No one needs a large garden to set up a small alpinarium in. An easy-care rock garden can basically be created in a small pot, a shallow bowl or a balcony box.
How to create a rock garden in a pot?
A rock garden in a pot can be created with a flat planting bowl, drainage hole, expanded clay, suitable substrate, suitable stones, pebbles and small rock garden plants such as Sempervivum, Sedum or Aubrieta. After planting, the soil surface is covered with stones or pebbles.
What you need for a potted rock garden
Planting bowls or pots, which should be as flat as possible and have a drainage hole at the bottom, are particularly suitable. This is extremely important for drainage so that your rock garden does not drown in rain or irrigation water at some point. You will also need:
- A suitable substrate for rock garden plants (e.g. herb soil or a mixture of potting soil and sand)
- Expanded clay for drainage
- stones and pebbles in different sizes that fit the pot
- small rock garden plants
Which plants are suitable for the mini rock garden?
All plants that don't grow too large are suitable for the mini rock garden in a pot. What exactly these are is entirely up to your imagination and the available space. But here we have a few suggestions for you:
- Houseleek (Sempervivum)
- smaller outdoor cacti
- Sedum (Sedum)
- Blue cushion (Aubrieta)
- Candytuft (Iberis)
- Lunchflower (Aizoaceae)
- Cyclamen (Cyclamen)
- Storksbill (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 pot – step by step
Do you have all the necessary utensils? Then you can now start designing and planting the planter.
- Cover the drainage hole in the pot with a pottery shard or a flat stone.
- Now fill in a few centimeters of expanded clay - 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 an appropriately sized pot instead, for which you need natural stones of the appropriate size. You should leave the joints between the individual stones large enough so that the dwarf perennials fit comfortably there.
Tip
A miniature rock garden can be created not only in a pot, but also in a slightly larger dimension in a raised bed.
