Hills of flowers in the country with their hands. Do-it-yourself Alpine hill (76 photos): step by step we create a complex element of landscape design

Alpine slide, rock garden ... This design has several names, but this does not change its essence. When it becomes necessary to tidy up an uneven and completely unattractive area, an alpine slide comes to the rescue.

It's incredibly beautiful. Just imagine - in a year, rocky ledges and bumps will be covered with a lovely carpet of herbs and flowers.
It's fascinating. When you equip a flower garden on your own, the field for fantasy is almost limitless. Of course, you will need to think through every little thing, from the choice of stones to the landing site for coniferous shrubs. These troubles are pleasant and will give you only positive emotions.

By the way, there is a third reason that will make you think about building a flowering hill. This is the soil. When the land is poor and consists mainly of sand or stones, it is extremely problematic to organize any other type of flower garden, even from a visual video. Another thing is if the summer cottage is planted with flowers and shrubs in the same " alpine style". Even in difficult conditions, flowers will develop well and delight you with their aromas.

First stone gardens started building in Japan. The first "ancestors" of modern rock gardens appeared there 1000 years ago. Due to the shortage of land, the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have learned to create beauty even in small areas.

If you follow the Japanese canons, then the real value of being should be sought in nature. When a solid, absolutely dead stone and a delicate, living flower are harmoniously combined on one piece of land, a real duet of enchanting beauty is created.

8 varieties of rocky flower beds

Before telling you about the main secrets of arrangement, we advise you to decide on the type of flower garden. In total, there are eight main varieties of alpine slides:

Rock. This is a traditional version, the surface of which has natural kinks.
Mountain slope. A difficult combination, involving the installation of large boulders, as well as a huge number of coniferous trees.
Mountain valley. Several groups of stones are placed in a chaotic manner.
Terraced slope. Retaining walls have different heights.
Forest ravine. On the territory of the hill there is always a spring or an artificial waterfall.
Rocky wall. A mound of small height is being constructed, the stones lie asymmetrically.
Czech rock. Its hallmark is the layered laying of stones.
Alpine lawn. Perhaps the most stylish option arrangement. It involves planting a variety of wild plants, most of which can only be found in the mountains.

mountain slope

forest ravine

Czech rolling pin

Important subtleties of designing alpine slides

Do not forget that 10 stones and 5 plants between them is not yet an alpine slide. Another thing is when the composition remotely resembles a real mountain landscape, consists of squat shrubs, perennials and properly selected stones.

So, what nuances do you need to know about for those who are going to make an alpine slide with their own hands?

Isolation from the playground is required.
Proportionality relative to the area of the site.
Distance from flower beds, which bloom especially luxuriantly and brightly.
Location in the most illuminated places, next to a water source. If it is impossible to implement the second point, take care of creating additional watering points.
Maximum similarity with the mountain landscape.

Alpine slide does not need a lot of space. Modest territory in a few square meters will be quite enough. The main thing is that it should correspond to the general concept of landscape design.

A step-by-step guide to arranging a rock garden

Any construction work begins with the preparation of tools and materials. In our case, this is a tape measure with a cord, several identical pegs, a shovel and a crowbar, a garden shovel (the one with a long handle), scissors, a regular one and a ladle for raking the earth, a watering can.

The materials will be as follows: sand, crushed stone and stones of the same breed, turf and gravel, peat. You will also need some humus for the plants to take well, earth, limestone.

Break up the area allocated for the alpine hill in the country house and apply contours around the entire perimeter. Roulette, cord, instructional video and pegs to help you. Clear the area for the flower garden, upper layer remove soil with a diameter of 35-40 cm. Without exception, weeds are well weeded and removed.

When the site is completely ready, it is necessary to lay a pillow of gravel. To do this, gravel, slag and construction waste are mixed and poured. A layer of 10 cm will be enough. Such drainage is extremely important for plants. It protects the roots from waterlogging, prevents stagnation ground water guarantees excellent aeration. In places where the soil is too dense and does not pass water well, this pillow can be made thicker. For an alpine slide, there is no worse enemy than swampy land.
How to make an alpine slide if the drainage layer is successfully laid. The granite pillow is supplemented with sand (thickness 5 cm), filled with water and compacted.
Soddy soil, which is sold in any nursery, is mixed with sand and perlite, wood chips and pine bark. In this mixture, you can add a little fine gravel, crushed peat and humus. The proportions are about the same, it is allowed to take a little less fertilizer.
The finished mixture of soil is scattered over the entire surface of the hill, the relief of the rock garden is formed. All "cliffs" and "tops" are modeled manually, regardless of whether we are talking about the construction of a slide in the garden, suburban area, in any other territory.
When the last layer of earth is covered, you can start laying stones. A “cushion” made of river sand is laid under each pebble. We will talk about the choice of stones in more detail.

Rock garden stones: which ones to choose?

To make your exotic flower garden beautiful and durable, select rocks in advance that do not “give” heavy metals to the earth, do not oxidize it. Freshly mined pebbles are much worse than those that have already been hewn by wind and water. Scree should have a similar structure, and if you find the same, it will be perfect. The video instruction reminds you that the size of the stones may vary.

The real "classic", thanks to which you can build an alpine slide yourself, is natural granite and decorative sandstone, sometimes organic limestone. Alternatively, you can try boulders and dolomites, basalt, jasper (rare), quartz and serpentine.

Never collect stones in meadows and fields - it is better to purchase them in a quarry. The weight of the stones can vary significantly, ranging from 10-15 to 100 kg. For example, if you want to build a stone bed with an area of 150 x 300 cm, you will need about a ton of stones.

We continue our work with the Alpine slide. Laying always starts from the foot. Then you follow up and gradually move from larger stones to smaller objects. The core of the slide is formed first. To do this, you need to choose the largest boulder and prepare a recess in the ground for it. To achieve stability, you can strengthen it with gravel.

Clear distances, geometric harmony - not your choice. How to do styling yourself? Avoid exact lines, because in nature blocks of stone are scattered in a chaotic manner.

