My new Alpine bed with updates in 2014..

That's lovely, Scotsgran! And what a good job you've done. You must be pleased with yourselves. I love your garden!

You have definitely inspired me to clear out my alpine trough and start again (it's overrun with campanula)!

I agree, it looks very good.

Sheila - this is gorgeous! Well done you and W :)))
When I saw the first picture of the stones in place - the though re the grass crossed my mind, great minds eh!!
I also like how you used the pots to mark out the area to be used.
I hope you are going to tell us what you have planted and keep us regularly updated as it matures.

Beautiful...well done Scotsgran....:>)

looks great - a lot of hard work there.

Looks very Impressive. Nice bit of stone you obtained, makes all the difference until the bed becomes fully clothed and that wont take long by the look of it.

Well done. What hard work that must have been, but it will be really pretty when it all gets established, and that is lovely stone you've used.

Thank you everybody. Mel I like campanulas a lot and have three in here. I think one will need to be kept in check but the other two C.Deep Blue Clips and C.White Clips should be better behaved. There are lots of nice alpine plants as I'm quickly discovering. PCW did warn me when I joined the SRGC that it is totally addictive. Thanks Drc I just hope it all behaves and is easy to keep. Your right Scottish, I dk about great minds but at least I thought about the possible grass problem before it could do any damage. If anyone spots other potential hazards please say as I am not too old to learn. There are 60 plants in it so I'll try and keep a blog diary of what is flowering when. I have a few more plants coming from friends and I have left spaces for those. The stone is from the church which sat in our front garden. My OH was christened in it in 1929. It is the same stone as the house and OH built a double garage on to the house after we knocked it down in the 1970's. We also built the wall round the garden and various other walls within the garden using the stone. Some of it has had a busy life. When we dismantled the church we found the stone had been recycled from shops etc and the masons had turned the painted bits with shop names etc to the inside and dressed the other side. An old man in the vilage told us that his grandfather worked on the building of it. It was mostly volunteer labour and even the site was donated by the local Estate owner. The farmers and farm labourers used horse and cart to fetch stone from various demolition sites and a lot of the wood was picked up on the foreshore having been swept overboard as the ships made their way around the coast. We felt it was important enough to keep the shape of the church and we have had many ex pats or descendants of ex pats come to see where their families worshipped. Bits of stone are all over the world having been taken by visitors. I believe the church bell was donated to the church at Chigoria hospital in Kenya. What stone could not be sourced free was bought from Dalmeny quarry. We are trying to pretend its an A team job and no bother at all. If you saw the ladies who won gold medals in the velodrome walking very strangely when they got off their bikes that was a similar effect to me as I got up after even the shortest tea break.

Lol! I hope you have a good night's sleep, and can move tomorrow when you need to get up!

What a fascinating story about the church. How lovely to have the stone all around the place. It must give you a great feeling of continuity. Stone is infinitely recyclable. It makes me think of the people taking stone from Hadrian's Wall for houses and field boundaries after the Romans had abandoned it. If it had been a more populous area, I don't suppose there would be any wall left now!

Very interesting blog Sheila. I still cant come to terms with Alpines needing J.I.No 1 as low in nutrients to keep them small. Have found my local GC pot them up in their own compost which is too rich. Transplanted one by forking off their compost and replanting in J.I.No 1 - have nearly killed it. Its just surviving.
I bought one of their Gentians last week £4.99 and think the stalks are too tall because of their compost. Am wondering what to do about it, replant it in J.I.No 1 without disturbing the roots ?
Am scared of losing it. Am sure the flowers should be just above the surface of the soil. Saw them at Wisley like this.
Any advice very welcome.

I have not picked up on where the comment arose as to needing JI no1.
However I dont ever remember using JI on its own for my plants while the formula for it stays the same the loam used varies from each producer,I am lucky that I have one of the best JI reasonably local to me in Somerset and it is used as the base my many including Ashwoods Nursery.
The amount of fertilizer is heavily diluted by the time I add other ingredients to it,Which i almost always do for Alpines dependant on what they are,ie high alpines through to meadow alpines.
I no longer have any alpine beds but many Alpines are grown in troughs and containers and the mix is still relevant
Were i to have one like Scotsgran for a mixed collection I would have micro beds within it according to the particular plants needs.
We live in many different areas and it is often nesscary to experiment with them,when a book or friend advises you to do something it often needs modification to your particular situation.

Diane here is a copy of the answer given to me by PCW
he was talking about Gentiana Septemfida -"This is for mid to late summer,on any decent soil in full sun." I have other gentians which in a pot. Again in ordinary soil, slightly acid, because that is my normal soil. Have a look at pcw photos it is a recent posting so you will find it easily. His tends to be a bit spreading but that is how they grow. Your plant will probably be fine. Unless I get it from a source personally known to me I tend to keep my new plants planted into larger pots but still in their own pot as a sort of quarantine exercise. If your plant was flowering then it probably nearly died of shock from its rough treatment. If there is any doubt about the health of the plant I would then wash off all the nursery soil and replant in a mixture of soil. John Innes No.1 and gritty stones (about 5-10mm) The plants I have planted in my new bed have been mostly planted from pots where they were in this mixture. I tried to replant soil and plant without uprooting any of the plants. I'll go and check the recipe for you and post it by editing this answer.
My answer crossed with Bjs above and what he says is correct. I think with alpines the most important thing is to have gritty well draining soil but the plants do need moisture.

It looks really good, well done.

I like your new bed, it will look lovely when all your planting estabishes itself, I found the history of all your stone fascinating, your garden has an abundance of history included in it, thankyou S`cotsgran, I look forward to seeing how it progresses in the future, well done....

