Calgary crevice garden

[Diane Whitehead]

I've just attended a talk by Stephanie Ferguson of Calgary Alberta, showing
the construction of a crevice garden on half of her sloping front
yard.  It is just a subdivision-sized lot, which used to be a grassy
slope with a hedge down by the street.  It was thoroughly
excavated, lots of impermeable clay laid down, compacted and
sculpted to manage the flow of water.  Then (I hope I'm remembering
correctly) 12 truckloads of 12 tonnes each of rock, plus I don't know
how many truckloads of silt were arranged in hogback ridges with
pathways curving down and around. 

The careful arrangement has provided many niches:  hot dry desert,
full-light steppe but with shaded roots, curving around to where
water pools for a bit and gentians grow, down to the area near the
street where alpine-meadow plants can grow.

The plants she has thriving include all the ones that everyone sighs over
when they see them in a slide show.  To mention just a few:

Iris iberica elegantissima
Anemone petiolulosa
Paraquilegia anemonoides
Gentiana georgei
Lilium lophophorum
Dicentra peregrina
Rosulate violas

She grows them from seed under lights over winter and plants them out
in spring.

[Maggi Young]

Wow, Diane, that sounds like a great talk and a real triumph of a garden project.

A lot of hard work in that development but with those plants making themselves at  home that is very satisfying as an outcome.

 No-one comes close to the effort and thought that rock gardneners put into their creations, I think.

[cohan]

I've seen a few photos of this garden on Alpine-L and NARGS forum; Lori has visited and has some photos..
very nice, and impressive garden... lots of work for sure, and very nice stone!

[Diane Whitehead]

Stephanie considers that aspect is a neglected aspect of growing.
She has experimented with her seedlings.  She'll set them out
in different parts of her garden, and when she sees that one is doing
particularly well, she'll put others there too.

She seems to keep good records, too.

Some examples of what works in her conditions:
Iris iberica elegantissima - south facing, high on her slope
Anemone petiolulosa - east, high
Paraquilegia anemonoides - east, low
Gentiana georgei - north, low
Lilium lophophorum - north, low  in one of the damp areas
Dicentra peregrina - north, low
Rosulate violas - north or west, high