Alpine slides bunk in the country. Alpine slide - how to make a rock garden with your own hands

Specialists in the field landscape design recently offered to owners country houses create on your site an island of the picturesque nature of the Alps by building a rock garden on it. This is how it is customary to call alpine slides - original and elegant compositions of plants and stones.

Rock garden - a piece of the Alps in your suburban area

Stone gardens were first developed on the Japanese islands. Their inhabitants have always lacked free land, for this reason they have learned to create oases of beauty on very small plots. The Japanese are sure that the combination of tenderness of colors and hardness natural stones is an example of the true beauty of nature, which you can admire forever.

The traditions of the distant eastern islands began to penetrate the European continent in the 16th century. In Europe, it has become fashionable to transplant a variety of outlandish flowers and shrubs from the mountainous natural environment into gardens near their possessions. After a couple of centuries, they learned about rock gardens in the Russian Empire.

Nowadays, make an alpine slide on suburban area many dream. It is not difficult to realize this desire, because the rock garden can be equipped independently, without using the services of expensive designers.

Work on creating landscape decorations from stones and flowers in the garden will require you to invest a lot of effort. But the chic result of labor-intensive events will be a great gift for you and your family. You will have your own piece of the Alps in the country or near a country house, where you can enjoy the atmosphere of beauty and peace.

A homemade garden of plants and stones is an imitation of natural hilly areas. Therefore, the creation of its design is based on the use of a combination of low creeping vegetation inherent in the landscapes of the Alps, and stones of various sizes. Such slides garden decorations they are called because they have a top, slopes of different lengths and a base (sole).

Separately, we will say that one should not confuse rockeries and rock gardens. You can arrange rockeries in the garden with a minimum of flowers and plants, or without them at all. But the alpine landscape is created with large quantity vegetation. In addition, the rock garden in its height reaches 2.5-3 meters,and the highest garden rockeries are made no more than a meter. We also note that a "piece of the Alps" can be located on a fairly large area and it is much more difficult to equip it.

Varieties of rock gardens - choose your own design

The main components in the construction of rock gardens are saxifrage, cover and coniferous vegetation, as well as boulders and stones of various shapes and masses. The task of the designer is to create a hilly fragment of nature in the garden from these elements, which will be visually indistinguishable from the natural landscape of the Alps. This means that it is required to form a “chaotic” natural area from flowers and stones in the country house, which will delight the eye with its naturalness.

Stones are placed on the hill according to several basic schemes. Depending on their location, alpine landscape decorations for suburban areas are divided into several groups.

Mountain slope or scree - small pebbles are poured at the bottom of the hill, and large boulders are laid closer to the top. Such a composition is always performed at a great height. It requires the use of various undersized and creeping plants and flowers.

Rocky cliff - a steep hill is being built in the garden with large stones at the bottom. The closer to the top of the hill, the smaller stones are used. This design involves the use of a small amount of vegetation, which is usually "hidden" in pockets and niches formed by boulders. To emphasize the height difference of such a slide, a large plant can be planted at the peak of the structure.

Slope with terraces - organized with the help of small steps on a gentle hill. The steps are securely held in place by the fact that they are propped up by large boulders.

Valley in the mountains - a composition of stones of different sizes, which are scattered over the area of ​​the rock garden. In this case, the largest boulders should be partially sunk into the ground and landed around them. decorative flowers with a long flowering period. It is relatively easy to create a mountain valley in the country, but on condition that your sense of taste does not change, and you can arrange stones and plants naturally.

Forest ravine (gorge) is a very popular rock garden due to its natural beauty and naturalness. It is advisable to equip it in a hollow or in some natural recess in a suburban area. Such a ravine should be framed with boulders overgrown with moss and dwarf plants.

Stony wall - flat stones are laid out in a curb of not very high height. The rock garden called "Czech rolling pin" is now recognized as the most popular. It is made in the form of a stone hill from mountain lamellar stones, which are placed edgewise into the ground next to each other. It is important to ensure that the ends of the boulders create a single plane of a wavy type.

For the Czech rolling pin, you can use any type of dwarf trees and low shrubs. They are planted in the spaces between the stones, and then sprinkled on top with gravel and earthen chips. As a result, an island of mountain nature appears near your house. Visually, it seems that flowers and greenery make their way straight from the rocky rock into the sunlight.

Now, knowing the main types of alpine slides, it will be easier for you to choose the landscape design option that you want to see in your country house.

How to make a rock garden - step by step instructions

To create a luxurious landscape decoration in your garden, you must strictly follow the recommendations of professional designers. They say that a rock garden can be made by following five steps in sequence:

1. Choose the right place for the slide.
2. Do .
3. Lay boulders and stones in a certain order.
4. Cultivate the land for planting flowers and other vegetation.
5. Carry out planting.

Choosing a place in the country where the rock garden will be located is necessary, taking into account the fact that it always appears before you in the most successful perspective. If you plan to relax near it after the construction of the slide, you should immediately think about a free area nearby, where you can build a stationary barbecue, put a table and. Naturally, there should also be a convenient path leading to the place of your future vacation.

