Select the appropriate stones for the Alpine slide: what species to choose?
Create a rock garden – the idea is quite real. Some gardeners, not really thinking, planted any plants and flowers surrounded by stones of all shapes and sizes. But if thorough approach to business, learn the art of creating this wonderful garden composition and to know what flowers are more suitable to create a rock garden, some stones for the Alpine slide you can use, the rock garden will be created much more professional. Before the Creator of the composition is the next task – a man-made hill should look natural to resemble a beautifully landscaped plot, lost in the mountains. Artificial decoration when the decoration is better not to use – a natural effect in this case will disappear, and the composition can be.
The contents
All the components in the rock should form a harmonious combination of rocks and plants should go well in size, color. Groups of individual stones and boulders should be placed so that the composition looked the least artificial
The best stones for the decoration of the rock garden
The stones for the Alpine hills, in the first place, perform a decorative function, but different breeds have varying degrees of fragility, a different degree of absorption, therefore, on some properties of the stones it is better to have an idea to make the right choice. Most often today, with the creation of the Alpine slides are used limestone, Sandstone and granite. Consider in more detail the properties of these stones.
Option #1 — granite
Stone is a dense, poorly-absorbent. Granite comes in many shades – reddish, greenish, grey and almost black. Work with a dark stone requires taste and experience, otherwise the composition can be gloomy. Granite is heavy, difficult to handle, but in rock gardens, this stone looks very good. This stone influences the acidity of the soil, therefore, granite rock gardens is recommended to plant conifers, Heather. Large granite boulders in their company fragile flowers look especially soft and elegant (for example, small varietal tulips).
This composition with large granite boulders didn’t look too bright, but very natural, like area, created by nature itself
Option #2 — Sandstone
This stone to create Alpine gardens is the most commonly used, because it has excellent decorative qualities. It is a smooth stone with a coarse structure and a rich range of shades. Sandstone can be beige, pink, brown, cream, reddish. It is a good basis for planting, forms a striking combination with any of their views. When creating slides with Sandstone do not need to pick up the flowers specifically planted on the hill all you like.
Sandstone is good for the fact that it forms an expressive combination drugimi stones. For example, in this case in the water well rock gardens and Sandstone pebbles used for masonry walls of the Creek
Option #3 — limestone (travertine, dolomite)
The decor of the slides used dolomite and tuff. They are well absorb moisture, the air help to normalize the composition of the soil, optimal for growing Alpine plants. Over time, the limestone begins to grow lichens, moss, giving the boulders even more spectacular.
Limestone is a soft stone, time makes its lines more flowing, and handle it yourself effortlessly. Colors of limestone are also wide – you can choose stones with amazing bluish tint, Golden, beige. The use of these stones opens the space for realization of creative ideas. Limestone should not be combined with plants that grow in acidic soils. Dolomite – the material is strong and durable, comes in white, black, grey and brown. The slide looks especially beautiful translucent white dolomite.
Dolomite is a soft brown-beige color — suitable stone material for the composition. Moreover, Alpine plants such company will feel good
Tuff is beautiful shades — from white to dark pink, easily handled, moisture and air. Good material to create original beautiful rock garden
Option #4 — clinker
Sometimes the decor of rock garden use and clinker, but not rectangular, but oval or irregular. The bricks are laid in layers, use different shades of colors. This slide looks good, and if the house is decorated with clinker brick.
In addition to these stones, you can also use shale rocks, stones having a layered structure, they are very nice on the hill.
The boulders for the rock garden can be purchased in specialty shops or pick your own, sometimes on the side of the road you can find a suitable specimen for the Alpine slide, on the pebble beaches, especially with large boulders, you can also find wonderful material. Pebbles on the hill can be of different sizes — place accents, using large stones, and the zones can be made between small and medium-sized stones.
Clinker — an atypical material for the creation of the Alpine slides, but it is very useful, especially if it is used for home decoration and garden buildings
To create the Alpine slide and well chosen plants, and stones. Small pebbles, slate and limestone are nicely shaded by conifers, host, molodilo and flowering plants
Rock garden can be made up of stones of one or several species. In the second case the combination should look organic, not conspicuous dissimilarity stones at each other, a chaos rassredotochit attention. Large boulders can be slightly sunk into the ground, creating the effect of rock outcrops on the surface.
How to choose the right stones?
If you want to plant bright flowers, stone is better to choose a neutral color – it will play the role of the background. When using the not particularly expressive of plants to find the bright rocks on the background plants will look more expressive, more contrast.
When the piling up of different rocks there is a risk that a slide will turn into a pile of rubble, use rocks of similar shape and close color scheme.
An example of a badly created composition and the rocks and plants are placed too randomly and in large numbers, the emphasis is not placed
In this case, the rock garden with a small pond looks very harmonious sections with large boulders in the distance, decorated with pebbles pond, groups of ferns and Hosta form a unit
A good rock garden of boulders — plants bloom on the upper and lower terraces horizontally and vertically between the stones, in the end, the composition looks natural and vividly
Has a value and the height of the hill – stones with sharp corners is more appropriate for a high embankment, and the plains of the composition more suitable stones rounded shape. Water in rock gardens looks good lined with layers of Sandstone. Gorka on your site should look harmoniously, without breaking a single style.