Do-it-yourself Olympic hill. Alpine slide: design instructions

Now it is very fashionable to have an alpine hill at their summer cottage. The fact is that this design pleases the eye of a person who likes to relax after work in the country, for example.

As a rule, alpine slides are created with the help of professionals. It is obvious that this good way get a quality alpine slide. But you need to keep in mind that the work of professionals will be expensive. Therefore, more and more often, many summer residents create rock gardens on their own. In fact, there are no difficulties in the work. In two days you can create an excellent alpine slide with your own hands. It is only necessary to know some of the subtleties of the work.

Alpine slide is created in several stages. So, first choose appropriate place in the area for her. Then we create a drainage system. As soon as these works are completed, we lay out the stones and pour the earth. In the final stage, planting is carried out. And now we will tell you in detail about each stage of the work.

For an alpine slide, a place is chosen that is noticeable at the entrance to the site. It is important that there is a lot of light. Stones and plants should be placed so that everything looks as natural as possible. Shaded area is not suitable. Alpine slide is created for everyone to see it. In addition, you need to choose a level place as much as possible.

In order for the alpine slide to constantly have a beautiful view, you need to create a foundation so that the structure does not sag. And the drainage system helps with this. So let's dig a hole. The depth of the pit can reach two meters. For drainage, we use sand, gravel or crushed stone. But you can't use sawdust. In the end, lay out the earth and tamp it down.

Stones for the alpine slide are laid out in tiers. Below we put the largest boulders, below - small stones. The smaller the alpine slide, the smaller the stones should be. Everything is in proportion.

It is noteworthy that there is no definite scheme for placing stones on an alpine hill. The main thing is to do everything so that you like it. The rest is rubbish. Any design will be considered correct. It is best to use homogeneous natural stones so that the alpine slide looks natural. Alpine slide should be beautiful even without plants. The stones are laid out in such a way that plants will be planted on the hill. Use fertile soil.

The soil on the alpine hill is prepared independently. You can use peat, black soil, clay, organic fertilizers, sand and much more.

It is important to choose the right plants for the alpine slide. An important condition is unpretentiousness. In addition, it is necessary to use only those plants that are found in the wild. So the alpine slide will look as natural as possible. You can even buy evergreen bushes that will delight you all year round.

Alpine hill can have a height of up to three meters. Building it can be very difficult. In Eastern culture, alpine slides have existed for more than three millennia. IN Western countries the construction came not so long ago from China and Japan.

Finally, important condition at - maximum proximity to natural nature. Only natural stones are used, which are laid out not strictly, as in the construction of a house, but more randomly.

Today on the Internet you can find many schemes of alpine slides for different areas. There are simple designs, as well as complex slides that a professional can obviously create.

You can always hire specialists who will create a masterpiece on your site called "alpine hill". The design, first of all, should please not only you, but also guests who can come to the country house or Vacation home. Caring for a small slide will be easy. As a rule, the same work is performed as on. Plants are fertilized, watered, transplanted on time.

No mercy for those who call a bunch of stones and earth a rock garden! Landscape designer Olga Kirillova reveals professional secrets creating a real alpine landscape in the garden and gives valuable advice. The author will analyze typical mistakes, and at the end of the publication you will find a bonus: a large table with the types and varieties of plants for the alpine slide, the features of their care and an indication of the growth rate.

If you are confident in your abilities - do not be afraid of strict criticism from a specialist, do as your heart tells you, based on the practical recommendations received. Moreover, some rules can be neglected, but some must be followed. Strictly, critically, to the point - this is the article that we bring to your attention.

Alpine hill in the country

An alpine hill, or rock garden, is a small architectural element of a garden plot, which is both a flower garden and a small architectural form at the same time. Roughly speaking, on an artificially created small hill there is a flower garden with stones and sometimes water elements. A hill can be created in absolutely any shape and size, but, in my opinion, it is fundamentally wrong to create a miniature-sized structure in the corner of a flower garden and call it an alpine hill. We'll talk about this a little later.

Almost every customer of mine asks to allocate a place for an alpine slide on his site, as this is a very common, although not cheap element of gardening. But, years go by and landscape designers, adhering to modern trends and guided by own experience, try to use it as little as possible in their gardens, despite the fact that amateur gardeners insist on originality, uniqueness and the need for a slide in their areas.