Since the rock garden involves the use of plants, you need to make sure that they get as much sunlight as possible. For this reason, the "mountain slopes" in your country house always need to be oriented to the east and south - the flowers will receive the warmth they need and bloom to your joy.

Another important aspect of site selection is soil analysis. If your site has sandy soil, the rock garden can be broken right on it without performing any additional work. If the land near the country house is oily or clayey, it will have to be drained. It is carried out as follows:

• we take out the soil at the place where the rock garden will be located, to a depth of 30–50 centimeters;
• we fill the resulting pit with fine gravel, pieces of ordinary bricks, rubble, various waste building materials;
• we fill the filled pit with sand, and then with soil;
• water the loosened earth so that it compacts.

After that, you can proceed directly to the construction of a piece of the Alps on the territory of your country house.

We build a rock garden - the most important stage of work

The mound of the future landscape decoration is made from a special mixture consisting of the following components:

• coarse sand;
• clean land (soil);
• humus (it should be carefully crushed).

If you have the opportunity, use the soil that moles throw out of their holes as soil. Finding her outside the city is not so difficult. Black mounds are often found in abandoned summer cottages and in forest plantations. If you do not find such land, it's okay, make a mixture of ordinary soil. After the mound of the desired height is formed, you need to take a short break (14–20 days) - the slide needs time to compact the layers and shrink them.

The rock garden area is fenced around the perimeter using large boulders. They will look more natural if you bury them in the ground. After a certain distance, a second tier of stones is laid out. The space between them is covered with soil, thus we get a habitat for shrubs and flowers, as well as the foundation for the next stone tier.

Do not try to stack stones symmetrically. In nature, they never lie correctly. At the same time, try to use stones that are approximately the same in color and texture. So you will achieve maximum harmony of the landscape design.

The geometric dimensions of the tiers should be reduced according to the pyramid principle - from bottom to top. Experts advise:

• equip odd number tiers;
• at the bottom of the tiers (all without exception), put a massive boulder that will keep small pebbles from falling, thereby ensuring the reliability of the slide.

The final stage will be the arrangement of the top of the rock garden. The design of the alpine slide allows the use of several stones of relatively small sizes for these purposes, or one massive boulder. Such a top will protect your structure from soil erosion during rains.

"Settlement" of the slide with flowers and shrubs - which plants to choose?

The process of creating a "stone mound" ends with real magic. By it we mean the planting of vegetation. It should be planted correctly, taking into account several requirements. Firstly, it is necessary to lay out a thin layer of a good soil mixture on the surface of the hill, in which the flora will take root without difficulty. Secondly, landing is most often carried out in the spring. But if you built a mound in the fall, you can “populate” it until the first serious frost on the soil.

It is desirable to select the composition of plants from evergreen and undersized species. In this case, in the fall you will not need to remove a lot of fallen leaves, risking destroying the rock garden. And in summer it will not hide behind lush and tall greenery.

Flowering varieties of plants should have small flowers and short stature. Covering and creeping vegetation, juniper, rocky beetroot, thuja, dwarf spruce, young, dryad, cotoneaster, iberis, cypress, saxifrage, carnation with short stems take root among the stones.

In principle, your rock garden can have any color scheme. Here it is important to rely on your taste and on the tips outlined above. Also take into account - in no case should accessories of artificial origin be used to decorate the slide.

The rock garden is designed to give you a natural mountain atmosphere in your summer cottage. Therefore, all kinds of gypsum or granite figurines, amphoras and bowls, plastic and glass products will become an inappropriate addition to your landscape decoration. Vegetation and natural stones in themselves are considered quite self-sufficient decorative details. And adding a variety of "tinsel" to them makes no sense.

Professional advice - how to make a rock garden perfect?

The laying of the slide should be done in those places suburban area, where there are no thickets of bushes and trees, and there are no outbuildings. Trees, tall and dense shrubs are great as a background for a landscape structure, but not part of it.

If you are planning to build a rock and flower garden with a waterfall or a small pond, try to find a place on the site with a small hollow or a gentle slope. So it will be easier for you to equip an artificial reservoir. To implement a rock garden project with a pond or a waterfall, you will additionally need to dig a small pit, purchase a container for the “lake” and lay it out from the inside with a rough film.

Waterfall projects also require a pump to be installed in the pond. The indicator of its power depends on the height of the rock garden with a waterfall. The pump hose is pulled to the peak of the hill, where it is carefully masked by plants or stones. As you can see, making an alpine slide with your own hands with a waterfall or a modest fountain is not difficult at all.

Landscape design experts give other useful tips:

• Choose the right stones - the boulders should be the larger, the larger the area has a rock garden. It is desirable to use rocks of the same type.
• When choosing flowers for a slide, consider the time and duration of their flowering. If blooming spots are constantly present on the surface of your alpine corner, then you have succeeded. You have managed to create a truly beautiful structure.
• Before starting landscape activities, a diagram of your future rock garden and an estimate of the required costs, as well as step-by-step construction instructions, which you must strictly adhere to, must be drawn up.

