Do-it-yourself stone slide at the dacha. Small and simple alpine slides

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A beautiful, well-groomed area is the calling card of any site. It’s good when, among all kinds of plantings in the garden, there is a central element that stands out from the general background.

This element can be a rock garden - a rocky elevation, decorated with flowers and plants and imitating a fragment of a mountain landscape.

Summer residents often confuse two similar concepts - rock garden and rock garden. In fact, they are not too mistaken, because rockery is the general name for rocky gardens, and alpine slide is one of its varieties. At the same time, many landscape designers are accustomed to defining a rock garden only as a flat composition.

A rock garden, unlike a rock garden, is an elevated composition, necessarily tiered, with slopes and a peak.

Alpine slide against the backdrop of a log house

Compared to a rock garden, it is more difficult to make an alpine slide with your own hands, but it has a more pronounced relief, attracts more attention due to its height, and makes the landscape noticeably more picturesque not only in summer, but also in winter.

You can also use a rock garden to zone a summer cottage, for example, to visually separate the work area from the front door. In addition, a rocky hill will beautifully cover embankments that are unsuitable for planting.

From this article you will learn how to make an alpine slide with your own hands and get landscape design ideas from 50 photos of rock gardens.

Planning the composition and design of an alpine slide

So, how to create a composition, how to select and arrange plants and stones? Complete answers to these questions will not fit into one article, but in short, here are a few main rules and principles that need to be followed:

• According to the canons, an alpine hill should not consist of boulders and rolled stones (with the exception of rock gardens near reservoirs), but of rough and broken ones. For example, it could be: tuff, sandstone, limestone, granite or slate.
• It is advisable to combine no more than 2 species in one composition, otherwise the rock garden will look unnatural.
• As a rule, the height of an alpine slide is 3-5 tiers (it is better if the number of tiers is odd). It is better not to make country rock gardens too high - their optimal height is 50-80 cm.

When choosing the design of an alpine slide, be guided by a sense of proportion - the composition should look natural and fit organically into the landscape. Cliffs and rocks (see photo below) in summer cottages most often seem foreign. But simple imitations of a slope or mountain valley without a pronounced peak are appropriate everywhere.

On a small summer cottage, tall types of rock gardens as in this photo are not very appropriate

Now let's talk about choosing plants for an alpine hill. If you build a rock garden strictly according to the rules, then the flora for it must be selected strictly of alpine origin: miniature conifers, shrubs, ground cover, bulbous and herbaceous perennials.

However, real “Alpines” are not so easy to find and grow in the middle zone, so you can choose any plants that are characterized by stockiness (height up to 60 cm), unpretentiousness and, of course, decorativeness. On the northern slope it is better to plant shade-tolerant plants: tenacious, periwinkle, fern, bergenia and others. On the southern slope, accordingly, light-loving plants grow better: lavender, barberry, adonis, iris, acena and others. Evergreen plants such as mountain pine, Canadian spruce, juniper and others will fit very harmoniously into the “mountain ensemble”.

It is advisable that the plants of your rock garden remain decorative throughout the season, otherwise withered leaves will spoil the entire composition, and it is unlikely to be possible to hide them behind their blooming “neighbors.” For this reason, it is good to use flyers in the design of an alpine slide. Although they are not entirely “canonical”, they will decorate a rocky garden for a long time.

Step-by-step instructions of 8 steps

Having roughly imagined what our rock garden will be like, we can begin to create an alpine slide with our own hands.

The technology for creating an alpine slide consists of the following stages:

1. We choose a place, decide on the dimensions;
2. We draw a diagram of the rock garden;
3. We mark the contour, remove the turf;
4. We make a drainage layer;
5. We prepare fertile soil and fill it;
6. We erect the core of the slide, add soil;
7. We plant plants;
8. Let's add the finishing touches.

Now let's talk about each stage in more detail.

Step 1. Draw a plan for an alpine slide

It is best to start creating even the simplest alpine slide with the development of a project. The simplest option is a schematic sketch, observing the approximate sizes of stones and plants relative to each other. For example, it could be something like this.

1 – Mountain pine, 2 – Creeping thyme, 3 – Canadian Phlox, 4 – Evers’ sedum, 5 – Gray fescue, 6 – Rocky alyssum, 7 – Angustifolia lavender, 8 – Sedum, 9 – Fragrant rue, 10 – Steller’s wormwood. Note: the alpine hill diagram is shown without taking into account the flowering time of plants

Ideally, a slide, especially a large and multi-tiered one, should be designed on a scale of, say, 1:50 or 1:25 (1 cm on paper corresponds to 50 or 25 “natural” centimeters) and with a grid with 2x2 cm cells (that is, with transferring the grid to nature, the cells will correspond to cells of 50x50 cm at a scale of 1:25).

Step 2. Choose a location

Here are some tips for choosing a location for an alpine slide:

• It is desirable that the rock garden is located in a sunny place, and the slope is oriented to the east and south. Of course, you can choose a shaded place, but then the choice of flora will be limited - you will have to plant only shade-tolerant plants.
• It would be good if the composition was placed so that it could be seen from different angles.
• Installing an alpine slide near a house or other buildings is undesirable, since melting snow or drops can cause the flower garden to sag and be damaged.
• A rock garden against the background of a fence is not the best idea, but if you can’t find another place, then shrubs planted along the fence or vines as in the photo below will help to improve the background of the hill.

An example of an alpine slide against the background of a fence. By the way, the rock garden here is designed to hide water communications This small alpine hill would look much better if the fence was entwined with vines or planted with shrubs

• You should not build an alpine hill under trees (deciduous and flower), otherwise every autumn you will have to clear the rocky garden of fallen leaves.
• If the site has uneven terrain created by nature, then this is the best option for a rock garden.

Suitable places:

• The front area of ​​the site;
• Entrance area;
• Recreation area (in the barbecue area, by the gazebo, pool, pond);
• Backyard;
• On any rocky retaining walls.

Step 3. Remove the turf

In accordance with the plan, we mark the outline of the future slide in the selected area: we drive in pegs and stretch a string through them.

Next, remove the turf to a depth of just over 30 cm and leave it aside for a while. Later, based on it, we will prepare a soil substrate. When doing land work, do not forget to remove weed rhizomes.