In this article, I do not want to praise this form of site gardening so zealously, as the authors of other articles on the same topic do. I would like to talk with you about real things and real situations that you may encounter during and most importantly - after the implementation of the alpine slide on your site.

Variety of alpine slides

Each alpine slide is unique. There will not be a single stone and not a single plant that will be located in it in the same way. Of course, in their structure, all rock gardens are approximately similar, but they are often used to play with certain elements of the garden: stairs, retaining wall, uneven ground, a pond or a key beating on the site. Since the situations on the sites are always different, then the slide at each garden will have its own character and its own unique atmosphere.

For decoration, plants use perennials, coniferous and deciduous shrubs and sometimes dwarf trees, but this is not always the case. In general, placement is not typical for a classic rock garden. coniferous trees and shrubs, but in order to preserve the longest possible decorativeness of the flower garden, this rule can be neglected.

All plants should be frost-resistant and undemanding to watering. It is desirable to select slow growing plants, then you can spend less time controlling the growth of planting zones.

Do it yourself or trust the designer?

This is what real alpine landscapes look like:

Beautiful, isn't it? Probably, everyone, admiring such landscapes, is ready to feel the frosty clean air with an admixture of sweet aromas of flowering plants. Of course, most gardeners want to get closer to the beautiful or bring the beautiful closer to themselves near their home, therefore, inspired by such photographs, a person who has no experience in creating begins to draw diagrams and plan where this structure will be located on his site.

Here's what happens in the end...

It doesn't seem like an inspiration to me. Of course, we have limited land plots and financially we are often not ready to spray, but why do such flower beds look so strange? A pile of land clogged with stones and randomly scattered plants cannot become the PEARL of your site. In my circle of friends among landscape designers, we call such alpine slides “dog graves” ... Please don’t get angry, those who still like this, but not beaten in any way, a small mound that has appeared among the lawn or at the corner of a flower garden, lined with pebbles and flowers with which it is not associated with anything else. Look again at the shapes of the slides shown in the photo above, at their location on the site - you should never do this!

Creating an alpine slide is really an extremely laborious process. Without the experience of creation, it is insanely difficult to make something with taste. I remember when I created my first slide… Now I can’t even look without tears. It is important to take into account absolutely every stroke, the stones that will be used, their location, the height of the embankment, the location on the site, the placement and abundance of plants on it.

In addition, this is not a cheap pleasure, if you do everything at once. On the most unattractive-looking flower garden, depending on the size, a self-taught owner can spend from 50,000 to 150,000 rubles. If you make a good slide of a decent appearance, then you need to count on an amount above 300,000 rubles (at least in the Moscow region).

The larger the flower garden, the more natural it looks, more natural and is not associated with anything bad. But, of course, the larger the size, the significantly more expensive.

Should I do it myself or trust the designers? Looking at what gardeners get, I still recommend contacting a designer who has Practical experience in the creation of alpine slides. It will not be much more expensive, if not for the same money that you yourself would spend, but it will look as it should, and not as it turns out ...

How to build an alpine slide with your own hands

When is the best time to start making an alpine slide

The construction of an alpine slide begins with the selection of a place on the site. It should be protected from the wind and slightly shaded.

The slide itself can be done at any time you like during the entire summer season, but with the time of planting the plants you will have to decide in advance. If you are going to seed some perennial species, then most often this is done in the fall, but it is better to plant perennial seedlings in the spring - it will be easier to determine the number and place of planting and transplant if something happens. If the plants were purchased in pots, then there are no specific planting dates, since the root system is formed and does not suffer during transplantation.

As I said above, it is extremely important to organically fit the rock garden into the surrounding area so that it does not look like a randomly formed pile. To do this, be prepared to use a solid area. It’s good when the garden smoothly flows into an alpine hill, that is, as you approach it, stones and similar plants begin to appear more and more often, this will connect and balance the transition.

I recommend not to make artificial sharp borders of the flower garden. If on one side the rock garden limits the path, then extend its part on its other side. On the other hand, it is not necessary to lift the ground strongly and lay large boulders, a few strokes are enough to complete the composition. If the alpine slide, bounded by the path, is quite large, then it is not necessary to extend it on the other side.

When we drew a diagram of the location of the flower garden on the site and a planting diagram, I would also recommend making a flowering diagram. You decorate all the views selected and located on the diagram with the color of their main decorative effect in May, June, July and August. You will be surprised how clear it becomes where to plant, what to exclude and what to add to your rock garden for permanent decoration. Otherwise, it may turn out like this: your flower garden was green, then it bloomed all at once in the summer, and after that it began to fade with bald patches and locally lose its decorative effect.