Good luck to you, let the alpine corner bring you a lot of pleasant moments of relaxation in its silence!

Alpine slide- a reduced copy of the mountainous area. Usually, in the central part of such a flower bed, a cobblestone or several cobblestones are installed, which are a symbol of a mountain peak. Terraces are created on the slopes, on which low-growing vegetation is planted.

In the natural environment, such areas are formed in the place where natural fractures appear. rocks. Under the influence of the environment, they appear fertile layer, on which plants subsequently grow. To recreate such a mountain landscape in your backyard or dacha, you need certain knowledge.

For such a large-scale structure as a rocky flower bed is suitable spacious plot. When building an alpine slide with your own hands, you should strive to ensure that the composition of vegetation and cobblestones looks naturally.

Video. Alpine slide device

Creating an alpine slide with your own hands

Do-it-yourself Alpine slide will decorate the whole adjoining territory. To decide on the design of your future rocky garden, you can study photographs of alpine slides. In order to create such a composition, it is necessary to adhere to certain rules and a certain order of work.

Step-by-step instructions for creating an alpine slide with your own hands

First, determine the location. In order to do this, you need to pay attention to lighting. For a rock garden, a site is suitable that is illuminated as long as possible. sun. Also, the composition should be clearly visible from all sides.

1. Designation base contour(soles) slides and removal of the upper fertile layer to a depth of about 30 cm.
2. Device drainage system . The bottom layer can be made from small gravel, pieces of brick, or, in extreme cases, from construction debris. After that, a layer of sand about five centimeters thick is laid. A fertile layer of earth is laid on top of the sand. You can do without a drainage system if a slope with not too dense soil is chosen for arranging an alpine hill.
3. At this stage, start placement of stones and core erection slides. Of all the stones, the largest and most beautiful cobblestone is chosen. He will be the main one in the lower tier. The stone must be stable. To do this, you can add soil or gravel. The classic alpine slide in the country house consists of an odd number of tiers. Between these tiers lay wet soil, which must be well tamped.
   

   Tip: when laying stones, symmetry should be avoided. Between the stones, you can leave places for planting plants or group stones next to each other. It is also necessary to immediately determine the supporting stones on which it will be possible to stand when caring for vegetation. They should be sealed and fixed.

4. plant vegetation.

Alpine slide plants - selection rules

Building an alpine slide with your own hands requires knowledge and certain skills. This is especially true for the choice of vegetation. The first step is to decide on the color palette of the rock garden. After that, you should draw a sketch of the future rocky garden. To trace color scheme it is necessary to decorate the sections of the slide with the appropriate colors. Only after that you can start choosing a plant for an alpine hill to the country.

Alpine slide with your own hands. A photo

look good low coniferous plants. You can also use small shrubs that bloom in spring and bear fruit in autumn.

Coniferous plants that are suitable for landscaping an alpine slide with their own hands

• dwarf spruce. This plant tolerates drought well;
• juniper. This is unpretentious plant grows in its shape resembles a cone. Foliage - green;
• thuja grows in the form of a bush. In good light, it acquires a reddish-brown color;
• cypress- topped plant golden color and a dark green base.

Deciduous plants for an alpine slide

For landscaping an alpine slide with your own hands, you should not choose deciduous plant species. Since fallen leaves must be cleaned regularly so as not to harm other vegetation. For slides choose the following plants:

• cotoneaster horizontal. This shrub with a dense crown has dark green foliage in the warm season, and acquires a reddish tint by autumn. The plant blooms with small flowers;
• iberis. Semi-shrub that does not lose its attractiveness throughout the season. The flowers, collected in an umbrella-shaped brush, are painted in white, pink or purple. Later, in their place, fruits appear in the form of pods;
• dryad. A miniature shrub with large white flowers. The flowering period falls on July-August. Later, fruits appear in their place. unusual shape. They look like fluffy balls.

Flowers for the Alpine slide

For the construction of a classic alpine slide with their own hands, low, creeping, "carpet" plants are used. It is best to give preference to perennials. The following flowers can be used for landscaping:

• carnation short stem. This low-growing, rich-flowering plant with narrow gray-blue-green leaves is unpretentious. Suitable for landscaping open sunny areas;
• beetroot rocky- perennial, the leaves of which are painted in a gray-green color. A feature of this plant is that its leaves remain green even in winter. In multi-flowered inflorescences-panicles are small bright yellow leaves;
• young- perennial with a wide color palette of leaves. They can be green, silvery, yellowish, pink, burgundy;
• saxifrage- traditional inhabitants of rock gardens. Flowering period - May-August. Five-petal flowers are painted in white, pink or yellow.

In order for the alpine hill in the country to please with its beauty every year, bulbous and bulbous flowers should be planted. To create a contrasting background, long-flowering crops are suitable. Also, a well-groomed lawn will be an ideal frame.

What to do if the alpine hill settles in the spring?

Sometimes an alpine slide, made in violation of the construction technology, can settle. There may be several reasons for this.

