Hi, my name is Steve and I just joined DG this week and it's great!
I'm interested In starting a little alpine trough, and growing things like saxifrages.......but whats the best way to do it? Like what should I use for a container? Type of soil and all that? I've tried growing saxifrages before but they always rot out and die cause the drainage wasn't good enough :(
Steve
Alpine Garden
Welcome Steve! I will watch this thread - I love those sax's too but I've killed many.
I think they like it cool & well drained. I just bought one I'm planning to plant on a rocky
hillside I'm trying to tame.
Tam
Hi, Tammy
I tried planting some sax's in the holes in a cement block, with gravel and bits of old clay pots added to the soil for drainage but that didn't seem to work to well either.
Do you have a picture of your hillside? It sounds nice.
I've got a clay bowl type planter that I hope I might be able to use for an alpine garden.......I'll have to wait and see.
Thanks for the welcome,
Steve
I grow both Kabschia and encrusted saxifrages in homemade hypertufa troughs. This pictured one is 3 years old. They do very well under these conditions. A mix of loam, promix and grit and water them every 2-3 days if the weather is dry. I leave them out all winter long with no problems. They do better in pots than in the garden, at least the Kabschia types do.
Another homemade trough.
Here's one of the above troughs in bloom.
Todd, I've got a bowl type clay planter...do you think that would work for a trough? I like the picture you put up, they look great! Is that a type of Dianthus in the second one? Thanks for the info :)
Steve
btw, the sax's in the first pic look like the ones I used to have.
I just ordered a bunch of cute little alpines from Beaver Creek Greenhouses - several encrusted sax's too.
So I'm plant 'em up in my troughs and follow Todd's advice.
Steve - I've posted some pic's last year (first year I really got it prepped well & planted). I'll be posting more.
Here's a thread I started last year on the lower half of the hillside (we put in a garage and it split the hill into
two parts. Its got southern exposure and is VERY rocky. Right now bulbs are taking front stage on it.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/530354/
Tam
I checked out the pictures of your hillside and it looks like it's coming along nicely! I think I'll do the trough too, I've never made one before but I'm sure I can find the how-to. The sax's I had last year were the encrusted type and one was pink.....but I think it's dead...all thats left is a little stem with no leaves :(
I'm going to check out Beaver Creek.......
Steve
its www.rockgardenplants.com
I kept going to Beaver Creek Nursery - its Beaver Creek Greenhouse. The folks in my chapter of NARGS
recommended them but I have not gotten anything myself.
Tam
HAHAHA!!! Thanks, I went to Beaver Creek Nursery.....thats why I couldn't find any sax's. Now to go check out B.C.Greenhouse.....
Steve
Beaver Creek is wonderful....they were vendors at the NARGS meeting in Victoria last month...I bought 15 plants from him and will be placing another order in early May for a few more. Just be a little cautious about zones...they have a tendency to be a little liberal with zoning...just because they say zone 5, does not mean it will actually survive there...best to do some homework first. Otherwise, their plants are great and the packing superb.
Steve, I have several clay bowl planters...the only drawback is that they may crack in winter while a good typertufa trough can last for years.
At 5:00 on planter number 2 is Dianthus freynii...probably the best Dianthus for troughs as they stay compact.
Your biggest challenge in S. Ontario will be the heat and humidity which most alpines detest.
Todd
I do have a cold frame I could put the clay planter in to keep it from cracking....do you think that would work?
I'll try planting a trough this year, hopfully it will do good. If not maybe I should just stick to thing like sedums.
Thanks alot for the soil recipe.
Is there any easy alpines I could keep a look out for?
Thanks,
Steve
The easiest trough plant is by far sempervivums. Small sized sedums work well. My favourites are the encrusted saxifrages. Small sized primroses work well along with the smaller dianthus.
I have a couple of clay pots I keep in my coldframe..they seem to do OK...two winters so far and no cracks.
My coldframe is finally thawed and one Lewisia is already showing colour in the buds! Meanwhile, the main batch of snow in the back is now down to 2.5 feet...maybe I'll experience spring in a couple of weeks.
I took a couple of pictures of my troughs and don't think its worth starting a whole new thread for them. They
have some of the "easier" alpine plants in 'em. Draba & phlox in bloom. Lewisia made it through the winter but
this one isn't showing signs of blooms (yet?)
Here's the other trough shot. One of my plants self seeded into the trough - I think it was an exceedingly
floriferous ?silene? that got out of hand with the seeds. I WILL cut them all back before the seed forms next year.
But there's something in bloom - it almost looks like a little viola. I think I had planted one in there but need to check
my notes.
And a cute combo in another area (not a trough) - muscari w/a blooming draba
Thanks for the pics Tammy. Your troughs look really good! I have that same purple phlox, but mines in the garden and isn't blooming yet...It should soon though cause you're only half a zone ahead of me!
Todd, thanks for the list of alpines, I've got a few of the sempervivums around my yard, maybe I'll use them.....they're sooo hardy.
Lewisia's are so pretty. I had one once and (not knowing better at the time) planted it in part shade in the garden. It died of course :) If I get brave enough maybe I'll try another in a trough some day.
Steve
Tammy, in pic #1: what is that to the left of the draba (and feather(?))?
And how big does it get?
I guess its obvious I own chickens & guinea fowl from that tell-tale feather eh?
That is an Allium Senescens Glaucum. I have them in an open bed and those are
maybe 8-12" tall (taller in bloom). The one in that trough is smaller, probably
because the the space restrictions. Its a really pretty allium (folliage twirls around)
and of course deer don't like it.
Tam
A. s. glaucum . . . of course. A very nice plant, but as you say, no tell-tale twisting and twirling yet. I don't have one myself, but we do at the Arboretum rock garden we plant and tend, as do many of our NARGS chapter members. Thanks.