If you are a mountain wanderer, if you love such sceneries and enjoy the beauty of the rocks, why not add such a feature as an Alpine rockery to your garden or turn your garden completely into an Alpine one?
What Is An Alpine Garden?
An Alpine garden is a scenery that imitates those conditions and flora that you can see at a high altitude, it’s not only about the Alps, you can replicate other mountains, too, it depends on the climate. Of course, you will have to change the soil to make it suitable for mountain plants, add gravel, rocks and stones to create natural conditions and let those mountain range plants survive in your garden.
Alpine gardens are quite low-maintenance and look very spectacular all year round, if even they aren’t blooming. They catch an eye and they are nothing but gorgeous and unusual, this isn’t just a garden bed. Besides, you can make them cooler and bolder adding a dry river bed or a real stream or waterfall. You can create such a feature yourself, it can be big or small, you may go for only a front yard, line your stairs or substitute a usual flower bed with such a rockery.
Thic colorful garden features rocks, green grasses and shrubs and lots of Alpine blooms including Liriope and red poppies.
This bright and textural Alpine includes some grasses, dark foliage, purple blooms and a stream with a stone bridge.
A lovely and simple rock garden with moss, green groundcovers and pink phlox blooming is gorgeous.
A dry rock garden with some green shrubs and yellow and pink Alpine blooms that grow naturally in such conditions.
A bold garden with rocks, greenery, Dianthus, Armeria and other flowers will make a color statement as soon as the blooms start flourishing.
This bold rockery features some greenery and extra bold flowers like marigolds for a touch of color and texture.
Pink Creeping Phlox always looks amazing with any rocks and stones, it juxtaposes the rough texture with its delicate color.
A dry stream bed is a great alternative to a simple Alpine garden, surround it with greenery, Alpine blooms like Armeria and shrubs.
A rough stone garden dotted with bright Armeria and Dianthus is a gorgeous idea for any outdoor space, and it's not that difficult to maintain.
This extremely lush garden shows off so many grasses, greenery and bright blooms that rocks arealmost covered with them.
How To Make An Alpine Garden?
Recreate Mountain Conditions
Get rocks and stones, no shelter from the wind and less moisture. Place the rocks horizontally and vertically creating pockets for the plants, display your plants and blooms so that you could take care of them and could enjoy the look. Choose a spot with maximal sunlight and not next to trees or buildings, open it from all the sides.
This Alpine rockery is a substitute to a usual flower bed, and topiaries, shrubs and some Creeping thyme refresh the look of the rocks.
Rocks covered with moss look very natural, and somple blooms like bold asters and dandelions add color to the space.
An Alpine style garden bed with tall grasses, purple iris and creeping thyme is a cool solution if you want a mountain feel but in a more polished way.
This lush Alpine garden doesn't include any rocks but features a lot of blooms like mums, allium, liriope and grasses.
This gorgeous rock garden shows off an all-natural waterfall, greenery, allium and some groundcovers of various types covering the rocks.
A lovely rockery including a waterfall, stone steps, some shrubs and groundcovers, dianthus and hosta plants.
A mini Alpine rockery is a thing, look how beautifully rocks are paired with moss, goundcovers, succulents and some simple mountain blooms.
This lush mountain garden doesn't show off any rocks but does show a lot of lush blooms looking absolutely wild and natural.
Rocks, pebbles, groundcovers and small shrubs create a lovely mountainous landscape that is low-maintenance.
A small and bright rockery with stones, creeping thyme, bold pink primula and groundcovers is lovely.
Remove The Weeds
Weeds will spoil your aesthetics and mountain flowers are susceptible to weeds.
Ensure Good Drainage
Choose sandy soil or gravel to allow water to drain away quickly and easily from your Alpine garden. Make sure your Apline plants are in well-drained soil and with good airflow as they can withstand cold but not moisture. Don’t overcrowd the plants and add grit or stone chippings to the soil.
Select Plants
But mature plants to instantly get a beautiful look and feel encouraged for all the work you’ve done. Grow some plants from seed if you want. When choosing the plants, consider what colors and look you want, if you need all year round interest or not and so on. The best Alpine plants for starters are Rock Cress, Pasque flower, Yellow Helmet Flower, Alpine Geraniums, Veronica Prostrata, Thymus, Armeria, Dianthus and Aster. Add groundcovers to cover the rocks and all the voids and to avoid weeds as groundcovers will prevent them.
If you want a truly rock scenery, get a lot of rocks and add just some purple groundcovers and leaves to refresh the look.
Rock steps are lined up with dianthus, grasses and small succulents plus hosta plants on the other side.
A rock landscape with a perfectly integrated staircase, greenery and bold blooms like alpine toadflax, is a gorgeous solution for mountain enjoyers.
A long rockery is dotted with pink, red and yellow blooms and some groundcovers for a more spectacular look.
A lovely rockery featuring various groundcovers and some succulents plus a lot of rocks is a cool idea for a garden.
A rough rockery accented with just some veronica prostarata looks very eye-catchy and very natural.
Blooms aren't a must for a beautiful rockery, add bold groundcovers, textural foliage and dark plants and voila, you have a bold landscape.
Rocks surrounded with flowers like creeping phlox and others, greenery and ferns, look very natural, as if it's a real mountain scenery.
A small and lovely Alpine garden with rocks, creeping thyme, groundcovers and small succulents, some shrubs.
A rough rock garden with green groundcovers, fern and some blooms looks very eye-catchy, beautiful and natural and this is a great way to style a slope in your garden.
Consider lining up the fence with rocks and bold Alpines like primula and creeping thyme to make the plain fence more spectacular.
Large stones and pebbles are accented with a bit of simple Alpine blooms and look gorgeous together.
A simple rock garden with stones, succulents, groundcovers and just a bit of blooms is easy to make yourself.
If you live in a hot and dry climate, opt for more succulents to plant, than for greenery, and asters and dianthus will help you add a bit of color.
If you love blooms, feel free to cover all the rocks and stones with Alpine ones that you love: Australian fleabane, armeria, thymus, veronica prostrata and others.
Line up your garden stairs with a simple rockery, here it's refreshed with some green groundcovers and moss, and it gives a lively look to the concrete stairs.
This bold and bright Alpine garden features lots of flowers including the most popular Alpine species like daisies and liriope.
This simple and relaxed rock garden with a bit of grasses, groundcovers and a couple of types of iris is a cool alternative to a usual flower bed.
A dry river bed as a rock garden, with lamps, grasses and a bit of bright dianthus blooms is a cool garden feature to try.
A front yard designed as a rock garden with stones and lovely colorful Alpine blooms like thyme, daisies and primula.
A rough and natural sloped Alpine garden covered with moss, sedum, fern and pink creeping phlox around is a gorgeous idea of styling a hill.
A rough stone landscape with a small staircase included, with moss, groundcovers and extra bold flourishing groundcovers.
A real stream lined up with large pebbles and bold grasses and liriope for a bright touch of color looks really Alpine-like.
Accent your rock garden with veronica prostrata or some other colorful blooms that will stand out from the stone texture.