How to make a slide in an apartment. Alpine slide - how to make a rock garden with your own hands. Plants for alpine hills

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

Firstly, such a flowerbed is very beautiful; within a year its rocky cliffs will be covered with a continuous carpet of lovely pads of flowers, herbs and mosses.

Secondly, the construction of a rock garden itself is a fascinating activity. Here you need to think through everything: where to plant coniferous shrubs, what stones and perennials to choose, so that the colored carpet in the middle of the rock scree plays with colors all year round.

And thirdly, if the soil at 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.

Not everyone correctly understands what an alpine slide is. The structures made of plants and stones on the site are far from alpine slides.

Rock garden (alpine slide)- This landscape compositions, imitating a mountain landscape with terrace-type areas with stones, squat shrubs and long-flowering perennials.

Let's look at some of the subtleties of designing an alpine slide flower bed

If possible, the rock garden in the garden should be:

isolated from outbuildings, playground, etc.;

proportional to the entire area of the site;

removed from flower beds with bright lush blooms;

located in the most illuminated place of the site, close to the water supply source (if this is not possible, then additional watering points will need to be equipped);

as realistic as possible to the mountain landscape;

located near a house or recreation area.

Many people have thought about how to make an alpine slide with their own hands. And only a few, especially stubborn and patient, decorated their summer cottage with terraced hills. Where did they start? Of course, from the choice of location.

In order for the rocky flower bed to fit organically into environment garden, it is not necessary to look for a large space - alpine plants so compact that it costs nothing to fit dozens of them into a modest area of the slide.

The height of the rock garden should not conflict with the existing landscape. If possible, you need to make sure that the shapes, textures and colors of the slide harmoniously fit into the concept landscape design.

Very expressively alpine decorative flower garden in the garden it looks against the backdrop of dense, tall bushes or small but lush trees.

Do-it-yourself Alpine slide - step-by-step instructions

What materials and tools do you need to buy for an alpine slide?

stones of the same type, river sand, crushed stone, gravel, turf, humus, peat, limestone, earth and planting material;

tape measure, cord, pegs, bayonet shovel, metal crowbar, garden shovel with a long handle, wheelbarrow, scissors, ladle (for scooping out soil from the wide sumps of the hill), garden watering can.

Is everything at hand? Then let's get to work!

Any alpine slide project begins with laying out the site and drawing the outline of the future flower garden (this is where you will need a tape measure, pegs and cord). The area for the flower garden is cleared, the soil layer is removed to a depth of 30-40 cm, weeds are carefully weeded and weeds are removed.

When the clearing is completely finished, it is necessary to make a gravel cushion on the deepened area - add a layer of gravel, slag and construction waste (broken brick, limestone or granite crushed stone), 10 cm thick. This kind of drainage will protect plant roots from waterlogging, preventing stagnation groundwater, and will ensure normal aeration.

The permeable layer needs to be made thicker where the soil is very dense, structureless, silty and poorly permeable to water. Wetland is the first enemy of alpine plants - ascetics are accustomed to growing on slopes in light, rocky, sandy, acidic soils.

On top of the drainage layer (the base of the rock garden), you need to make a sand cushion - pour a layer river sand(5 cm thick), compact well and water.

Next, mix in equal proportions turf soil (it can be prepared in advance or bought at any nursery), perlite, sand, pine bark, wood chips, fine crushed stone, crushed peat, humus and sphagnum.

There is no need to add too much fertilizer to this layer. Over-enrichment of the soil can lead to trees and flowers on the hill growing too large or, conversely, dying altogether. It is recommended to feed only some tuberous and bulbous plants, and then as rarely and as carefully as possible.

The prepared soil mixture is poured over the entire surface of the hill, at the same time modeling the relief of the rock garden according to the model of the natural landscape. The earth mound does not need to be made uniform and neat. Both on a large and a small alpine hill in the garden, it is necessary to manually form “cliffs” and “valleys”, “peaks” and “plateaus”, paths and transitions.

After the remaining filling of the area with a ball of earth, you can begin laying stones by “laying” “pillows” of river sand under them.

What shape should the stones be in a rock garden and how to arrange them correctly?

Let's look at what stones are needed for a small and large alpine slide, their names and installation methods.

To organize such an exotic flower garden, you need to choose only those rocks that will not transfer heavy metals and salts to the soil and will not oxidize the soil.

Irregularly shaped rocks hewn by years, water and wind will look much better in the garden landscape than freshly mined ones. Stone screes should be similar in structure, or better yet completely identical, but different in size.

An excellent choice for a rock garden has always been and will be: natural granite, organic limestone or decorative sandstone. Forest boulder, dolomite, travertine, gneiss or basalt are suitable. Another option: serpentinite, elbrus, jasper, serpentine, quartz, etc.

