Rock Garden Furniture

2008

Building a rock garden in the Spring, including pictures from our woodland garden.

Two people gardening with a wheelbarrow outdoors.

Person gardening near brick building with wheelbarrow.

Rocks were collected from piles accumulated around the property. The soil was amended with a couple of wheelbarrow loads of composted sawdust and leaf mold, mixed with 25% grit from the local feed store (they feed it to chickens), and 25% gravel. Mix well, build the rock structure, and add plants that do well in such circumstances, dwarfs which have evolved to survive in rocky, well drained soil.

A small green succulent plant with thin, needle-like leaves grows among rocks and soil.

Sedum 'Angelina'

Two small, round green plants grow among rocks and gravel in a garden bed.

Saxifrages 'Red Backed Spider';' Cloth of Gold"

Scotch Moss 'Aurea"

Thyme 'Doretta Klaber'

Green plant surrounded by rocks and gravel.

Hosta from Pat and Tom

Green plant growing among rocks and pebbles.

Lambs Ears, Stachys 'Silky Fleece'

Rock Garden, looking North

Japanese Maple 'Corallinum' Spring Color

Young maple tree with colorful leaves outdoors.

Japanese 'Full Moon' Maple

Plant with light green and brown leaves.

Huechera 'Caramel'

Pink bleeding heart flowers with green leaves.

Japanese Bleeding Heart

Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Oriental Mouse Tail

Native Bleeding Heart

Young maple leaves with reddish-green foliage.

'Kiyo Hime' Japanese Maple on a rainy day.

Young green plant sprouting from the ground.

Fern Fiddle Heads

Small pink flowers among rocks and gravel.

Heron's Bill, Erodium 'Roseum"

Green leafy plant with broad leaves outdoors.

Mayapple

Ferns with silver leaves on forest floor.

Japanese Painted Fern

Spotted leaves with small purple flowers.

Lungwort

Wood Poppy

Green heart-shaped leaves covering the ground.

Jefferson's Twin Leaf

Hosta 'Sagae'

Hosta 'Great Expectations'

Native Bloodroot

Green leaves with maroon flower buds emerging.

Trillium

Acer Palmatum "Villa Tarranto"

Japanese Maple 'Aka Shigitatsu Sawa'

Rock garden with succulents and decorative stones.

Karen and I built this rock garden together, just as I discovered that my cancer treatments are no longer working. The pain in my back is evidence of new tumors in my spine.

Our rock garden is just a beginning. Room is left for the plants to mature and spread over time. A Japanese Maple is at the apex of the garden, with it's roots tied over a rock. The rock is buried to the top, but as the years go on, the rock will be lifted by stages to expose the roots clutching to the rock, draping down the rock to the soil below.

The garden is a metaphor for life. It reminds us that new life arises out of the history of generations. Out of the cold wet earth, a new generation of plants are born out of the detritus of the old. It's is the nature of life itself to arrive in the context of a long history, to unfold and glory in the sun and the rain, struggle against the wind and the hail, the bugs and the droughts, and prevail only to pass away in the end.

The garden reminds us that that the impulse to grow and thrive requires the proper conditions to prosper. The intricate web of life is on display in the garden, illustrating that all living things share a common ancestor.

Now if I can just keep the deer and the squirrels, the fungus and the bugs, the droughts and deluges from undoing our handiwork, it should look pretty good in a few years.