Visit to APEX crevice garden, Arvada, Colorado

Cool!  What is the first one that has both leaves and spines?  That's a very cute baby Joshua tree.  Looking forward to more photos from DBG!

Lori, that is Maihuenia poeppigii, from Patagonia.

Interesting construction. Searching online for more photos this seems to be a natural looking rock garden more than a crevice garden, if I compare it to Montreal etc. Don't know if there is an actual definition of a "crevice garden".

[quote=Lee Recca]

Lori, that is Maihuenia poeppigii, from Patagonia.

[/quote]

Oh, nice!  I thought it might be (that genus, anyway)... but then reflected on how little I know of cacti and succulents and figured I'd keep my mouth shut, LOL!  

I love Maihuenia!

John Weiser sent me some M. poeppigii cuttings, and they seemed to love our Minnesota summer, but winters I haven't figured out for my climate.  They seem to do best covered over outside compared to the fridge, but I think it's just too cold.  Trying again....

Maihuenia poeppigii

Some, or at least one, of the local experts have been growing Maihuenia outdoors here successfully - in Zone 3, Calgary, that is. 

A couple of photos of Maihuenia poeppigii (or at least Maihuenia, if not that species?) from the garden of one of the said experts:

Betty Lowry grew Maihuenia in her Renton garden and had potted up 3 plants that I have now.  I will try them outside in my scree this spring.  Our wet winters might be more harmful than the cold, so I plan to hold at least one plant back under cover.

Maihuenia poeppigii and Maihuenia patagonica in Patagonia

When I lived in Bellevue Washington for 4 years back in the 1980s, I grew Maiheunia poeppigii out in the open, unprotected from rain, planted in a raised sand bed, where it grew vigorously and increased in size quickly; I think it just needs really good drainage. Can't remember now where I got it, perhaps from Betty Lowry.

The little yucca is indeed a Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, probably var. jaegeriana. 

The cactus is Maihuenia poeppigii, as Lee said. I talked to Kenton after seeing this amazing garden and he said it needed more plants. And that I could plant things in the garden. 

Claire, is that snow in your second pic?

A few pictures of the crevice garden.

Wow, looks completely fabulous!

It is. When I talked to Kenton, about needing more plants, and what kind, he suggested oncocyclus irises. (He would, naturally.) 

I believe this garden does not have a regular maintenance person, so I think the thing to do would be to plant the irises, which are small, and then pin them into the soil. This prevents the little plants from being washed away by rain, or the irrigation system. A paper clip reshaped in the form of a hook, pushed down in the soil, and pinning the plant that way, keeps them in place for at least the first season. 

Another idea was to sow some seed in situ, and mix in some binder to keep the soil and seeds from being washed away. 

A binder.....  what would you have in mind for examples?

Really nice base work on that garden.  Lots of interest compared to what many think of as a standard crevice garden, where all the rocks are similar widths and set in a rigid pattern.  It does look bare, but it's hard to know if I just can see all the plants because they are so small still.

I agree with Rick and Lori, the garden and rock work looks fabulous. I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of many up-facing crevice gardens; unnaturally spiky looking affairs that look dangerous if one were to slip and fall and become impaled. Here, the more rounded and weathered rocks and boulders are of different size, some quite wide and bold, adding some true substance and foundation to the design. Even with the different sizes, there is still a cohesive strata direction, very well done. 

I wouldn't worry about the initial bare look, the real trick is not to over-plant, and to not select exuberant spreaders that'll quickly conceal the beautiful rock work.  I've seen photos of some of those spiky up-turned sliver-rock designs, before and after planting, and after a few years most of the rock is concealed, so one wonders what's the point, or in the case of ugly spiky designs, maybe it's a blessing that the rock gets concealed.

Would love to see what this garden looks like in a couple years from now.

Hi, Rick,

No, it isn't snow.  It is wooly material between the leaves.  The areas where I saw maihuenias were typically hot, dry, and sandy.

[quote=Mark McD]

I agree with Rick and Lori, the garden and rock work looks fabulous. I have to be honest, I'm not a fan of many up-facing crevice gardens; unnaturally spiky looking affairs that look dangerous if one were to slip and fall and become impaled. Here, the more rounded and weathered rocks and boulders are of different size, some quite wide and bold, adding some true substance and foundation to the design. Even with the different sizes, there is still a cohesive strata direction, very well done. 

I wouldn't worry about the initial bare look, the real trick is not to over-plant, and to not select exuberant spreaders that'll quickly conceal the beautiful rock work.  I've seen photos of some of those spiky up-turned sliver-rock designs, before and after planting, and after a few years most of the rock is concealed, so one wonders what's the point, or in the case of ugly spiky designs, maybe it's a blessing that the rock gets concealed.

[/quote]

I agree it looks more natural than many/most Crevice Gardens, but I would call it a "Boulder scree" because of this. But what's in a name it will look great in time, plants and labour being available.

I think this garden looks great - it's not a "traditional" crevice garden but as Brian says it has elements of a boulder field as well.

Having seen the work of the masters of Crevice garden-making in the Czech Republic, I'm a bit dismayed at what some people call Crevice gardens. The crevices should be just that - crevices, narrow spaces between flat rocks with the plant roots forced to travel downwards rather than outwards. The crevice parts of this garden appear to be what I consider to be crevices. Anything more than an inch (2.5cm) wide is, to my mind, not a crevice but simply a very narrow planting bed!

cheers

fermi

I felt compelled to lecture the garden's creator on the use of the word "drainage" to describe the natural watering process here. That word always makes me crazy. Rainfall percolates down to the roots; it doesn't "drain away" from the roots. That would kill the plants. 

Seeing this as a gigantic "rain garden" rather than something that "shed excess water" will grow better plants in the long run. I'm pretty sure that all the soil-less mix is removed from container-grown plants before they're planted, to give the roots a chance to grow down. 

A few more pictures. How on earth do you get plants to grow in those tiny crevices? Since I volunteered to help with this, I think seedlings of plants like astragalus, pinned into place with a little binder added (so they're, like, glued there), will work. 

Hi friends,

I visited the crevice garden again today, and here are a few photos. Have a great weekend! Lee

Binder is derived, I think, from plantain; comes as a powder which you mix with, say, grass seed and mulch, in order to "glue" the seed and mulch to a slope. Works very well, if you use just a little. Too much and you have a thick crust which the emerging seed will have trouble penetrating. 

In theory, the binder should help glue the seedlings into vertical crevices. 

This is really in reply to Number 15.....

Lee, as a forum moderator I finished adding your photos that you uploaded.  You're almost there!  All you need to do (in addition) next time to get them to show is have the cursor in the in the text box where you want the photo to be, then click the "insert" button under your already uploaded photo.

And nice photos they are!  Thank you!

Rick

Thanks, Bob.  I was looking for a way to look it up (something other than just googling "binder", and that did the trick.

I think in the UK grass seed is mixed with a cellulose wall paper type adhesive when spraying onto roadside banks, but I would have thought a gritty sand/clay mix would be a better temporary crevice filler. The clay will slowly wash out if it is that exposed and hopefully the seedling roots will be doing their job by then. Aggregates used for bedding paving slabs often has some clay content that acts as a binder and might work on their own. The crevice garden at RHS Wisley I think used only gritty sand between the stone "slabs" as a planting medium, after washing any potting composts off the young plants.

You can read about the making of this garden on Kenton Seth's blog, "I Need a Cup of Tea." http://kentonjseth.blogspot.com/

Has anyone tried polymeric sand as a binder? I was thinking if one was using sand and wanted to keep something planted from washing away until it was established, this might be a solution if applied lightly.