In the process of laying, gradually deepen the core of the composition, other stones. The sinuses are covered with earth for rock garden, watered with a stream of water. It is in them that you will plant plants. To emphasize the top of the mountain, we recommend placing a conical boulder at the top. As for the flower garden itself, it is better to start working with plants in 2-3 weeks. During this time, the stones and earth will settle properly.

Beautiful flowers for a slide - the key to a spectacular design

Since the climate in our country is rather unstable, the planted plants must be hardened and hardy. They should not be afraid of strong winds, fluctuations in temperature, or high atmospheric pressure. There are 5 main characteristics that plants should have:

Absolute unpretentiousness.
Small growth.
Low growth rate.
The breeding method is simple and affordable.
The development cycle is necessarily multi-year.

Ground cover representatives of the flora, which have a powerful root system, are best planted on a slope. So the alpine slide will not erode too quickly.

We will not list all of them - in fact, there are really a lot of them and this is a separate issue. It will be much easier and more effective if you watch a thematic video. Among the undersized and ground-covering species, the most notable are the mountain grate, euphorbia and, among the flowering ones, carnation, bellflower, Rhodiola rosea and others (more than 30 species). Combine various varieties according to the timing of flowering in order to achieve a fairly smooth change in shades. Blooms the longest, brandushka, corydalis, clivia, ranunculus.

Small bushes are planted first and dwarf trees. For them, it is recommended to allocate the most spacious areas. But placing them on the top of the slide or the sole is undesirable. The edges of the hill, next to large stones - this is the best place. If we make it a rule to plant coniferous shrubs and dwarf trees as described above, they will need minimal care. Unless in winter, during severe frosts, they will need to be covered with burlap or wrapped in a special cover.

How to make an alpine slide using moss? Surely, you have seen how the owners of household plots decorate their garden or cottage with a moss-covered slide. You can apply this simple element of landscape design.

Clean the moss pillow from the ground, mix it with a blender and sugar (2-3 tablespoons) and 200 g of kefir.

Get a homogeneous mass. Smear it on large and small stones with a brush. The plant will quickly take root - just remember to moisten it for three weeks.

Instead of a conclusion

Do not believe people who convince you that you can build a rock garden at your dacha in just one day. Naturally, such information has nothing to do with real facts. Unless it will be the most common version of an alpine slide small size. And even then - made in a city apartment, and not in a large garden.

Do you want to do everything right so that you don’t have to redo it later? There is nothing easier. Follow the guidelines you may have read above. Lay good drainage and cover it with earth. Ideally, the whole range of work is best done in two stages. The base of the slide is formed in autumn, it is better to plant and lay flowers and stones in spring.

To design a personal plot in an original way and with a touch of individuality, an alpine slide created by oneself will help. Traditionally, it has the form of a small hill made of stones, a mountain slope or a ravine covered with various flowers. It is worth noting that such compositions of stones and flowers are quite simple to do on your own, choosing the shape of an alpine slide to your liking.

History of Alpine slides

The origins of rock gardens lead to Japan. It was there, several thousand years ago, that beautiful rock gardens began to appear. The Japanese, who have always felt the shortage of free territory very acutely, wanting to surround themselves with beautiful flowers, came up with the idea of planting them in any free areas. Also, the Japanese canons of beauty say that true beauty is visible only in natural phenomena. Therefore, an amazing combination of a dead, cold stone and a delicate, living plant contributes to the creation of a true harmony of beauty.

In European countries, alpine slides began to appear only in the sixteenth century. At that time, they represented a certain territory, which was planted with wild flowers brought from the mountainous regions.

To date, the fashion for the creation of alpine slides has covered a large number of countries. And a lot of people are thinking about how to make an alpine slide with their own hands, on a personal plot.

Rock garden and rockery. Main similarities and differences

Quite often, even experienced gardeners confuse the concepts of rock garden and rockery. And this is not surprising. With a sufficient number general characteristics, it is difficult not to confuse them.

Rock gardens, like rockeries, are a way to create a flower garden, which is based on the use of stones and flowers.

But at the same time, rockery - classic version garden on stones, in the creation of which only one stone is used. The stones are laid out in a chaotic manner or in parallel stripes. This approach contributes to the creation of a visual effect of wildlife. Rockeries are planted with a variety of flowers, only in this case they act as a secondary element, forming a natural floral background.

Rock garden - a type of rock garden in which flowers and plants play a major role. A variety of plant species, a riot of colors and unusual color combinations amaze the imagination and make you admire the alpine slide for a long time.

Creation of an alpine slide

With a competent approach to planning and carrying out all activities, to create an alpine slide in the country with your own hands, the arrangement will take only one day. So that the created beauty does not have to be redone or even dismantled, it is very important to adhere to certain rules when creating alpine slides.

The whole process step by step creation do-it-yourself alpine slide can be divided into the following stages:

We select a place for the location of the rock garden.
Let's start creating a drainage system.
We select stones optimal size and start setting them up.
We prepare the soil for planting plants.
At the end, we plant plants and flowers.

Consider the main stages of creating an alpine slide with your own hands in more detail.

Location selection

When deciding to create an alpine slide with their own hands, a novice gardener should very carefully and very critically inspect the selected area. Of course, you can choose the right plants for any type of soil and location of the site. But it will be better if a spacious, well-lit area is chosen to create a future rock garden.

It is also very important to think in advance from what angle the alpine slide will be well viewed. After all, you will certainly want to show such beauty to friends and relatives.

When choosing a location for creating a rock garden, pay attention to the type of soil. Sandy soil is the least problematic option for creating an alpine slide on it. Clay or oily soil requires mandatory additional measures before planting. As a rule, they consist in the creation of a drainage system.

Creation of a drainage system

An indication for the creation of a drainage system is not only the type of soil. There are certain types of plants for which it is also not desirable for water to stagnate in the ground. For example, these include flowers that grow in the mountains. To prepare the soil and avoid the problems of stagnant water, experts recommend that you definitely lay a certain foundation.