Step 4. Prepare the base

So, we have a “pit” for the rock garden. Now we need to fill it with a “sandwich” of drainage and soil. Broken bricks, pebbles, crushed stone or small gravel can be used as the first layer of drainage. We fill it with a thickness of 10-15 cm, depending on the size of the stones. Next, pour a layer of sand 5-10 cm thick, tamp it well and fill it with water to achieve maximum density.

• To prevent the composition from being destroyed by attacks from moles and shrews (if they are found in the vicinity of your dacha), you need to lay a fine metal mesh at the bottom of the pit.
• If you are setting up a rock garden on a slope with dry and loose sandy soil, then you don’t need to do drainage.

Step 5. Preparing the soil

When laying the drainage layer is completed, you can begin to prepare fertile soil. We will mix it from equal parts: previously dug turf, peat, humus and sand.

• Before preparing the soil substrate, the turf soil must be thoroughly cleared of weeds and their rhizomes.

Step 6. Build the slide

The construction of an alpine slide begins with laying the most beautiful and largest boulders along the perimeter of the future rock garden.

The stones should lie as stable as possible. To do this, they must, firstly, be placed on the ground with their largest side, and secondly, if necessary, place smaller support stones under them or add gravel or soil. The bottom row of boulders needs to be completely dug a third or two thirds into the ground - this way you will achieve not only stability, but also the desired natural effect.

Having folded the first row of large stones, we pour the prepared soil into the center of the composition and at the same time lay out the medium stones, forming the second tier.

Finally, small stones are placed at the top of the hill and on the slopes where voids need to be filled. At the top of the slide you can place one large or two medium stones. When erecting an alpine slide, do not forget to check your diagram and leave enough space for planting. Upon completion of the construction of the alpine slide, it needs to be watered generously and left for a couple of weeks to shrink.

• Try to lay stones so that the planting pockets are horizontal and not inclined, since plantings on a slope are not very convenient to water.
• Before laying each new stone, the soil underneath is pre-compacted.
• Remember that the rock garden should have as little geometry and symmetry as possible, because it is rare in nature.

Some experts recommend forming the core of the slide not from fertile soil, but from sand mixed with a small amount of crushed stone (the soil is poured only into the planting holes, and then the entire embankment is covered with it to hide the light sand). This way the elevation will be more reliable and durable. High slides require a core of three layers: gravel (or other rocky scattering), sand and soil (see diagram below).

Step 7. Planting plants

When you are satisfied with the composition of stones, proceed to the most enjoyable stage - planting the flora. To do this, first arrange the pots of seedlings on the slopes according to your design, starting with the large ones and ending with the small ones. Planting should begin from the top, gradually going down. The depth of planting holes depends on the size of the root systems of specific species. Finally, the finished slide needs to be watered, washing away the soil from the stones.

• Do not overdo it with fertilizers to avoid unwanted growth of plants in breadth and height.
• The soil substrate (acidity and alkalinity) can be adjusted for each species.

Step 8: Adding the finishing touches

Hurray, the alpine slide is ready! Now you can add filling to the slide (pebbles, gravel or crushed stone) where necessary, or install decor (garden figures, lanterns, etc.)
Finally, we invite you to watch a visual master class on how to make a simple alpine slide with your own hands.

See also the gallery of ideas for rock gardens in the country.

A rock garden is a fairly labor-intensive structure that requires excavation work, therefore, competent planning and serious preparation. Get to know the “pitfalls” of building an alpine slide that can spoil the impression of the result. Find out how to choose the right material and plants for a wildlife corner in the garden, and what difficulties you should take care of in advance. Learn the rules of care that will help preserve the composition for many years.

What is a rock garden and rock garden?

There are often cases when the owner of a site conceives a rock garden, draws a sketch, compares it with images found in magazines and discovers that he is going to build a rock garden. To avoid confusion in concepts, let’s figure out how a rock garden differs from an alpine slide.

The best stone flower beds give the impression that no human hand has touched them

A rock garden is an artificial rocky hill, laid in tiers and planted with continuously flowering herbs and low shrubs. The classic slide is decorated with plants from Central Europe (Alps, Carpathians), although there is a Japanese version that involves planting Far Eastern species, and even a Mexican one with cacti.

Alpine coaster styles

A rockery is a garden made of stones, often on a flat topography. Large and small stones, gravel areas, waves of sand - each detail has its own sacred purpose. Single plants are emphasized as much as possible. In the Japanese rock garden there may be no plants at all; in the European and English versions, species native to the middle zone are planted.

The design of a rock garden is based on contrasts in the texture and size of the stones, while on an alpine hill the main characters are plants. The second basic difference is that a rock garden involves working with a deliberately uneven terrain, while a rock garden can also be flat.

Japanese-style rockery - emphasis on inanimate nature

Making an alpine slide with your own hands

When developing a rock garden plan, you need to remember the main features of such landscape design structures:

• tiering;
• the presence of open stone surfaces;
• predominance of low-growing plant forms;
• combination of contrasting views.

Scheme of a terraced composition

When determining the length and width of the composition, a ratio of 5:1 is usually used, the height is taken from 1 to 3 m, while remembering that the size of the rock garden should be in harmony with the dimensions of the site. It is advisable to depict the project to scale, in as much detail as possible, from all sides and in color, and also to think through seasonal changes in the habit and color of the plants planned for planting.

A carefully executed project in color makes further work much easier

A simple alpine slide for beginners - possible difficulties

Having a simple diagram, it’s not difficult to make an alpine slide with your own hands using scrap materials. However, any mistake made at the initial stage will lead to the composition having to be rebuilt. To avoid this, consider the following issues:

1. Water stagnation. A combination of factors such as a low-lying area, an abundance of snow and melt water, heavy rainfall and clay soil will quickly deprive the structure of its decorative properties. Rock gardens are built with good drainage.
2. Soil subsidence. Before building the slide, the soil underneath is compacted, otherwise the stones will fall through, tilt, or even slide down the slope.
3. Weeds. The Alpine hill will have to be protected from their penetration from two fronts: from under the soil and from the air. To prevent the rhizomes remaining at depth from sprouting upward, the bottom of the pit is covered with geotextiles. If the seeds are carried by the wind, the weeds are pulled out by hand.
4. Burrowing animals. Sabotage by moles and shrews is prevented by a fine-mesh galvanized steel mesh, which is placed under geotextiles.

Elegant rock garden-flower bed

The effect of these negative factors is enhanced in the case of arranging a rock garden, the relief of which is more easily subject to deformation. In particular, against weeds, experienced designers treat the soil with herbicides two to three weeks before planting.

