Wee Alpine Gems

We've always had alpines in our gardens, last time it was a whole rockery. In this case it's a few troughs and pots and a couple of sedum roofs. But they often get overlooked as I whizz by on some 'important"garden task.

And then I catch sight of a tiny veronica peeping out from a trough or a sedum spilling over the shed roof. And I stop to admire and make a mental note to photograph them next time I'm out in the garden with my camera.

So here is a post devoted to the wee gems.

All the alpines require sharp drainage and won't thank you for getting too wet. I try to put them somewhere dry and cold during the winter so they don't rot off.  All the plants on the shed roof have to make do with conditions as they are.

Sedums, Semerpvivums, sysyrinchiums and oxalis fill most of the pots and troughs.
Sempervivums about to burst into flower.

The exquisite pink or white rhodohypoxsis fills a pot . We have this one on a table so we can admire it in flower.

Raoulia forms a blanket of tiny silvery green rosettes. Nothing much to look at until you get up close.

 

 The succulent echeveria with it's silver leaves and  luminous flowers.

And up on the roof...

Yellow stonecrop

  Sedum 

And an alpine geranium
The alpines don't take up much space but are definitily worth a close-up.