There is no need to collect stones from fields and meadows. You can buy good specimens at the quarry. The weight of one stone can reach approximately 15-100 kg. That is, for a stone flowerbed measuring 1.5 x 3 m, the developer will need about 1-1.5 tons of stones.

Let's move on. Laying should begin from the bottom (from the foot) up - gradually moving from larger stones to smaller ones. The core of the alpine hill is formed first. For this purpose, choose the largest and most beautiful boulder and install it in a small recess. To prevent the stone from shaking, it can be reinforced with crushed stone.

Advice. There is no need to lay them in compliance with equal distances and geometric harmony - in the natural environment, on mountain slopes, stones and boulders are located in a chaotic disorder.

When laying, you need to gradually deepen not only the core of the composition, but also all the other stones. The resulting sinuses fall asleep slightly earth mixture for a rock garden and watered with a sprayed stream of water - plants will be planted in them a little later.

At the top, a conical boulder looks beautiful, symbolizing the top of the mountain, surrounded by flat stones.

In the process of placing stones landscape designers are advised to move away from the composition and with different angles evaluate the result. Alpine slide, decorated with your own hands, is considered ready if it looks holistic and harmonious even without conifers, shrubs and flowers.

But that's not all. Huge weight boulders and stones have to lie down for two or three weeks, “get settled”, so to speak. And only when the earth settles and you can start building a flower garden on an alpine hill.

Plants for an alpine hill are the key to an effective design

Tempered tough climatic conditions highlands: cold, low atmospheric pressure, strong wind and temperature fluctuations, flowers for alpine slides demonstrate amazing endurance in the difficult climate of Russia.

In order for the rock garden created at the dacha to truly resemble an oasis of a mountain landscape, shrubs and plants must be selected according to the following criteria:

unpretentiousness to climate and soil;
short stature;
moderate growth;
non-aggressive method of reproduction;
multi-year development cycle.

Low-growing and ground cover plants for alpine hills

Atsena Buhanana;
Youthful;
Borodnik is hairy;
Mountain grate;
Tenacious;
The bone is hair-like;
Fern;
Short-leaved sedum;
Decorative cabbage;
Crassula;
Sagebrush;
Heuchera;
Spurge;
Stahis.

Advice. Ground cover plants with a strong root system are placed on the slopes of an alpine hill to prevent its erosion.

Flowering plants for alpine hills

Barberry;
Colchicum;
Veronica;
Carnation;
Gentian;
Gypsophila, wulfenia;
Delphinium;
Dryad;
Lancet gorse;
Poskharsky's bell;
Primula Allioni;
Saxifrage;
Bloodroot;
Burachok;
Buttercup;
Edelweiss;
Let's swing the creeping one;
Evening primrose Missourian;
The Pyrenean catchment;
Thyme;
Campanula garganica;
Phlox is low growing;
Soapwort basilicofolia;
Jaskolka;
Draba evergreen;
Mertensia maritima;
Fuopsis longostolic;
Pterygoid rotundifolia;
Decorative strawberries;
Rhodiola rosea;
Chiastophyllum oppositeifolia;
Himalayan geranium;
Mountain cornflower;
Hellebore;
Liverwort;
Anemone;
Cat's paw;
Rezuha;
Violets and daisies.

Advice. Each of the flowering individuals in the rock garden composition plays its own role, so the flowers should not obscure or interfere with each other. It is important here to achieve a smooth change in shades of the slide. This can be easily achieved by combining alpine plants according to flowering dates.

Long-flowering plants for alpine hills

Onion and bulbous

Decorative Karatavsky;
Cornflower and island onions;
Tubergen and Besianum onions;
Scylla;
Vesennik;
Sternbergia;
Cyclamen;
Snowdrop;
Ranunculus;
Pushkinia;
Clivia;
Rhodohypoxis;
Brandushka;
Hyacites;
Lilies of the valley;
Babiana;
Corydalis;
Merendera;
Sisyrynchium;
Tecophylae;
Poultry farmers;
Mauricia;
Muscari;
Garden buttercup;
Dwarf varieties of irises, daffodils, dahlias and tulips.

Advice. The rocky structures of the rock garden will look as decorative as possible if you know the exact timing of flowering of the bulbous plants. And also, when planting onions in a rock garden with good drainage (stones and gravel prevent the bulbs from rotting), leave enough space between them for growth. Mulch temporarily empty places tree bark or pebbles.

