How to Start a Garden in an Alpine Climate

Although the alpine climate, such as found in the Cascade and Rocky Mountains of the US, is often considered a difficult one to work with, it's really not that hard to grow a garden when you know how to work with the local envirnoment. Having grown up a garden-lover in the Cascade Mountains, I learned through hands-on experience what works in this climate and what doesn't.

Preparing the Soil
There's no one soil type that's common to all alpine regions. Your area may have anything from light sand to heavy clay. In fact, you may not have much actual soil at all. Much of the the Rocky Mountains region has been "blessed" with inorganic decomposed granite, which doesn't grow much of anything.
With most alpine soils, you'll need some natural soil additives.

Another problem in many alpine gardens is the amount of small stones in the ground. Before you start working with the soil, though, try to get as many of the rocks out as you can to a depth of at least eight inches. Go over the soil with a rake and remove the rocks by hand. Yes, it's tedious work, but if you don't do it before you establish your garden, you'll be picking out rocks every time you try to plant something.

If you're trying to start a garden where there's little more than decomposed granite, you'll need to work in some organic material that will hold water and provide nutrients. Peat moss works well for this. For clay soils, you'll need something to lighten the soil up and improve the drainage. For this purpose a good, rich compost will work well. If you'd rather not hassle with reworking the whole garden, consider building raised beds and filling them with either the local soil, if it's good quality, or a mix of potting soil and compost. Another advantage of raised beds in a high altitude alpine garden is that they warm faster in spring and extend your growing season by a few weeks.

Plant Choice
One of the most important factors in raising a healthy, low-maintanance garden in a so-called "difficult" climate like a desert or the high mountains is choosing native plants. While very high altitudes may can be rather barren, lower alpine areas rarely are. Just take a walk through your local woods in late spring or early summer and you'll see an abundance low-growing flowers and berry-bearing shrubs. (Before you dig up anything from the woods, though, make sure you're not taking an endangered species and risking a fine.)

With flowers, because growing seasons are fairly short, you'll get the most enjoyment out of native plants that bloom in early to mid-summer such yarrow, tiger lillies, columbine, honeysuckle, sweetpeas, and not-so-native plants like Siberian iris, poppies, and pansies.

Don't think you can't grow roses just because your region has hard winters. Hardy breeds like Rugosa, Harison's Yellow, William Baffin, Jeannie Le Joi will do just find at high altitudes.

In a high altitude landscape, shrubbery around the perimeter of your garden affords protection from harsh mountain winds. Cold-hardy species like serviceberry, huckleberry, the evergreen wild cranberry and lingonberry make good choices. Don't over look native species here, either. For instance, in the Cascades, native salmonberry and marionberry can be used in the garden, too.

Planting Design
Planting and maintaining a lawn in an alpine region can be a problem due to the soil conditions and tendency for moss and lichen to overtake the lawn. Remember, though, not every landscape needs a lawn. One of the best ways to blend your landscape in with the local environment is to create an "alpine meadow" garden. If you've got a flat spot in your landscape, all you'll need to do is either hand-plant a selection of field-growing flowers (as opposed to hillside-loving species) or scatter a package of native wild-flower seeds. An even easier option is to leave the area alone and see what Mother Nature does with it. I knew one woman who opted out of the traditional lawn and let the native clover cover her front yard.

If you've got a rocky hillside in your, try planting low-growers like saxifrage, hens and chicks, or hillside growing flowers like columbine.

When you learn to work with the natural environment, growing an alpine garden actually takes very little work. When you first establish the garden, you'll probably need to do some work improving the soil. After that, if you choose native or apline-adapted plants, you can have a healthy garden with only basic weeding and watering.