Choosing a location for an alpine slide

To obtain the maximum aesthetic effect, the rock garden on the site is formed in such a place that it can be viewed from at least three sides. It would be a good idea to consider placing a comfortable bench nearby under an awning or dense tree canopy.

Construction is often started in order to hide a lack of relief: a ravine, a hill, a slope, the top of a moraine boulder peeking out of the ground, which cannot be dug out due to its size. The existing height difference will allow you to supplement the rock garden with a stream and even a waterfall. The best neighbors for a rock garden in landscape design are open lawns and thickets of bushes, the worst are metal fences.

The grasses of alpine meadows, accustomed to living without forest canopy, are sun-loving and require full lighting. Rockeries can also be placed with light shading, but then the species composition of the plants must be corrected.

Mini rock garden is relevant for small courtyards

How to choose and where to get suitable stones

Properly selected stones mean the beauty and durability of a rock garden. Each breed has its own special qualities, on which its resistance to precipitation and winter freezing depends. The most popular breeds are:

• shell rock and limestone are rough, which allows mosses and lichens to cling to them, absorb moisture and gradually release it to plants, but are destroyed by acid rain and become polluted;
• sandstone – has a beautiful layered structure, slightly weathered;
• granite and basalt are massive, almost impossible to process with home tools, but they are resistant to any impact;
• slate - forms thin, even tiles, great for creating deliberately careless stairs.

Large beige stones are an excellent background for lush greenery

In nature, there are fragmented stones with uneven edges and smooth stones - rounded by the sea or river. Debris looks natural on rock gardens, especially with pronounced signs of erosion. But if the plan provides for a pond, then its banks can also be lined with smoothies.

Excessive diversity disfigures alpine hills, so it is recommended to limit yourself to one or two types of rocks. The largest boulder forms the center of the composition; the rest will complement the landscape, provided there is a balance between orderly and chaotic placement.

There are two ways to purchase stones. If you have a truck or car with a trailer, collect the cobblestones you like on the bank of the nearest river or in a quarry. It is easier, but more expensive, to order them with delivery to the site from organizations that sell natural stone, or to negotiate with the workers of a quarry, if there is one nearby.

Rock garden arrangement

Arrangement of a small rock garden and its construction

Before planting the plants, the rock garden must settle, so work on creating it with your own hands is carried out in early autumn. Let's look at them step by step using the example of building a mini-rock garden about 1 m high.

1. Pit. The soil is removed from the contour outlined with twine to a depth of 30-35 cm. A metal mesh against burrowing animals and geotextiles are laid at the bottom.
2. Drainage. Made from expanded clay, broken tiles or bricks. 10 cm of coarse sand is poured onto 10 cm of drainage and spilled with water to prevent the formation of cavities.
3. The device of the lower tier. To prevent large elements from sagging, several rubble stones are placed on the lower tier, and the volume between them is filled with crushed stone. In this form, the slide is allowed to stand for about a month: during this time, the foundation stones will gain stability.
4. Formation. The composition of stones is laid out in accordance with the sketch, leaving gaps for soil and roots. Soft rocks, such as shell rock and tuff, allow you to drill holes in them of the required size for flower pots.
5. Making an earthen mixture. The soil removed from the pit is sorted out, removing weed rhizomes from it. Add equal shares of river sand, expanded clay and humus. A granite hill allows the use of peat, but if limestone is used, acidic additives are avoided.
6. Filling with earth mixture. This operation is performed on each tier, carefully filling the voids. It is necessary to water the soil with a spray jet, otherwise the water will wash it out of the recesses.

In this form, the rock garden will have to survive the first winter in its life.

The finished slide is left to winter. In the spring, if necessary, they correct it and begin decorating with plants.

Video instructions for beginners

In order not to miss a single important moment when creating an alpine slide with stones at the dacha with your own hands, you can use the video instructions.

An experienced landscape designer, who has decorated dozens of luxurious estates and ordinary dachas, will tell and show how:

• get by with a minimum of material, money and hard work;
• do not make mistakes when laying blocks and planting flowers;
• properly care for the rock garden so that the decorative effect does not disappear over time.

Video: Instructions for building an alpine slide

Using the instructions, even a beginner will turn the shortcomings of his site into a rock garden or rock garden worthy of admiring glances.

The arrangement of plants has its own order: herbs should not be blocked by bushes

Alpine slide with a waterfall - a duet of water and mountain landscape

The highest aerobatics of mastery in relation to stone structures that imitate natural ones is the combination of rock garden and water in landscape design. The rustle of streams or a yellow leaf slowly floating along a stream adds European romanticism or Eastern philosophy to the composition.

Maximum naturalness

What to consider for a composition with a pond

If it is possible to add a pond or even a waterfall to the rock garden, you will have to take into account the following nuances:

• the bottom of the reservoir should not allow water to pass into the ground;
• for the pump that lifts the water, you will need to lay an electrical wire;
• when selecting plants, the difference in humidity along the banks and at the top is taken into account;
• The pond will have to be cleaned periodically and drained in the winter.

Bright fish in mysterious water give the composition a special charm

In the summer, Japanese koi carp look spectacular in the reservoir, but for them you will have to create a wintering hole at least 80 cm deep and aerate it after it hardens on the ice surface.

Creating a reservoir bowl - how to avoid disappointments

They begin to make the pond at the same time as the slide in order to immediately remove the soil from under both objects. At this stage, the depth of the pond is determined, which rarely exceeds 30 cm: a shallow pond is easier to clean, and the pebbles at its bottom become especially expressive. The section of the bottom intended for installation of the pump should be deepened. At the same stage, an electric cable is connected to the pond to power the pump.

Waterfall diagram

It is advisable to place the pond in the northeast of the hill so that it is in its shade for several hours every day, otherwise the water will bloom too quickly. It is better to leave the walls with a slope, this will make it easier to place stones on them.

The bottom of the pond is covered with a layer of sand 10 cm thick and compacted thoroughly. Geotextiles are first placed on top of the sand, and on top of it is a waterproofing film made of butyl rubber, the service life of which is 20-30 years. For reliability, the edges of the film should protrude 30-40 cm beyond the pit. Subsequently, they are buried in the ground, but by the time the bowl is filled with water, the edges of the film are left free.

