Sand beds

[Lesley Cox]

I have seedlings of both (I hope) the white which came as P alpina and as P. alba, and of P. alpina ssp apiifolia. Does it prefer to be lime-free Armin?

[Tim Ingram]

A lot more plants are coming in to flower. I particularly like the groupings of species that develop over time - for example Polygala calcarea 'Lillet' with raoulia, dianthus, campanulas, asperula, dryas and primulas. The polygala vies with the best gentians for that true blue on the bed and is a lot easier to grow. Foliage is always interesting close up and Arabis androsacea more than lives up to its specific epithet. The smaller androsaces are very slow on the bed but mucronifolia x semperviviodes is flowering nicely. Even more striking though is the superb dianthus hybrid 'Conwy Star' from Aberconwy; wonderful flowers and also very fine glaucous foliage. Finally an overall scene of our front garden - not all tidy but lots to see.

[ranunculus]

Excellent Tim.

[Paul T]

Absolutely brilliant, Tim.  It looks great.

[Tim Ingram]

Many thanks - a lot of inspiration has come from North America, but also from gardeners like Jack Elliott and reading Duncan Lowe's wonderful book. Curiously though few visitors to our garden over the years have become hooked on alpines, which I find very surprising. We hope that if we have more plants for sale from the garden this might begin to stimulate gardeners to experiment more in Kent. At least it will be interesting to find out.

[David Nicholson]

Very interesting Tim. Some growers seem to have had a lot of success growing Crocuses in sand beds, I wonder how Narcissi would fare?

[Tim Ingram]

David - initially I didn't think of planting bulbs in the bed because I imagined they would need richer fare. However, there are a couple of crocus (not increasing greatly) and several small narcissi (bulbocodium and romeuxii). These latter grow and flower well and are self-seeding. On the whole though I think most bulbs would prefer a more traditional scree or raised bed, with fertile loamy soil to put their roots into.

[astragalus]

Really beautiful, Tim.  I'd like to try the polygala.  What a great blue!

[Tim Ingram]

A few more plants are coming into flower now. Probably the largest flowered selection of Androsace studiosorum, 'Salmon's Variety'; Daphne x hendersonii 'Blackthorn Rose' (forms of x hendersonii have been a good success on the bed); Rhodanthemum 'African Eyes'; and a very attractive Aubrieta glabrescens MESE 536, from Parham Bungalow Plants, only small as yet but a glowing colour. My thoughts are turning again to a new combined tufa and sand bed as this original has no more space - an old raised bed built 25 years ago is sitting waiting!

[David Nicholson]

Complete with tufa Tim?  Covet, covet!!

[Tim Ingram]

First find your tufa! I'm still working on that...(actually first is to persuade my wife that we need a new alpine bed - that has worked well because we are aiming to propagate from the plants, and growing them as successfully as possible is a must).

[Tim Ingram]

The sand bed has been rather eclipsed for the time being by flowering of Yucca whipplei in our front garden. Truly an extraordinary plant! The blue in the foreground is Lithodora x intermedia, a favourite for many years and below the yucca is Triteleia ixioides, a really good early summer bulb.

On the sand bed itself there are a number of nice things - Penstemon rupicola 'Conwy Rose', Onosma echioides, Hypericum cerastoides, Thymus 'Peter Davis' and Astragalus angustifolius. Makes me think that a small outdoor garden at Chelsea on this principle could be a welcome change!

[Maggi Young]

Must be a tad tricky to concentrate on much beyond that fab yucca!

[David Nicholson]

I do so enjoy this thread Tim and one of these days must try to get round to constructing one of my own.

[Tim Ingram]

Many thanks David. I have to say our gardening is probably rather extravagant (having started very young), but I think the great thing about sand beds, crevice beds and so many other ways of growing alpines, is how they adapt to any sized garden - the trick is making something that satisfies you rather than following too much the strictures of others. Of course once success in growing the plants comes your way, the garden seems to expand without you noticing...!