Where can you find alpine rocks? How to choose the right stones for creating a rock garden
Avoid combining a large number of different types of stones. It is also advisable to ensure that the stones have approximately the same shape. In this case, the composition will be truly seamless.
Either stones or plants should be bright. If all the elements are neutral, the alpine slide will lose its attractiveness; if everything is too flashy, the rock garden will turn into a chaotic heap.
Use stones of different sizes. Large stones are good for placing accents, medium and small stones are good for separating zones.
Stones with sharp corners are suitable for a high alpine slide; at low heights, smooth transitions look better.
By slightly burying large stones, you will create the feeling of rock coming to the surface. This way the rock garden will look much more realistic.
If clinker bricks were used to decorate the landscape or decorate the house, it can also be used to decorate the rock garden. Only non-standard shaped bricks are suitable.
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Types of stones for an alpine slide
To choose the right stones for an alpine slide, you need to take into account not only their appearance, but also other characteristics, such as strength, effect on the soil, and compatibility with plants. We will tell you more about this using the example of the rocks most often used to create rock gardens: sandstone, granite and limestone.
Sandstone
This stone combines amazingly with any plants, both in appearance and in its properties. You can safely plant any flowers on such an alpine hill.
There is pinkish, cream, beige, and brown sandstone. Its smooth surface and noticeable grain on chips delight the eye with natural beauty.
Limestones
Beige, golden and bluish limestones are an excellent basis for rock gardens. An added benefit of these breeds is that they are covered with lichens, adding to the wildlife-like appearance.
When using limestone for an alpine hill, it is important to remember that they gradually reduce the acidity of the soil, so it is necessary to choose appropriate plants. Plants that usually grow in the mountains get along well next to limestones.
Limestones are relatively soft; they can be easily processed independently by slightly correcting their shape.
Granite
Since granite is a dark stone, compositions involving it need to be thought through especially carefully. With large blocks of this rock, the delicacy of small flowers becomes especially noticeable. There are reddish, greenish, grayish granites.
Over time, granite oxidizes the soil, so conifers and heather varieties will feel good next to it.
It can be difficult to bring and process blocks of this stone due to its weight and strength, but in professionally constructed rock gardens it reveals its full decorative potential.
The studio staff have extensive experience in creating a wide variety of rock gardens. Do you want to arrange a small piece of the Alps on your site? Call - 8-499-397-82-02-51 we know how to do it!
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When choosing a stone for building a rock garden, aesthetic criterion is one of the main ones.
If possible, use stones of the same color and similar shape. Rounded smooth boulders are more suitable for a flat garden, blocks with sharp protrusions are more suitable for a high hill, and layered stone slabs are more suitable for creating stone terraces, steps, paths and retaining walls.
The color of the stones is also desirable to be uniform. The diversity of the hill should be given by plants, not stones. The stones must be proportional to one another inside the rock garden, in addition, they must be in relation to the surrounding buildings and decorative garden elements.
If you are going to build a high slide, then you will need large blocks of stone. A tall pile of small stones looks more like a pile of construction waste and does not decorate the garden at all.
If you only have small stones at your disposal, it is better to make the rock garden more flat and give preference to low plants.
Remember that garden visitors will involuntarily compare the size of the stone and the height of the plants. Planting tall plants visually reduces the height of the slide, and if you plant such a plant at the top (in the geometric center), it can negate your efforts to create a decorative effect.
Small stones of the same texture can be held together with cement mortar, and then the main visual means will be the lines of the terraces, and not the stones themselves.
This design will require stones of similar sizes. In a large rock garden, large blocks form the basis of the composition; it is natural to emphasize them with smaller stones, and neighboring stones should be similar in size, color and shape.
Very small stones can be placed close to each other, filling the gaps between them with small plants that will not hide them as they grow.
Use Levisia, Juvenile, Sedum. A sharp dimensional contrast can only be used if you are creating a flat garden with a laconic composition.
In the climate of central Russia, stones, like plants, have to exist in conditions of variable temperature and humidity.
The most destructive are alternating frosts and thaws during a wet winter. Drops of water penetrate microscopic cracks, freeze and expand them.
Over time, this leads to erosion and destruction of the stones. Minerals of volcanic origin - granites and basalts - are among the most durable stones that resist erosion well.
These minerals were once molten while forming deep within the Earth and have few pores or cracks for water to seep into.
Granites and basalts have high mechanical strength: you will not be able to change the shape of the acquired stone without special tools.
The disadvantages of these minerals include high density (even small boulders have a large mass and are difficult to work with) and high cost.
Some believe that granites increase background radiation in the area. Indeed, the content of radioactive substances in granites is slightly higher compared to other rocks.
However, much more radioactive particles are in the air, and more than one generation of Muscovites has been living in houses lined with granite and using the metro, in the construction of which granite is widely used.
So the environmental danger of granites is clearly exaggerated.