A rock garden with a pond is an excellent solution for a hilly area

Technical equipment and artistic decoration of the waterfall

A pump for a small waterfall is purchased with a power of 70 W. It is installed in the bowl of a reservoir on a special stand to minimize contact with bottom silt. The device itself, as well as the hoses that take in water and push it out, are masked with stones. Be sure to check the safety of the connection to the electrical wire.

By this time, the slide should be laid out to the point from which the water begins to fall. The ejector hose is brought to this point, hiding its tip among the stones.

Pumping equipment is carefully camouflaged

Decoration of the waterfall is carried out using rough flagstone, which prevents slipping on wet stones. Sometimes it is appropriate to use large ceramics in decoration, for example, an old jug, which can be slightly buried when lying on its side.

The presence of water dust in the air will affect the selection of vegetation: ferns, mosses, bergenia, and bergenia will take root near the mirror of the pond. Potted specimens also look good if they are planted in wide flowerpots, reminiscent of flagstone in color and texture.

Placement and combinations of plants

What plants are needed to decorate a garden composition?

To ensure that the rock garden always has a well-groomed appearance, plants for it are selected taking into account their flowering time. They must enter the best time of life one by one and permanently create joyful variegation. In this case, the appearance and range of colors will change along with the seasons of the year. The general rule is this: the clump of any plant should not grow rapidly and thereby suppress neighboring species.

Sometimes it makes sense to plant plants in pots

The second factor influencing the choice of flora is the tier and direction of the slope. The northern part is populated with sedums, spurges, violets, and saxifrages. Iberis, thyme, alyssum, pike, and cat's paw are ideal for the southern slope and summit. In the lower tier it is allowed to plant such favorites of landscape design as tagetes, highlanders, and hosta.

Plant placement scheme

A low-growing juniper bush, whose elegant greenery will be emphasized by the snow that has fallen on the stones, allows you to maintain the decorative appearance of the rock garden all year round. When the flowers bloom again, this dark conifer will highlight their beauty.

Plant selection

Alpine slide care

A rock garden requires less attention than, for example, a flower bed or bed, but you shouldn’t forget about it either.

Maintaining attractiveness depends on the well-being of the plants planted in the rock garden.

1. Open areas, heated rocks and free winds tend to dry out the soil, so alpine grasses need gentle but systematic watering with a spray stream. The frequency of watering depends on the weather, but it should not be done more than once a day to avoid rotting of the roots.
2. At least once a month, plants are fed with complex fertilizer, applying it at the root in moist soil and preventing liquid from flowing down the slopes.
3. During the summer, dead shoots are cut out, unwanted insects and their larvae are monitored, mulch is added if necessary, weeds are pulled out and leaves blown by the wind are removed. If the rockery contains crushed stone laid in waves or ridges, it will need to be adjusted from time to time with a rake.

Wide expanses of open land are mulched

Preparing for winter - how to protect your design corner

Before the onset of winter, care should be taken to ensure that the plants can survive bad weather. Species for which the winter temperatures of the region are unacceptable are dug up and transferred to protected soil. The remaining plants are covered with agrofibre - a material that does not allow damping. The conifers are completely wrapped in it and tied on top with twine.

To protect from wind and frost, the hill must be well covered with snow. Shields placed around will help to hold it: old doors, remnants of corrugated sheets and slate. In order not to spoil the aesthetics of a snow-covered alpine hill, you can weave special fences from willow twigs with your own hands.

The pond located at the rock garden is drained or several children's rubber balls are thrown into it, which will absorb the pressure of the ice. The pump and hoses are removed and stored in the house.

Spring work – cleaning up the consequences of winter weather

The most extensive work on caring for the rock garden is planned for spring, since at this time of year it will be necessary to restore the masterpiece after snowfalls, blizzards and an abundance of melt water. It is usually discovered that some of the plants have died, some stones have slipped, and the entire structure is covered with unattractive, rotten foliage. After carefully removing the covering material, perform the following operations in the spring:

• remove dead plant debris with a fan rake;
• return the “escaped” stones to their place;
• add soil and mulch;
• Plants that have overwintered in the warmth are planted and new ones are added.

At the same time, conclusions are drawn about what mistakes were made when preparing the rock garden for winter, so that the upcoming cold season does not become so destructive.

In order for a rock garden, rock garden or other stone and flower arrangement to become a genuine decoration of a country estate, follow three golden rules:

1. Divide the volume of the slide into zones to create a plateau, scree, rock, staircase. This will allow the eye to never get tired when contemplating an object.
2. Avoid excessive variegation. 3-4 different-sized spots of color look ideal on a dense green background of ground covers.
3. Do not buy flashy, tacky jewelry made of ceramics and plastic.

We bring to your attention beautiful examples of designing alpine slides and rockeries in a garden plot. Of course, each of them is tied to a specific area, so when transferring the idea to your hundred square meters, adjustments will have to be made to the sketch.

It’s worth designing an alpine slide with your own hands, if only because it maximally reflects the character and mood of the author. Rock gardens are unique, each has its own flavor, unique design, inimitable compositional notes. Building a slide with your own hands is an amazingly powerful compromise between the severity of the garden and the indomitable riot of pristine nature.

Alpine slide. What a romantic name! It literally emanates freshness and you can even smell the emerald green grass that covers the mountain slopes. The atmosphere of pristine pure nature can be successfully recreated in a summer cottage. And a rock garden will help with this - an original composition of stones and plants, which has recently been very actively used by landscape design masters.

Features of the alpine slide

We can say that alpine slide projects are absolutely unique design solutions. There are general rules for their arrangement, but the implementation of an idea is a completely creative activity. An endless number of interesting variations can be created from the same set of starting materials.

A mandatory attribute of a rock garden is a large stone (one or several). This is a symbol of a mountain peak. And its conventional slopes are planted with low-growing shrubs and plants that are most suitable for the mountain climate.

One should not naively believe that a pile of stones and vegetation growing between them can lay claim to the proud title of an alpine hill. Arranging such a landscape composition will require a lot of effort, financial investments and flights of imagination. To make it look natural and harmonious, space is needed. The larger the scale, the more organic, as if in a natural environment.

From the history of the rock garden

Japan is considered to be the birthplace of stone gardens. Proto-rock gardens began to be built there a thousand years ago. On the islands of the Land of the Rising Sun there has always been a shortage of free land - this is probably why they liked to create beauty in small areas. According to the Japanese canons of beauty, true value is found in natural phenomena. The combination of the hardness of the stone and the delicacy of flowers creates an unusually enchanting duet of true beauty.

