Crevice Gardening ......in defence of rock.....

[Stone Rider]

VOJTĚCH  HOLUBEC

   This quiet gentleman spoke in England, Scotland and USA about rock gardening. He is agricultural expert and botanist by training and for the last 15 years one of the Czech best seed collector. Vojtěch wrote about two decades ago Czech handbook about rock works (together with Ota Vlasák) and he will be one of the speakers at Alpines 2011 (his subject are plants from Central Asia). He was one of the first constructers placing rocks in angles slightly tilted out of the vertical position. I assisted him with sandstone desks in Dortmund (together with Josef Jurášek) and learn the basic tricks. Another assistance was in our Show garden in Prague where the brave tilt of heavy limestone slabs started to go slightly down (after 7 winters) and I had to support it with block of stones. But tilting layers towards a slope is safe from frost actions and very naturally looking. Now you can see samples of Vojtěch´s designs in  following post. The fat limestone layers are in his home rock garden in Prague.

[Maggi Young]

With all respect for the efforts. May I make two (unkind?) comments??

#A: Will those still alive around 2025 say "Look at this camp period piece from 2008-2012 with all rocks standing up" ? 

#B: It is possible to make plants grow in horizontal crevices as well.   

Cheers
Göte

#A  That may well be said of these projects but I don't see that it negates their validity when they prove to be a good home for alpines.

#B  Of course it is.... I did not see any suggestion to the contrary 

[Stone Rider]

VOJTĚCH  HOLUBEC

   This quiet gentleman spoke in England, Scotland and USA about rock gardening. He is agricultural expert and botanist by training and for the last 15 years one of the Czech best seed collector. Vojtěch wrote about two decades ago Czech handbook about rock works (together with Ota Vlasák) and he will be one of the speakers at Alpines 2011 (his subject are plants from Central Asia). He was one of the first constructers placing rocks in angles slightly tilted out of the vertical position. I assisted him with sandstone desks in Dortmund (together with Josef Jurášek) and learn the basic tricks. Another assistance was in our Show garden in Prague where the brave tilt of heavy limestone slabs started to go slightly down (after 7 winters) and I had to support it with block of stones. But tilting layers towards a slope is safe from frost actions and very naturally looking. Now you can see samples of Vojtěch´s designs in  following post. The fat limestone layers are in his home rock garden in Prague.

I think that people will love Vojtěch´s romantic style,
but fat layers and plenty "dwarf" conifers are strongly restricting
amount of alpines there. Romantic rock above water are good for dancing
around but not easy to maintain if you are arthritic oldie. Joyce says
that it is a paradise for breeding moscitoes.

 now the pictures

[mark smyth]

ZZ, you must tell David to begin making dwarf conifers again

[Lvandelft]

Zdenek, just found this great thread.
I love the way you work with stones!
About the Pershore Garden I remember, that I was there in May 2006 and made some more pictures.
If you (and others) like to see them,  I could show them here too and I think it was when all was still original and
not covered with "chicken grit"?

Luit

[Maggi Young]

Luit, it would be good to see the Pershore pictures 

[Stone Rider]

OTA VLASÁK THE OLD MASTER OF ROCKS

Ota Vlasák adore robust stones and they give him the love back because he is treating them nicely with his professional hammer.
He was boxer, truck dispatcher in huge building company and professional landscaper. At present he is retired and permanently busy.
I assisted him once to reconstruct part of the large Prague Show outcrop and I was not able to discover the principle (or method) of placing granite stones in the construction. After one year of thinking I discover that he is using the principle of steep stratification of sedimentary rocks for his fire born rock.
Well, his bold ridges are standing 25 years in continental weather without a movement. Rocks rooted into his garden. The method is to stand the best large rocks into triangular side-walls and behind them place slightly parallel stones to form very eroded ridges. His granite is softer and some rocks can be crushed with hammer into perfectly matching topdressing.
One of his great qualities is sense for details. His discipline is careful closing crevices with help of hammer choking rocks and plants.
Top quality topdressing is his strong weapon.
I am obliged to present for the FORUM  SHOW some of his designs.

[cohan]

With all respect for the efforts. May I make two (unkind?) comments??

#A: Will those still alive around 2025 say "Look at this camp period piece from 2008-2012 with all rocks standing up" ? 

#B: It is possible to make plants grow in horizontal crevices as well.   

Cheers
Göte

#A  That may well be said of these projects but I don't see that it negates their validity when they prove to be a good home for alpines.

#B  Of course it is.... I did not see any suggestion to the contrary 

i suppose in the end, the only thing that matters for any garden is that it provides a habitat for successfully growing the types of plants intended, and that it makes the owner/stakeholders happy
(of course defining both 'owner' and 'happy' owner  public gardens is another issue, which is why i added the complicated word stakeholder;private gardens are easier..)

[Maggi Young]

Some more of Ota's garden can be seen  here:

 http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=500.msg12239#msg12239   
also some other Czech Gardens from the Tours of the Conference in 2007.

[Lesley Cox]

I must have seen those at the time but I have no recollecton of the great portraits of Fermi and Otto. Must have been too intrigued by the crevicing. Mark, super witches' brooms but I really would have enjoyed seeing a witch out sweeping with one.

[Katherine J]

Thank You Zdenek, I learn very much from this thread.

I hope Forum Friends wouldn't mind to put here some pics of my crevice trough which I made this autumn. And I would be grateful if  Zdenek cpuld comment it as he did for Mark's trough... Thanks in advance!

P. S. I know, that the pot is not the best one, but at least it is a good quality clay pot (about 30 cm diameter).

[art600]

Kata

I will be interested to see what ZZ says, but I think they are excellent. 

[Katherine J]

Thank You, Arthur. 

[Stone Rider]

Thank You Zdenek, I learn very much from this thread.

I hope Forum Friends wouldn't mind to put here some pics of my crevice trough which I made this autumn. And I would be grateful if  Zdenek cpuld comment it as he did for Mark's trough... Thanks in advance!

P. S. I know, that the pot is not the best one, but at least it is a good quality clay pot (about 30 cm diameter).

What a lovely hungarian czardas in the music of this Forum of rocks!You play first league now, darling. All stones are sitting like a content cat. Only no 4 has too  sunken crevices under surface which is common mistake. ZZ

[Maggi Young]

Kata, what a good example of how a garden can be made in the smallest area.
I agree with ZZ ( lucky for me, eh?!! to agree with the Rock Master ) ... we can see in pic 4 that the planting level is rather low between the rocks.
This might be because you did not fill the substrate high enough to begin, or that you did not pack it firmly to minimise  the settling of the soil.

 If you look at Ian's trough making, you will see photos of how full and high the soil/sand must be before planting.

 But these are refinements that come with experience and your garden is really lovely!