Carolyn Fath
Crevice garden, ‘tis a magic place.
Where most would have seen just crabgrass and weeds, Ryan Henke saw opportunity. This summer, the east-side homeowner transformed what was an otherwise ignored piece of earth into a far more aesthetically interesting crevice garden. The narrow city terrace in front of Henke’s home on the 200 block of North Baldwin turned out to be a perfect spot for it.
“I got the idea from Allen Centennial Garden on campus,” says Henke, whose day job is working in sales, marketing and event services at Monona Terrace. “I figured a crevice garden would be attractive and low-maintenance. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”
So what the heck is a crevice garden? Czech botanist Josef Halda is credited with popularizing this type of rock garden in the 1990s. The style is defined by a series of closely spaced flat rocks, placed vertically so they jut out of the ground. This creates — wait for it — crevices that are ideal for growing a wide variety of alpine plants. These usually small, almost cactus-like plants grow in rocky, sandy soil and are native to high-altitude regions above the tree line. A crevice garden replicates those conditions by sandwiching plants between the narrow spaces
Carolyn Fath
created by the rocks, forcing deep root growth. This protects the plants from the air temperature above and allows the plants to thrive under dry conditions.
“It may look a little goofy. But for as odd of a setup as it is, the garden really seems to have worked out in this spot,” says Henke.
Building the crevice garden turned out to be easier than Henke initially thought. He first ripped up the grass and topsoil. Next, he placed a weed barrier and covered it with a mix of soil, sand and lime. After that, he put down gravel, put the large rocks in place and filled in the gaps as needed. He was careful to set the rocks two feet away from the curb so people who park their cars along Baldwin Street wouldn’t bang their doors on them. He also put a binding mix near the curb to cut down on gravel ending up in the street. The last piece of the puzzle was putting in cool-looking alpine plants. The whole project took him about a month.
“The most labor-intensive part was hauling all the topsoil and grass to my compost heap in the backyard,” says Henke. “But I enjoy being outside. I’m sort of a mule, so I don’t mind doing hard work. Now that it’s all set up, it’s more fun than toil at this point.”
One perk Henke wasn’t expecting was that passersby seem to respect the crevice garden.
“It’s a high-traffic area. The amount of trash, cigarette butts and other stuff has gone down dramatically,” says Henke.
As for cost, Henke says, “I really don’t know, I try not to think about it too much. Once you get going, it’s always more than you anticipated. But it was a labor of love, and you don’t dwell on the outlay too much.”