• Poorly matched plot or lack drainage. It is better to equip a rock garden on a natural hill or on a site with a slope. If the slide is located on loamy or clay soils, then it is necessary to make a drainage layer. For these purposes, gravel or stones can be used.
  
• Wrongly matched substrate, vegetation and cobblestones. For an alpine slide with your own hands, it is better to choose the following mixture of earth: compost, sand and peat in equal proportions.

How to avoid flower bed shrinkage

• take into account the slope of the site and the type of soil;
• make a drainage layer and let the earth sag in time;
• for planting, choose vegetation with powerful rhizomes;
• correctly select vegetation, cobblestones and soil substrate;
• remove fallen leaves in time, dig up wilted plants, weed weeds.

Alpine hill of conifers

To create rock gardens, not only traditional "Alpines", but also coniferous plants can be used. For these purposes, pines, thuja, shooting juniper, barberry, gray or Japanese spirea, conic spruce are ideal. AT classic version only shrubs and trees should not be present. They should grow there in small numbers.

Stones for alpine slides

For such rocky gardens, natural flat cobblestones are suitable. different size original form. You should also give preference to stones with a heterogeneous surface, with all kinds of "inclusions", recesses in which you can plant moss or a small plant. Limestones, boulders, sandstones, granite, slates look good.

Decorating an alpine slide with your own hands

Stones and vegetation are used to decorate the alpine slide. In order to properly position them, you need to follow some recommendations, namely:

• laying stones begins from the bottom row, moving up;
• for the top of the composition, you must choose the most beautiful cobblestone;
• for each large stone, it is necessary to make a “foundation” of one to three flat stones;
• stones should be laid in such a way that their tops are parallel to each other;
• several stones should be stacked so that they can be walked on;
• after laying each row, a layer of earth is laid, which is well compacted and spilled with water;
• at the top of the hill they set the most beautiful cobblestone.

Rock garden and rockery: differences and similarities

Rock garden and rockery - two various ways flower bed devices. Rockery is a flower bed of stones, most of which is occupied by stones of the same breed. Cobblestones are stacked parallel to each other or in random order. Randomly placed stones imitate the natural environment. Vegetation is also present in rockeries, but in the form of a background that plays a secondary role. In an alpine hill, bright vegetation comes to the fore.

Alpine slide with your own hands. Video instructions

Video. Do-it-yourself Alpine slide

Alpine slide with your own hands. Video

Alpine hill with a waterfall. Video instruction

Editor Rock garden and rockery 7490

Blooming from early spring to late autumn, the alpine slide is a gardener's pride and trouble. Beauty revived with one's own hands seems simple and natural, but behind this is labor multiplied by creativity. The more natural the alpine slide looks in the country, the more strength added by its creator.

The idea of ​​​​creating a corner of wildlife in the country is very tempting. The ideal composition is a combination of stones and plants. Well-chosen variations resemble a mountain landscape. Exist certain rules arranging alpine slides with your own hands, but this only applies to laying technology. Visible top part- the process of personal creativity. The gardener can rely on recommendations, however, he will receive only his final result. There are no two similar alpine slides. It is always a manifestation of individuality. Presence of one or more large stones required condition for composition. This emphasizes the desire to resemble a mountain peak. Country hill is no more than two meters high. The slopes are planted with low-growing evergreens and seasonally flowering plants.

The main misconception of novice gardeners is the idea that a pile of stones, half covered with fertile soil and covered with a vegetable carpet, can already claim the title of an alpine hill. I would like to emphasize once again that making an organic composition with your own hands is a creative, time-consuming process associated with financial costs.

The rock garden has a history

The mention of the Alps suggests that the idea was born to create a mountain landscape in the garden somewhere in Europe. But it's not. The Japanese are considered to be the founders of stone gardens. It was they who discovered to the world the art of combining the hardness of stone with the tenderness of flowers. Spectacular rock gardens on distant islands rising sun known and described thousands of years ago. This idea came to civilized Europe in the 16th century, and to Russia only in the 18th century.

What is rockery?

Rockery is a composition of stones and plants, where hard rock plays the main role, and herbs and flowers serve as a background. Only one type of stone is used here. They are arranged randomly or folded with their own hands in parallel rows into low walls. There is an illusion of a rocky mountain environment.

Plants play the main role in rock gardens. It is their beauty among the stones that attracts the eye.

You should not confuse these concepts and know what exactly you want: rock garden or rockery.

The main green components of the rock garden

Feature for all herbs and flowers:

• unpretentiousness in care;
• short stature;
• survivability in adverse conditions: with excess water and in case of drought.

You can change the image of the flower bed every year by planting annuals with your own hands. But it is better to immediately focus on perennial specimens. Then every year the appearance will become more attractive. You should take into account the seasonality of flowering of each inhabitant of the flower bed and pick up a variety of specimens.

In the natural environment, there are several representatives of the wild flora, which have long been cultivated as garden plants.

