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OUR GARDENS
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Scree view from Road |
The property at Alpines Mont Echo is approximately 100 acres with about four acres of gardens. It is situated at the foothills of Mont Sutton and Mont Echo in the Eastern Township of Quebec at an elevation of 400 meters and sloping North to North-West.
We are Zone
4b by Canadian standards with fairly reliable snow coverage. The woods
are mostly deciduous comprising of Sugar Maples, White Birch, Beech and
Poplars with an interesting undergrowth of Acer pensylvanicum,Viburnum
alnifolium, Viburnum trilobum, and Cornus
alternifolia . The oldest garden is over 20 years old and the
most recent is a few months old. The display gardens are extensive and
many were created as “rooms” or micro-climates to accommodate
various collections of plant groupings or types of landscapes. Following
are some of our favorites.
NOTE: If you wish to see larger versions of the pictures
highlighting this text, you may click on them and a new window will appear
with a larger picture. This is available for all the following pictures
in this page.
SCREE
This was our first venture into alpine gardening. It has been to-date
one of the largest projects undertaken second only to the Woodland Garden.
It measures approx. 20 metres (65 feet) long by 6 metres (20 feet) wide. It is highly sloped towards the stream that borders it and faces west. The construction consisted of removing very wet sod and filling in crushed stone about 25 cm in depth at the same time adding many drainage pipes.
Next
we added approx. 12 cm of coarse sand mixed in with 20% per volume peat
and top-dressed it with natural stone chippings. All this added volume
of substrates reduced the slope to a manageable gradient. Originally it
was a novice’s rock garden which it still remains (due to lack of
time) though many choice treasures are interspersed among the colorful
standard rock garden plants. To the expert eye it might seem ordinary
but it is still the favorite garden for many visitors.
It is a garden that has a lot of interest throughout
the season.
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CREVICE
GARDEN This garden is really a jumble of closely placed
limestone rocks filled in with ‘only’ coarse gravelly sand.
Because of its structure and composition of soil -only mineral substrates-
this garden accommodates a wide range of choice “high alpines”
with many having a reputation of being very difficult in cultivation.
Iris iberica, Convulvulus compactus,Viola
delphinanta, Clematis tenuiloba,
Androsace vandelli, micro phloxes,
Potentilla nitida, Daphne domini and
Daphne arbuscula, Ramonda myconi ‘Alba’
and Rhododendron ‘Rock Form’ are
a few examples. Many of the limestone rocks are drilled
with holes and plants such as Drabas sp., Androsace
sp., Aquilegia jonesii and the exquisite Physoplexis
comosa have
been planted with the addition of many self-seedings of various alpines
in the garden.
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RAISED
TUFA BED We call this the 3-in-1 garden. It is made of three
excellent components for growing successfully many rare alpines. It is
a raised bed that is topped with tufa crevassing with the added feature
of wall plantings. Here we grow many Primula allionii
and its hybrids, Porophyllum saxifrages , many cushion
Androsaces, Paraquilegia caespitosa,
several Raoulia species, Cyananthus microphyllus,
Campanula zoysii, Diapensia lapponicum,
Loiseleuria procumbens and choice dwarf Willows,
etc.Wall plantings of Haberleas including H. virginalis
( white form) Edraianthus sp., Lamium armenum,
various Phloxes.
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SHRUB BERM This is a raised meandering sand bed where we grow many dwarf shrubs and conifers. It is outlined with roundish local field stone. The soil is mainly rough sand with a small portion of black soil. Among the conifers and shrubs are plantings of many succulents among them many sedums and sempervivums, as well many dryland plants from western North America and the Mediterranean region of Europe.
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ERICACEOUS GARDEN This is a slightly raised garden fronted by a low wall with a back drop of the woods. It is facing mostly north. Because of its location it has become a testing site to growing many ericaceous species that are otherwise borderline in hardiness for our inhospitable winter conditions. The soil is composed of peat, sand, compost, rotted wood mulch and topped with pine needles. At this location the snow is last to melt away in the spring and in the summer because of the woodland surrounding the garden it creates a cool yet bright environment. It is the only garden that gets watered the list.
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This garden is planted with a wonderful array of Rhododendrons from miniature to mid-size, many Cassiope and Phyllodoce species, Kalmias sp..Pieris sp., Corydalis sp., Asarums, Vacciniums, and Trilliums, There are great specimens of Saruma henryi, Epigaea repens, Phylliopsis ‘Sugar Plum’ and Paeonia japonica.
WOODLAND
GARDEN This is a very large and multi-facetted garden
with a run-off stream that cuts through it. There is
a wet, boggy section with plenty of sun, on the east side of stream where
water seeps all year round. The west bank of the stream is exposed bedrock
that is covered with wet moss. The section of the garden that is under
a canopy of deciduous trees is fairly dry due partly to the voracious
maples inhabiting it and partly because the natural soil is only a few
centimeters deep. Because of this shallowness, soil pockets had to be
created to host the many woodlanders that required not only depth for
their roots but constant moisture throughout the season. A big challenge.
These soil pockets are contained with large birch trunks and filled with
a mixture of compost, sand, peat, and well composted wood chips. The sections
of the garden that are least planted were mulched with rough wood chips
and left to rot. It is the most recent garden and therefore still in progress.
The boggy section
of the garden is planted with highly textured large-leaved plants such
as Reum palmatum, Ligularia wilsoniana,
Digitalis sp. Louisiana Irises, Rodgersia
aesculifolia and Rodgersia tabularis.
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| Synthyris missurica stellata | ||
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 Primula sieboldii |
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The canopied section is a harmonious mixture of indigenous woodlanders and their rarer cousins. There are various bulbous plants such as Arisaemas Cyclamens, Erythroniums, Hepaticas, Woodland Anemones, and Tricyrtis ssp. There is an extensive collection of Epimediums , miniature woodland irises such as Iris verna and its white form, Iris gracilipes and its white form. Intriguing Fern species and exotic plants such as Shortia galacifolia and its hybrid ‘Leona’, Hacquetia epipactis and the rare dwarf Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens as well as flowering shrubs and rhododendrons. The banks of the stream are edged with drifts of Primula sieboldii and P. vulgaris and P. japonica and related species.
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| Troughs of Succulents |
TROUGHS We have several troughs strategically placed throughout the gardens. They are not only esthetically pleasing but very functional as well. They display many “tiny alpine treasures” as well as some “miffy” ones.
KITCHEN GARDEN This was our first garden and therefore
has a lot of sentimental value. Originally it was not fenced and structurally
it was typically a country vegetable garden. The need for fencing became
apparent when arriving on the weekend and finding all the vegetables mowed
to the ground. Presently this garden has had a major
transformation with a more formal structure comprising of four sections
edged with boxwood, twig fencing and twig furniture, and brick pathways.
The vegetables share space with climbing and bush Roses
sp., Clematis ssp. that cloth the entranceways,
annual flowers and herbs interspersed among the vegetables, annual climbers
that ramble up the fencing, and Malus sargentii ‘Tina’
as a central focal point.
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Copyright © 2000, Alpines Mont Echo. All rights reserved.