How to start building an alpine slide

The construction itself begins with the calculation of the volume of the required material in cubes. If you need to create a fairly large level of a flower garden with terraces, but you want to save money, then you can lay inverted layers of turf as a base. They dug up a pillow with weeds where they get in the way and put them in the skeleton of an alpine slide - two useful things at once.

After we fall asleep according to the intended form of the earth. Try to keep it as natural as possible. In nature, round or oval mounds look alien ... The line of the flower garden should be landscape and dynamic.

Based on the situation, you should very carefully calculate the required volume of imported soil and stones so that you do not have to buy more, overpaying for delivery.

How to calculate the volume of materials for an alpine slide?

For large perennials, it is good if the fertile layer of the soil you pour is 15 - 30 cm. It can be less, but the less, the worse the plants will grow. If the area of ​​our flower garden is 50 m², and the thickness of the poured soil is 30 cm, then we order 15 m³ of fertile land. This is approximately one car. For the form itself, the skeleton, where we use turf or waste land, there is no approximate calculation. This will depend on the shape and height of the desired embankment. Rubble stone (fraction up to 50 cm) for such an area will also be enough 10-15 m³ (one truck).

While I was writing this article, one gardener asked me a question: Is it necessary to create a drainage layer of sand and gravel at the base of the slide?

I answer everyone who asked the same question: you can create a layer if there is nowhere to put an extra penny. In practice, there is simply no tangible difference. The only thing is, if during the construction of a house on your site there are heaps of spoiled earth with rubble, sand and stones, you can use them at the base, or arrange a slide directly on them (to save money and labor costs).

What tool will you need to create a rock garden

The best tool in creating an alpine slide is five workers ... But seriously, the construction of a flower garden frame with the placement of stones is an extremely time-consuming process that you can do alone only if you want to overstrain. The larger the boulders, the more picturesque they look, but it is extremely difficult to arrange them.

In addition to the heroic workforce, you will need shovels, gloves, rubber boots, pegs with thread for lining the form and a rake.

How long does it take to build an alpine slide

Depending on the funds and desire, as well as the start time of work on the alpine slide, construction may take no more than a year.

If in early spring You start making a frame of a flower bed with a height of more than 30-40 cm, arrange stones, then after the soil settles (about a month later, if it rained), you can confidently plant plants and not be afraid that the stones will crawl or a hole will form.

If the height of the rock garden is small, then plants can be planted immediately after the base is constructed.

What to look for so that the slide retains its beauty for a long time

Probably the most important thing to really pay attention to is the plants that will be used in your alpine slide. Namely, the abundance of species and their number per square meter.

I understand that there are a lot of plants suitable for her and they are all so cool that I want to use them as much as possible. BUT! Harmoniously and naturally will look only large groups one kind. After all, we are creating an alpine landscape, and there plants, untouched by man, have grown over the years, forming indescribable carpets. These are the carpets we need to create.

If we use ground cover plants, then it is worth taking only a few species, but a lot, organizing a carpet or a basis for a future carpet. When we add simple perennial bushes, we add them locally and a little so that they grow quietly in the area allotted to them and do not outweigh the composition. Coniferous shrubs and undersized trees will look great. They will be the basis for year-round decoration.

If on early stages do not overdo it with thickening planting, then in the near future you will not have to urgently plant them. I often encounter such a problem as an excessive excess of plants in the flower beds of customers. Of course, almost always the owner wants to have a visually complete and finished item garden, but there is no understanding that literally in the second year the plants begin to grow and stifle less aggressive species that are lost, wither and eventually spoil general form. We have to dig, turn up the entire planting, damage the established plants and look for a new seat for the vacant ones. In addition, this is an overpayment for planting material, and even wealthy people do not need extra expenses at all.

How to choose stones for rock garden. Laying stones for an alpine slide

Don't turn your rock garden into a rockery or a pile of rough-hewn cobblestones! Very often I meet people who go too far with stones. They are available in a wide variety of colors and shapes on the market. So beautiful, already salivating, and, of course, I want to decorate the site with them as much as possible.

Illustrative examples of enumeration of stones.

A large number of stones will look good on large areas with a corresponding transition of the site into a rock garden.

