Gardening on a slope

Our garden slopes up at the back of the house and whilst this does mean there are few flat areas in the garden, it does mean that from all the windows at the back of the house the garden is laid out in front of you. Fortunately for us, it was terraced before we moved in, 10 years ago, which has made it rather easier to maintain. It can be a little trying at times carrying loads of compost and manure up the garden but I guess it keeps you fit.

This is nothing compared to a delightful garden we visited in Switzerland near to Adelboden. It was up the side of a hill that took us about half an hour to reach and is 1500m above sea level. It had a great collection of plants which were labelled in French, German and Latin. 

What fascinated me was how they got all the plants up the side of the hill in the first place and then to maintain it would require an enormous amount of dedication and energy.

At the top of the garden was rather a nice seat to sit and admire both the garden itself and the views all around.

The area it is in is covered in snow for a large portion of the year which must add to the problems for the gardeners. Snow can act as an insulator protecting the plants. When I checked the winter weather temperatures in Adelboden it would appear that whilst there is a considerable amount of snow, temperatures rarely fall below freezing so more plants than you might think would survive there. 

Mostly there were shrubs and perennials which I assume keep going from year to year. In any event it was well worth the effort of walking up there. Not many gardens have such outstanding scenery all around them.