Alps Garden

The Alps Garden encompasses most of the water pools and includes an area termed scree-morraine.  This area is typical of the rocky, gravely areas below cliffs and glacial edges where freezing and thawing generate the accumulation of spawled materials.  Scree areas are very fast draining and contain little organic matter.  In natural areas, moisture for plant growth comes from water draining over an impervious layer just below the surface.  In this garden, water runs continuously on a heavy liner 6-12 inches below the surface of the scree gravel.  One of the most interesting rock garden genera in the scree is the difficult-to-grow rock breakers (Saxifraga spp.).  They grow in rosettes of varying sizes and send up masses of pink or white flowers on long stems in June.

Clockwise from left: Diminutive Draba sibirica (Draba) is a low mass of yellow in very early spring.  It is followed by Saxifraga 'Foster's Gold' (Rock Breaker) and Saxifraga x hornbrookii 'Ariel' (Rock Breaker) pushing masses of bloom out of the gravel like magic.