Your guide to Alpines
As their name suggests, Alpines originate from mountainous regions. Because of the extreme locations and freezing temperatures that they’ve adapted to, these small, hardy plants can cope well in cold, exposed sites. They tend to be low growing and many produce gem-like flowers. Their compact shape means they’re perfect for the smallest spaces, while their resilient nature makes them compatible with amateur gardeners. Most alpines love dry, rocky conditions, so they’re ideal for containers, gravel gardens, rock gardens and even squeezed in between paving.
Find out all you need to know about some of our favourite Alpines...
Aquilegia
Aquilegia are charming garden favourites known for their bonnet-shaped flowers and long graceful spurs. Otherwise known as columbines or granny’s bonnet, aquilegia are a genus of 60 plus species of perennial plants, found in meadows, woodlands and higher altitudes in the northern hemisphere. They come in a range of colours - including two-tone varieties - and require very little attention.
Location: full sun / partial shade
Soil: chalk, clay, loam, sand
Size: up to 0.7m
Bloom: late Spring early Summer
Arenaria
These alpines are commonly known as mountain daisy. Most varieties have simple small green leaves (some are evergreen) with four- or five-petalled white, pink or purple flowers. They’re low growing, usually mat forming, and need very little care.
Location: full sun / partial shade
Soil: sand, loam
Size: 0.1 - 0.15m
Bloom: late Spring early Summer
Aubrieta
Aubrieta is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the cabbage family brassicaceae. This evergreen perennial produces a carpet of flowers in purple, blue, pink or reed to raised beds and stone walls - the traditional variety has dainty four-petalled blooms atop mounds of foliage. An interesting fact: this plant is named after French botanical artist, Claude Aubriet.
Location: full sun
Soil: chalk, loam, sand
Size: up to 50cm
Bloom: mid to late Spring
Campanula
With their happy nodding heads, campanula, or bellflower plants, are cheery perennials. These long-lasting alpine plants are native to regions where nights are cool and temperatures moderate, which means growing conditions in the UK are ideal. They’re a diverse group of plants, ranging from small, creeping species to towering perennials. Most varieties have bell- or star-shaped flowers in hues of pink, white, lavender, and light blue.
Location: full sun / partial shade
Soil: chalk, loam
Size: up to 1.2m
Bloom: late Spring early Summer
Echeveria
A large genus of succulents, echeveria are evergreen plants native to semi-desert areas. Many are popular ornamentals and houseplants, loved for their compact symmetrical leaf rosettes. Thanks to their ease of care and tough nature, they’ve grown popular with novice gardeners. Plant them in containers, as part of a carpet bedding scheme or in terrariums.
Location: full sun
Soil: loam, sand
Size: 0.1 - 0.5m
Bloom: late Spring to early Summer
Lewisia
Lewisia are clump-forming perennials with rosettes of fleshy leaves and open funnel-shaped flowers. They come in a wide range of colours, including purplish-pink, orange, yellow or white, and have a long flowering period. The genus is named for the American explorer, Meriwether Lewis, who encountered the species in America in 1806.
Location: partly shade
Soil: loam, sand
Size: 0.5 - 0.8m
Bloom: Spring and Summer
Lithodora
Lithodora are evergreen shrubs that produce masses of tiny, vivid blue, star-shaped flowers trimmed with white. Its mats of low-growing foliage spread slowly to make good ground cover. This alpine is a genus of flowering plants in the family boraginaceae.
Location: full sun
Soil: chalk, loam, sand
Size: 0.1 - 0.5m
Bloom: Summer and Autumn
Saxifrage
Saxifrage (or saxifraga) is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of small alpine and woodlands plants. Although they differ in flower, foliage and form, most garden varieties either have a cushion of leaves or a mat of leafy rosettes; both with a mass of tiny red, pink or white flowers in the summer.
Location: partial shade
Soil: chalk, loam, sand
Size: 0.1 - 0.5m
Bloom: late Spring
Sedum
Sedums are succulents (a group of plants with the ability to store water) with fleshy leaves and clusters of star-shaped flowers. There are many species of sedum (also called ‘stonecrop’), but they’re all hardy, easy to care for and loved by pollinators. Sedums can either be low-growing, spreading along the ground and only reaching a few inches in height, or upright where tall clumps produce masses of tiny flowers.
Location: full sun, partial shade
Soil: sand, loam
Size: 0.5 - 0.8m
Bloom: Spring and Summer
Sempervivum
Sempervivums, also known as houseleeks, are hardy alpine plants typically native to rocky habitats in mountainous regions. Their Latin name translates as ‘always alive’ – a reference to their tolerance to extreme temperatures and drought. These succulents are most loved for their tufted leaves in distinctive rosettes. Each rosette is a separate plant, which only flowers once and then dies, but is soon replaced by other new rosettes called offsets.
Location: full sun
Soil: loam, sand
Size: 0.1 - 0.5m
Bloom: Spring and Summer