But if you set out to create an alpine landscape on the site small size, about the impossible beauty and the same impossible high prices forget. We buy an ordinary rubble stone of large fractions and place it in groups on a flower garden and a little on the site. As you understand, it is possible to guess where all the stones will lie only approximately, so we focus on the spot.

If you are going to create a beating spring with a stream on your alpine hill, then you can use fine gravel or rubble to fill the gutter. Materials should be used only similar in structure. Otherwise, it will look foreign, beat in the eyes.

If you use a rounded flat stone or flagstone, then, as you understand, this will go against the alpine theme.

Near the spring, it is good to create an imitation of a rockfall: large rubble stones interspersed with rubble rubble of large and medium fractions. Thus, it is possible to make the transition from large stones to filling the gutter of the stream.

Plants for an alpine slide

For landscaping an alpine slide, you can use annual, perennial, cereal plants, as well as coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs. Of course, trees in this case mean dwarf compact forms.

All plants selected for rock garden should be undemanding to moisture and frost-resistant. Since you are creating an artificial hill, you should be prepared for faster moisture loss and weathering. It is best to protect plantings from the north side to protect them from cold northerly winds.

When using any plant in an alpine hill, special attention should be paid to its growth rate and aggressiveness. Since we need to create a harmonious and more or less diverse carpet of plants that would look neat, we should limit the growth of "aggressors" by digging a plastic or metal edge around the growth zone so that we do not have to thin out the plantings later.

To fill the voids among freshly planted perennials, trees and shrubs while they grow, someone uses decorative mulch, but I recommend planting annual plants. Mulch is washed out pretty quickly and spoils the whole look, and with the help of annuals, you can diversify your flower garden with different colors for the first couple of years.

Steps to create an alpine slide on the site

And now let's put it on the shelves what you have to do if you decide to independent construction alpine hill.

1. We create a plan-scheme for the location of an alpine hill on a site with a calendar of flowering plants.
2. We calculate the amount of required materials: earth, stones, plants and seeds, as well as other materials (in case a stream, fountain, spring, etc. will be created).
3. We mark the future flower garden with pegs, adjust the shape in place.
4. We create a skeleton of a slide from an inverted turf or soil spoiled during the construction.
5. Laying large boulders.
6. We pour the soil to give the final shape of the flower garden.
7. Water and let the water soak in. We are waiting for shrinkage if the rock garden is high.
8. If you are making an artificial cyclical stream, then we lay a PVC hose or pipe on the side of the gutter. We also hide the wiring of the backlight and the pump in a black corrugation or HDPE pipe.
9. We lay geotextiles (or used advertising banners) in those places where there will be a stream chute and a bowl at the source of a spring or fountain.
10. We add soil in places where the earth has sat down.
11. Pour small stones or rubble rubble.
12. Planting plants and watering.

Assortment of plants for the alpine slide

When choosing plants for an alpine slide, it is most difficult to determine their species and varieties. After all, they have different needs, growth rates and sizes.

Especially for you, I made a table perennials, which displays the types and varieties of plants, sizes, their relationship to light, watering and growth rate. I hope this will help you in creating your original rock garden.

Of course, these are not all possible types of plants that are used on an alpine hill. These, in my opinion, are the most interesting and deserve your attention.

landscape design specialists in Lately offer 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 the tenderness of colors and the hardness of 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, many people dream of making an alpine slide in their summer cottage. 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 country house where you can enjoy the atmosphere of beauty and tranquility.

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 garden decorations are called slides 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 big amount 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 at a sufficiently 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 decorative flowers with a long flowering period should be planted around them. 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 not very high altitude. 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 doing 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 on 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 an odd number of 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 plaster or granite figurines, amphorae and bowls, plastic and glass products will be 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 stone flower garden with a waterfall, either small pond, try to find a place on the site with a small hollow or with 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 than large 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!

picturesque landscape Alpine mountains inspired gardeners to create alpine slides, which traditionally consist of a combination of stone with mountain plants

Relatively recently, in landscape design, classic flower beds, ridges and plaster sculptures have been replaced by new types of site decoration - rock gardens. They are arranged in rich estates and summer cottages, in city gardens and squares, on lawns near offices and in restaurant areas. Properly and tastefully selected stones and plants will create a zone of luxury, aesthetics and peace even on the most modest piece of land near the country house.

An alpine hill densely planted with plants opens the eye with its bright, rich colors

Being a peculiar and very time-consuming decoration of the landscape, rock gardens seem difficult to perform and inaccessible decorative elements. However, if you understand the technology of creation, then an alpine slide in the country can be arranged without the involvement of expensive designers.