For an alpine slide fit:

• edelweiss; a romantic symbol of love that overcomes all obstacles; frost-resistant perennial; spreads on the ground with small rugs; flowering season - early and mid-summer;
• rejuvenated or stone rose; flower with earthy fleshy leaves; grows rapidly between stones; light purple flowers; resistant to any weather changes;
• lumbago; small perennial from the buttercup family; blooms the very first; grows well;
• stonecrop; represented by several varieties; perfectly spreads along the ground with creeping stems, destroys weeds around it; changes color under the influence of the sun;
• saxifrage; likes northern or shaded slopes; weaves a green flowering rug even over stones;
• crocus; small bulbous stars of a wide variety of colors; bloom from March to May; breed well;
• dwarf barberry; refers to the type of shrubs; creeps on the ground; suitable for the lower tier; in spring it pleases with flowering, in autumn with red berries;
• juniper; evergreen undersized bush; can serve as the center of the composition; unpretentious and stable.

Alpine aster, dwarf barberry, aquilegia are also used; phloxes; Japanese spirea. All plants need time to show themselves in all their glory. Applying multi-tier landings, it will be possible to achieve a better result.

Location selection

It is advisable to define a spacious, well-lit corner for the rock garden. The flowerbed should be visible from all sides. Handmade beauty needs to be shown.

The composition looks more natural in spacious places: in the center of the garden, between paths, as an independent flower bed. The location in the corner, between the trees and buildings will not allow you to fully show the beauty of creation.

If one of the slopes of the hill is shaded, this is not a reason to be upset. You will have to choose plants for which such conditions are the most comfortable.

Drainage is a necessary procedure for soil health

The nature of the soil must be taken into account. Sandy soil is better and is natural drainage. There will be no problems with excess moisture. For clay soil and clean, oily black soil, a mandatory drainage layer is required from any convenient materials. The work is simple, done by hand.

You can arrange the drainage system around the entire perimeter of the base. If the problem of fluid accumulation is not for your area, it is enough to dig a few holes.

The equipment technology is simple:

• remove a layer of soil to a depth of 30 cm;
• fill up 20 cm of crushed stone or gravel, any small construction waste will do;
• ideally, it is better to cover the drainage with a layer of geosynthetic textiles; it allows water to pass through, but does not allow even the smallest particles of soil to leave with the liquid; separates the layers, does not allow them to mix; subsidence of the soil is excluded;
• then a 10 cm layer of sand is poured;
• layer of earth.

Each part of this cake must be well watered after backfilling.

soil mixture

To form the best natural base, cleaned and sifted earth, coarse sand and dry humus are combined in equal parts.

If this is the first experience at the base of the rock garden, then its height is desirable no more than 1 m.

Stone laying

Three tiers is enough. At the stage of formation of an earthen hill, large specimens are laid in the lower tier so that they look out of the ground.

After that, you need to take a break from work for two weeks. During this time, the soil will settle, compacted. Problem areas will show up.

Then the creative process of laying stones in tiers with your own hands begins. Remember that the natural environment is being formed. Stones should not lie on the surface, but seem to peek out of the ground, forming a single whole with it. There is no need to rush and observe symmetry. Change, move, flip until you get what you like.

The principle of placement of tiers is a pyramid. Small samples should rest securely on the lower large ones. It depends on taste, but it is desirable to select specimens that are uniform in structure and color.

You can draw a diagram of an alpine slide top view. Then it will be easier to do what you want in practice with your own hands.

Top construction

This is the final stage of construction work. There are several options:

• hoist to the top, massive beautiful stone; it will protect the slide from surface erosion;
• create a mini-pyramid with your own hands with a hollow middle and plant flowers there;
• make a crown of small but attractive samples.

After the completion of construction, it is better to wait a week. Next, proceed to the landing of green inhabitants.

And a few more tips:

• do not use artificial materials, garden sculptures, and unsuitable plants in decorating the slide; the task of obtaining a corner of natural nature should be paramount;
• mountain compositions look great on the edge of lawns;
• it is more convenient to fill the slide with flowers from above;
• fertilizers should be applied in limited quantities, especially when planting; plants must take root on their own; top dressing is necessary after the third year;
• small voids and dips will periodically form; fill them with a mixture of clay soil with peat;
• always water the hill from the foot; impregnated lower layers will not allow soil and microelements to be washed out from above.

Alpine slide is one of the favorite elements of landscape design, both for owners of garden plots and for professional designers. But, at the same time, it is also one of the most difficult. To independently make a rocky hill in your garden, you must adhere to a sequence of fairly clear rules.

The algorithm for creating an alpine slide:

1. Choosing a place under the sun.

2. Decide on the size and shape.

3. Selection and purchase of a stone.

4. Drawing the contour of the rock garden on the ground.

5. Removal of the top fertile layer of the earth.

6. Preparation of the soil mixture.

7. The device of the drainage system.

8. Vertical planning of rock garden.

9. Water support on the hill.

10. Selection and planting of plants.

Choosing a place in the sun

A fragment of a mountain landscape is best placed on an elevated, well-lit area. In this case, the owners of a hilly area or slope are more fortunate. The most attractive rock garden will look against the backdrop of a lawn away from tall trees that can project their shadow onto it.

