Miniature Gardens
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We are in the process of establishing a miniature landscape in our nursery. It consists of a mountain scene with some impressive peaks, a house on the ledge, lake and waterfalls, and a railroad. The railroad track is still causing us some serious trouble. We had to pack some of it into a tunnel, which is too long to easily maintain it, and some of the track will have to go over bridges, supporting it on the mountain side and spanning over a dangerous waterfall. After solving these tasks of civil engineering, and after having a permanent power supply installed, we will proudly present our landscape to all customers, especially the children among us.
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Photo: Gary Mitchell |
The earlier planted part of the
miniature garden is visible on the right, with details below. In the
distance the arbor with Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) and Clematis are
not part of the miniature garden. The photo on the left depicts a more recently planted area. Once the plants have grown in and gained in volume, a lot of the rocks will be softened by vegetation. Since it is a trial garden, there are lots of different varieties. In a later stage of garden development, I will eliminate those plants that are not satisfying, or that don't fit the style. The best ones will then be grouped and rearranged to form nice little landscape scenes.
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Photo: Gary Mitchell |
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Photo: Gary Mitchell |
Left: The stone house adds
definition and dimension to the landscape. It's base is cut to fit
the stone it sits on.
Plants include Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Graciosa' (large on left), Pinus
mugo 'Mops' (between rocks) and Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Minima'
(foreground left). Simple greens seem to work well to create a natural
appearence. Right: dwarf Hosta "Winsome" (larger Clumps) and "Pandora's Box" (white center) and the hardy dwarf sweetflag Acorus gramineus 'Ogon', with Irish Moss (Sagina subulata) and a dwarf creeping thyme (Thymus x coccineus 'Minus') as groundcovers. The waterfall is going to be running soon and we will then add photos of that. |
Photo: Gary Mitchell |
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Photo: Gary Mitchell |
Trough gardens Container plantings are a way of creating little works of art with plants, stone, old roots and anything else one would want to incorporate. I make containers of tufa, a 'cement-sand-peat moss' mix that is durable and natural looking. I will offer workshops for tufa-trough building in the nursery. I also teach classes organized by Kittery Adult Education every fall. |
Photo: Gary Mitchell |
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This landscape scene was installed for a display of Christmas decorations at the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth in December 1999, organized by the Portsmouth Garden Club. | |
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I compiled a list of Miniature plants, incl. description and some photos. Click on the photo on the right to get there.
Dwarf Candytuft (Aurinia saxatilis) with Dianthus 'Sternkissen' and dwarf Mugo Pine 'Mops' in the background. The pines are approximately 12" wide. |
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Reminder: Most miniature and all alpine plants require very special soil conditions that have to be provided to them to enable them to survive the winter, or a wet summer. Basically, they have to have very gritty, gravelly, well draining soil. We seemed to have good success so far with a mix that consisted of ca. 50% crushed stone (3/8") to insure drainage. The rest consisted of peat moss, compost, vermiculite, coarse sand and loam in various amounts.
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