Under this name is a fashionable landscape composition, one of the varieties of rock garden - a rocky flower garden with flora, most of the mountain origin.
And as the name implies, an alpine hill is a hill, often a longline and often formed from scratch by a person with the help of soil and stone.
Despite the fact that the main thing in its design is following the natural charms of nature, it is also possible to supplement the slide with a waterfall, a pond, a sculpture, lighting ...
And although alpine slides often become objects for comparing the skills of eminent landscape designers, splashing out all their professionalism on them, the creation of a truly spectacular and durable alpine hill is accessible to an amateur gardener.
True, the following review, coupled with practical tips, will only outline the general path, and for a full and worthy embodiment of fantasy you will need to turn to other materials - catalogs with garden plants, instructions for supplying and discharging water (if the slide is with a rivulet), rules for reliable installation stone and much more.
Experienced landscape designers recommend that beginners create medium-sized alpine hills - 2-5 tiers, 0.5-1.5 m high and up to 4 m long.
With this choice, you will probably be able to cope with everything on your own.
And by the way, it is necessary to emphasize here that when creating a massive high slide, if, in theory, small children or pets can have access to it, it is especially important to take care of the stability of all stones - in order to avoid accidents.
Considering that often the alpine hill is perhaps the most spectacular element of the garden, it should be well visible from all key points of the plot (for example, from the bedroom window of the house, from the barbecue area, etc.).
In addition, a place for her is better to choose:
- sunny, not obscured by trees;
- sheltered from strong winds;
- inaccessible to flooding (during snowmelt, long rains).
Naturally, the location and general appearance of the slide should be such that to any point of it was convenient and easy access for the necessary garden work.
The selected site for the slide can be either flat or a natural elevation of the landscape (and this option is considered particularly successful, since it minimizes part of the work indicated below).
Theoretically, the average process of creating an alpine hill looks like this:
- Marking of the selected area, for example, using scourges (in general, and to detailed areas if the hill covers a large area).
- Creation of drainage.
- Laying out the soil taken out during the formation of drainage, and often, if the hill is higher, then taken from another part of the site. Moreover, even before the laying of the first stones, the soil at the site of the future hill should undergo natural shrinkage (usually it takes at least 2-3 weeks).
- Next, the largest stones are installed first. Usually they are deepened into the ground for two purposes - to create the effect of the rock emerging on the surface and strengthen them, to establish them reliably for the formation of the upper tiers of the hill (almost always from smaller stones and, naturally, new portions of soil for future plants).
- Somewhere in the middle of the previous stage, chores are possible with the supply of water and the creation of everything for its correct outflow (often a cycle) - if the slide is with a waterfall. Or the construction of a miniature lake.
- The final touches of the work lay out small stones, add soil and finally - they plant plants.
Professional landscape designers insist that for a classic alpine slide, a stone assortment should consist of 2-3 rocks and 2-4 shades of stone.
A greater abundance here will hurt - the composition risks becoming chaotic and lurid.
There is a second rule - if the emphasis in the Alpine slide is on the luxurious, colorful flora, then the rocky background should not be bright, muffled, but if plants are modest and inexpressive, then the stones should stand out.
Following the fantasy during the formation of the slide should be combined with its “natural” look, as for the location of the stones and their shapes - they should be similar to what is found in nature. And here it should be noted that for a real Alpine slide, stones should be purchased in specialized stores (for decorating gardens).
There, by the way, you can get advice on their properties:
- degree of fragility and flexibility for self-processing;
- susceptibility to moisture / wind / sun.
The most popular rocks for creating rock gardens include:
- Sandstone - has a coarse-grained layered structure with rich warm shades - from cream to reddish and brown, especially effective in slides with water.
- Granite - retains its original appearance for years, the soil with it becomes acidic over time, almost insensitive to moisture.
- Limestone - after a few years, it noticeably erodes (loses some of its forms), and is also covered with lichens and mosses, reduces the acidity of the soil, and is rich in shades up to sky-bluish and golden.
- Tuff - It is lightweight, durable and, again, due to its volcanic origin, it does not block access to plant roots to air and water, plus it neutralizes acidic soil.
- Slate - characterized by the luxury of the palette, up to dark malachite and violet, resistant to temperature jumps.
- Dolomite - differs in frost resistance, occasionally translucent pinkish and pearl-white blocks are found.
When choosing plants for an alpine hill, it is highly advisable to adhere to the following:
- Some of them should bloom in order to make the rock garden look well-groomed and picturesque throughout the season.
- All plantings should not be so lush as to literally obscure all the rocky charm of the rock garden (the gold standard is to fill the flora with up to 1/3 of its area).
- Most plants should be distinguished by an undemanding root system, and should not rapidly and rapidly grow in breadth, going beyond the allotted framework for them.
Coniferous low-growing plants (often, by the way, being dwarf varieties of ordinary tall species), for example, weeping fir, Western thuja, Norwegian spruce, and Virginian juniper, are very popular.
Barberry and spirea foliage varied in colors can be an interesting choice.
It is also worth paying attention to boxwood, cotoneaster, heather, rhododendron.
As for the flowers, they are exceptionally good in rock gardens:
- primrose;
- cornflower mountain;
- crocus;
- anemone;
- pion;
- daisies;
- iris;
- alissum rocky;
- chamomile;
- loosestrife loosestrife;
- bell;
- nasturtium.
The background for their luxurious flowers can serve as decorative cereals (blue fescue, mane barley), ferns, creeping on the stones of the plant (stonecrop).