To do this, remove the top layer of soil. Then the recess is covered with rubble, or as an economy option - with small construction waste or brick fragments. The backfill is covered with a layer of sand, and then with earth. After the last layer of earth is covered, everything is well spilled with water and left alone for a certain time to dry.

Advice ! For the best performance of the drainage system, it is good to use lime stones, which have excellent air permeability.

Stone laying

After the drainage system is created, the process of laying stones begins.

When choosing the size of the stones, you need to remember that the more compact the future rock garden, the smaller the size of the stones should be. For an alpine hill large sizes boulders are perfect, and for a small rock garden - flagstone of small sizes.

In creating a rock garden, there is no specific scheme for laying stones. The only thing that the designer must adhere to is the principle of naturalness and natural location.

Attention ! You do not need to adhere to any schemes or drawings when creating a rock garden. Light negligence will make the alpine slide as close as possible to the natural wild look.

Another nuance that needs to be taken into account when selecting and laying stones is that you should not use several types of boulder rocks on one hill at once. As a rule, in nature, rock gardens consist of one rock. The advantage should be given only natural materials. The rock garden has, as a rule, several tiers. In order for the alpine slide to have really beautiful view, it should attract the eye even without flowers. It is these rock gardens that are created by real master professionals.

Granite has very rich colors and a bright pattern, so they need to be laid in such a way that there is no feeling that a granite memorial is being erected instead of a hill.

Sandstone is very easy to work with. Therefore using this feature you can give it yourself desired shape, according to your taste and idea.

When laying the tiers of an alpine hill, do not forget that live plants will soon be planted on it. Therefore, each tier must be covered with layers of moist, fertile soil. Stones should not be stacked too tightly.

Advice ! Naturalness and the greatest similarity with wildlife can be achieved if, when creating a rock garden, alternate large and small stones.

We select soil for plants

It is quite difficult to imagine an alpine hill without living plants. Therefore, for their landing, it is worth thoroughly preparing fertile soil. It is quite possible to do it yourself. The composition of the soil for rock garden plants includes: clean clay soil, peat and gravel. The ratio of clay soil to peat is 3:1.

The soil is laid only in the place where the flowers will be planted. As a rule, crevices and gaps between boulders are used for these purposes. Sometimes the soil is poured directly onto bare stones.

Advice ! Moss and lichen make the alpine slide the closest in appearance to the wild. A favorable environment for the growth of these types of vegetation is limestone.

Choosing plants for rock garden

Plants to create a rock garden are selected based on the following criteria:

Unpretentiousness. This feature gives a guarantee for the owner of the future rock garden that you do not have to constantly treat diseased plants and plant new ones. A flower garden on stones should look as close to the wild as possible, which means that the human factor in creating a rock garden should be minimized.
All plants should tolerate well not only sunny summers, but also cold winters.
Flowers are selected in such a way that they can freely grow next to each other.
For the top point of the rock garden, the most suitable are small shrubs. As a rule, these are deciduous trees or needles. In order for the alpine slide to please with its beauty all year round, it is advisable to use both shrubs.
Tip! From conifers juniper, thuja and mountain pine are most suitable. From hardwood you can choose cotoneaster.
With regards to flowers, their choice is similar to the selection of shrubs.

When planting vegetation, pay attention to their height. No need to place tall shrubs on the top of the mountain. Also, do not plant tall plants among small stones. Stones generally should not be completely covered with plants.

The choice of an assortment of plants depends entirely on which rocks are used for the rock garden. For plants with light leaves, dark stones will be the best background, and for plants with dark green leaves, stones of light shades will be the best.

Types of Alpine slides

There are several types of alpine slides, in landscape design, created by oneself, which are very similar to various parts of the mountainous terrain:

Rock cliff. This is a heap of smooth, rather large boulders, with a minimum of any flowers in niches and crevices.
Hillside . This is a rather complex composition, made of stones of various sizes, around which there are many small plants.
Mountain valley. This is a territory that is made up of stones protruding from the ground, surrounded by a large number of flowering plants.
Gorge. This is the most difficult to perform, but perhaps the most beautiful type of rock garden. It can be placed in a natural excavation, overlaying the slopes with stones and planting plants suitable for landscape design.

Conclusion

Never add artificial decor items when creating alpine slides. Thus, it is possible to destroy all that natural beauty that the combination of a stone and a living plant is intended to create. After all, the alpine hill is created precisely so that the unique atmosphere of the mountains is present on the plot.

When creating an alpine slide, one of the most important stages is the choice of plants. What plants are best used when creating an alpine slide, we will find out in the next video

Such an element as an alpine slide has long become a familiar element in the design of garden plots. Even small rock gardens bring variety to the standard garden design. And, having shown quite a bit of imagination, you can create a real work of art from a generally ordinary element of landscape design.

About the history of the emergence of alpine slides

The first rock gardens had to imitate rock fragments of the terrain, so plants were far from their main element. Over time, there was a smooth roll towards a more intensive use of plants in the design of the slide.

As for the idea of using alpine slides in gardens, it owes its appearance to chance. The fact is that at the beginning of the century before last, travelers began to actively bring plants outlandish at that time to England, for example, thyme or adonis. But they simply refused to grow on what seemed to be such fertile soil.

Then the gardeners of that time came up with the idea to use rocky soil, which is more familiar to plants. Over time, the idea of using stone in gardens was appreciated in other countries, and the new fashion began to actively spread around the world.

The design of the slide in the garden has undergone several major changes since its inception.

Of course, these changes occurred smoothly, but 3 characteristic stages of development can be distinguished:

stone dominance- on initial stage large boulders and even entire stone grottoes were actively used. Plants peeped out modestly from the cracks between the stones and were used only to emphasize the age of the stone structure;

gradually the greens won back positions from the stone and soon parity could be fixed. The stone was still the basis of the composition, but considerable attention was also given to plants;
in the end, the triumph of life came - modern alpine slides- this is a riot of colors and greenery, slightly diluted with a lifeless gray stone. Moreover, it is not necessary to use only one stone to create it. Soil is also suitable, an excess of which has formed, for example, after digging a foundation pit under.