It's great. I love alpines, and when they fill out they'll look lovely.
You've reminded me of the sink I still haven't planted up lol

Thanks everybody. I know this falls a long way short of Jean Bands garden (our inspiration) but as I have only recently started learning about alpines I have a long way to go. If only keenness could be instantly matched by experience I would be home and dry but I expect the learning process will be a happy one. Already I have made new friends through expressing an interest and I'm sure through attending the meetings of our local SRGC group I will learn loads. They have a first class website too, as has the Alpine Society. When I stop learning I'll be dead and where's the fun in that. I'm fortunate that we still have stone and I may end up with more beds but I need to finish this one properly and recover before starting on another. I tend to buy more of the same, if something grows well it encourages me to buy other cultivars of the same plant so we will see what grows well and what is less happy. I have some of my alpine plants still in their pots because I felt they were a bit on the small side to go in beside some of the more vigorous plants. The strict definition of alpine plants is for plants in specific areas, but the alpine society tend to also include meadow flowers from lower down the slopes. They would say that strictly speaking they are rock plants, so although I say I have an Alpine bed I have to be careful that the ideal conditions exist for each plant because each plant has its own needs. I am determined to catalogue these on an excel sheet. I will try and ID their area of origin and a bit about their needs. I can then follow their progress month on month. We spent the day in Crianlarich and yes I did come home with another 6 plants.

PS. Diane I think alpine plants are compact because their genetic make up has evolved to help them survive exposure to extremes of wind, snow, rain and sun. Bulboholic did a blog recently about his raised bed. He used 4 measures of garden soil to one of humous and one of grit. He put it in on top of a layer of stones which give good drainage so that the plants don't rot at the neck. Good luck in saving your plants.

Ah, happy memories of Crianlarich Youth Hostel ! I used to get the Fort William coach 8 a.m. at Kettering, a half hour break at Glasgow, (where I got told off for calling a 'stance' a 'bay' and the correct pronunciation is 'Creeanlarish' ) - and go through to Crianlarich or Glen Coe, arriving at 8.30 p.m. to walk in the hills.
I asked my GC if they could get Ashwoods Nursery compost, and got the thumbs down.

Diane, that sounds like a great holiday!

I echo that. Diane just for you I have added a few photos above of Crianlarich. NB the ch is sounded as in loch not fish.

Diane
For the record should you ever see the compost in your travels it is called <Green Ore Compost>Its actually the name of the place where it is taken from.

Sheila-if I was making a bed that size,I would use 2 parts good quality topsoil,2 parts grit and 1 part organic matter.I like composted bark or the local council green waste compost.
The mix can be altered depending on what's being grown.
For pots and troughs etc I use J.I. no 2.
All the good growers will no doubt have there own preferences(see Brian).

Thank you Pcw. I had really good well rotted woodchip and I used that mixed with compost from my compost bins to ensure the stones did not have holes where the soil could slip down later and lower the depth of overall soil. Then I used my own compost mixed with pea shingle and some bought in compost which I had found to be not very good. Each plant has been planted in whatever is recommended for it and of course I always use bone meal forked in to the bottom of the planting hole to give the roots encouragement. I've got my fingers crossed that what I've done is alright. When I make my own compost I tend to add any spent compost from my potato pots for instance. I try not to add any weeds like dandelions and nettles and I give it years to compost. My bins are too small to heat up so I reckon if I leave them for five years the resulting compost will be well rotted and any weeds are removed before they seed. This is the first year that I have not added a top layer of compost to each bin and planted veg. I felt too worn out to bother when I had so much else to do in the garden.

Scottish asked to see my Iris reticulata stream running through the alpine bed. I can see many improvements I would like to make but I am pleased with the way it is looking now.

That is very pretty, and effective, Scotsgran. Such a lovely blue. I really enjoyed reading your blog again. :-) You probably feel as if your alpine bed has been there for years! My trough is still thriving and I'm hoping the Lewisia, just out of its cloche, will flower as beautifully as it did last year.

Mel I am really proud of how the stream has turned out now I would like to build height in the middle of the bed. It would give the impression of the stream being in a valley. It will have to wait as I am struggling to clear the herbaceous beds of excess foliage which should have been done in the autumn but was left over to see the wildlife safely through the winter. I have found Lewisia, as long as it is tucked under a rock and has survived the winter should flower well again. I have two new very small seedlings which I potted on as soon as I received them from a friend on GOY. They are not looking too good but if we can get some nice sunny days they should revive.

Oh gosh - I know all about clearing the old perennials at this time of year, and for exactly the same reason. I'm sure that it is important to leave the shelter and the seeds. There are so many little creatures we don't ever see, but they all have their place and their part to play (even if some of them can be a bit of a nuisance!)

This is amazing, from the other picture I commented on, your raised bed looks as though it has been in place for many years. You've done a fantastic job with this. I really like it :)

I think the secret is to prepare your planting site carefully. I try to read up on the plant on the internet and then make sure I use the correct soil mixture. I was quite hard up when we first started planning the original shrubs and tree borders. Dougal Philip of Hopetoun Garden Centre was very particular about teaching me what to avoid. I looked at the height of the plants 10 years down the road and then followed the advice on planting distances apart. I used cheap perennials and annuals to fill the gaps till the plants grew to fill their allotted space. I see you are local to Edinburgh. Are you planning to visit Gardening Scotland next weekend. My OH and I will be manning the Pallet Garden exhibition between 12 and 2pm on Sunday so do drop in.