In European countries, alpine slides appeared only in the 16th century. Back then, strange plants transplanted from their natural mountain environment were grown in such flower beds. The fashion for them came to Russia in the 18th century. Today, many gardeners are wondering how to build an alpine slide with their own hands on their own site. After all, this is a very unusual decoration for any summer cottage.

Rock garden and rock garden: similarities and differences

Very often there is confusion between these two concepts. Let's figure out why. Rock garden and rock garden are two different types of flower beds. More precisely, two methods (or principles) of arranging a flower bed. In both cases, stones and plants are used.

However, a rock garden can be called a stone garden in the classical sense. The predominant part of such a composition is occupied by stone. Moreover, only one breed is used.

The stones are laid out in parallel strips or in random order. This chaotic technique allows you to create the illusion of a natural environment. The rock garden is also supplemented with vegetation, but here it acts as a background and plays a secondary role.

In a rock garden, flowers and grass are always in the foreground. They attract the eye with a variety of colors and surprise with a combination of opposites.

How to choose plants for a rock garden

We have already said that it is better to plant unpretentious plants on an alpine hill. Flowers that do not require careful care will look most harmonious in this decorative corner of the garden.

After all, the mountains have a harsh atmosphere, and each individual stem has to fight for its place in the sun. Under gusts of wind or the blows of heavy rain, only strong plants survive, which are able to fight for their own existence. When planning to set up a rock garden, think about what flowers and shrubs you would like to decorate your dacha with.

If you want to refresh the appearance of your flower bed every year, plant annuals. And to get a stable result, give preference to perennial herbs with bright colors. Also think about the changing flowering seasons, because some plants please us earlier, others later.

Let's give a few specific examples. These plants for the alpine hill are literally created by nature itself:

A symbol of the Alps that fits perfectly into the Russian landscape. This perennial is frost-resistant and does not mind any cold. Edelweiss lines the slopes of the alpine hill with mats, the diameter of which reaches 20 cm. It blooms in June-July.

There are several species of this humble plant. Absolutely unpretentious, securely attached to any soil with its creeping stems. When exposed to sunlight, sedum leaves become brighter, as if they are tanning. It can be used to decorate the edging of a rock garden, since it destroys weeds within the radius of its “mat”.

The most popular inhabitant of alpine hills. Its fleshy leaves themselves will decorate any flower bed, and its light purple flowers can compete in modest beauty with many of their relatives.

In spring, these pretty rugs are literally strewn with small flowers. The plant prefers dark areas and even covers stones with its green networks.

An ideal perennial for the alpine hill of the buttercup family. People call it sleep grass. One of the first to bloom, in early spring. Drained soil is favorable for lumbago; in such conditions it actively grows.

Shrubs and flowers are also suitable for rock gardens:

• juniper (various types),
• dwarf barberry,
• Japanese spirea,
• aquilegia,
• alpine aster,
• viola horned,
• crocus,
• Phlox awl-shaped.

By combining different types of plants, you can create alpine slides whose design will be absolutely unique. Here it is important to create the effect of a mountain atmosphere due to multi-tiering. For example, this arrangement of shrubs and flowers can claim the title of classic.

An ideal place for arranging a rock garden

Having decided to build a rock garden, try to critically examine your hacienda. Of course, a flower garden can decorate any corner of it. But in this case, it is necessary to choose a spacious area that is well illuminated by natural rays.

It is also important to think about how the future alpine flowerbed will be viewed. After all, you will probably want to show such beauty, created with your own hands, to your guests.

When choosing a location, consider the nature of the soil. On sandy soil, setting up an alpine slide will be less problematic, since it can be laid out directly on the ground. But for clay or oily soil, it will be necessary to carry out additional work - prepare drainage.

The indication for site drainage is not only the nature of the soil. Mountain plants do not like it when water stagnates, and to avoid this, experienced designers recommend making a special base for the rock garden. It is necessary to remove the top soil cover, but you should not go deeper than 30 cm.

You can make not a solid pit, but several holes. Then fill them with crushed stone (construction waste, broken bricks, and fine gravel work well as options). Then sand is poured in, with earth on top. Each layer of base must be watered and allowed to dry.

Soil mixture and stone placement

To form the rock garden mound itself, it is necessary to prepare a specific mixture. Mix clean soil, coarse sand and crushed humus in equal proportions.

By the way, in order for the alpine hill in the garden to be truly as natural as possible, use the soil that the mole brings to the surface as soil. Such black mounds are often found in forest plantations and abandoned areas. In the cross-sectional diagram of the rock garden, you can see a mound of soil mixture.

It is indicated in yellow. As a rule, the height of the slide is on average 1 meter. Using this picture as a guide, you can create a multi-tiered flower bed using several stones.

After the drainage has been completed and the mound has been formed, you need to take a break from construction work. Two to three weeks should pass for all layers to slowly compact and shrink. The stones are arranged in tiered order. They should create the illusion of rock coming to the surface.

To achieve this, you need to bury them into the ground at least a third. This way you will get the amazing effect of meeting strength and tenderness, which is symbolized by stone and flowers.

The size of the tiers decreases from bottom to top, according to the principle of a pyramid. At the bottom point of each individual tier, a massive stone should be laid so that the structure is strong and small stones do not roll down the slope. When making alpine slides with their own hands, amateur designers create an odd number of tiers. Schematically, the placement of stones looks like this:

The figure shows that stones should not be laid symmetrically, because in the natural environment we do not observe such geometric accuracy. The space between them will be occupied by flowers, so try to leave enough distance. An alpine picture will look organic if you use stones that are similar in texture and color.

Construction of the rock garden peak

There are two options for designing the top of an alpine hill. In the center of the composition you can place the largest, most massive stone. This simple technique will protect the rock garden from erosion of the soil under the influence of precipitation. Or decorate the peak with several small stones. They can be placed tightly next to each other, and you can also build a pyramid.

Decoration with vegetation

The labor-intensive process of creating an alpine slide ends with magic. How else can you call that amazing action when a mound of earth is “populated” with plant life! This procedure can be carried out both in spring and autumn, right up to frost. First you need to add soil mixture and carefully plant shrubs or flowers. Here you should be guided solely by the rules of your own taste; everyone sees the color scheme of the rock garden in their own way.