Since our rock garden is a slide, it will have slopes oriented towards different sides Sveta. The design of the rock garden must be designed in such a way that the observer for the most part surveyed its southern and southeastern sides. These slopes are made more gentle than the north and northeast.

Decide on the size and shape of the slide

No matter how you imagine an alpine hill in your imagination, it should harmoniously fit into the overall style of the garden and not look like a pile of stones, because of which the house modestly looks out.

There are clear rules for determining the size of a rock garden for a specific area of ​​​​the site. On a plot of 6 - 8 acres, an alpine slide can occupy an area of ​​​​up to 5 - 10 m 2 and reach a height of 60 cm. The minimum size of the slide is 1.5 x 2.5 m. numbers. Max Height alpine slide with an area of ​​​​more than 40 m 2 can be up to 1.5 m.

Choosing and buying a stone

The size and number of stones are chosen according to the size of the rock garden. For a rock garden with a size of 1.5 x 2.5 m and a height of 0.5 m, about 1 ton of stone will be required.

To create stone compositions, stones of the same breed are used, mostly local, which is the easiest to get and which will be most harmoniously combined with the area.

Stones and plants should emphasize the beauty of each other, therefore, in order for the final composition to correspond exactly to your ideas of beauty, choose the stones yourself and be present when they are loaded and unloaded.

Do not take stones that are chipped with unnaturally sharp edges or, conversely, perfectly smooth river ones. The best option there will be a moss-covered stone that you accidentally found in the forest - and you don’t need to pay, and nature itself has already worked on the design.

Drawing the contour of the rock garden on the ground

On the site, which is intended for the construction of a rock garden, we draw the contours of the future structure. This stage at first glance seems simple, but its implementation is the basis of the entire process of building a slide. Having drawn the outline of the structure (using a rope, for example), view the future composition from all viewpoints, you may need to adjust the boundaries and location on the ground.

Removal of the top fertile layer of the earth

It is important to carefully remove the top fertile layer of the earth, which, after sieving, is added to the composition of the substrate to fill the space between the stones on the hill. The top layer of soil is removed to a depth of 20 - 30 cm over the entire area of ​​​​the future rock garden. It is advisable to carry out such work when the earth is dry enough to be sieved. If the site is heavily overgrown with cereal weeds, herbicides must be applied, otherwise the seeds remaining in the soil will sprout on a hill with dense turf.

Soil preparation

The substrate for filling the space between the stones on the alpine hill should be sufficiently nutritious and moderately moist. Prepare it yourself from 1/3 sod land, 1/3 peat or compost, 1/3 coarse sand, you can also add perlite. If the land on the site is fertile enough, then the top layer, which was removed to prepare the pit for drainage, is used to prepare the soil mixture. Many gardeners recommend adding fertilizer to the composition of the substrate to increase soil fertility. But this is by no means applicable to alpine slides. Plants on such soil are strongly elongated, green mass predominates in their appearance, and flowering becomes less abundant, in addition, aggressive ground covers grow rapidly, covering the stone, as a result of which the whole meaning of the rocky garden is lost.

The soil mixture is poured onto the hill at the same time as the stones are laid, tamping it a little. At the final stage of work, the resulting slide must be well watered, and then the resulting recesses should be corrected.

Drainage system device

Creating a drainage system for an alpine slide is not always required. Drainage is required in areas with loamy or clay soil, as well as in flat areas with a high occurrence of groundwater.

For drainage, crushed stone or other small stones are used, which are poured in a layer of 0.1 - 0.3 m. The drainage layer is poured unevenly - where the elevation of the hill is planned, the layer will be thicker.

Sand is poured over the rocky layer with a layer of 0.1 m. At the same time, in places of future hills, it is thicker.

The next stage in the arrangement of the slide will be abundant watering, after which the drainage will thicken a little, and all the shortcomings of the work done will appear. But at this stage, everything is fixable.

Vertical planning of rock garden

The most crucial stage in the construction of the slide is the installation and grouping of stones. With the help of stones create three-dimensional compositions. Moreover, each individual group should differ from the neighboring one in size, ratio of sections and color. When imitating a mountain landscape, avoid regular geometric shapes.

For vertical planning of the rock garden, the largest stone is laid first. Its location should be shifted from the center to the east side. Then smaller stones are laid, adhering to the rule - the closer to the border of the hill, the smaller the stone should be. Some groups of stones are laid tightly to each other, we leave gaps between others, avoiding symmetry as much as possible. When laying the stone, it is necessary to leave soil pockets for planting plants.

The stones should not swing, therefore, small depressions are prepared under their base for at least 1/3 of the height of the stone itself. If necessary, add soil or small stones.

If you are the owner of an absolutely flat area, then you will need imported land at the rate of 0.5 - 0.7 t / m 2.

Water accompaniment on the hill

The combination of water, stone and plants in an alpine slide is the most successful option for your project. You can decorate a rocky hill with a murmuring stream, which will flow from stone to stone to a reservoir located on the south side at its foot.

Selecting and planting plants

Planting begins after several heavy waterings, when the earth settles and the resulting recesses are filled up.