Note!
For small areas, the last 2 types of slides are suitable, large stone structures or individual boulders will look ridiculous in a small garden area.

Homemade alpine slide - a guide to action

A do-it-yourself slide in the garden always looks spectacular, but many refuse it because of the apparent complexity and laboriousness of the work.

In fact, there is nothing complicated about this, but the main attention should be paid to several points:

choose correct location Location on;
do not miss the size, the rock garden should not be lost on the site, but it should not overwhelm with its grandeur either;
avoid symmetry when filling the body of the slide and decorating it with stones;

choosing the right plants is still not a flower bed and not, therefore, not all types of flowers are suitable.

layout

Ideally, it is the location of the slide on the site that should be dominant. That is, when drawing up a plan, you must first place the rock garden in the optimal place and, based on this, lay paths, break flower beds and think over further design.

In reality, this does not always work out, so it will not be superfluous to know a few rules for choosing a place for a rock garden:

the place should be dry, and groundwater should lie as deep as possible;

Note!
Alpine slides in the garden it is desirable to place on a hill.
This guarantees protection from groundwater, and during heavy rainfall, water will not stagnate at the foot of the rock garden.

it is highly undesirable to place the slide directly at the fence or at the house, most of the effect will simply be lost. If such placement is necessary, then you need to create a favorable background, for this a low shrub is suitable. For the same reason, it is necessary to avoid the proximity of the rock garden and tall thick trees;

the area should be well lit.

Preparatory stage

Here it will be necessary to decide on the type of materials, to think in general terms about the design of the future rock garden.

The instruction at this stage looks like this:

the area of \u200b\u200bthe base of the rock garden is determined;
in this area it is necessary to ensure good drainage, for this the sod (a layer of plant soil 20-30 cm thick) is removed, and the vacated space is filled with any well-draining material. Not only crushed stone or gravel is suitable, but also ordinary construction debris, such as broken bricks or pieces of concrete.

Note!
At the same time, it is better not to use the removed fertile layer for filling the hill itself.
Over time, the grass stems and roots will rot and the structure will shrink well, which can destroy the entire composition.

You can combine ordinary soil and gravel backfill. That is, the body of the slide is poured out of gravel or rubble. Then comes a layer of soil and only then the structure is decorated with stones. You can pick up a lot of options for resolving the issue of how to build an alpine slide in a garden plot, the main thing is to ensure good drainage.

On the size, shape and technology of the construction of the rock garden

Asymmetry can be considered a general rule when designing an alpine slide. No need to try to make it in the form of a perfectly correct geometric figure. Indeed, in nature, symmetry occurs only as an exception.

The stepped shape is quite popular, it allows you to group plants. different types on separate tiers. decorative stones in this case, they act as miniature retaining walls and prevent the soil from sinking over time.

Note!
The dimensions of the ledges are selected individually for each specific case, but you can focus on the average height of the ledge in the range of 0.2 - 0.3 m.

As for the selection of stones, the use of boulders with noticeable inclusions of other rocks can be considered ideal. Small defects (for example, chipped areas) are also an advantage - plants can be planted in them. All boulders must be of the same type, that is, smooth, rolled stone should not coexist with chipped granite.

The size, as a rule, decreases from bottom to top, and the top of the hill is finished with a group of small stones, or one large one. Correct selection stones is very important, especially since the price of the structure practically does not change from this.

Note!
It is allowed to use large elongated stones.
They are usually simply dug into the ground, and the hill itself is placed around such stones.

As for the construction technology, it is necessary to start laying boulders some time after filling the body of the slide. During this time, under the influence of its own weight and moisture from precipitation, shrinkage will end.

Plant selection

It used to be considered a sign of bad taste to make rock gardens too bright and catchy. Currently, there is some departure from this rule, but turning a hill into an ordinary flower bed still cannot be advised. Why not list all the types of plants by name, let's break the suitable species into groups.

It is allowed to use:

herbaceous perennials;
small shrub, both coniferous and deciduous;
bulbous (planted in a small area);
ground cover species - fill all the free space.

When planting in the ground, you need to make a small hole around the stem and fill it with fine gravel. In the hole will gather needed by the plant water, and crushed stone will drown out the weeds.

Summarizing

Even the simplest rock garden favorably diversifies the design of any garden. You should not be afraid of an unfamiliar name; even a novice summer resident will cope with the construction of an alpine slide. The tips presented in this article will help you avoid common beginner mistakes.

The video in this article shows an example of a simple alpine slide with minimal financial costs.

The main purpose of the dacha - growing food and a place for hard physical labor on the ground - is gradually fading into the background, and most summer residents use suburban areas to relax in nature with their soul and body. And the aesthetic appearance of the territory plays a significant role in this, the variety of colors in the flower beds is especially pleasing to the eye.

Flower decoration of the slide

But the standard flat stationary flower beds are already a little tired, and I want to decorate my yard with something bright, beautiful and original. An excellent solution can be a flower hill - a hill covered with a multi-colored carpet of annual and perennial crops.

Flower slides or rock gardens have already become favorite guests in summer cottages and suburban areas. They are compositions of stones with plants planted between them, repeating a unique mountain landscape. In addition to beauty, they also have a number of undeniable advantages:

such a flower garden will allow you not to deal with the natural irregularities of the site, but it is beneficial to emphasize and beat them, creating original design garden;
with the help of an alpine slide, you can hide unpresentable buildings - a barn wall, a restroom, an outdoor shower;
a rock garden can be made with your own hands from improvised means - remaining after the construction of buildings broken brick, crushed stone and stones;

thanks to a special flower planting system, such a hill almost does not need to be weeded - the stones restrain the growth of weeds and the uncontrolled growth of plants.