Low-growing grasses for alpine hills

Quaking grass;
Lagurus;
Highlander;
Cuff;
Alyssum;
Oregano;
Acute-flowered reed grass;
Feather grass;
Pennisetum orientalis;
Gray and red fescue;
Liriope;
Sheep evergreen;
Barley is maned;
Esholtz;
Heathers;
Erica.

Advice. Herbaceous plants remain attractive until late autumn, while others have already withered or have not yet blossomed. Acting as a background, decorative grasses serve as a lush decoration in the creation of an alpine slide.

Compact shrubs for alpine hills

Mountain pine;
Wolfberry boletus;
Blue spruce;
Barberry;
Cotoneaster horizontal;
Juniper;
Larch;
Thuja occidentalis;
Miniature Pine;
Korean fir;
Euonymus;
Spirea;
Dryad;
Rhododendron;
Daphne.

Advice. Dwarf trees and plant the bushes first, allocating the most spacious areas of the hill for them. Do not plant them on the bottom or top of the ground. Optimal place for upright dwarf forms in rock gardens - near large stones along the edges of the hill, on long distance from each other. At correct landing deciduous and coniferous shrubs will not require any special care from you. But some of them are winter period, you will have to cover it by tying the plant with burlap or a special cover.

Very often moss is included in the design of alpine slides. Transplantation of moss plates from the forest onto rock garden stones is carried out as follows. First, the moss cushion is cleared of its native soil, and then thoroughly mixed in a blender with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and 200 g of kefir. With the resulting homogeneous mass, you need to lubricate the areas of stones (using a brush) on which you want to see a green carpet of moss in the future. The plant will take root faster if it is regularly moistened within three weeks after planting.

A neatly trimmed green lawn can be a successful frame for an alpine hill.

Advice. No need to try to place it in a rock garden more species. You will achieve a complete composition only when, having learned about the types of plants from A to Z, you are able to provide, even for a small number of flowers, a decent existence.

Alpine slide - planting diagram

There should be enough space between the stones for normal development and the growth of green spaces. Seedlings are planted in a small hole dug at an angle, as shown in the figure, their roots are straightened, lightly sprinkled with earth and compacted. After planting, the hill needs to be watered. It is better to do this from top to bottom - the water flowing down will well saturate the soil and go straight to the roots.

When planting rosette flowers on a hill: orostachis, gentian, lewisia, etc., do not plant them next to ground cover. The latter grow quickly and can crowd out tender plants.

Plant bulbs will not spread if you plant them inside a limiter - a jar or an old bucket without a bottom.

Schemes of alpine slides (with plant names)

Scheme No. 1

Scheme No. 4

Types of alpine slides

The paradoxical unity of fragile vegetation and stone blocks gives summer residents true pleasure, encourages reflection and calms them down.

And after reading the article, all you have to do is choose: admire the whimsical harmony of the alpine slides in the photo or recreate one of the views on your site. Moreover, there are 7 of them in rocky flower beds:

“rock” with natural surface breaks;

a rather complex “mountain slope” with coniferous trees and huge boulders;

landscape “mountain valley” with asymmetrically placed groups of stones;

“terraced slope” with retaining walls of various heights, lengths and shapes;

decorative “forest ravine” with a spring or artificially created waterfall;

“rocky wall” - a low mound with randomly scattered stones;

the extravagant “Czech rolling pin”, the defining technical feature of which is the layered stonework;

the most stylish of the stone compositions is the “alpine lawn” with wild plants, growing exclusively in mountainous areas.

Conclusion

Don’t listen to those who claim that a rock garden at your dacha can be planned and created in one day. Of course not. Well, perhaps the simplest version of a mini alpine slide, and even then not in the garden, but in a city apartment.

Want to do it right? Then lay the drainage, fill the soil and form the base of the slide in the fall, and lay the stones and flowers and plant them only in the spring.

Alpine slide - photos of beautiful rock garden design options

Reading time ≈ 12 minutes

An alpine slide is a spectacular element of landscape design, but somewhat labor-intensive to create, implying many nuances and rules. Today we will look at a step-by-step guide to building an alpine slide with your own hands out of the blue with photos and diagrams.

Rock garden with a stream of rounded stones.

Features and device

An alpine slide, or rock garden, is an element of landscape design in the form of a slide, built of stones with high-altitude plants planted on it, growing in the Alps. In other words, this is an artificially created miniature of a mountainous area with its inherent relief elements. So, a rock garden can be created in the form of:

gorges;
plateau;
valleys;
cliff;
slope, etc.

Rock gardens are also often called rock gardens. The structure of such an element involves several tiers or levels. If element large sizes, it is usually called a rock garden, and structures with more modest dimensions, designed in small area, called an alpine slide. It is obvious that high-mountain flowers and plants require special conditions, and since rock gardens have become ubiquitous, the plants are not selected to be truly alpine, but based on the climate of the area. We’ll talk in more detail about choosing flora for a rock garden later.

