It’s all about alpines! Our expert shares her favourite easy-care spring gems
WORDS: SUSIE WHITE; WWW.SUSIE-WHITE.CO.UK, @COTTAGEGARDENER. PHOTOGRAPHS: SUSIE WHITE; GRAPHICS: SHUTTERSTOCK
The main season for alpine plants is early in the year, before the garden fills out. These little treasures flower now so they can complete their life cycle before the cold alpine winter.
They are small, hardy plants or bulbs that grow above the tree line in the mountains and are perfect for small gardens.
Rock gardens were popular in the 1970s, but a new style of alpine gardening is trendy now. This is no longer a heap of rocks plonked in the middle of the lawn. Instagram is full of innovative ways of using these accommodating plants: miniature landscapes in shallow bowls, succulents in living walls, crevice gardens or tiny gems grown amongst slate chippings.
I grow alpines in two areas of my garden; in gravel by the steps to the front door, and on a semi-circular raised bed. Here I can really admire their delicate beauty.
Growing alpines in troughs or raised beds brings them closer to eye-line. You can tuck them into walls, grow them at the front of borders or between paving stones.
Most alpines are happy in poor soil or dry conditions, though others grow in damp places. Many are low-maintenance, though if you have a heavier soil it’s best to add grit or sharp sand to improve drainage.
There’s a huge range to choose from. My favourites are the pretty pink arabis ‘Rose Delight’, the exquisite gold-laced polyanthus, our yellow native tulip, and yellow Whitlow grass (Draba aizoides) which I grow over the edge of a sculpture.
The Mount Atlas daisy has cheerful white flowers with red undersides and when it closes up at night you see the red backs of the petals. It makes a low mat of fine ferny leaves and is drought tolerant. Gravel makes a good background for this and other alpines, showing the plants off, preventing mud splashes and keeping the plant dry.
Saxifrages revel in the same conditions, and mossy saxifrages are very easy to grow. They make emerald green cushions for most of the year and are covered in flowers in spring.
To propagate them, you can just pull a tuft from the side of the cushion with a bit o
