Dry sun-lovers, such as alpine or rockery plants, are perfectly able to cope outside over autumn and winter in our climate, but may need a little help managing our British winter weather – the ever-present threat of rain being the key issue.
Often it’s the way you’ve planted up your alpines in the first place that may be detrimental to how well they thrive. Good initial planting will always set anything up well for the future. They like very well-draining soil, lots of sun and somewhere where they won’t be subjected to biting frosts. If the latter is the case, always grow portable rockery plants in a pot or light trough that you can bring into a greenhouse for the winter.
Otherwise there’s a bit of care you can give them now to protect them from rotting, but also to tidy them up and keep them healthy for the next few months. As with most plants now, you need to keep an eye on their welfare – wet, suburban gardens aren’t their natural environment!