In the photo below you can see a simple but very picturesque alpine hill with stones in the country, which is easy to repeat with your own hands:

Rocky garden on the site.

It is believed that rock gardens first began to be built more than a thousand years ago in Japan. Due to the acute shortage of free space, the Japanese have learned to build real masterpieces in a limited space. Stone gardens were also popular in China and other South Asian countries. Around the 16th century, the fashion for building rocky gardens came to Europe, and a couple of centuries later it became popular in Russia.

The main beauty and charm of alpine slides lies in their maximum proximity to natural contours. Lack of symmetry, slight negligence, exceptional natural materials create an extraordinary atmosphere.

Alpine slide with massive stones.

Varieties

There are many varieties of rock gardens. Here are some of the most common types of slides:

Valley. From the name it can be assumed that such a slide should be similar to a mountain plateau. Block stones are used for decoration big size, deeply buried in the soil. The space between them is filled with flowers and herbs.
Cliff. This variety has the appearance of a steep slope. To implement it, large stones of any shape are used, laid on top of each other in a dry manner. The imitation of a cliff will be harmoniously complemented by shrubs.
Meadow. Great emphasis in this type of rock garden is placed on vegetation - low-growing fragrant herbs and colorful flowers will look very fresh in the garden.
Ravine. This type of rock garden looks very unusual, at least because it is necessary to make not a hill, but, on the contrary, a depression. Its slopes are decorated with stones and coniferous crops are planted. Great idea there will be a stream at the bottom of the ravine.
Cascade Creek. A rocky hill with many thin streams flowing down in a cascade looks incredibly picturesque and peaceful. When constructing this variety, it is worth paying special attention to the choice of plants - it is better to plant moisture-loving crops.

Types of alpine slides.

Important! It is necessary to distinguish rock gardens from rockeries - these are two different element landscaping, although both use rocks and plants.

Typically, rock gardens are much larger in scale, unlike rock gardens, and also have a greater height (sometimes up to 2-3 m compared to the maximum height of a rock garden of 1 m). Other distinguishing feature– vegetation – in rock gardens it can be used minimally or not at all, while in rock gardens it is a mandatory element.

Scheme

The construction of an alpine slide is limited only by your imagination and the characteristics of the site. The compositions can be completely different. To make it easier for you to choose, consider some examples of photos of alpine slides in the garden - the most simple options, which you can repeat with your own hands, as well as complex compositions with a fountain, a pond and a bridge.

Rock garden with a bridge.

Rock gardens with ponds will bring freshness to the garden design. It is better to place such an element near the recreation area.

Large alpine hill with a stream.

Even small streams and ponds can transform an area:

Rock garden with waterfall and pond.

In the photo below you see how you can arrange a rock garden near your house:

Rock garden near the house.

For construction you can use the following schemes:

Rock garden diagram.

Scheme No. 2:

Scheme of an alpine slide.

Scheme No. 3:

Alpine slide option.

Scheme No. 4:

Slide with a pond.

Selecting a location

To arrange a beautiful rocky garden on your site, you must initially choose a suitable location.

Advice: if there are natural uneven terrain on the site, it is advisable to use them for arranging an alpine slide.

If the site does not have any changes, it’s okay - you can arrange a rocky garden on flat ground, but in this case you will have to put in a little more effort. It is important that during an artificial construction this element harmoniously and smoothly transitions into the rest of the flat landscape.

Rock garden on a natural slope along the steps.

In addition, there are other criteria for choosing a location:

Accessible review. An alpine hill is a very picturesque and colorful element of the garden, so it is important that it is visible and provides the opportunity to be admired from many points on the site. Therefore, it is advisable to locate the slides close to the house, gazebo or other recreation area.
Distance from tall trees, massive bushes - in contrast with the trees, the hill may lose its scale.
Sunny area, sheltered from the wind. This will ensure good conditions for most plants used in the construction of rock gardens. Ideally, the main side of the rock garden will be oriented to the south, east or southeast.
Neighborhood to a pond. If there is an artificial pond or waterfall on the site, it is logical to place a rock garden nearby.

It is not recommended to build large-scale rock gardens directly in the center of a large empty space - this will add landscape element very implausible look. As for the size of the slide, there are no strict boundaries or standards; you need to choose the dimensions based on the area of the site. After all, it is not the size of the rock garden itself that is important, but its harmonious combination with the design of the territory of the dacha or country house.

Plant selection

Another important point– selection of vegetation for the slide.