Finally, I would like to note that, like a flowerbed, an alpine hill cannot be decorated with artificial accessories. For example, glass or plastic, as well as various garden figurines, will simply not be appropriate here. Remember that a flower garden in this style is designed to create a natural mountain atmosphere. Stones and plants are completely self-sufficient decorative elements in this case, and do not at all require a variety of tinsel.

A spectacular element in the landscape is a self-created alpine slide. A rock garden is a small area in the garden, designed as a natural area.

Many owners of personal plots are interested in how to make an alpine slide with their own hands?

In order to create this corner of wild nature on your site, you need to become familiar with the intricacies of landscape design.

Usually this masterpiece is located in the most visible place. In addition, a rock garden requires a sunny place, so this corner is usually located in an open area.

Since an alpine slide has a calming effect on a person, it is best to place it near a place of rest.

The quality of the soil cover should not be discounted, since the most favorable soil for a rock garden is sandstone, but if the soil has a clay base, then it will be necessary to make drainage.

When is the best time to create a rock garden?

An alpine slide can be created at any time of the year except for winter, since in the winter cold it is impossible to plant plants or prepare the soil. However, experts consider autumn to be the most optimal time for creating a rock garden.

Since the natural shrinkage of an alpine hill can take several months, according to landscape designers, it is necessary to prepare for autumn planting in the spring.

Creation of an alpine slide

Landscape designers, answering the question of how to make an alpine slide, offer universal schemes and projects for arranging this natural corner, taking into account all the subtleties and scope of work.

However, knowing the basic rules for creating a rock garden, you can organize it yourself.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the location. So, the rock garden should be clearly visible. The best option is to create an alpine slide in the shape of a pyramid, in which the maximum height is concentrated in the center.

In addition, all elements of the rock garden should be positioned freely; symmetry is inappropriate here. If it is possible to organize a rock garden on a natural slope, then it is best to mark its elements at the same level.

In terms of parameters, the height of an alpine slide should be proportional to its size, that is, 1 meter of area corresponds to a height of 0.2 m, thus, a flowerbed measuring 4 m² in height will be 80 cm, as in the photo of an alpine slide.

Preparatory work

Even the simplest alpine slide requires careful preparation. So, when creating a rock garden, you need to make drainage, the fact is that the use of stones causes the soil to sag, which means you can’t do without drainage.

The material for drainage can be fine gravel, pieces of red or white brick, small pebbles or crushed stone.

Before laying the drainage, it is necessary to dig a hole 1 m deep for a flower bed with an area of ​​8-9 m². Then the drainage is laid out and the soil is filled with water. Next, a layer of earth is poured.

As a soil for a rock garden, it is best to use a soil composition consisting of ordinary earthen soil, peat and river sand. All soil components must be in equal proportions.

Note!

Stones

The basic element of any rock garden are stones. Usually these are large stones of an original shape.

Most often, pieces of granite, sandstone, limestone are used to create an alpine slide; you can also use wild stone, as well as tuff.

When decorating a rock garden with stones, you must follow the following rules:

• It is best if the size of all stones is the same;
• The stones must be of the same variety;
• The stones must be of uneven structure and shape;
• You need to arrange the stones so that they are asymmetrical.

You can arrange the stones according to your own taste, but experienced designers can offer you several suitable designs. Recently, a scheme has become fashionable when massive stones are scattered around the site, with small pebbles between them.

An alpine slide looks interesting when the most spectacular stone is installed in the center, especially if the rock garden is located on a slope.

Note!

When laying out stones, especially massive ones, you need to make sure that they stand steadily; for this, some of them can even be fixed with cement or dug in a little.

A properly organized alpine slide at the dacha can become a favorite vacation spot for the whole family.

Green spaces

2 months after the preparatory work, you can begin planting green spaces. The most convenient plants for decorating a rock garden are low-growing spruce, thuja, mountain pine and juniper.

A small alpine hill is an excellent landscape solution for a small area. When creating such a rock garden, it is best to use low-growing, herbaceous plants such as wild carnations, low marigolds, nasturtiums, pansies and bluebells.

If desired, an alpine slide can be combined with a small reservoir in the form of a small pond, but in this case the process of creating a rock garden will be even more labor-intensive, but it will be a real work of landscape art.

Photo of an alpine slide with your own hands

Note!

From this article you will learn how to build an alpine slide from available materials.

If the plot of your dacha is uneven, and the soil is poor and has stones, you can arrange it beautifully, and, moreover, without much expense, you can make an alpine slide. So where to start?

Where to start making an alpine slide?

Alpine slide.

Let's figure it out first what is an alpine slide. This is an artificial hill made of stones and earth, with flowering plants planted on it, which are typical of the Alps or Carpathians.

Recently, alpine slides and other styles:

• Japanese style, the hill is planted with Far Eastern plants
• In Mexican- cacti

The Alpine slide can be laid out in different ways:

• In the form of a stepped mountain slope
• Terraces
• Cliff
• Plateau
• 2 slides separated by a gorge

To make an alpine slide, it is important to adhere to the following criteria:

• Observe tiers (valley, 1, 2, 3 terraces)
• Presence of stones
• Plants should be planted short
• Contrast of plant species

The height of the slide can be from 1 to 3 m, depending on the size of the area on which the alpine slide will be created.

So that the slide will please you for a long time you, and you didn’t have to disassemble it before you had time to build it, you need consider the following factors:

• If you have a site in a lowland, and melt water stagnates for a long time after winter or rain, when building an alpine slide, you need to lay a thick layer of drainage so that excess water leaves and does not remain.
• To prevent the soil and stones on the slide from subsiding later, we carefully compact each layer poured during the construction of the slide.
• To prevent weeds from sprouting from below, from under the soil, before building a slide, we lay special geotextiles, and then drainage and sand, lay out stones, and fill them with soil.
• From moles and shrews that can destroy the slide, we save it with a fine-mesh galvanized steel mesh, laying it on geotextiles.
• The alpine slide is laid in such a place that it can be seen from different sides; it is advisable that there is a bench or canopy nearby.
• And if there is a hill, ravine or slope on your site, then you can arrange an alpine hill with a stream or waterfall.
• The contrast with the alpine hill is provided by a lawn or bushes, and if there is a fence nearby, then it needs to be hidden by climbing plants.
• If your alpine slide is varied - combining a rock, scree, and, for example, a terrace, then it will not get boring, and it will always be interesting to contemplate.
• To prevent the hill from being too colorful, no more than 5 plants differing in color are planted on it.