Creating a flower slide with your own hands

Let's see how to create your own beautiful compositions from flowers:

Initially, you need to determine the desired placement of the rock garden: if the site has a natural eastern or western slope, then it will be an ideal base. Otherwise, a hill of stones can be laid out in any corner of the yard, for this it is better to choose a sunny place, well viewed from the window of the house, gazebos or benches in the yard and even the street - after all, efforts will be rewarded with pride for your creation. Such beauty should be admired by the owners, guests, and even ordinary passers-by!
Before construction work you need to decide on the design, shape and size of the future flower garden, photos on the network will help with this. The height of such slides is often 1-1.5 meters, and the slope of the slope does not exceed 45 degrees, with a greater steepness, the composition loses its attractiveness.
After that, you should start choosing stones. It is recommended to use a natural stone natural forms, suitable tuff, shell rock, granite, sandstone.

Flower slides need high-quality drainage to maintain their shape and normal plant growth. To do this, the contours of the future flower hill are outlined with ropes and pegs, the fertile soil is removed to a depth of about 10-15 centimeters, a layer of geotextile is laid on top, and solid construction debris is poured on top of it - brick fragments, ceramic tiles, rubble, unnecessary stones, pieces of concrete, they form a hill for a flower garden. This step can be easily done by hand.
Next, the surface is covered with their own hands with a layer of sand and earth with a total thickness of 40 cm, on which stones are laid out. First, large boulders are installed, while it is recommended to use 2-3 pieces at once to create bright accents. As practice shows, several large blocks look much more spectacular than many small ones. When laying, the stones should be firmly fixed in the soil, if necessary, the earth is filled up and tamped. Boulders need to be immersed in the substrate by a third or even 2/3 to create the effect of the old placer, and all stones must hold firmly and not loosen - this is the basis for the safety of working with a slide.

From the stones, you should immediately make an attractive composition that looks organic even without plants, because in the cool season the flowers will not cover the slope, and the yard in the country house will be decorated with an unusual stone composition.
Next, you can start planting plants. Depending on the wishes and imagination of the gardener, the hill can be planted with various flowers - perennial and annual, high and low, shrub and ground cover. It is recommended to first plant perennial crops, and fill in the remaining areas after planting with annual crops. The remaining fertile soil is poured under the roots in the course of work, sometimes you have to use a purchased substrate.
After planting all the seedlings, the remaining empty place filled with small stones, this will emphasize the contrast between greenery and bright colors and a calm, cold stone, as in the photo. In addition, the stone coating will protect the flower garden from the appearance of weeds and the uncontrolled growth of some aggressive plants.

As you can see, everyone can make a flower slide with their own hands, there would be a desire and a little free time.

When selecting stones, you can go in two ways:

fully think over the desired composition in your thoughts and look for material for it;
find suitable stones and already think over them in the course of work appearance slides.

The latter option is more acceptable, since finding a stone of a predetermined size, color and texture can be very difficult.

You can do the preparation of stones with your own hands, since outside the city you can almost always find stones of various sizes in the public domain. But if there is no time to search, you will have to contact construction companies that sell building materials, but in this case there may be a problem with the selection of boulders different sizes, since stone fragments are sorted by size and sold in batches.

When choosing a material, it is necessary to observe the unity of texture, color and shape. After all, on a natural mountain slope you can find only one rock with small veins and interspersed with another, so large and medium stones should be from the same material, but small elements can be anything.

If clastic boulders are used, then all stones should be with sharp, wild edges, in which case pebbles will be out of place. Conversely, when using several rounded stones, all others should also be smoothed. The stones may differ in size, but their appearance must be similar so that the finished composition looks like a single whole, a natural ledge of rock. It is also recommended to use smoothed stones for flat rock gardens, but a steep hill is created from clastic stones

Most often, slides in the country are made from stones of such breeds:

granite - hard, strong, durable, with a wide colors from light gray, green, brown to black, the only drawback is the increase in the acidity of the soil around the stone, which is why heather and conifers should be planted in such a rock garden;

sandstone - a porous, smooth, spectacular stone that harmonizes well with vegetation and other rocks;
limestones are porous, light rocks that accumulate moisture during rains and then give it to plants, reduce the acidity of the substrate, and after a few years are effectively covered with moss;
slates are layered rocks with different colors, ideally repeat the natural beauty of layered mountain slopes, slides made of such material look original and spectacular.

As a rule, for a flower slide with stones, you will need several large boulders, a couple of medium ones and small fragments to fill the remaining space.

For the design of alpine slides, mountain plants are used, which in nature grow on the slopes. Although with the development of selection, the once unpretentious and unsightly cultures turned into luxurious flowers with a variety of shapes, colors and species, they still convey the unique charm of the harsh mountain nature.

Selection of flowers and plants for the flower slide - milestone in the design of the flower garden. Indeed, despite the apparent diversity of such crops, they all have specific requirements for lighting, moisture, soil type and watering. And creating areas with acidic and alkaline soil on the same hill is too difficult and troublesome, and care will become much more complicated. From this, it is difficult for an inexperienced gardener to independently choose a complex of plants that will not only create a beautiful picture and bloom all year round, but also get along well with each other. Experts recommend that beginners take as a basis ready-made schemes for planting rock gardens in the network and specialized magazines and adjust them to their composition.

In most slides, the landing tier is observed:

The upper tier is planted with light-loving and drought-resistant crops, because the top of the flower garden will be affected the most. sun rays, and moisture - to drain at the foot. Most often I use here various options groundcover flower plants - carnation, iberis, edelweiss.
The middle tier is decorated with light-loving and shade-loving plants, there are more wide choose crops because light and moisture are in balance. Phloxes, wormwood, obrieta, aster, primroses, anafalis, various bulbs are suitable.
The lower tier is given to moisture-loving and shade-tolerant plants, often flowers here are adjacent to dwarf shrubs.

Also, when choosing crops to decorate a hill, you need to take into account the time of their flowering, it is recommended to select and plant evenly plants with different periods of bud formation, so that spring flowers are replaced by summer ones, and then by late autumn ones, for example, a flower garden in the country all year round will delight the eye with beautiful colors. It is equally important to choose the right neighbors, since some flowers tend to grow and clog neighboring plantings, such crops include obrieta, lamb, rezuha and soapwort, they are recommended to be planted separately, surrounded by large stones and small scattering to control growth.

