in composition land plots will not affect the growth and full development of succulents.
Rhizome perennial plants
A man-made alpine slide can become a magnificent carpet in the spring, thanks to the multi-colored primroses, lumbago and white hellebore, which, after flowering with their festive bright green foliage, will give calmness throughout the summer months. This blooming family will enrich and diversify the chickweed and gravilat, pansies and snow-white edelweiss, bell and gentian, aster and heather, anemone and liatris, armeria and loosestrife.
Low-growing annuals with a long flowering period
Snapdragon, nolana, purslane, dimorphoteca and brachycoma are long-flowering annuals that, with their varied color range of colors and shades, cause admiration and delight, transform and decorate the rock garden, give a sea of aromas and pleasant fragrances throughout the summer. Each year, you can change their planting site, thereby adding variety and making your blooming area unique.
Coniferous low-growing trees and shrubs
Trees and shrubs are recommended for use on large alpine slides. Coniferous species give the site an intelligent, noble and respectable look. Experienced landscape designers recommend planting rhododendrons, dogwood shrubs, Japanese quince, juniper, as well as classic undersized varieties of spruces and pines. All year round, in any season and in every month, these plants remain attractive and do not lose their decorative effect.
Ferns and dwarf hosts look perfect on an alpine slide with a pond at its foot. Against the background of the rocky framing of the reservoir, several types of unusual deciduous plants are enough for its decoration.
When creating an alpine slide with your own hands in a garden or personal plot, you must remember about a sense of proportion regarding the choice of the number of flowering plantings. Indeed, even on the smallest piece of land, you can create a unique alpine meadow with a variety of flowering crops, with clean transparent water and fresh fragrant air.