IN classic version When arranging a rock garden, unpretentious, perennial alpine plants, resistant to harsh climates, and compact in size (ground cover or low-growing) are selected.

However, with the growing popularity of rock gardens, the range of plants used in their design has also increased. When arranging a hill, the following groups of flowers are planted:

compact, low-growing conifers or deciduous shrubs are often chosen as the basis of the composition;
ground cover crops are used to fill the space of the rock garden;
perennial herbs;
bulbous flowers - look very impressive during the flowering period. They enliven the appearance of the slide in spring.

It is important to select plants based on the conditions on your hill - soil type, light-to-shade ratio, protection from wind, etc. All plants should have more or less similar requirements for conditions. Also be guided by the size of the slide - the larger its dimensions, the more tall plants can be planted. For compact rock gardens, select low crops.

Let's list which specific types are best used for slides:

Perennials: edelweiss, alyssum, young, echinacea, armeria maritima, carnations.
Annuals and bulbous plants: crocuses, muscari, scillas, snowdrops, haretail, dimorphotheca, marigolds, saxifrage.
Conifers: thuja, juniper, black pine, miniature spruce.
Deciduous shrubs: barberry, spirea, cotoneaster, chaenomeles.

In the photo below you can see what plants are needed to set up a rock garden:

Plants for alpine hills.

Stones for the slide

When choosing and arranging stones for a slide, it is necessary to start from the basic principle - naturalness. Based on this, using several types of stones that do not occur together in nature will not be a very good solution.

The following types are most often used for arranging slides:

Granite. It has beautiful view, heavy, so working with it is difficult. Is different low level moisture absorption. Most often used together with conifers and heather.
Sandstone. It has a porous structure (that is, plants with a certain root system can grow directly in it), and a large palette of shades is also found in nature, which allows you to design rocky hills in different ways.
Limestones. They allow water to pass through well and are gradually overgrown with moss, as a result of which they begin to become only more beautiful and picturesque over time.

For a natural-looking slide, it is necessary to use irregularly shaped cobblestones of various sizes. Place smaller ones between large specimens. For flatter areas, you can choose smooth stones (not perfectly rounded), and for steep slopes, lumpy ones.

Except listed types You can also use shell rock and slate. Gravel and crushed stone are used to create drainage; pebbles are usually used to lay out alpine slides with real or dry streams.

In the photo below you can see an alpine slide, created with your own hands at the dacha from scrap materials:

Alpine slide made from scrap materials.

Manufacturing

So, when we have discussed the main aspects of making a rock garden, we can proceed directly to work. We will give step-by-step guidance and show in photos and diagrams the process of building an alpine slide with your own hands out of the blue.

Important! Just pouring a pile of stones, filling the gaps with soil and planting flowers does not mean creating a rock garden. With this approach, the stones can quickly move, causing the shape to disintegrate and the decorative effect to be lost.

If we talk about the time frame for creating a rock garden, it will take from two weeks to a month. The exact timing depends on the rate of soil shrinkage.

Preparation and drainage

After you have chosen the size and shape for the slide, these parameters must be transferred to the site. It is worth fencing it around the perimeter with rope and pegs, clearing it of debris and stones, and uprooting plants. Next you need to do the drainage:

Remove a layer of soil from the selected area. The depth depends on the area of the rock garden - for wide elements it will be necessary to remove the soil to a depth of 70-80 cm and even up to 1 m. In this case, it will work good drainage with excellent moisture removal, which will also serve as a foundation for the composition and ensure its durability.
The bottom must be filled with drainage material: expanded clay, construction waste (broken bricks, parts of concrete, etc., wood cannot be used). The thickness of this layer is 35 cm.
The next layer is sand. The sand must be laid 35 cm thick, compacted and leveled, and then watered to shrink.

At this stage, there should be approximately 30-40 cm left to the soil level - we will fill them with soil.

Construction of an alpine slide.

Laying soil and stones

To prepare soil for a rock garden, you can use one of the “recipes”:

Mix coarse sand with peat and humus in a 1:1:1 ratio.
Mix peat and clay soil in a ratio of 1:3. You can add gravel to this mixture in an amount of 5:1.

Important! The soil for a rock garden must be thoroughly cleared of weeds and rhizomes, otherwise it will be more difficult to care for the hill.

The resulting mixture is poured on top of the sand around the perimeter of the future rock garden. The thickness of the soil layer can reach 1 m - this will be an excellent basis for stones. Next, you should wait about 1.5-2 weeks until the soil settles. Sometimes you have to wait up to 5 weeks.

Construction of a rock garden step by step.