A piece of the Alps in your country house

When developing the design of alpine slides, you need to consider that this is an imitation of rocky natural areas. This means that the basis of the composition should be stones and creeping low plants, characteristic of high-mountain areas. And the definition of "hill" dictates general form rock garden - a hill with obligatory elements: a sole, slopes and top.

Rock garden - a "highlight" that can instantly transform the appearance of a garden landscape

There are several options for rock gardens, which repeat their appearance in different parts of the highlands:

• rocky cliff - a heap of almost bare large boulders with a minimum of plants in niches and "pockets";

The combination of functionality and decorative function: stone steps and rocky rock garden

Larger plants are planted on the tops of the rolling pin, emphasizing the dynamics of the height difference.

• mountain slope - a complex high composition of stones different sizes and with a great variety of creeping and low-growing plants;

To design such a rock garden use dwarf plants, as well as large boulders imitating rock fragments

• a valley in the mountains - large stones, partially protruding from the ground, surrounded by profusely flowering ornamental plants;

The natural landscape made it possible to create a flowering stone hill with little effort.

• the gorge is the most difficult to perform, but also the most spectacular type of rock garden, which can be placed in a natural hollow, framing the slopes with stones and planting representatives of the rock flora.

Neatly stacked stones in the shape of a semicircle in a composition with flowering plants - a spectacular club in your yard

Rockery is considered a separate species - a garden of stones, which are the main " actors”, in contrast to the rock garden, where the stones serve as a backdrop for plants.

As a site for the creation of rockeries any will do landscape of the area, including absolutely flat ground

How to make an alpine slide on a personal plot?

If you have firmly decided that an alpine slide created by your own hands will become the decoration of your garden, a step-by-step instruction will give you the opportunity to avoid gross mistakes and get the desired result. Before starting work, sketch out a rock garden sketch - this will help you decide how much space it will occupy, what configuration it will have and how many tiers you will do on it. You can even roughly estimate how much an alpine slide will cost you - a scaled diagram will help you calculate how many and what kind of stones you will need, how much drainage, sand and soil will need to be prepared. You need to make a scheme in relation to the terrain in order to use all the advantageous moments of the already existing landscape.

Creative decoration of rock gardens - a clay bowl with plants

1. When deciding on a place for a future rock garden, do not forget that you will need to look at it - choose the most favorable angles. In addition, think - you might want to spend your free time near him. Then you will need an adjoining flat area with paths, a place for a table and a hearth.

The path from the rock garden leads directly to the recreation area

A cozy corner to relax in the "rock garden"

• The planted plants for the alpine slide will need solar heat - it means that the slopes must be oriented to the south and east.
• Very interesting visual effects will be obtained when using the natural unevenness of the relief - decorative elements inscribed in the natural landscape will be a great addition to it.

Spectacular alpine slide with a small pond

This is not an imitation of the landscape, but simply an artistic composition of asymmetrically arranged stone blocks with paths between them and plant compositions.

1. The next step is to transfer your circuit to the site. Make the marking with the help of a string or by filling the necessary lines with a contrasting material - sand, lime. This will allow you to look at the intended location of the rock garden from the side. Perhaps you decide to slightly change its configuration in accordance with the terrain.

Rock garden serves bright decoration garden, standing out against the background of a green lawn

1. Having approved the choice of a place, you need to prepare the site for laying stones. Soil, mostly consisting of clay or black earth, will have to be drained; sandy soils do not need such preparation. For drainage, the earth is taken out to a depth of at least 30 cm, the pit is filled building materials large fractions, tamp and cover with the removed soil flush with the surrounding ground. To compact the loosened soil, it is shed with water.

A miniature rock garden with dwarf plants placed along the perimeter of the terrace will add personality to your seating area.

1. The largest boulders are laid along the perimeter of the prepared site. If necessary, they can be buried in the soil - then they will have more natural look. The internal space is filled with soil, which will become the basis for the next tier, as well as a habitat for plants.

A composition of stones, located from the main facade of the house, is a great addition to the image of your home.

• Having retreated the estimated distance from the first row, they put in the next chain of stones, maintaining the desired configuration of the rock garden.

Advice! When laying large stones, leave free space between them, which will be filled with soil - the planted plants will need a place to develop the root system.