Also, when planting plants, you should not overdo it with the number of sprouts, and although at first the flower garden may seem empty, you will have to be patient a little, because soon the seedlings will grow and the free space will be filled. If you initially plant too many crops, then after a couple of months they will interfere with each other and create a feeling of overcrowding, redundancy of the flower bed.

If desired, you can create a flower garden of perennials, as in the photo. This option will allow you to create a composition with your own hands, which for many years will decorate the yard in a country house or a suburban area with little or no maintenance. In addition, most perennial crops are distinguished by the splendor of the bushes and abundant flowering. This option is ideal for busy people who love constancy.

If you want to create the ever-changing beauty of a flower bed, then it is better to use annual crops, which can also be planted as their predecessors fade. So, you can create a constantly changing and bright flower garden with your own hands, pleasing with a riot of colors throughout the summer. But, of course, there will be more trouble with such a slide.

Flower hill without the use of stones

To decorate flat areas in the country, you can use small earthen hills covered with flowers. Especially original is the use of various decorative elements - an old vase, carts, barrels that are laid on the ground, near them a hill is created with their own hands from soil or compacted sand, on which undersized flowers are planted. The result is an unusual flower composition, which is the flowers that “sleep out” from the dishes. Such a flower bed looks not only original, but also very colorful, which is confirmed by the photo.

How to make an alpine slide in the country with your own hands

Alpine slide or rockeries - this is what is most attractive today in the private sector and suburban areas. The purpose of such rocky gardens is not just to show the flora of the highlands, but to create a composition that evokes the feeling of a natural landscape. Rock gardens were often part of palace complexes. At first, only outlandish plants of the highlands were always used. And later - and plants that resemble mountains, but do not grow there. Stylistically, such rock gardens, apparently, can be attributed to the type of fantasy gardens.

Rock gardens are popular due to their decorative effect. Now “rockeries” are an obligatory part of personal plots. After all, this is a small piece of wildlife located in your garden. For such a masterpiece, you need to choose a place viewed from all sides. For a developed rock garden you need sunlight, so for him it is necessary to allocate a part of the garden, located away from the existing buildings and large trees with a developed crown.

Evergreens on an alpine hill

It is good if the slide is located on the south side, not far from the recreation area. This arrangement will allow optimal lighting, and it will be possible to admire the beauty of wild plants and rocky stones much more often. Also, when choosing a place for a decorative flower bed, you need to pay attention to the quality of the soil. It is much easier to equip a rock garden on sandstones, but if the soil is clayey, then you will need additional work to create drainage.

The rock garden is a beautiful landscape composition of stones and flowers.

After arranging the base in a couple of months, you can start planting plants. For such structures, you can use any type of plant that does not require particularly careful care, tolerate bright sun and heavy rainfall. It is better to select slow-growing specimens for arranging a rock garden in the country. Photos of finished compositions show how original and beautiful, for example, coniferous evergreens can look in such unusual flower beds.

Helpful advice! In order for the rock garden to please with beauty for a whole year, you need to know the timing of flowering of various plants. Bulbs bloom in spring, in autumn, mostly perennial specimens, and in winter they do not allow such a hill to be empty - conifers.

The design of the rock garden does not look bad:

some varieties of firs;
juniper;
mountain pine.

Such plants can be given any intricate shape. They will perfectly complement the flower garden with their original appearance. Gardeners give such representatives of the fauna a conical shape or cut them in the form of other interesting figures when creating an alpine slide with their own hands.

Rock garden with colorful flowers

From herbaceous plants for such slides are suitable:

periwinkle;
undersized carnation;
thyme; nasturtiums;
marigold;
bell and many others.

A tastefully made slide will decorate any landscape, let's look at how best to make it.

DIY rock garden in the country

Alpine hill on the site: the creation of a rock garden in the country

Choosing a place for a slide. One of the priorities in the construction of a rock garden is the right choice of location. A rocky hill in the middle of the lawn will look deliberate. Most suitable place for a rock garden, you can consider a natural slope, embankment, ravine or, at worst, the shore of a reservoir.

It is better to equip the hill on the south side of the site

Ideally, if the rockery will be lit by the sun before noon. In the sun, plants - and mostly mountain dwellers - will be subjected to severe overheating and suffer from drought. With rare exceptions, plants do not tolerate drying out of the soil as well as stagnant moisture. In summer, the scorching midday sun, dry air and overheated soil for most of them is the most severe test.

The rock garden is located on the slope of the site

On a site with a high level of groundwater, it is necessary to arrange a drainage system to drain excess moisture, but usually a 30-40 cm layer of drainage from broken bricks, crushed stone or expanded clay is enough. By the way, construction waste and garbage, including cans, can be embedded in the base of such a slide. In this case, you will kill two birds with one stone.

Rock garden in the country with the use of small and large stones

The next step is choosing a stone. Of course, you can manually collect boulders in the surrounding fields, but at the same time you are unlikely to be able to pick up stones of the same breed and color. As a result, your slide will be an eclectic collection of stones, but by no means an imitation of a mountain landscape. In addition, from an aesthetic point of view, a pile of dissimilar stones, even grouped by color, is unlikely to decorate your site. The most important principle of the rock garden is the uniformity of color, shape and texture of the stone. When choosing a particular rock, its chemical properties must be taken into account. So, a limestone hill will be unsuitable for plants that prefer acidic soil.

The rock garden is a decoration suburban area

The shape of the stone dictates how it is laid. Rounded boulders look better on the crests of alternating waves. lumps irregular shape look good if they fit snugly together with mating edges and form an asymmetric group with ups and downs. If the slide will occupy only a few square meters, then it is best made from flat stone slabs, which are laid in layers.

Soil for alpine hills

And the last important point in the construction of a rock garden is the preparation of the land mixture. In the process of evolution, plants have learned to manage the minimum amount nutrients. Therefore, the land mixture for them should not be too nutritious. You can use ordinary garden soil mixed with sand in equal proportions with a small addition of peat. For plants that love acidic soil, the amount of peat can be increased, and for inhabitants of limestone rocks, it is good to add ash or lime. The creation of these slides is given a separate place in the work on landscape design.