In addition to the diagram above, we attach step by step photo process:

Now let's move on to the important stage - laying the stones. We tell you step by step how to make an alpine slide with your own hands near your house:

Start laying the largest pieces according to the chosen pattern. If they lie unsteadily, use sand, soil, or gravel to strengthen them. It is very important that they are securely fixed.
Next, install the medium-sized specimens and only then the smallest ones.
Do not place stones close together - there should be space between them for planting vegetation.

Avoid a symmetrical arrangement - try to arrange the stones a little chaotically so that the composition has a natural look.

Plant colonization

This is the final stage of designing an alpine slide. First, plant trees and shrubs, then fill the main volume with perennials.

Important! A little more moisture accumulates at the bottom of the hill, so it is better to plant moisture-loving species here.

The process of planting plants in an alpine hill.

How to care

The advantage of rock gardens is that, despite all their decorativeness, they require incomparable less attention than flower beds and flower beds. But some care is still required:

the soil in rock gardens dries out faster than in ordinary beds due to the elevation, heated stones and wind, so the plants should be regularly watered with a hose with a fine nozzle;
Plants need to be fed at the root regularly (about once a month);
During the entire flowering period, regularly remove faded shoots, add mulch if it has been washed away by rain or watering, and check the plants for diseases and pests.

For the winter, the composition must be covered with agrofibre. In the spring, the film is removed, dead plants are removed (if this happens), loose stones are corrected, and leaves are raked. Next, you need to renew the layer of soil and mulch and add new plants.

Now you understand that creating an alpine slide with your own hands, even on level ground, is not difficult if you follow step by step guide with photos and diagrams.

Video: how to quickly and easily make a rock garden.

If you want the interior of your apartment to be original and unlike anything else, try arranging an alpine slide at home. This is quite feasible, and even a small apartment area will not be an obstacle. The main difference from the composition arranged in the garden is that the drainage system must be thought through differently. Literally, the alpine slide installed in the apartment is a decorated flower stand.

Where to start arranging a slide

Same as on personal plot, you need to start creating a slide by determining a place for it and designing its future appearance on paper. If the size of the home allows you to position the slide as you wish, you need to choose a place with good lighting, but the plants should not be too hot or dry there. You can plant any kind of flowers in a hill, you just need to make sure that the conditions of the chosen place do not harm the plants.

It is best to combine the creation of an alpine slide in an apartment with renovations. But if it is not expected in the near future, you can carry out all the work with minimal chaos. Everything must be well organized. First, we prepare the tools for work and the components of the future composition. It can be:
- containers for flowers, pond;
- stones – elements of landscape design;
- colored pebbles, decorative stones– to decorate the soil;
- a piece of polyethylene - it is placed on the floor at the base of the slide as an insulating material;
- polystyrene foam, glue, polyurethane foam.

Depending on your imagination, you can use other elements.

Creation of an alpine slide

A piece of polyethylene is spread on the floor, on which stones are laid to create the contour of the base. You should try to arrange them as naturally as possible.

In the middle of the contour, at the place where it is planned to create the next tier, bricks, pallets, molds for flower pots. If you plan to create an artificial reservoir, it is most logical to arrange it at the first level of the structure. The resulting gaps and free areas are covered with polystyrene foam and blown in with polyurethane foam.

When creating an alpine slide, you will need to maintain certain deadlines - the building materials used must dry out. Then all the forms are removed from the holes for the pots, and where necessary, the foam is cut off. Containers for flowers are filled with drainage and nutrient substrate. This soil mixture can also be used to decorate polyurethane foam.

Each of the subsequent tiers of the structure is arranged according to the principle of the lower one.

When the structure is completely ready, it’s time to finally plant the plants. After this, the rock garden is decorated as you please - you can use beautiful pebbles and shells, clay vessels and unusually shaped branches and driftwood brought from the forest.

If you want to make a rock garden and don't have a big house, don't despair. You can simply do it in your apartment. Why is an alpine flower bed needed? In order to feel close to nature at home and every day, sitting on the sofa, enjoy a beautiful creation that is made with your own hands. The flowerbed will look no worse than the fireplaces. Anyone can afford such beauty in their apartment. The slide will radically change your interior, making it more original and functional.

Rock garden in the apartment

If you are no longer happy with your houseplants and you want to add some zest to your interior, create a living corner, a piece of nature at home, an alpine flowerbed will help you with this. If you have 2 or 3 room apartment, you can afford it, whereas in one-room apartment there won't be enough space. This structure can be built in a corner, on a windowsill if it is wide, or you can choose some kind of niche. It is advisable to choose one of the internal walls of the apartment for the construction, since an external wall that is not insulated can create a unfavorable atmosphere for plant growth.

How to make an alpine slide in your apartment?

