ALPINE GARDEN - tender lovin' care

How succulents can survive in zone 3, let alone our coldest winter in living memory amazes me, but there are definitely signs of life (as well as a couple of casualties).

Last May I introduced you to the Alpine Garden, which is made up of flat rocks that must have been the old concrete sidewalk before a new path was put down. You voted to mix Sempervivum and Sedum together, which I tried at first but eventually split apart because the Sedum just covered the poor little Hens 'n Chicks right up.

As the season wore on last year however the mounds of earth I had topped with the Hens 'n Chicks shrunk as the earth settled, so in the fall I needed to build them up again.

Upon close inspection I could see that some were beginning to rot due to moist conditions since Sempervivum typically prefer dry locations.

So I dug it all up and put them aside in a container.

Then I added lots of sand, mixed it up and planted them all back again.  

Labour intensive perhaps, but I had not planted them in the right conditions in the first place, so the responsibility was mine to fix it.

It will be very interesting for me to see how well they come back this year and if more sand is needed or if they take off and start spreading under the big Blue Spruce as planned.

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THE ALPINE GARDEN IS IN - cast your vote

Despite the fact that the Farmer's Almanac states that our last risk of frost date is May 25th, and despite a Winnipeg tradition of not putting in plants until the May long weekend (i.e. this coming weekend), but with a forecast low of only 9 degrees over the next week I have rolled the dice and begun to plant.

It has been a long winter and I am impatient. I cross my fingers that is not a 'lethal combination'.

 These "Hens 'n Chicks" were overwintered in my parent's garden. You can see they are still in their pots so the roots would not be disturbed in their temporary home.  It amazes me that succulents can survive -35 degree temperatures.

 Under the large Spruce in the front of the house is where I am putting the Alpine garden. Despite being under a large tree it appears it will get a fair amount of light in the afternoon.  Granted I have not been here yet for a summer, but as I said earlier, I am willing to roll the dice.

After reading up a bit for my post on my parent's amazing front porch planter and discovering some of the trends in trough gardening I decided to mound some soil between a few of the bigger rocks to create small hills for added interest.  in the pic above I have mounded the one on the right and am about to make another on the left.

 I have mixed Goldmoss Stonecrop and Sempervivum on each mound and behind the one on the right I planted 5 pots of mixed succulents from last year's "Friends of Gardens Manitoba" Fall Perennial Sale.

I written before about the importance of "dressing" your garden after planting. Can you see how there are pine needles, pine cones and such sprinkled between the plants?  I do not like the look of a newly planted garden. I want my neighbours to wonder if I did not in fact plant these in the fall.

To be honest I am not sure that I should have planted them mixed like this or reserved one mound each for each type of plant. I am tempted to move them, after all I am a perennial gardener and that is part of what we do, is it not?

Before I do anything hasty I would love some crowd-sourced feedback - what would you do?

 Leave it or change it? 

Cast your votes.

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PARENT'S FRONT YARD - The Planter

My parents have the most amazing built-in planter in their front yard.  With about 30 feet long and a plantable 15 inches across there is a lot of space to fill.

As you can see, they fill it with annuals, and my first instinct is always to garden with perennials, so I have been having some fun thinking about the challenge of putting in perennials instead.  Not that it is mine to plant mind you, but I just can help but think, 'how would I plant it?' if it were.

The first thing I thought of since it gets quite a bit of sun is to go with some Sempervivums.  

Then I read they don't like too much sun to get started but once mature can handle direct light, since the location seems perfect for it, so I would start with just 5 feet one year and see how it did.

I could easily picture a mixture of stones including river rock and slate, perhaps some driftwood. 

(Although it would be tricky with light conditions, if there was any way to get some moss into the mix that would look out-of-this-world.)

They can be quite dramatic in flower; the blooms are as rare as they are beautiful.

And there is really a great variety in the detail, including some versions that are covered in what looks like a spidery-web material ("arachnoi-deums", no surprise), which are the most tolerant of light.

It turns out that "trough gardening" is already 'a thing'.

While many arrived at trough gardening in an alpine style before me, most are not lucky enough to have such a large and well-placed trough to plan. 

(No, that should not read "plant", keep in mind I'm only visiting this garden, LOL)

It is hard top argue with the success they have had with the petunias, and the scent at their front door is heavenly, but still I cannot help but imagine other designs.

Aside from semps and rocks I also couldn't help picture some small evergreens, after all, we know they are plentiful at roadsides, as well as sedums so that their draping habit would soften the too-even edge of the trough.

While Canadian Gardening says semps grow to zone 4 only, the Winnipeg Free Press says I should be able to find a variety of succulents that survive here so it looks like this would at least be possible. 

Other plants suggested by Canadian Gardening for Alpine Gardening in Zone 3 include Creeping Phlox, Basket-of-Gold (which I had never heard of before but may have seen on a walk last night!), Saxifrage (another new one!), and Dianthus (not my favourite, but if they share optimal growing conditions with the rest then worth a try) .  

Having sunny options will clearly introduce me to many, many new plants, 

even if I am in a colder zone.