Stones

Suitable for alpine slides sharp stones (sandstone, granite, slate, limestone, dolomite). The slide should not be colorful, so we build it from 1-2 types of stones.

• We lay out granite, limestone and sandstone in the form of blocks and small pebbles, and sprinkle them with soil; the largest stone should be in the center.
• Clay and sandy shale are broken into tiles, and the hill can be laid out in the form of a terrace.
• If the alpine hill has a pond or stream, then you can lay out rounded pebbles along their banks, which can be found on the shore of the sea or river.

The simplest do-it-yourself Alpine slide in a country house or garden plot: step-by-step construction, diagram

There is not necessarily a lot of space for an alpine slide. The only thing is it is important that the new alpine slide fits into the existing landscape of your dacha.

To start laying an alpine slide you need to do the following:

1. We draw the design of the future slide on paper and lay it out on the ground.
2. We mark the location of the future alpine slide with pegs and fence it off with a cord.
3. At the site of the hill, we first weed the grass, and then, using a bayonet shovel, remove the top soil layer, 30-40 cm thick.
4. We cover the resulting depression with fine-mesh metal mesh and geotextiles to prevent moles and weeds from getting through.
5. On top of the geotextile we pour gravel, pebbles, crushed stone, broken brick (whatever is available), 10 cm thick, compact it. This is necessary so that excess water drains away and the roots of the plants do not rot.
6. On top of the large particles we pour small ones (sand), 5 cm thick, compact them and water them.
7. We make soil for an alpine hill: we take chernozem soil, add sand, wood chips and pine bark, small crushed stone, peat, and mix everything. You cannot fertilize too much, otherwise the trees and bushes on the hill will grow large, and it will no longer be a hill, but a garden.
8. We pour the resulting soil over the entire surface of the hill, and do not level it, but rather model “mountains”, “cliffs”, “valleys”, “paths” in a reduced form.
9. Now we install stones on the hill and plant it with plants.

How to make and decorate a small mini alpine slide: diagram, description, photo

We start creating an alpine slide in early autumn. Before spring, when plants are planted, the stones and soil must settle.

The mini alpine slide will be about 1 m high.

Let's start making a mini slide:

1. We mark the boundary of the future slide on the ground using pegs.
2. We stretch the twine between the stakes.
3. We tear off the grass and dig a pit 30-35 cm deep throughout the entire area, secured with twine, and cover it with a metal mesh with small cells and geotextiles.
4. We make drainage: fill the bottom of the pit 10 cm with crushed stone and small pieces of broken brick.
5. Pour coarse sand, 10 cm thick, on top of the drainage and water it so that there are no voids left.
6. We install large stones, fill the space between them with crushed stone, and let it sit for about 1 month.
7. We install smaller stones.
8. Preparing soil for plants. We sort out the soil taken out of the pit, throw out the roots, and add to it an equal amount of river sand and expanded clay.
9. We fill all the spaces between the stones with soil, water them with a watering can so as not to wash out the soil, and leave them for the winter.
10. In spring we plant plants.

How to make and decorate a beautiful flower alpine slide: diagram, description, photo

For alpine hills, choose unpretentious plants that bloom in spring, summer and autumn.

It's best to choose perennial plants with small flowers associated with mountains:

• Edelweiss, native to the Alps, grows up to 20 cm in height. Blooms in summer, June-July. Covers the slopes of the mountains.
• sedum- an unpretentious bright pink or yellow flower. In the radius where it blooms, not a single weed will grow. Flowering occurs in autumn from September to October.
• Rejuvenated - fleshy green leaves, folded into a rosette, and resembling roses, and purple flowers, grow close to the ground, and reproduce by daughter rosettes. Blooms from July to September.
• Saxifrage in spring, with its small white flowers, it literally covers the ground like a rug. Prefers to grow in the shade.
• Lumbago or sleep-grass appears as one of the first flowers in spring.
• Small daisies different shades can decorate our rocky garden almost the whole summer, since there are many varieties of these flowers.
• Early spring will delight us primrose lush foliage and flowers of different shades, you just need to take into account that it loves partial shade.
• Thrift alpine begins to bloom in June, the height of the bushes is up to 10 cm.

To prevent it from happening that there will be no flowers for a certain period of time, you need to draw up a diagram showing all the planned plants, indicating their flowering period.

In addition to flowering plants, miniature trees look beautiful: dwarf pine, spruce and cypress, as well as small shrubs: barberry, juniper, boxwood.

How to make and decorate an unusual alpine flower bed?

To plant an unusual alpine flower bed, you need to proceed as follows:

1. At the very top of the hill we plant coniferous trees and bushes (dwarf pines, spruce, juniper, thuja).
2. Below, between large stones, we plant plants with strong roots (irises, ferns).
3. Then, in small holes, we plant flowers with a weak root system (armeria, edelweiss).
4. In the narrow gaps between the stones we will plant ferns, bells, and lumbago.
5. To prevent the soil on the slopes from crumbling and eroding, we plant creeping plants (juvenile, star anise, phlox).
6. Soapwort, lobelia, and bells will beautifully fall from the steep wall above.
7. We plant bright flowers (tulips, poppies) near gray stones, and discreet flowers near bright stones.
8. We separate some types of flowers from others with small stones.
9. Climbing pyramidal plants look good next to plants with small flat inflorescences.

And so that the flowerbed slide looks good at night, we install storage lanterns between the stones; they accumulate light during the day and emit light at night.

How to make and decorate an alpine slide without stones or tires?

Alpine slide in a budget version - a slide made from tires. To make a hill from used tires, you will have to paint them with enamel or machine paint, and then stack them in a hill and plant plants.

Another option: do not paint the tires, but cover them with pebbles and plant flowers.

You can also make an alpine slide with ponds from old tires.

We build ponds:

1. We select several tires of different sizes.
2. We dig a pit according to the size of the largest wheel.
3. We install the wheel in the pit and concrete the bottom.
4. We cut off the upper part of the wheel with a jigsaw.
5. Nearby, higher in level, we install a smaller wheel, concrete the bottom, and cut off the top with a jigsaw.
6. We cover the inside walls of future ponds with waterproofing film, and line the outside with stones and pebbles.
7. We install a pump to circulate water from one pond to another.
8. We plant plants around that love moisture.

Using the same principle, by cutting small tires you can create a stream that flows into a pond.

