A neat, cozy alpine slide is the dream of any country owner. From the pages of magazines about landscape design, a summer residence, a garden, neat fir trees, beautiful mosses are constantly looking at us, all this seems so cozy and graceful, and for some time after planting it is.
I don't know what it is, remnants of the 90s or imposing from magazines, but all my friends over 40 want to make an alpine slide at their dacha. To be honest, I was the same. And 15 years ago I made my dream slide. Unfortunately, I could not find a photo of her 10 years ago. But if I find it, I will definitely add it to the article later! But, what can I say, at first, while the slide grows and takes root, although it looks neat, it does not look complete. It takes about five years to get the desired result. And after that, it needs to be constantly limited in growth, cut, filed, and so on. But the problem is that the trees cannot be left small, over time they still become large. And bushes that could be cut off just look ugly next to a huge fir.
The problem is that the stronger bushes, while growing, killed the weaker ones. The flowers were almost no longer visible. Even picking up plants that peacefully coexist with each other, all the same, over time, some one will win, since their place is limited. 15 years later, my alpine slide looks like a tree and bushes around it. This does not mean that it is bad or ugly, but this is definitely not what I wanted.
To cut down a tree, which is already 15 years old, to dig out all the bushes and make a new hill, I simply cannot raise my hands! After all, so much soul is invested in these plants! I understand that someone will say that it was possible to file more aggressively and limit the growth of the bushes. But believe me, after 10 years, sawed-off hemp and trimmed bushes do not look like perfect young trees, like from the cover of magazines.
Due to the complexity of the maintenance of alpine slides in recent years, more and more often in European landscape design they get rid of them and give preference to open spaces, as well as geometric shapes from unpretentious bushes. In general, as in the interior - minimalism. In life, there are already enough difficulties, but in the country you want to relax and unwind in a hammock.
Alpine slides look like cat's graves, nothing attractive.
I also have an alpine slide, I had to make it in order to refine the earthen embankment in the basement. She is only two years old and she is not yet as overgrown as in the photo in this article, but there is more work on her than on an ordinary flower bed. It is necessary to monitor all the time so that it does not overgrow.I liked the alpine slide in the photo, even the large trees look good, but you can see that it is a little run up and overgrown, and if you put it in order it will look awesome. For example, in the second photo, the juniper looks very good, but if you remove all the grass, cover it with ultra-power or a similar material and pour pebbles on it and re-lay the stones, then the juniper will play and the stones and pebbles will emphasize its charm.