The most photophilous plants are planted on the south or southeast side of the hill. large plants planted near large stones, small plants - near small ones, avoiding close placement of plants on a hill. Ground cover plants that grow rapidly are planted in 3 - 5 pieces / m 2. Cushion perennials are placed at 8 - 12 pieces / m 2. Dwarf trees and shrubs are planted separately or in small groups, so as to emphasize the asymmetry of the hill. In no case should trees be planted in the center of a stone placer or on its top.

After planting, the soil is mulched by screening out the stone that was used in the construction of the rock garden.

10 mistakes when building an alpine slide:

1. The device of a rock garden on a site with a close occurrence of groundwater without drainage.

2. Placing a rock garden against the backdrop of outbuildings.

3. Unstable placement of stones.

4. The use of several different stony rocks in one composition.

5. Use of fragments of concrete slabs.

6. Use of rich soils and fertilizers that increase fertility as a substrate.

7. Compliance with symmetry when laying stones and planting plants.

8. Ignoring the watering of the slide after the drainage device and at the final stage.

9. Planting ground covers that grow rapidly next to small rosettes or very rare plants.

10. Planting annual plants.

Natalia Vysotskaya, landscape designer, Ph.D. -X. Sciences.

And to make your idea of ​​an ideal alpine slide more holistic, we invite you to admire the photo gallery of the most interesting (in our opinion) rock gardens and rocky gardens.

We also remind you that in our store you can purchase from private collections. On sale there are always seeds of gentians, carnations, saxifrage, primroses, penstemons, bluebells and other mountain (and not only!) species of plants. The range is constantly updated.

The flower garden, created in the form of a full-fledged alpine hill, with properly selected green spaces, will not leave indifferent even people who are far from floriculture. As a rule, the design and construction of an attractive combination of plants characteristic of the highlands and uniquely selected stones is carried out by professionals - landscape designers having the necessary knowledge, experience and technical means to perform the work. Do not despair, a simple alpine slide with your own hands, even beginner flower growers can do it, the main thing is your desire and patience, and the presented article will become a kind of instruction. The reward for the time and effort spent will be a small, but at the same time quite spectacular mountain landscape that adorns a personal or summer cottage.

The publication provides an exhaustive answer to the question of how to make an alpine slide with your own hands step by step on your site, without asking for help from specialists. The distinctive features, features of the flower garden are considered and developed practical advice according to the choice, the location of the stones and the green spaces of the rock garden.

The first mixed compositions from wild exotic plants and stones appeared in Europe in the second half of the 18th century. The desire to recreate the natural originality of the wild nature determined the choice of green spaces - the preference was given to representatives of the flora that were not cultivated by breeders. The plants of the mountainous alpine regions were the best suited for this purpose. Meadows, located at an altitude of 2 to 3 thousand meters, abounded in a variety of low-growing vegetation, including ground cover species that form "grass cushions". A little lower, at an altitude of 1.5 to 2 thousand meters, centuries-old coniferous forests grew in the subalpine zone. The brought plants were especially unpretentious and frost-resistant, since rather harsh climatic conditions are characteristic of mountainous regions - the possibility of frosts is not ruled out throughout the year.

rockery Alpine slide

So, thanks to the natural habitat of plants - the alpine mountain range, artificially created compositions of green spaces and stone blocks got their name. The design of the alpine slide is fundamentally different from other areas for growing flowering plants, and the peculiarity is not only in the presence of stones. For example, rockery (rocky hill) also suggests that a significant part of the soil surface is occupied by relatively large stones located in a chaotic manner. The fundamental difference between these two types of flower beds is that landscape composition rock garden imitates a mountain landscape, with a center of a group of stones, surrounded by small areas (terraces) with plants characteristic of a mountainous area.

It is the correct, harmonious selection of plants - flowering, shrubs, conifers and their successful composition on stone terraces that distinguish the alpine hill from other flower beds.

Do-it-yourself technology for creating an alpine slide

Depending on the area occupied, the rock garden can be very different - starting with miniature fragments, occupying no more than 1 sq. m, ending with the largest, located on dozens of square meters. The size of the flower garden should be proportional to the size of the site and depends on the overall landscape. Its height depends directly on the area of ​​​​the alpine hill - in a small space it makes no sense to imitate mountain slopes. As a rule, in mini-rock gardens with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bup to 3 square meters, a hill is not erected, with an area of ​​\u200b\u200b6-10 square meters - simple alpine slides, height is allowed up to 1 m. process into logical stages, will help to better comprehend and plan an independent rock garden device.

Video "Alpine hill do it yourself"

Site selection and planning

Thinking about how to make an alpine slide with your own hands, it is important to understand that the only requirement that it must meet is an imitation of a mountain landscape and its specific vegetation. And how to achieve this, what means will be needed, what plants to choose - it depends only on your plan and on a particular personal plot. You can build an alpine slide with your own hands in almost any part of the garden, but most often it is placed near the front side of the estate. If you want to grow light-loving species, the chosen place should be well lit. Regardless of location, the stone composition should be in harmony with common style backyard, main buildings and well viewed.

