Old Rock Garden
Opposite the alpine herb field in a long stretched ditch we come across an area which has been cultivated from the early days of the Alpine Garden. Where the rock garden begins, to the right of the path, we find the largest number of plants that were set in the early phases of the garden. On the sunny, early snow-free locations, plants that prefer dry ground have survived until today:
The Weather Thistle (Carlina acaulis) is another plant that inhabits dry, arid locations. It forms a rosette plant with thorny serrated leaves. The individual upright flower heads are up to 12 cm broad, straw-yellow inside surrounded by pure white bracts. Only during sunny, dry weather do the bracts open up and close in the evening or during wet weather: thus the name ‘Weather Thistle’. This species is monocarp, which means it dies off after producing seed.
At the lowest point of the garden, before we enter the timber forest, we find a great preponderance of Arnica (Arnica montana). From a ground-standing rosette an up to 60 cm tall flowering stem sprouts in July and August with up to 7 cm big, orange-yellow flower heads. Of the more than 30 species of the genus Arnica that are native to Asia and Northern America this well known herbal plant is the only representative in our region.