Nobody needs a large garden to set up a small Alpinarium in it. A low-maintenance rock garden can basically also be created in a small pot, a flat bowl or a balcony box.
The most important thing for the success of the mini rock garden is the right choice of plants
What you need for a pot rock garden
Plant bowls or pots, which should be as flat as possible and have a drainage hole at the bottom, are particularly suitable. This is immensely important for drainage, so that your rock garden does not eventually drown in rain or irrigation water. You will also need:
- a suitable substrate for rock garden plants (e.g. herbal soil or a mixture of potting soil and sand)
- Expanded clay (19.73€) for drainage
- stones and pebbles in different sizes to match the pot
- small rock garden plants
Which plants are suitable for the mini rock garden?
All plants that do not grow too large are suitable for the mini rock garden in the bucket. It is entirely up to your imagination and the available space to determine what exactly these are. But here we have a few suggestions for you:
- Houseleek (Sempervivum)
- smaller outdoor cacti
- Stonecrop (Sedum)
- Blue Cushion (Aubrieta)
- Candytuft (Iberis)
- ice plant (Aizoaceae)
- Cyclamen (cyclamen)
- Cranesbill (Geranium)
- Edelweiss (Leontopodium)
- Balloon Flower (Platycodon)
- Primrose (Primula)
- various herbs such as thyme, rosemary, sage or lavender
However, not all plants are suitable for every location. Many rock garden plants prefer sun. However, there are also species that feel more comfortable in partial shade or even shade.
How to create a rock garden in a bucket - step by step
Do you have all the necessary utensils together? Then you can now start designing and planting the planter.
- Cover the drain hole in the pot with a potsherd or flat stone.
- Now fill in expanded clay a few centimeters high - this is for drainage.
- This is followed by some suitable substrate, but only a little
- because now you can use the selected rock garden plants
- and fill with soil all around.
- Press the plants well.
- And water them well.
- Finally, cover the surface of the earth with stones or pebbles.
Of course, you can also create a mini rock landscape in a correspondingly large pot instead, for which you need natural stones in the right size. The joints between the individual stones should be large enough for the dwarf perennials to fit comfortably in there.
tips
A miniature rock garden can not only be realized in a pot, but also in a slightly larger dimension in a raised bed.