If you want to make a flower garden on the windowsill, provided that the window sill is wide, a regular tray will serve as the base. And part of your structure is ready. Then everything depends on your imagination. Choose plants, decorative stones, shells, sand and create a composition.

You can make a slide in the corner of the room in the same way as on the windowsill, only the dimensions will be larger. You can use plywood as a base. You may also need: plastic bottles(calculate approximately according to the size of the pot) or pots, polyurethane foam, cement mortar, which is glued with various pebbles, shells, sand. First, on plywood, which is covered with plastic film, we place bottles or pots in which there will be flowers. The pots also need to be lined with cellophane. In place of these bottles (pots), our flowers will stand.

Bottles (pots) must be filled with sand so that they do not deform under the influence of foam. Then we should fill our creation with foam and give it the desired shape, everything should dry thoroughly.

It dries in about a day. When the foam has dried, you need to take out the bottles (pots) and then cut off the excess foam with a knife to give the structure the required shape. Here you can fantasize: it will be a hill, a rock or a castle. Then, using a spatula or brush, we cover our structure with waterproof adhesive cement mortar. After this we decorate with pebbles, sand or shells. When the stand is dry, you can safely put flower pots in it, the decoration is ready. It is easy to build a flower bed with a fountain or pond. To build a drip fountain, use a regular dropper. To do this, it is fixed among decorative stones, having initially adjusted the water. Next, they disguise a container of water with shells or stones, which will act as a reservoir. The dropper is also camouflaged. Water should flow from top to bottom along the cascade.

Plants for alpine hills

It is necessary to take into account the types of plants that will be used in the flowerbed. They love light or shadow, cold or warmth.

If there is a fountain, then you need to choose plants that tolerate moisture well. Incorrectly selected plants will wither and begin to hurt.

If the place is well lit, they will do different types succulents. You can plant a codiaum on such a hill; ivy and sedum look beautiful. When choosing plants, you must take into account the location of the flower garden and consult with specialists in the store.

An alpine slide in a garden or on a personal plot allows you to realize the dream of a harmonious oasis in which living and inanimate nature perfectly combine with each other. The decorative effect of the rock garden consists of a whole compositional ensemble of inaccessible and cold stones and lush flowering green spaces with their own special energy. Artificially created mountain slopes, decorated with calm greenery, allow you to feel like a conqueror of mountain peaks and enjoy their unique beauty.

There are many types of alpine slides and you can choose what suits your resources and preferences best. But creating a “highlight” in your garden in the form of a rock garden is not just about laying flat stones around the area; you need to spend a lot of time, patience and effort to achieve a finished image and obtain a high-quality result. There are several basic rules that are recommended to be taken into account when arranging an alpine slide on your own.

Choosing a location for an alpine slide

The first thing you need to start with is to choose a place on the site on which the object will be built. The “face” of the alpine hill should look in the direction of the southeast or southwest, and the “mountain slope” (if one is planned) should look in the south direction. The site should be sunny and open. The object on it cannot look lonely and isolated. On the contrary, it must be harmoniously combined with all neighboring and nearby objects and cultures. Ideal place The location of the rock garden is considered to be a recreation area or an area near a residential building. This decorative structure will attract attention and cause admiration.

Quantity of materials

After choosing a location and assessing the available space for the work, you can start planning the project. It is necessary to reflect sketches and sketches of the future design, the sequence of work and, of course, the preliminary amount of materials used.

To bring the project to life, many different natural stones. Their number depends on the scale and type of alpine slide. For example, for a high multi-level slide you will need large stone blocks with natural irregular shape(without additional processing), which will be used to imitate a gorge, cliff, mountain slope or plateau. Processed stones in the form of a rectangle are necessary for the construction retaining wall. You also cannot do without stone chips, gravel, crushed stone, sand and cement.

When constructing a stone garden with a flower garden (rockery), it is assumed that such a landscape is built on long years and does not require frequent changes, so it will require less stone materials. But when creating a relief from artificial unevenness, significantly more stones will be used.

To create a natural and harmonious object, landscape designers advise choosing only stones from a given area and always of the same type for construction. The minimum weight of one large stone should not be less than thirty kilograms, and total weight The number of giant stones on the site begins at four hundred kilograms. The total average weight of small “stone” material (crushed stone or gravel) for one rock garden is 300-500 kg.

It is necessary to first consider ways to transport stones and other heavy objects around the site. Any suitable means of transportation will help save time, energy and health. Work on the construction site can only begin when everything is already at hand necessary tools and materials.

