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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-04-24, Page 22A. ,3 PAGE 2H. -•;C .I INEWS:RECORD, RSDAY; APRIL 24,1975 Alpine garden, for those with limited space by A.. R. Buckley plant roots. Use a mbtture. of one from mats of silver foliage; and Many people love to garden, part good garden soil, one part Tumbling Watbrs, with cascades but think' they don't have the. , peastone and one part peat and • of white flowers which will hang ' ' Strength or the willpower.to carry ...•..sand.;m,iXed, ,Alpines,do• not. need from a high rock or wall. it . rhe... kabschia ' • groUp...is•'the ..• choicest one, for these plants are very small, yet have large flowers with colors varying from white to pink, through red and crimson. Saxifraga burseriana, Gloria, is a well-known cultivar with white flowers two inches in diameter. The cultivar "Major" is even larger 'With flowers three inches wide; Dainty Dame has pale pink flowers. Other choice plants for the alpine garden are the rock - jasmines, which have umbels of flowers produced profusely, many miniature anemones, very small columbines no 1`arger than a fifty cent piece, some very showy bellflowers and some remarkable pinks (Dianthus ssp.).` There are many inex- pensive plants, and an' one can begin this hobby with a very small outlay. The main work in the garden during the summer is weeding and watering, cutting off dead blooms and propagating more plants. In the fall it might be necessary to place a mulch of Straw over the tenderest plants, but in the main all plants of the alpine garden' are hardy, and will heed no covering. Much depends upon how your hobby develops. If you extend to hardy cyclamen and slipper plants, some covering will have t� be used. Of course, if your hobby centers around growing plants in troughs, they will need to be taken from the out all - the backbending tasks or thrive in a rich so necessary to, success. • Such When the base and topsoil of people could simplify their Yota' alpine garden are finished, gardening and make work easier You must search for small, by increasing the lawn areas and rectangular or square weather - adding a few shrubs or trees at beaten rocks. These need not' be strategic points; however, this more than a foot long with - some may not be the remedy if'it does smaller ones for contrast. Your, not satisfy . the demand for garden is a miniature and should something interestingth do. be treated as such. Arrange the For those who want an ab- soil so you can get a few in - sorbing hobby that calls for only teresting hills and valleys and light work, I would recommend keep this contour as you place the alpine gardening. You can grow • stones. Set the rocks so that they alpines in a so-called trough tip backwards into the soil. garden, a billiard -table garden Arrange an irregular row with (trough or sink raised on cin- the odd rock going back further derblock), a garden•'a few feet and the line gradually disap- square, or in a large moraine pearing into the soil. Then start several square yards. For the another line but do not make it keen alpine fan there is an almost parallel with the first: It should unlimited number of . exquisite be higher and gradually plants of all sizes and shapes wide seldom -seen except on the Alps, Around the ed of your alpine e Rocky Mountains, Caucasians, outcrop you may set large and cool mountain regions of all trailing plants ' such as moss temperate climes. pinks, thymes and sandworts. The best type of alpine garden These will fall down over the for, the puttering hobbyist is one walls and break up the straight that can be raised two or three line. Set the plants in small feet so little , stooping is pockets' among the rocks, necessary, and one narrow following the lines of the enough to need only moderate- Crevices. reaching and stretching. . The plants you grow in your First, bring in a landscape garden are very special. They gardener who is handy With brick will be more or less plants in and stone and have him build the miniature and yet if you consider garden. Select. a sunny location the size of the blooms they where one side is already raised Produce and their beauty of form or where a background exists. and leaf, they will be giants in The sunny side of your home is your estimation. If you plan your fine if the drip from the roof is Planting properly, the' flower caught by an eavestrough. If you show will start with the little have a raised patio, an alpine Yellow winter aconite with its garden can be built out from this ruffs and frills, to be followed by with the steps forming an in- an abucidance of blooms on the Caucasian primroses in white, tegral art. ink, blue and y Coming up yellow. A good way to build an alpine or P moraine garden is to dig a pit a amongst these might be foot deep and fill it with coarse miniature narcissus. gravel or stone. Then make a The bulk of your planting could wall two or three cinder or be centred around the concrete blocks high, fill in with diminutive, encrusted, .kabschia- good soil and build your rocks on type and moss saxifrages. The this. encrusted types have rosettes of The most important thing to fleshy leaves, toothed and remember is that adequate scalloped at the edges, all 'With drainage must be provided. With sprays of white, pink and purple raised beds this won't be so or yellow flowers. Although they difficult; but, if you must ex- reach their peak of perfection in cavate, make sure lots of broken May When they bloom, they are bricks, tiles, or stones are placed attractive at all times. Among at the base. the best of these are Dr. Ramsey, The soil for the top foot of your with beautiful silvery -white garden should be a gravel and leaves and snowwhite flowers: soil mixture, which will give Kathleen Linsent, with graceful proper drainage and texture for sprays of pink flowers arising .. / - ii -lr �. �.. _-', ", by "IhH� • �. t,, .«;.. Kabschia saxifrages growing in a flat with weathered rock. Lilacs -fragrant, colorful For' frtkrarve; -tdlir, -•-i ndQ dries of Crin red;- a i�t� ;mita adaptability to many soils and white. climates, lilacs are hard to beat. The Preston Hybrids, a strain of lilacs developed by Canadian breeders, are especially hardy. They grow to about 15 feet, are relatively free of suckers and make excellent screening plants. They 'are descended from several very hardy Oriental species which produce many shades Of blooms late in the lilac season. The Japanese Tree Lilac is excellent -for small gardens. It grows to 20 feet and produces white flowers in July.`I�` "There are several hundred varieties to choose from," says Ontario ministry of agriculture and food horticulturist, D.B. McNeill. "Extend the lilac season from May to July by planting a few of each strain." Plant one or more of the popular French Hybrid varieties to get abundant bloom In May. The flowers can be single or double, and they come in many supports and placed at ground level. Then shovel soil around the edge, of the trough or cover the whole garden with. etraw.• One Of the big advantages of this type of garden is that it can be moved to the side of the house where snow collects and stays all winter. Dianthus Magic Charms, Bronze. Medal Winner, 1974 All - America Selections. 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