The scheme of planting plants on a hill

Rules for creating an alpine slide in the country

Landscape masters have developed plans and schemes according to which the rock garden is being arranged. They take into account all the subtleties and nuances that help determine the location of the flower bed and the order of planting.

Provided that the slide will be viewed from any side, a pyramidal shape with the highest point in the center is best suited. Maintaining symmetry when arranging a piece of wildlife is not worth it. The composition will look more original if all the elements are located abstractly. If you plan to locate the rock garden on an existing slope, then you can place parts of the structure on the same level.

Rock garden on both sides of the garden steps

The height of the slide should correspond to its area. For each meter of diameter of the future club, it is necessary to provide for a rise of about 0.2 m, respectively, a slide with a diameter of about 4 meters should be at least 80 cm in height. step by step photos for creating rockeries with their own hands are presented below.

Time of year for arranging a rock garden

When creating an alpine slide in the country, the scope of work is such that it practically does not depend on the time of year. That's just in the winter to do this is not worth it due to weather conditions. But the best option after all, early autumn is considered when amateur gardeners have free time between harvesting and cleaning the site for the winter.

Rockery at their summer cottage

Note! The rock garden takes several months to naturally shrink. After that, all the errors that were invisible before will be noticeable. Before planting, these shortcomings should be eliminated.

If the planting of representatives of the flora is planned for the fall, preparations begin in the spring. There are several basic rules for creating a rock garden with your own hands. Step-by-step instruction to create a slide in the country, presented below, demonstrates all the subtleties of this process.

Alpine slide in the country with their own hands

Usually amateur gardeners ignore the stage of preparatory work, equipping slides with their own hands. Photos of such not very successful compositions are presented in in large numbers on various sites. Rock gardens, which are the usual pile of stones, with plants planted between them, quickly lose their appearance and shape. Therefore, before arranging such a masterpiece, you need to carefully read the stages of work.

When arranging such a slide, large stones were used.

Drainage and soil for the slide. Since the earth under the pressure of the heavy stones used to create the rock garden settles, a drainage base should be made for the entire structure. It is also necessary for expensive plants, as it allows you to create an optimal microclimate for their development. Often used as a drain:

broken red or white brick;
fine gravel;
small stones;
crushed stone;
construction waste of non-wood origin.

To lay it, they dig a pit. The depth of the pit will be approximately 1 meter with a total area of \u200b\u200bthe alpine garden of 8-9 m². This is about 3-4 bayonets of an ordinary shovel. The drainage is laid in a pit and well spilled with water, after which it is sprinkled with earth.

The choice of a place on the site and the drainage of the future slide

Helpful advice! Each laid layer of drainage and soil is recommended to be thoroughly shed with water, as well as to carry out the final watering after planting all the plants.

An example good soil as mentioned above, a mixture of ordinary, cleared of weeds and debris, earth with peat and ordinary river sand in equal quantities can serve. In general, there are no special requirements for the composition of the base, because most often unpretentious plants are used for rock gardens.

The choice of stones and their location. There are many varieties of stones that will look great in the garden. This may include:

granite;
wild stone;
limestone;
sandstone and others.

Placement of stones in rockeries at their summer cottage

Observing the following simple rules, it is easy to create an alpine slide in the country with your own hands. Focusing on the photo of the location of the stones, you can choose the optimal design for any site.

the selected stones do not have to be the same size;
it is preferable to pick up specimens that are uneven in shape and structure;
the finished flower bed should be asymmetrical as possible;
the selected stones must be of the same type.

The location of the stones on the hill

You can arrange stone elements in different ways, it all depends on the imagination of the owner. Professional designers offer several schemes for laying boulders. Large boulders, located throughout the area of the rock garden, look quite original, with smaller fragments scattered between them.

Rockery in the country

Someone will prefer to place the most beautiful and interesting boulder at the very top of the hill, while someone, on the contrary, will place large specimens closer to the bottom. Any options are eligible.

When creating an alpine slide out of massive stone, try asking your family and friends for help. It is quite difficult for one to master such a structure with his own hands. A photo of rock gardens with stones demonstrates the scale of these compositions.

disembarkation perennials

When installing large and medium stones, you should take care of their stability. In places invisible to the eye, they can be fixed cement mortar to give the entire structure greater strength. Lightly buried boulders look good. Such a move allows you to simulate a break in the soil with rocky rocks and strengthen the entire rock garden.

Planting conifers

Helpful advice! The alpine meadow looks good on the garden plot. This is a bright green meadow strewn with meadow flowers. For its device, stones are usually not used, but the effect of the slide is created by placing the plants in height.

Addition of small stones, the final formation of the rock garden

Caring for rock garden in the country

Work on the care of the rock garden should be carried out after planting. It may seem that the plants of stone gardens are unpretentious, but this is far from the case. Every day it is recommended to observe the plants, add soil, as it settles, loosen the top layer. It is necessary to water the plants abundantly, especially in the first days after planting. Over time, weeds may appear in the rock garden.

Rock garden at their summer cottage

Alpine slides must be weeded and prevented from flowering. During the summer, it is necessary to monitor the condition of each plant, since during this period many diseases spread and pests begin to appear. Viral diseases for plants are very dangerous. IN Lately viruses have spread to almost all plants. Signs of the disease are clearly manifested on the leaves: they are deformed, curly appears.

Do-it-yourself rock garden at their summer cottage

On the flowers, signs of the disease are also noticeable - the flowers acquire a greenish tint or become barren. The main carriers of the disease are aphids and moths. Plant protection against viruses is the destruction of disease vectors, as well as compliance with general rules hygiene. A reliable way to control pests is timely plant protection measures. If the pest has already settled on the plant, the diseased organ should be removed, sometimes the entire plant has to be removed.

Watering the finished rock garden

special care on rockeries in the summer require highland plants. They need to be constantly irrigated, thereby providing high level humidity. Species that died during the season are replaced by planting plants from a reserve site organized in the spring. Bulbs are planted in autumn; it is necessary to have time to carry out planting work before October, in which case the bulbs will take root well in the soil.