All work consists of three main stages, but before moving on to them, you must first mark out the territory according to the prepared plan, evaluate the preliminary result and, if necessary, adjust it by making small changes. Using rope or twine, wooden pegs and bright ribbons, you need to outline the contours of the alpine slide and mark its largest elements. After this, you can proceed to the first stage.

The land needs to be cleared and laid drainage layer(if a rock garden is planned), create the planned artificial unevenness and stone hills, lay a channel for the future stream (or other type of reservoir) and erect supporting walls of the rock garden.
The work consists of arranging large stones in the form of a planned composition or ensemble and preparing the soil layer for planting vegetation.
Stage that requires taste creative thinking and fantasy, this is decoration. It consists of planting plants, arranging additional accessories and placing small stone material (gravel and stones).

Construction of a drainage layer

High-quality drainage helps prevent stagnation of water and rotting of the root system of plants, controls soil erosion and shrinkage, and maintains moderate soil warmth in the off-season. The most suitable material for drainage is pebbles (large) or broken red brick.

The top layer of soil with a thickness of ten to twenty centimeters (depending on the type of rock garden) must be carefully removed and laid out around the perimeter of the pit. Then level the resulting surface and thoroughly clean it of all vegetation and its roots. If the future rock garden involves flat terrain, then the thickness of the drainage layer is 10 cm, with further construction of uneven areas in the territory - 20 cm of drainage.

After laying a ten-centimeter drainage layer, it is covered with fertile soil and the surface is carefully leveled. A thick (20 cm) drainage layer serves as the main platform for the construction of various hills and uneven areas and is therefore not covered with soil.

A multi-level rock garden is the most complex type and requires great patience and responsibility during construction. Its reliability and durability depend on the quality work when creating this design.

The first row of stones, which are supporting wall, laid out around the perimeter, placing them as closely as possible to each other and deepening them into the ground by about ten centimeters. For reliability and strength of the connection of stones, it is recommended to use cement mortar or tile adhesive.

For full development For future plantings, it is very important to prepare the soil, which will be at the bottom of the rock garden and help maintain moderate moisture, as well as prevent erosion. It is recommended to mix the removed soil layer spread along the edges of the pit with peat or humus, as well as with small pebbles or coarse sand (in equal proportions). The resulting mixture must be placed on the drainage, compacted thoroughly and poured with plenty of water for rapid shrinkage.

After the first level has dried, they move on to the construction of the second. A layer of crushed stone or gravel is applied to the surface of the earth and a second terrace of stones is laid out, fastening them with a reliable solution. It is necessary to take into account that between the stones it is necessary to leave space for the future bed of the reservoir. The terrace on the second level is covered with soil, watered abundantly and left to shrink.

With each new level, the area of the next terrace gradually decreases. At the end, a separate stone is placed, which will become the top of the rock garden. The height of the alpine slide depends on the base used land area. To build a meter structure it will take about 10 square meters land.

To complete the process of soil subsidence, as well as to completely dry the solutions, the object is left for approximately 10-15 days. Only after this can you move on to decorating, planting plants and arranging the reservoir. It is recommended to plant plants starting from the top and gradually moving to the bottom of the hill.

Alpine slides with a height of about one hundred centimeters will require less effort and less materials. Construction waste (for example, pieces of brick or stones) can be used as the core and reliable foundation of the structure. With their help, the contours of the slide are marked (directly on top of the main drainage layer), and then a soil mixture is poured on top, which will be resistant to erosion and shrinkage. Its composition: garden soil, expanded clay, pieces of red brick and small crushed stone. The average thickness of this layer is 50-60 cm. The next layer is again drainage, consisting of the smallest pebbles or crushed stone, on which large stones are placed or stone slabs are laid, burying them approximately forty percent into the soil. The surface of the rock garden is covered with fertile soil about 20 cm thick. The composition of this soil mixture should be light, loose and nutritious and correspond to the preferences of flower crops.

Approximately 20-25 days are allotted for the final shrinkage of the slide. After this, you can plant numerous plants, place various decorative details and stones small size. It is not recommended to use large stone boulders on such a mini-slide, unless they are placed at the base of the structure.

Landscaping of rock gardens

The main plants of alpine hills are herbaceous and semi-shrub species of small height. In natural natural environment On the mountain slopes you can find mainly low species and varieties. The vegetation of the created rock garden should look as natural and believable as possible. And to maintain its attractiveness throughout the year, it is recommended to choose winter-hardy (evergreen) and coniferous crops. The color of green foliage or pine needles goes well with stone compositions.

Plants for a rock garden should have the following basic characteristics: unpretentiousness, cold resistance and drought resistance. To maintain the decorativeness of the relief and create harmonious composition experienced flower growers and landscape designers advise planting flower and foliage crops in a checkerboard pattern.