Alpines. Piccies of

Erinus alpinus growing in Derbyshire tufa.

(40" round concrete trough).

 

Ooh, I've just found this thread... @kindredspirit, your alpines are amazing. I love growing them, but they tend to die on me come wintertime.

 

They shouldn't die really: maybe they haven't enough sharp drainage and winter wet does them in then. Sharp drainage is the key to most alpines.

 

Alpines of many kinds will grow anywhere in the UK if they have the right conditions. The biggest problem is wet, so they need to be in the sort of site shown in @kindredspirit 's lovely container, and in virtually nothing but grit or similar. It's the wet they don't like, as already said.
I grow sedums and sempervivums in containers that are 99% grit, and tip them on their sides a bit over winter to cope with the rainfall. Some are growing happily in areas of gravel, where they have barely any soil, and their roots don't reach the soil below, so they're also fine. Lots of things like saxifrages and thymes etc will grow happily like that too.

The biggest threat for many naturally occurring alpines now is that the ever increasing temps mean they're running out of 'hill', because they need to be at a higher altitude to stay alive, and they've reached the peak [literally] of that in some areas up here, which is very depressing.

 

Thank you both for your useful tips. I need to use more grit!
@fairygirl, the alpines struggling in their natural habitats due to climate change; it's rather worrying, isn't it?

 

Yes - it's really horrible @pattie . We have lots of types on our hills and mountains, but when I read that last week, it really brought home the problem to me. I was just thinking when I was out recently on one of my favourite hills, that it won't be long before the little butterworts will be flowering soon. They were just producing their stems.
No matter how often I see them, I always love the little saxifrages etc, tucked in among rocks, and just being tiny little survivors in some very difficult locations.
These are an example of the type of location - just over 3,000 feet, about fifteen minutes from the summit of An Caisteal in Crianlarich, last June.
The little plant I took the pic of is roughly in the middle of this pic, just to the left of the rock with the sun on it

 

What a pretty little plant. Worth climbing 3000 feet to see!

 

One of my favourite hills @pattie, and a great, high level ridge walk. It's well named - Twistin' Hill

 

I love that erinus in tufa @kindredspirit . Can one still buy tufa? I left my only lump in my last garden

 

There might be some in North Wales; I don't know really.
There's plenty in the Czech Republic, I believe.

 

Small amounts of tufa on eBay.

 

No good for my knees, then!

 

Thanks @katecat58 - considering how often I'm on eBay, I should have thought of it

 

@CarolineL it's always the first place I look for anything. I figure if it's not on eBay it's probably not available anywhere!

 

It's not the ridge that's the problem @pattie - it's coming down from the adjoining hill that does the knees in! The ridge itself, which isn't too narrow anywhere, is just a side to side type of twistin', rather than up and down.
Re the tufa- I'm sure there's a 'recipe' for making it - or something similar, which is ideal for making a container. You can always get a large alpine pan [clue's in the name ] which you can then fill accordingly. I had a nice one that I used for various arrangements, but it fell apart a few years ago. They last quite well though.
You could also make something with concrete. If you take a box of some kind, then rig up some wooden shuttering for the inside, fill the gap with the concrete, and Bob's yer uncle. It doesn't even need a complete base - open to the ground would be ideal, but for stability, you can do a base first, with some cans/pipes in first for the drainage holes.