Types of alpine slides: ideas for landscape design of a summer residence

"Rocks" and "cliff" very effective as an independent slide. Rocks serve as an imitation of the natural outcrop of rocks. This type of rockeries is built only in the presence of a steep slope and very large boulders. Granite boulders are categorically not suitable. The laying principle is dry laying. The construction of such rocks requires a high artistic taste, professional skill, and is extremely laborious. The range of planted plants on the alpine hill is mountain pines, junipers, rocky and high-mountain species: ampelous bells, sedums, crassula, wormwood, dwarf ferns, etc.

"Mountain slope"- a complex landscape garden, conditionally simulating the highlands. It is a mountain scree, fixed by groups of dwarf pines. The best location is on a large sloping slope. To create such a slide, stone blocks are placed that imitate mountain fragments. It is possible to plant creeping coniferous, undersized rhododendrons, heathers, eric. No vertical accents are allowed - columnar and pyramidal conifers. Next to the groups of trees, there are "alpine lawns" - clumps of undersized ground cover plants.

"Mountain Valley"- a landscape rocky garden that creates the image of an alpine valley. It is an artistic composition. Both stone blocks and boulders of the same type are used. Boulders are sunk by 2/3. A system of paths close to natural is being laid (“step by step” - possible variant). It is possible to use composite tree and shrub groups of different heights. Spring ephimroids are added, groups of heathers, eric, cereals are used as connecting elements. The general background is stones overgrown with moss, rubble, bark. Against their background, ground cover looks great.

"Alpine lawn". We imitate plant communities of high mountains. Stylish but difficult type landscaped gardens. Usually included as an element in the composition of "stone hills", "mountain slope" or "mountain valley". Such a slide should give the impression of an alpine meadow and provide maximum comfortable conditions plant life. Their assortment includes only wild species of the high-mountainous alpine belt. These are undersized cereals, gentian, edelweiss, saxifrage, etc. rare plants. Care for such a site is difficult, because. mountain species in culture grow more actively and they need to be controlled, maintaining a given ratio between them.

"Forest ravine, hollow." Type landscaped garden, possible only in the presence of a natural lowering of the soil. The slopes are fixed with dug-in stones. The most acceptable plants are bush and horizontally growing coniferous and shade-tolerant types of perennials: ferns, Volzhanka. Plants should not be densely planted. A possible “highlight” is a “waterfall-spring”, beating at the bottom of the “ravine”.

"Gorge". Usually one of the elements of a complex landscape garden, a "gorge" is created between the slopes of the hills. The walls of such a slide are laid out with dry masonry. It is desirable that the walls be of different heights, and this contributes to better penetration of light, which allows the use of a wider range of plants. Usually these are dwarf rock species.

"Rocky Ridge"- an old, now unused type of collection alpine slide. Its purpose is to create best conditions for the life of alpine plants. From an aesthetic point of view, it is of no value.

"Water cascade", "mountain stream"- an element of a landscape garden or independent artistic compositions. A cascade of reservoirs with a stream and a waterfall looks logical only against the background of a large composition or when using the features of the terrain. The structure should not be bulky and look artificial. Stones should be natural shapes. Along the banks, it is best to plant plants of coastal zones: Siberian and Japanese irises, cereals, primroses, buzulniks, bergenia, ferns. An excellent effect is achieved when creating a "dry cascade". In this case, the role of water is played by coarse gravel or paving with granite pellets.

"Swamp"- a natural landscape rocky garden created on a waterlogged site. The hilly garden surrounding a half-grown pond or a “quagmire” window looks interesting. In a swampy area, it is enough to dig the soil to a shallow depth. For dry ones, an artificial reservoir is required. The "quagmire" is planted with marsh plants. Rounded boulders are dug into the shore. Stones should be ¾ buried. Wood snags look appropriate. The “quagmire” is planted with swamp plants, and only moisture-loving plants are used for planting along the edge.

"Mixborder"- a border, shirt or ridge, located along the path against the background of the lawn or on top of the retaining wall. This decorative flower bed is densely planted with garden plants. In a mixborder located along the paths, stones are steadily dug into the ground along the entire length of the flower bed or in small groups. The “mixborder” looks most impressive, in which groups of stones alternate with low (20-40 cm) terraces. On terraces and at the edge of the "mixborder" - with undersized groups or single specimens. On the edge of the terrace, descending ground cover plants are spectacular.

"Japanese garden"- an exquisite aristocratic rocky garden. This type does not model the traditional canonized garden, but only aesthetically resonates with it. It is most appropriate to place such a composition in a small isolated area, in order to avoid dissonance with other parts. landscape composition site.

The main rule is moderation and conciseness. In such a garden there is no place for a single extra or random detail, not a single extra plant. Everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail, well-groomed and tidy.

The stones in such a hill are old, mossy or covered with lichens. They are arranged in groups of 3-5, giving the impression of a collapsed rock. Free spaces are of great importance - they create perspective. They can be surfaces covered with moss, covered with pebbles or water surface. The range of plants is very important. Easily formed plants are suitable. This is an ordinary pine, mountain, dwarf varieties spruce and rhododendrons, mahonia, boxwood. From deciduous - these are willows, small-leaved maples, barberries, almonds. Plants are given a spherical, tiered horizontal or weeping shape. Columnar or pyramidal forms are not allowed, nor are free-growing ones.

Herbaceous: ferns, narrow-leaved irises and background ornamental leafy plants. The "Japanese Garden" does not overwhelm with colors and pomp of forms, but invites contemplation and reflection.

"Miniature Alpine Hill"- a type of modular flower garden that appeared in Europe, created in abandoned stone troughs for livestock. At present, industrial production of their imitation from artificial stone and ceramics. The compositions completely repeat the appearance of a real rockery. The following plants are used - superdwarf plant varieties and slow-growing ground cover species: saxifrage, sedum, seed vivum.

It is also possible "indoor rocky garden" indoor plants: non-wintering succulents, crassula, gasteria, haworthia, sedum, echiveria, cacti. Placed on the windowsill.