Choose the best alpine plants for your rock garden

Gardening is one of the most engaging hobbies you can have. You can cultivate plants not only for aesthetic pleasure, but also for the sheer joy you receive from watching tiny saplings grow into strong plants. A lot of care and concern goes into creating a good garden. If you want to spice up your usual garden of flowers and plants, making a rock garden is a brilliant idea. And a great choice of plant breed that goes with rocks is alpine plants. Also, if you are very passionate about gardening and are willing to replant saplings every few months, you might want to settle for seasonal bedding plants too.

Since the natural habitat of alpine plants is at high altitudes often with extreme temperature variations, these plants are very tough and resistant to weather changes. These are mostly recognised as dwarf-growers and are extremely hardy and long-lived plants. They require very minimum effort to grow and are thus ideal for rock gardens. They flower during the summer and fill the garden with little splashes of colour. You may also grow them on stone walls or any other rocky surface. They survive snowfall in winter very well too, unlike most seasonal bedding plants.

There are various types of alpine plants that can be grown in a garden. The most popular among these are the sub-alpine plants and the mountain plants. These can be grown in gardens that allow good drainage of water. There are also moraine plants, which are more difficult to grow as they require specialised conditions like a dry top soil at all times. The bog plants, in contrast, can be grown in moist soil as they naturally grow in regions which are covered with water for several months of the year. Seasonal bedding plants, unlike alpine plants, are much more sensitive to changing weather conditions and thus require more care.

Seasonal bedding plants are grown mostly for decorative purposes. They can be grown in flower beds bordering your garden area and also in baskets hung from the balcony. Plants like Begonia, Geranium or Petunia are colourful and completely change the look of your garden. These can be of different types, namely annuals, biennials, hardy perennials or shrubs. Some sub-tropical varieties of plants and bulbs can also be grown in flower beds as seasonal plants. These are planted usually in spring, early summer or late summer. However, these plants are not as easy to grow as alpine plants and require good regular care and maintenance.

The choice of seasonal plants usually depends on how often you want to replant the flower beds. If you wish to replant three times a year or more, it is advisable that you use plants that have a short period of growth and blossom early. Seasonal bedding plants should ideally be planted in May-June or September-October depending on the kind of flowers you wish to grow. These can be grown from seeds or saplings or alternatively from pot-grown plants. Alpine plants like Dianthus or Aster are usually planted in raised beds, but can be grown otherwise too. Contact a reliable nursery and choose plants to decorate your garden space.

Grow the best varieties of alpine plants ( http://shop.fbradley-sons.co.uk/alpines ) in your garden. Decorate your garden with blooming seasonal bedding ( http://shop.fbradley-sons.co.uk/seasonal-bedding ) plants.

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