Here lies Rover - RIP

LOL! We built our first in-ground rock garden today, on a splendid fall day! Well, I know Reginald Farrer would roll his eyes, but here it is anyway! I had a vague idea of a plan going into it, but I admit it turned out totally differently, what with both of us working it. Rather small, it's only slightly over 2m by 1m (but can hold as many exciting new species as all my troughs combined... drool!) Top dressing is yet to be added, which will consist of fine gravel and chips of the rock. It's hard to resist shooting off a plant order, but I guess I'll wait until spring and let it settle in over the winter. I already have some thoughts that I may implement, come spring, to make it a tad less evocative of the classic "dog's grave"... ;>)
So tell me, how bad is it? I can take it....LOL!



This message was edited Oct 7, 2007 7:41 PM

Now remember, you said you could take it . . . . really, like I should be talking - I don't have an in ground rock garden at all. But . . .

have you heard Panayoti Kelaidis talk about his wife's buffalo carcass garden? It's better than that. LOL On the other hand, plants don't care what the garden looks like. The real proof is in the pudding, i.e. if the plants like it.

Hard to tell if there is an height variation at all. Looks like not. Remember that trough you made that you said you didn't like, and I did?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3980339
It was the height variation and interesting rocks that I liked.

How about a "valley", a small space without any noticeable crevice rock or a little knoll or two. you could put your cacti or true succulents "up" there. (BTW, did any of the Escobaria vivipara seedlings survive?) Or maybe you've already got these and I am just not seeing. But even Gwen's carcass garden looked good after the plants were in and growing.

The REAL test is if YOU like the alpine garden.

Rick
(who keeps saying he's going to build one)

Thanks for the comments.... really, LOL!
My original, albeit foggy, vision had it about 15" tall at the back, sloping to ground level at the front, in a crescent-ish shape, with a low scree bed in the center-ish area of the crescent. The strata was, I thought, going to be set at about 30 degrees, dipping towards the back, but..... After fumbling about for a while, it soon became clear we didn't have near enough rock on hand to build up the back enough to do that. And, now having done it, maybe it would have been too complex for that little area anyway? Hmm, as I look at it, I still kind of like that idea though.
So, as is, it's about 10"-12" (edit: not 15"!) tall, with relief of a few/couple of inches from level to level, but just crevice, after crevice, after crevice... no change of pattern, as you noted. As I was making it, I realized it was humpish in the center (with the rocks apparently bending in a very unnatural-looking anticline, LOL!) and tried to remedy it a bit by building up the left side - needs a lot more, though, to pull it off.
Oh well, it's nothing another pickup-load of rock wouldn't improve! Errr, and some redistribution of the existing rock, of course.... I can see that that's a great thing about a rock garden like this... you can always pull it apart and change it... at least until it gets planted, anyway, and so long as the rocks are of manageable size (although I could understand that the larger the rocks, the more tolerant one might become of the final result, LOL!)

I'm afraid the Escobaria succumbed to my neglect, after a very promising start (I let them dry out outside)...sigh. I still have seeds and must start them again... particularly considering I'll have a good place to plant them soon. Other than for my idiocy, I imagine they should be hardy here (depending on subspecies?), as the species is native and occurs in the grasslands around here. It would be very special to have them in my yard!
So what are you thinking of when you say "true" succulents, hmmm?

This message was edited Oct 8, 2007 11:46 AM

Ooops, I meant to show another picture from the other end to show the overall relief a bit better... not that this improves it overly much! (Sort of a funny foreshortened angle too.) Actually, with the top dressing, the rocks will stick out a bit less... almond pudding, anyone? LOL!

True succulents - a made up word I suppose. What I meant was how many plants are succulent-like, like Lewisias (i.e. longipetala), but not necessarily prefering dry, hot conditions.

My how a different camera angle can make a difference! At any rate, good pudding, Lori. Down here where it gets hotter in summer, we relish those nooks and crannies where plants are more protected, and a rock provides shade from the southern or western sun.

And HAH! (re: the Escobaria) Finally I give something away, and they don't grow it better than me! My first batch withered too. The seed source(eastern South Dakota), in the wild, survives -35F without snow easily. And like so many other plant, I would think they would be hardy farther and colder north than their native haunt.

Altagardener - I think it'll look great when it's all planted up. Very promising :-) I wish I had space for something like that .... ;-) lol

Yeah - I think it looks pretty darned good, especially w/o plants.
Can't wait to see it planted up!
Tam

Thanks all! An easy improvement, I think, will be to extend the upper right corner outwards to break up the outline a bit... and provide yet more planting space.

