2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Photo: Ingrid Balabanova / Rusmediabank.ru
An alpine slide or rock garden is a component of landscape design. A hilly area imitating a mountain landscape, where plants characteristic of the Alpine belt are grown.
A bit of history
The history of the emergence of the alpine slide began in Japan thousands of years ago. Most likely, this is due to the rather small free area of the country. The Japanese have always been famous for their imitation of wildlife. What nature has been creating for decades, they tried to create with their own hands and in a short period of time. Japan is especially famous for its rocky gardens - rockeries, which are based on wind-cut stones, bonsai - miniature trees that can be grown even on a windowsill. In turn, a rock garden is a composition of stones and plants, in which the leading role is played by plants, which are most often located on a hill or an artificial elevation.
In wildlife, alpine slides are formed on the fracture of rocks, stones, on which soil and vegetation are formed under the influence of external factors.
The rock garden as an element of landscape design came to Europe in the 18th century. Aristocrats and wealthy people especially loved this element of landscape design. The main philosophical thought of creating a rock garden was the creation of a unique, natural, something that does not repeat itself. There are several stages in the history of the existence and formation of alpine slides.
Stage 1 - the stage of the domination of stones, where the main elements of the composition were stones of different sizes and shapes, and between them there are small intersperses of evergreens or ferns that do not stand out in any way.
Stage 2 - the stage of friendship between living and inanimate nature. Plants and stones in harmony with each other take the same place in the composition.
In the second stage of the formation of the rock garden, alpine plants of alpine origin were used, adapted and cultivated for the desired place of growth. Alpine slides imitated the mountainous terrain, overgrown with plants inherent in the area.
Stage 3 - the stage of the riot of plants. At this stage, plants take the leading place, stones only complement the composition.
And what about now?
A modern alpine slide is a landscape composition, in the center of which there is a large stone, around the slopes there are smaller stones, and between them there are a variety of plants, both alpine and those that correspond to the area of their growth, plant hybrids are also often planted. The main thing in an alpine slide is to show naturalness, that is, it should not have symmetry and severity.
For the device of an alpine slide, a sunny and well-visible corner of the garden is chosen. For the rock garden, perennial plants that bloom at different times of the year are chosen so that the slide looks ever-flowering. They should be compact in order to arrange as many varieties as possible on a small plot of land. Plants should not be whimsical, so that caring for them is minimized, and the slide always pleases the eye with freshness and well-groomed. You also need to pay attention to how plants react to a particular neighborhood. In order for the rock garden to become less overgrown with weeds, it is best to choose clean clay soil, mixing it with one third of the peat and adding a small amount of gravel. Fertile soil is poured into the places that will be planted with plants.
Natural examples and sketches are enough to design alpine slides. However, it is quite difficult to repeat the originality and not make the slide orderly and not symmetrical, as in nature, therefore there are several starting points and classical rock garden construction schemes. The simplest scheme that a beginner can handle is the "Alpine Highlands", it repeats the features of nature that are typical for mountainous areas. It is more difficult to make rock gardens using gorges, ravines, reservoirs.
For those who want to create an alpine slide in their personal plot, you need to understand a few points. In order for the slide not to turn out to be ridiculous, you need to make sure that the flowering plants are not chaotically located and the slide does not look variegated. Flowers are best arranged in clusters in color and size, and for a smooth transition, plant between them plants of gray, smoky or bluish shades. If you need to plant trees or shrubs for an alpine slide, then in order for them not to fall out of the overall composition, you need to ensure that they do not grow too high, for this they need to be cut off periodically.
In order to find the right scheme for building a rock garden, you just need to turn to nature. Everything that we see around us can be used in the design of an alpine slide, because nature is unique and peculiar, and you can think out and embellish based on your own imagination and capabilities.
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