1. After completing right amount tiers, make out the top. To do this, you can lay one large stone, or use several small ones, folded in a pyramid. This will prevent soil erosion, as well as complete the composition.

It is better to start work on laying the rock garden in the fall, then by spring the soil poured between the stones will sit down, and it will be possible to fill up all the voids that have formed. In addition, before planting the plants, you will have the opportunity to make final adjustments to the placement of the stones.

Vertical blooming alpine composition creates a romantic mood

Retaining wall in the form of a rock garden - a new salvation from "boring" walls

Advice!The main rule is that the rock garden should look decorative and beautiful even without flowers. Stones should create a stable and extremely natural composition in a harmonious and balanced way. The less symmetry it has, the more organic it will look.

Pride of the homeowner - do-it-yourself alpine slide

The implemented step-by-step instructions for the alpine slide will give you the opportunity to create a real masterpiece of landscape design on your site. And to make it perfect, we will reveal some secrets that will help you in your work:

A mini-rock garden in a flower bed is very relevant for small courtyards where there is no place for standard stone compositions.

To create a miniature rock garden, you only need dwarf plants, pebbles and a terracotta pot

• Stones for an alpine slide need to be selected of the same type, of the same breed. Then the rock garden will look extremely natural.

Rock garden with a pond, decorated with stones of approximately the same shape

A high hill, built of stones and green spaces, can serve as a site fencing

• The size of the stones should correspond to the area occupied by the rock garden - the larger it is, the larger the boulders can be used to fill it.
• When choosing flowers for an alpine slide, be guided by the timing of their flowering. Maximum decorativeness is achieved with a continuous series of various flowering spots on the surface of the rock garden you create.

Minimalistic version of rock gardens - simplicity that emphasizes the architecture in the background

• The species composition of plants must be selected from undersized and evergreen options. Then the rock garden will not hide behind lush greenery, and in the fall you will not have to choose fallen leaves among the stones.
• For a slide, you can take a couple of undersized coniferous plants. They fit perfectly between the stones without cluttering them up. Between them it is good to place creeping or integumentary species - green spots between the stones look very decorative. flowering plants also pick up short stature and with small flowers.

The most popular plants for rock garden:

• dwarf spruce,
• thuja,
• juniper,

Juniper looks beautiful in composition with stones

• cypress,
• cotoneaster,

When arranging an alpine hill, you should certainly take into account the features of the landscape and, based on this, choose the appropriate improvement option

• dryad,
• iberis,
• young,
• rocky beetroot,

Mountain waterfalls are also characteristic of the Alpine landscapes.

• carnation short stem,
• saxifrage

Saxifrage will bring color accents to the alpine corner

If there is a ledge or unevenness in your dacha, plot or garden, make an alpine hill.

Firstly, such a flower bed is very beautiful, in a year its stony cliffs will cover with a solid carpet lovely cushions of flowers, herbs and mosses.

Secondly, the construction of the rock garden itself is a fascinating activity. Here you need to think everything over: where to plant coniferous shrub, which stones and perennials to choose, so that a colored carpet in the middle of a rock scree plays with colors for a whole year.

And, thirdly, if the soil in your dacha is poor, sandy or rocky, and is completely unsuitable for organizing other types of flower beds, then alpine hill plants in such conditions, on the contrary, will develop normally and bloom well.

Types of rock gardens

There are several options for rock gardens, which repeat their appearance in different parts of the highlands:

• rocky cliff - a heap of almost bare large boulders with a minimum of plants in niches and "pockets";
• mountain slope - a complex high composition of stones of different sizes and with a wide variety of creeping and undersized plants;
• a valley in the mountains - large stones, partially protruding from the ground, surrounded by profusely flowering ornamental plants;
• the gorge is the most difficult to perform, but also the most spectacular type of rock garden, which can be placed in a natural hollow, framing the slopes with stones and planting representatives of the rock flora.

Choosing a place for an alpine slide

When choosing a place for an alpine slide, it is important to provide for the following conditions:

1. Open location - the slide should be visible from all corners of the garden.
2. The rock garden is located on a bright, sunny, not shaded tall trees, location.
3. It is better to build a rocky hill in a place isolated from the wind.
4. Depending on the design of the territory in a single style, it is planned to plant certain types of vegetation in the rock garden.

In landscape design, there are many styles of garden design, including elements of a desert landscape, rocky gardens, ponds and bridges, which must be in harmony with the erected hill.