The variety of the created composition largely depends on the features of the terrain. Perfect option- presence on personal plot natural irregularities or a steep slope, which will allow you to build tiered terraces that are in harmony with the overall design. If the terrain is flat, an embankment with stones will have to be created artificially. After the final choice of location, it is necessary to determine the size and total area, which is planned for the rock garden. To imagine the future structure directly on the ground, wooden pegs driven around the perimeter and twine stretched between them will help.

Remember

In order for the flower garden not to overwhelm with its size, professional designers recommend proceeding from the following ratio - the total area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe site (0.6 hectares), the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe alpine hill (6-10 square meters), height (60-100 cm).

Selection of stones and earthworks

More often than others, when creating a rock garden with their own hands, they use granite, sandstone or limestone, but it is advisable to choose one type of stone, a maximum of two. Basic Required qualities: strength, moisture resistance, durability and naturalness. It is important to remember that our goal is to recreate a miniature copy of the natural mountain landscape, so from artificial materials better to refuse.

simple alpine slide

Granite is better for decorating stone ledges, and if it is necessary to build terraces or paths, pay attention to layered sandstone slabs.

It is not necessary to complement the mountain composition with perfectly smooth boulders, if the construction of a landscape waterfall is not foreseen.

“Old” stones look very impressive with traces of destruction, cracks and chips, and to emphasize naturalness, they select different sizes and colors.

Creating an attractive rocky flower garden with your own hands requires a long and painstaking preparatory work, which includes:

A simple alpine slide with your own hands

1. ground preparation,
2. creation of a drainage layer,
3. selection and placement of large stones,
4. preparation of soil mixture,
5. planting vegetation,
6. laying out small stones.

It is advisable to proceed directly to the construction of the alpine slide at the end of spring or in the first half of summer, in which case, by the time the plants are planted in the autumn, all work will be guaranteed to be completed. When planning the time, do not forget that it will take 3-4 weeks for the natural shrinkage of the soil. Before starting earthworks, it is recommended to draw the most detailed plan of the mountain composition with an exact indication of the location of large stones, terraces, paths and green spaces and their sizes.

The first step of practical work is the excavation of soil from the inside of the rock garden marked on the ground. It is enough to dig a pit 20 cm deep, while weed roots are carefully removed from the removed fertile soil layer.

The second step is the device of the drainage layer. As drainage, you can use crushed stone of a fraction of 20x30 mm, expanded clay or broken brick, the thickness of the created layer is 15-20 cm. A planting mixture prepared from excavated soil, peat and small broken stone, mixed in equal parts, is poured over the drainage cushion.

The next step is the most important - the installation of large stones and, if necessary, layered slabs along the perimeter to create terraces. Depending on the height of the created terrace, the slabs can be fastened together cement mortar or sprinkled with earth with the addition of clay.

As a rule, when creating a simple alpine slide with your own hands, 2-3 height differences are arranged - horizontal or sloping terraces different levels. On them, in addition to planted plants, small stones are laid out in a chaotic manner, preferably of the same type as the underlying large ones. The free space between the stones is left exactly as much as is necessary for planting groups of plants. Remember, it is important not to overdo the latter when creating a mountain composition. Try to avoid any symmetry and equal distances - a small man-made landscape should match the natural one as much as possible. After filling the sites with soil mixture and the completion of the construction of stone hills, the finished structure is given time to shrink.

Types of laying stones for an alpine slide

Selection and planting of plants

To create an original and spectacular mixed composition of stones and green spaces, you have a fairly wide choice - perennials, annual flowers, shrubs and conifers. When choosing plants for an alpine slide, remember that you are creating a mountain landscape, with vegetation characteristic of complex climatic conditions. In this case, you are required to make a reasonable compromise between the desire to give the flower garden a colorful brightness and the need to preserve naturalness and originality.

1. the main selection criteria: compliance of plants with a mountain landscape, undemanding care, decorative qualities or a long flowering period;
2. number of species. Given the small size of the composition, it is desirable to select 3-4 species of flowering plants, 1-2 shrubs and 1 species of coniferous or woody representatives;
3. plant size. The alpine and subalpine belts are characterized by short, compact plants and creeping groundcovers. It is preferable to decorate the top and upper tiers with drought-resistant undersized perennials;
4. frost resistance. By picking up stones for the alpine slide and leaving space between them for planting, it was assumed that the planted plants were able to endure harsh winters without additional shelter or digging;
5. slow growth. The choice of coniferous or tree species is desirable to be carried out from representatives that grow no more than 10-20 cm per year and grow no higher than 1.5-2 meters.

It is advisable to plant selected plants starting from the top, gradually descending to the lower tiers and ending at the foot. After planting, it is advisable to mulch the soil around the plants with fine gravel. This will not only protect against weeds, but also keep the soil moist.

Having the necessary knowledge to build a simple alpine slide with your own hands and following the recommendations set out in the publication, you can always create a small, but original and attractive mountain landscape on your backyard plot.