Limestones, sandstones, shell rocks are sedimentary rocks that were once compressed from small particles.
Stones from these rocks often have bizarre shapes, have cavities formed as a result of erosion processes, and sometimes the imprints of ancient animals or plants are visible on them.
These stones are lighter and cheaper than granite or basalt, but they are less durable. The more pores there are in the stone and the more calcium carbonate it contains, the faster it deteriorates.
For example, in the limestones near Moscow (the “white stone” from which ancient Moscow was built) there are relatively few pores and erosion is slow.
But when large-porous Inkerman limestone (a deposit near Sevastopol) began to be used for the restoration of white stone structures, cracks appeared on it within 3-4 years.
And from the rock garden of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where southern limestones were used, up to 200-300 kg of small limestone particles have to be removed annually.
Weeds readily settle in limestone cracks and sandstone cavities, the roots of which penetrate the stone, destroying it. In addition, limestone easily interacts with air and soil acids, reducing its acidity.
It is contraindicated to plant heathers next to limestone blocks, and the plants also feel worse. Some, on the contrary, believe that erosion processes give the rocky hill a natural appearance.
In addition, sometimes other stones are not available, and then you have to use limestone in the rock garden.
Note that limestone and sandstone are especially good for creating rock gardens in the southern regions. There is little precipitation there, moisture quickly evaporates under the scorching sun, and in winter there are less temperature changes.
Tuff and pumice have the largest pores and cavities.
Even large pieces of rock weigh relatively little and can be freely moved around the site in search of the optimal aesthetic solution.
Tuff and pumice stones look good and are easy to shape into any shape. However, of all the stones used in rock gardens, tuff is the most short-lived in northern climates.
But thanks to its low density, it is perfect for a rock garden on a balcony or indoors. Marble is one of the most expensive and most decorative stones for landscape design. However, the alpine garden style involves the use of less flashy materials.
In a rock garden, large blocks of marble look too pompous. Marble is more appropriate for a regular park in the Baroque style, for fountains, steps, and patios.
It would seem that durability and lightness cannot be combined in stone. But human ingenuity has no limits. In the West, plastic imitations of stone are increasingly being used.
Plastic can be given any color and shape, and holes can be made in large parts to reduce mass. The main enemy of plastic is not moisture, but light, but destruction from ultraviolet radiation can also be combated with special additives.
Plastic stones for landscape design are not yet common on the domestic market.
An intricate composition of rocks and mountain plants will be a wonderful addition to the design of your garden plot.
By approaching the creation of a rock garden wisely, you can independently create a beautiful and whimsical hill with bright greenery and fragrant flowers.
And here, what stones were chosen for the alpine slide is of no small importance.
Which stones are better to choose?
Each of them has different acidity, fragility, ability to weather, as well as absorb air and moisture. Therefore, it is necessary to choose stones taking into account the characteristics of the plants that you plan to plant.
Stones are available in various varieties. So, today the following species are considered ideal breeds for landscape design, in particular, the creation of slides:
- Sandstone
- Granite
- Limestone
Let's talk about each breed separately.
Sandstone
Due to its coarse-grained structure, smooth sandstone is simply created for use for decorative purposes. In addition, it has a wide variety of shades: cream, red, sand, brown.
Another advantage of this stone for alpine slides is its slow aging, i.e. sandstone remains strong for a long time, and is also an excellent basis for planting.
This type of stone easily combines with any greenery, so you can safely give preference to the plants you like without fear that the “sandstone” will not get along with them.
Granite
Granite boulders are stones with a dense, fine-grained structure. They, like sandstone, are offered in a variety of shades. A little advice: if you decide to create a rock garden yourself, choose light-colored granite.
The advantages of granite include its high strength, but at the same time we should not forget that it is very difficult to process, because has a lot of weight.
Before wondering where to get a stone for an alpine slide, make sure that the plants you choose will get along with it. Granite affects the acidity of the soil, so conifers, heathers and rhododendrons are most often combined with it.
It is best to use this stone to create individual elements of slides that adjoin the banks of reservoirs. It is in these places that granite looks very natural.
Limestone
Limestone rocks include fissured tuff and decorative dolomite. They are simply created for landscaping.
Limestone is notable for the fact that it allows air and moisture to pass through, and also normalizes the composition of the soil, creating an optimal environment for growing alpine plants.
Limestone looks the most natural and harmonious, because... Over time, its surface becomes covered with moss and lichens. It is also the most convenient stone to process, because... its corners smooth out independently as a result of the influence of weather conditions.
You can buy such a stone for an alpine slide in several colors: white, gray, golden, cream, with a bluish tint. This allows you to bring any design idea to life, no matter how extravagant it may seem.
But at the same time, it affects the composition of the soil, so it cannot be combined with plants growing in acidic soils.
Among the variety of rocks You can also use slate and any material with a layered structure, including textured slate granite (gneiss).
