Yet another conversation about the vagaries of the British weather and Easter being at a different time each year led to me writing this blog. The aim?
To inspire you with a selection of easy-care alpines.
5 Alpine Plants for Easter Gardens can be read on many levels: –
First and foremost, it is a planting scheme you could put into practice today, an Easter garden. But, given the aforementioned British weather, you may prefer to read about it, and ponder on the possibilities it suggests for your own garden.
It is primarily a planting design, but not just for alpine gardens and rockeries. These plants are also suitable for a small green roof over a bicycle store; and in a raised bed over your recycling boxes and bins.
The plants themselves are chosen to look good at Easter; whether this happens in late March or mid-April. So it is a planting design for a spring garden. But it is more than that; it is a planting design for year-round interest.
By keeping to a limited colour theme, the design has harmony. The colours are a soft green, cream and buttermilk yellow, with a rich purple to add contrast.
Textural interest comes from the various shapes and sizes of the foliage and from the different growth habits. Although fundamentally ground covering, flower spikes add height during spring and summer.
5 Alpine Plants for Easter Gardens – the plants
I’ve chosen and named particular varieties of plants below. Of course, there are others which would give a similar effect, but you should be easily able to find these ones in your local plant nursery or garden centre.
Arabis ‘Old gold’
Arabis is also known as alpine wall cress. A good ground cover plant, the evergreen, variegated foliage of Arabis ‘Old gold’ gives you year-round interest. It has white flowers on tall stems in the spring. But you plant this one for its foliage; the creamy variegation deepens as the leaves mature to an old gold shade.
Saxifraga ‘Buttercream’
This is one of the mossy saxifrages which will form a soft mound of evergreen foliage. It is known as Saxifraga ‘Buttercream’ and Saxifraga x arendsii ‘Buttercream’. Pink tinged in bud, the creamy flowers on short stems smother the foliage cushion. Tolerant of shade, prefers not to be in full afternoon sun during the hotter months.
Thymus serpyllum Coccineus
A low growing, creeping thyme. The small leaves of dark green foliage are aromatic, more so in the warm sun. Although an edible herb it is not often used in cooking as there are better culinary thymes. Summer flowering, when the plant will be covered with bee-friendly crimson flowers. In bud, this thyme looks to have red tinged foliage, as the dark red-purple flower buds are so tight to the foliage.
Narcissus cyclamineus ‘Snipe’
The addition of a bulbous perennial might be considered a cheat, but who can resist the delicacy of this little daffodil in spring? Especially one that comes with a RHS Award of Garden Merit. Miniature daffodils can get lost in the border, so raising little Jack Snipe up planting trough over your bicycles means you can enjoy it to the full.
Viola oderata ‘Princess of Prussia’
The name Viola oderata tells you straight away that this is a scented violet, a sweet violet. If you love the colour purple, then Viola oderata ‘Princess of Prussia’ is an absolute must. The flowers are a rich red-purple that pack a scent to match. Small enough for your rock garden and green roof, it seems a pity not to plant it where you can enjoy the pretty flowers and perfume too.
5 Alpine Plants for Easter Gardens – easy care gardening
All the plants chosen are fairly tolerant of soil pH, so aim for a pH range of 6 – 8. A lighter soil rather than heavy clay is needed though. Wet roots over winter are likely to kill off your planting design. Add grit and / or horticultural sand to improve drainage. If your soil is really heavy clay, then I would recommend planting this scheme in a raised bed or as a green roof.
For those of you bothered by deer and rabbits, you’ll be pleased to learn that the alpines chosen are fairly animal resistant. Smaller pests and diseases shouldn’t be too much bother either.
Getting the plants in the right soil and with the right amount of sun will reduce your maintenance later on, so it pays to get this right from the start.
This is not a planting scheme for a position in full sun. There are loads of those, and it’s not something we can all achieve in all of our garden! This is for those situations where the sun shines in the morning and goes off during the afternoon. The plants receive light all day, but not direct afternoon sun in the summer months.
Perhaps these 5 alpine plants for Easter gardens has inspired you to look at your garden with fresh eyes. Have a look at some portfolio pictures in the link below for inspiration for raised beds.
But perhaps you feel daunted by all that needs doing and don’t know where to start? We can help you to understand how your garden works and show you how to put it all into practice.
Getting to grips with the various mini habitats in your garden is something we look at in Plews Gardening Lessons, particularly in ‘The Year in Your Garden’ Course. Do ask for more details. And in the meantime you might enjoy reading the suggested blogs below, or downloading an eBook – there’s one for Easter and one for Spring Gardens (among others!).
Happy Easter!
Related Gardening articles you may enjoy from our Award Winning Blog
Easter Flowers for Your Spring Garden
Camellias – Cornish Gardens in the Spring
Raised Beds in the Garden
Is Yours a Shady or a Sunny Garden?
