Photo essay: Alpine Plant Centre

Living in Sheffield means living close to the Alpine Plant Centre in the Peak District, which has an amazing selection of alpines, often rare, and at really good prices. I've been before and have used quite a few alpines from there to plant up my alpine wall. Alongside the nursery is the alpine garden, 30 years in the making, and I finally managed to rock up (rock, geddit...) on a rare day that the garden was open. 

Due to the cold Spring the alpines were only just starting to flower. Here is a selection of some that caught my eye. Because this is an actual gardeners garden most of the year there are no labels, hence the lack of specific names on this occasion. 

But I will start with one family that I know, and love, Daphnes.

 Large alpine Daphne shrub

 

 A really large alpine Daphne shrub! The fragrance was gorgeous.

Daphne yes, but it's the lichen that caught my eye here

 I'd love to know what this is, such a pretty pink and a lush green

Alpine Erysimum

I love how this almost looks like a valley. Valley of the alpines.

The owner and grower Steve caught Kevin and I in mid-amazement looking at this Tufa. He informed us that it's taken 35 years to get to this stage. 35 years! Dedication and beauty.

 

Did I mention Daphne? 

The alpine garden nestles comfortable within the Peak District

Ok, is this a Wookiee or a fern? Kevin & I voted Wookiee :)

 View looking up towards the house. Hell of a front garden, huh.

 Erodium

I'm still quite the beginner with growing alpines. When I saw that there was Tufa (naturally reconstituted limestone Steve told us) available, I wondered if I would be up to the challenge of growing some alpines in Tufa? Well, why not. I picked up a small piece, only £3, and a couple of Sempervivums which are good beginner-tufa plants. I'll have a go at adding these to the Tufa sometime soon.

Sempervivum Black Mountain (dark red one) and Virginius with my piece of tufa.

I also picked up a couple of Daphnes, D. Hybrid Meon & Cheriton, plus Penstemon newberryi, Sisyrinchium macounii and Lavendula angustifolia Nana.

The garden will be open for two more days this year, 31st May and 14th June, 2pm to 5pm. I'm hoping to go back as I'm sure I'll see different plants in flower as the weather (finally?) warms up. See you there.

Alpine wall

At the beginning of last July, 2013 that is, I mentioned that I was going to experiment with trying to grow an Alpine Wall. After recently purchasing some more alpines for my wall and having planted them out, I realised that I haven't given an update on how the wall was going. I thought it was worth doing so, not the least because it's been a bit of a success!

Calling it an Alpine Wall may make it sound grander than it is, however, it is alpines and they are growing in a wall. Or, the remainders of a wall, viz:

This wall separates our driveway from our neighbours Yvonne and Gary. Getting rid of it or trying to fix it would be costly, and frankly we have other work around the house and garden that is more important to spend money on. And to be honest, I very quickly went from 'well this isn't very attractive' to 'hey, this is an opportunity...'

For years I have loved alpines, but hadn't got around to doing anything about it. So as I mentioned, last year I thought I'd make the most of a bad wall and plant some alpines and see what happens.

To the left is a small image of the original planting, including: Sisyrinchium biscutella, Sisyrinchium graminoides (also know as bermudiana) Saxifraga x urbium primuloides (dwarf London Pride), Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common spotted orchid), and Sedum Bertram Anderson.

So how has it gone?


Well, it all has gone rather well actually.

Original plants a year on, June 2014

Firstly, everything that I planted, survived. I wasn't sure if they would as there is very little depth in the holes (c. 3cms) and well, I know they are alpines, but still... And I had poppies self-seed from goodness knows where. Furthermore, I've since been told by an alpine nursery grower that Dactylorhiza fuchsii shouldn't be able to grow in this situation, but well, as you can see, a year on...

Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Less surprising, in that they were alpines which were more likely to survive in such conditions, but no less exciting, was:

Sisyrinchium biscutella

and Campanula poscharskyana

These were all flowering in June this year, and it rather encouraged me to keep going with the experiment. So voilà, another 15 or so alpines have been added.

Added August 2014

This includes:

the delicately pretty blue of Allium cyaneum

Saxifraga crustata 'silver maid'

Sedum jet stream

Thymus serpyllum coccineus group (bottom left, the larger plant that is starting to trail down the wall), and Potentilla crantzii (top right).

I read somewhere recently that when Beth Chatto created her Gravel Garden, apart from watering the plants at the time of planting, they were not subsequently watered except by rain, left to survive or not on their own. An attractive proposition, less watering by hand is always good. However, the alpines in my wall aren't in soil, they are in 3cm holes with the barest of compost added. So I'll give them a break and let them settle in before I stop hand watering.

Saxifraga 'Southside Seedling'

I make no claims for my Alpine Wall to be a thing of great beauty. But I do think that beauty exists within it, and I feel, particularly as the plants settle in, grow and self-seed (the Sisyrinchium's have already started self seeding), that it might just become an attractive feature. 

Most importantly, I am gaining great joy in finally being able to grow alpines and to be able to savour their tiny delights in my own garden. The experiment continues, I think with some confidence.

Wordless Wednesday 25th June 2014: Sisyrinchium 'Biscutella'

The Alpine Plant Centre and my experimental alpine wall

On the weekend I had the opportunity to visit The Alpine Plant Centre, which is in the Hope Valley in the Peak District. Sadly the garden itself (above) wasn't open. I missed the NGS open days and must make sure  I make it next year. However the nursery was, and I picked up quite a few alpines.

I was so excited by the nursery that I forgot to photograph it. It is just what one wants in a specialist nursery. A large variety of plants, way beyond what you will ever find in a normal garden centre, well labelled and of high quality. They sell a large variety of alpines, including rockery plants, tufa plants, saxifrages, sempervivums, sedums, primulas, gentians and even troughs are available.

I was also very impressed by the prices, most going for £1.50 - £2, much cheaper than alpines in normal garden centres which are more likely to be around £3-4. Of course, the lower prices mean you feel encouraged to put more in your basket! They even made it easy shopping, by lining the baskets with trays to make sure your precious cargo didn't fall over.

I don't have the usual alpine trough to grow my alpines in. Rather, I have an ex-wall on which I am going to experiment. Apparently this was a normal 6ft brick wall which the previous owners reduced when putting in the garage. What remains is this (our garage to the right):

As you can see, the brick has lots of hole in them, and this led me to wonder if I could try and turn this not-most-attractive feature into a flowering wall? I tried experimenting a few weeks ago with some sempervivum cuttings and one of the two is definitely doing well.

Many alpines grow in high remote places with weather temperature extremes. Many can survive and thrive with very little soil. I've seen amazing specimens growing out of cracks in rocks. My wall is a mix of bright sun and shade and can be very windy. So I thought I'd have a go a trying a range of alpines in the holey brick wall and see what takes.

So the plants that I chose for this experiment includes: Sisyrinchium biscutella and bermudiana, Saxifraga x urbium primuloides (dwarf London Pride, Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common spotted orchid), Sempervivum topaz, Sedum Betram Anderson and Campanula poscharskyana.

Obviously it would be better if I was planting these in spring, or even autumn, but given out no-so-hot summer, I figure it's worth a try. Let's see what happens.