Many people build slides from ordinary stones that can be found along the road. They are granite boulders created by glaciers in ancient times. Among them, only occasionally you can find pieces of limestone and other minerals.
You can purchase stones for an alpine slide in specialized stores. Breeds should be chosen thoughtfully and carefully. It is advisable that stones of the same type participate in the creation of a rock garden.
The main idea of the rock garden is to recreate the natural mountain landscape on the site. To achieve the natural appearance of an alpine slide, stones and plants are carefully selected when creating it. Any design objects must replicate the natural alpine landscape, adding a unique flavor to the site.
Rocks for rock garden
When constructing an alpine slide, it is important to give it a natural appearance. Therefore, the choice of stones is an important step towards creating a picturesque decorative rock garden. It’s ideal if you look at photographs of alpine views on the Internet or in landscape magazines. When “observation” appears, the hands themselves will do as needed.
See step-by-step instructions. Another option is a special type of rocky flower garden, in which large stones and low-growing ornamental plants occupy most of the surface.
Where to get stones for a rock garden
Each owner himself produces stones for the rock garden. You can buy them (in an online store) or get them yourself in the mountains, on the sea coast, in quarries, and local quarries.
8 tips for selecting stones for a rock garden
- Buy stones yourself, so as not to get a pig in a poke.
- Choose unpolished stones with a natural texture to look as natural as possible.
- Use rocks only - limestones (white, golden, cream), sandstone (gray and red), tuff (travertine), granite , slate .
- Give preference to stones with beautiful, graphic shapes and curves.
- Avoid using concrete chips and compressed stone.
- For one rock garden, stick to one type of stone and use only that.
- Arrange the stones randomly (do not make even rows).
- Try to choose the most favorable angle for each stone to demonstrate its beauty and shape.
When creating an alpine slide, stones weighing from 10 to 100 kg are used. For a rock garden measuring approx. 2 x 3 m will require at least 2 tons of stone.
Plants for rock garden
Landscape designers argue that only alpine plants that grow wild in the Himalayas, Alps and Rocky Mountains can grow in rock gardens. And it is right! Not all plants are suitable for a rock garden, even if they are low-growing and ground cover.
Plant plants on the alpine hill in a chaotic manner. There are 3 ways to plant plants:
- using an embankment and creating a raised flower bed,
- on a stone wall or on artificially created rocks,
- create an alpine lawn or path.
Names of plants for rock garden
For ease of perception, we will divide the list of plants into several groups: primroses and bulbous plants, herbs, ground cover, low-growing and medicinal plants.
Primroses and other bulbous plants for rock gardens:
- white flower,
- crocuses,
- muscari,
- scilla,
- lumbago,
- Pushkinia,
- chionodoxa,
- low growing iris,
- and etc.
Read more about growing, planting and caring for bulbous plants in the following articles:
Perennial plants for rock gardens:
- fescue,
- gypsophila,
- sorrel,
- alpine poppy,
- sunflower,
- tomentose yarrow,
- evening primrose,
- Hawkgirl.
Read more about growing and using perennial plants in design:
Ground cover plants for rock gardens:
- saxifrage,
- sedums (low-growing and groundcover species),
- plantain,
- phlox subulate,
- Burachek,
- gentian,
- Duchesnea,
- creeping tenacious,
- Iberis,
- semolina,
- spurge,
- aubrieta,
- rezuha,
- mother of thousands,
- erinus.
Low-growing plants for rock gardens:
- low growing bows,
- Azorella three-forked,
- low growing aster,
- pinnate carnation,
- geraniums,
- Carpathian bell,
- coreopsis,
- cat's paw,
- penstemon,
- breaker,
- cyclamens,
- edelweiss,
- splint.
Medicinal plants for rock garden:
- skullcap,
- rhodiola,
- Colchicum,
- snakehead,
- bloodroot.
Plants are aggressors for rock gardens
Aggressive plants grow quickly, occupy large areas and can crowd out rarer representatives of your rock garden. Therefore, they must be planted with caution.
These include:
- rock alyssum,
- Aubrietta
- sedums,
- rezuha.
- yaskolka
Also, low-growing species of bulbous plants and dwarf coniferous trees or shrubs are planted in rock gardens.
Coniferous plants for rock garden
Coniferous plants set the rhythm and core of the composition, so if they are placed correctly, you can achieve delightful views of an alpine slide. Representatives of conifers in rock gardens can be shaped for a more luxuriant crown and bushiness. Spruce trees, for example, can be trimmed, and the tips of fresh shoots of pine trees can be pinched.
Low-growing coniferous plants for rock gardens
- mountain pine (various varieties),
- black spruce “Nana”, dwarf spruce “Little Gem”,
- thuja occidentalis (some varieties, for example “Hetz Midget”),
- yew berry “Standishii”,
- microbiota,
- junipers,
- balsam fir "Abies balsamea", Korean, single color,
- pseudotsuga (compact varieties),
- drooping thujopsis "Thujopsis dolabrata".