Okay, so we've finally come out the other side of winter's final (oh, please let it be) encore... After a week of below freezing highs and almost 100-year record lows (squeeked past by 0.8 deg C, apparently!), it was 17 deg C today, and the snow is melting rapidly! (Another warm day tomorrow should take care of it, and the week's prognosis is good! Hurrah!) The plants are really no worse for it, though it was very bad for morale, LOL!

So, on a splendid spring day (this time), our thoughts returned to spiffing up ol' Rover's grave... DH had picked up stone and grit before the wretched weather, so we got to it.
Here's the almost-finished result... still a little work to be done on the backside of it, a little rearranging here and there, some topping up with soil mix, and finally, after planting, the addition of top dressing. (Kind of a lousy picture, and the swing will have to be moved, but....)

And a view of the backside of it (not quite done, as I mentioned)...

I'm quite a bit happier with it! And exhausted...

I can't wait to see it with the little pretties all settled in and blooming.
Tam

Now there's a garden with some character goin' on.

Kinda like the centerpiece for my coming new garden: A skeleton of Scarlet Curls Willow:

Wow, Rick, that is full of character! A tree that might be just as nice without leaves... Oh, a thought just struck me - you said "skeleton", but it is live, though, right? (Actually, I've always sort of dreamed of having enough space to leave dead trees standing...)

Tammy, it's the future home for my alpine orders and the seedlings I started. I'm very much looking forward to planting!




This message was edited Apr 27, 2008 9:54 PM

It is dead, or nearly so. I have to admit that I had to use a lawn weed killer with dicamba in it on the weeds in the grass near the tree. Willows in general are quite susceptible through their root systems. About three quarters of the tree died. I knew this might happen, but I have been toying with the idea of a perennial garden where the tree is for years now, and this skeleton idea was my plan B, should it go. I would never try making a garden under a live willow. Ridiculous, I say.

I've been getting a lot of guff from visitors who alway favorably commented on the tree in leaf. Oddly enough, all my neighbors love the new look.

This is when it was alive:

How is your rock bed looking now?

Well, quite a lot better, I think! (Still, light years from "natural", needless to say, but... )
This is more-or-less final now (some edges to be chinked in, and thin slabs to be added here and there) - just needs planting up and the addition of top-dressing. Top-dressing will be the grayish gravel that you see in the center area... unfortunate not to have a better match, but we've also collected a bin full of rock chips that I'll toss on top for a bit of a blend. What fun to build! I'm looking forward to the next one!
The shrub in the center will probably go... DH suggests replacing it with a miniature conifer, which I thoroughly endorse! (Nice to get buy-in, LOL!)

Do you have plants to go in or will they be aquired over time?

Both. I've put in fairly grandiose orders to both Beaver Creek and Wrightman's (alpine nurseries in BC and Ontario, respectively) which should arrive in a couple of weeks or so. I also started a few alpines in the basement under lights. And, as it's all largely experimental, in that I don't know what will do well here or not* (... and I actually find that kind of fun, as one person's results aren't necessarily the same as another's), I do expect I'll have lots of empty spaces to fill over the next few years, LOL!

*Actually, on that point, today was the alpine garden society's first open garden event of the season. I really did intend to go, but as it turned out, I was having too good of a time mucking about here, and couldn't drag myself away. So, it's no one's fault but my own if I've picked all the wrong species, LOL! Must make it to the next one, though.





This message was edited May 4, 2008 5:45 PM

Well done! We begin construction of a crevice garden at our local Botanical garden at the end of the month. We have all the plants we need lined up already. Ours will not be too big...probably 20' X 20'. We just purchased 4 pallets of flat rocks. We will use a 5 to 1 mix of coarse sand and leaf mold for the growing media. I can't wait to start it!

Lori - it looks great! You'll have so much fun planting in all those spaces! I'm almost jealous ;-) lol Looking forward to seeing it "mature" :-)

Rann

Thanks for the kind words, all!

I got my Wrightman's and Beaver Creek orders, and picked up yet more plants at the Calgary Rock and Alpine Garden Society plant sale today, and I started planting! Should finish tomorrow. (If I feel sufficiently bold, after mapping it up and pulling out the tags, I may post a photo...)

Looking forward to it :-)

Rann