Making a slide with your own hands is most preferable when decorating a garden. By doing the work yourself, you can avoid the high costs of the services of a landscape architect. Having step-by-step photos and schemes for arranging the slide, it will not be difficult to do the construction of a rock garden with your own hands.

Basic rules for arranging an alpine slide

Professional designers have long developed typical schemes arranging an alpine slide, taking into account all the smallest nuances associated with its location and the desire to plant certain plants:

• If the rock garden is located in the center of the site, it can be viewed from all sides, then its shape should resemble a pyramid with the highest point in the center of the composition. Not necessarily such a design has the same sides and top point in the middle of the rock garden. The less symmetry is maintained, the more interesting the composition is;
• A rock garden on a slope can be either single-level, parallel to the slope surface, or multi-level, reducing the height of elements and plants from a further point down;
• How smaller size horizontal elements - the more original the visual perception of the slide, the more interesting it is to consider it, each time coming across a completely the new kind just by changing the angle of view. A properly equipped alpine slide (photo) should resemble a wild forest, constantly surprising with new discoveries.

Its height depends on the area occupied by the slide. IN classic version per meter of approximate diameter at the base should be about 20 cm above the ground.

What stones should be chosen for the alpine slide

Stones for the alpine slide, first of all, perform a decorative function, but various breeds have different degrees of brittleness, different degrees of moisture absorption, so it is better to have an idea about some properties of stones in order to make right choice. Most often today, limestone, sandstone and granite are used to create alpine slides.

If you want to plant bright flowers, it is better to choose a stone in a neutral color - it will play the role of a background. When using plants that are not particularly expressive, pick up bright stones - against their background, the plants will look more expressive, more contrasting. When piling up stones different breeds there is a risk that the hill will turn into a pile of cobblestones, use stones of similar shape and similar colors.

The height of the hill also matters - stones with sharp corners are more appropriate for a high embankment, and rounded stones are more suitable for a flat composition. In the water rock garden, sandstone laid out in layers looks good. The slide on your site should look harmonious, without violating the uniform style.

What plants should be chosen for an alpine slide

You need to select plants for rock garden guided by your own taste and imagination, but taking into account the general style and location on the site.

There are a few basic rules to follow:

1. It is imperative to take into account such aspects as:

• Climate;
• soil type;
• Humidity of soil and air.

2. Initially, you need to draw up a diagram and carefully consider the location of each type of plant. Lighting is an important aspect. Plants may not tolerate bright sun or shadow;

3. Another fact that will play a significant role is the size of the plants. It should be calculated according to the size of the rock garden;

4. It is important to remember that alpine slides are not made up of plants alone. They should not only be "diluted" with stones of various kinds and sizes, but it is also possible to equip a waterfall, a pond, etc.;

5. You can not "go too far" with the number of flowers, since an incorrectly calculated number of plants can lead to the fact that one species can crowd out the others if it grows too wide.

Brighter specimens are given more attention. They should be planted more apart.

Once again, we draw your attention to the fact that the alpine hill should bloom all year round, therefore seasonal plants are the following:

• Spring - bulbous plants
• In summer - most of the existing flowers
• Autumn - Colchicums
• In winter - decorative coniferous trees

How to make an alpine slide in the country

The phased creation of an alpine slide requires a certain sequence of actions. When planning, it is taken into account that the rock garden looks as natural as possible when its height does not exceed 1 meter. Facilitate the tasks of the scheme of alpine slides.

Step-by-step instructions on how to arrange a rock garden:

• Site selection. The southern or southwestern side of the infield is preferable.
• Site preparation. Provides a high-quality drainage system.
• Purchase and laying of soil. If the price allows, it is better to buy good soil. Make your own by mixing clay soil with peat 3:1.
• Selection and placement of stones. Depends on the chosen style. It can be shell rock, granite, basalt, limestone, sandstone and others. The color and texture of the stones should be in harmony with the overall picture. To make them look natural, arrange them randomly.
• Selection and planting of plants. Arrange them so that they do not cover the stones and the view of the entire composition. Flowers are planted in front, then low-growing shrubs, and dwarf trees in the background. Flowers of the same color are planted in groups.
• Walkways and steps. They are designed to provide access to the flower garden for care. Avoid sharp corners or straight lines, because they do not exist in nature. For paving, strong and flat stones are selected, which are fixed thoroughly. Ground cover perennials or lawn grass must be sown between them.

Alpine slide in the country with their own hands