How to make and decorate an alpine slide with a pond?

To build an alpine slide with a pond you need the following:

1. We dig a pit about 0.5 m deep.
2. We fill the bottom with sand, 0.1 m thick, and compact it.
3. We lay geotextiles on the bottom, and on top of it a waterproofing film (butyl rubber material). The service life of such film is 20-30 years.
4. The entire pit should be covered with film and extend beyond it by 30-40 cm.
5. We place stones along the edges of the pond so that the film is not visible anywhere.
6. We fill the pond with water from a hose and spread the film in the water. The pond is ready.

How to make and decorate an alpine slide with a waterfall?

To build an alpine slide with a waterfall requires skill; a novice gardener will not be able to cope with this.

In order for the waterfall and pond to function correctly, the following nuances must be taken into account::

• Water should not seep into the ground
• To pump water for a waterfall, you need a pump, and accordingly you need to lay an electrical wire
• Plants need to be selected appropriately: dry-resistant at the top, moisture-loving along the banks
• The pond will need to be cleaned occasionally and the water drained in the winter.

A hole under the pond is dug along with the foundation of the slide. The depth of a pond for an alpine slide usually does not exceed 30 cm. A shallow pond is easier to clean, and pebbles are clearly visible in clear water.

• Only the part of the pond where the pump will be installed, with a power of up to 70 W, needs to be dug deeper. The pump is installed on a special stand, so it is less covered with silt, and so that it is not visible, it is covered with stones.
• At the same time, we lay an electrical cable to the top of the slide and check its safety.
• We extend the hose to the top of the slide and hide it between the stones.
• We lay the path where the water from the waterfall will flow with clay slate tiles in the form of steps.
• The following plants grow well near water: fern, frogwort, various mosses, annual flowering plants in flowerpots. It is advisable to take flowerpots of the same shade as the stones.
• It is advisable to place a waterfall with a pond on the north-eastern side of the site, so it will be in the shade for several hours a day, and the water will bloom less.

How to make and decorate an alpine rock garden from available materials?

Rockery is a garden of stones, plants and dwarf trees.

A rockery is not necessarily an alpine garden; it can be planted on a flat surface and consist not of alpine plants, but of small ordinary ones.

There are 3 styles for recreating rockeries:

1. Rockery in Japanese style, it is characterized by minimalism - a small number of stones with or without plants.
2. European-style rockery- a hill made of different stones, similar to a natural hill in temperate latitudes.
3. Rockery in English style. It is characterized by the presence of a variety of evergreen plants.

It is important to remember that a rock garden cannot be built close to home. In winter, when snow slides off the roof, it can destroy fragile trees.

If you are setting up a rock garden and there is a fence nearby, you need to decorate it - plant climbing plants near it that will hide the fence.

We begin to lay a rockery using improvised materials:

1. Let's mark out the area for the future rock garden.
2. We pull out all the weeds and grass.
3. Remove 20 cm of soil with a shovel.
4. For drainage, fill the entire space with a thin layer of crushed stone and small pieces of broken brick.
5. On top of the drainage we pour soil consisting of garden soil mixed with a small amount of sand and small crushed stone.
6. We take fairly large natural stones from your area on the side of the road or in a quarry, preferably the rock is of the same type, and bury them halfway into the ground.
7. Small stones are also useful, we install them on large stones.
8. First, we plant coniferous shrubs: dwarf spruce, thuja, juniper.
9. Flowering plants need to be selected to bloom from spring to autumn: snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, phlox and others.
10. To keep small stones in place, we plant saxifrage, juveniles, and sedums.
11. All plants must be a suitable size (small).
12. Additionally, we decorate the distances between the plantings by filling them with crushed stone.
13. Next to the rock garden you can install a gazebo or a beautiful bench to relax and admire the beauty.

How to make a rocky hill from a large stone?

Suitable for the slide are those types of natural stones that do not weather, and from them salts and heavy metals will not pass into the soil. These could be stones that have been on your site or nearby for a long time: sandstone, limestone, granite, basalt, clay and sandy shale. Stones are needed, large and small.

If there are no stones nearby, you can collect them from a stone quarry.

Now we lay out the stones on the gravel bed:

1. We start making the rocky hill from the bottom.
2. First, we install the largest specimen of stone into the recess. If it wobbles, put crushed stone under it.
3. We lay the rest of the stones from bottom to top, and deepen some. If the stones have any flaws, they need to be hidden by turning the stone so that it is not visible. We fill the distances between the stones with soil.
4. In the upper part we install a sharp stone - the top of the mountain.
5. The rocky hill should stand for about 1 month, less if possible, during which time the stones and soil will sag, and then it will be possible to plant plants.

Attention. When laying out the stones, you do not need to adhere to the same distance or size; the stones should be stacked in disorder, then the slide will look natural.

What to plant on an alpine hill?

Shrubs and perennial herbs are planted on the alpine hill. Plants on an alpine hill should be:

• Unpretentious
• short
• Perennial

Miniature trees and low-growing shrubs are suitable:

• Mountain and miniature pine
• Blue spruce
• Larch
• Barberry
• Korean fir
• Juniper
• cotoneaster
• Rhododendron

Perennial plants and herbs for alpine hills:

• Highlander
• Oregano
• Feather grass
• Heather
• Fescue
• Sheep evergreen
• Cuff
• Maned barley
• Fern
• Sagebrush
• Spurge
• Decorative cabbage
• Snowdrop
• Carnation
• Violet
• Chamomile

For an alpine slide you need to choose different plants, which will bloom all the time: from early spring to late autumn.

The brightest flowers are placed in the center of the slide.

Need for plants constantly look after: remove dried leaves, water, add soil if it has been washed out by rain.

Feed the plants need to Be careful not to use nitrogenous fertilizers, otherwise they will grow wildly, but we have an alpine slide.

Alpine slide with flowers, roses, juniper, moss: photo

• To create an alpine slide, they also use roses, But dwarf varieties: “Hummingbird”, “Meidi”, “Rosemary”, “Sonnenkind”. These varieties tolerate winter well, are resistant to disease, but love sunny areas and do not tolerate a lot of moisture.
• Delicate flowers, such as roses, go well with rough natural stone.
• Juniper also looks good in alpine hills along with roses.
Alpine hill in a place unsuitable for cultivation

So, now we know how to arrange an alpine slide on our site.

Video: Pond with a waterfall - easy and cheap

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