Rocks are a great landscape feature to add to your yard and garden. They come in all sizes and don’t need any real maintenance. You can put moss on the rocks or let them rest as silent monoliths watching over your garden. You can use them for edging, for paving stones, stepping stones, and retaining walls. There are just so many things you can use a rock for that I had to get a few. This past weekend when traveled up to Mt. Juliet, TN to visit my wife’ parents I went rock hunting. It’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds. The hunt was through a pile of cast off stone and rock that has been heaved out of their ground. Heaving is the natural process of freezing and thawing of the ground that pushes rocks up and causes cracks and breaks in the ground. Had it been warmer I may have been more adventurous and trekked through the woods behind their home in search of the precious stones but the 30 degree weather deterred me! If you are familiar with Mt. Juliet, TN you will know that the ground is almost all rock and clay. They have used rock to edge various garden beds and some pathways in their landscape and allowed me to take home a few. As you can see from the picture above rocks come in assorted sizes and shapes. Here are a few that I brought home.
Once you have the rock where you want it (and I’m not sure I do yet) you have to decide how to place it. You have as many options as you have usable sides. In the case of this rock below I really only have two choices. The back/bottom does not look as nice as the side you see in the picture below so it isn’t really an option. It also will only stand up tall from one side. So here are my two choices. Either choice A with the stone lying flat or B with the stone standing tall. What do you think? Also consider what might be a good use of this rock. Keep in mind that I haven’t completely decided on its location yet (I may want to wait for its final resting place until after the tulips have bloomed). Do you have any ideas for the rocks in the above pictures?
Or rock that way?
This rock is about 16-18 inches tall in this picture.
I circle the rocks I have collect around the peony’s so I dont forget where they are! Plus to keep the Propane Gas man from walking in that area to refill the gas tank which is behind the garden! Am afraid he will mash something!
I also made a small planter (island) in the middle of a pea gravel area around the patio. In the middle of the planter is a gas torch with metal pole and on each side of the pole are small azaleas! I mulch with red bark for color. Cute and simple to do… I also separated an area in the pea gravel by the platform for the grill with a small planter for the hosta bed. Too bad the Voles ate all the hosta last year! argggg….
Either way looks good. At first I thought upright to make a bigger impression, but it is about the same either way. You stand it up and it leaves more ground to garden!
sSkeeter,
Those are some neat ideas! Using rocks for a firepit would be nice. Or even a planter. I don’t have enough rocks for those yet. I’d better keep collecting. I’d like to see a picture of that sometime it sounds really good. I like the red bark mulch, it sounds like a good use of it!
Sorry about the hostas. Ours never did much then what did come up got eaten by the bunnies.
Tina I think maybe the upright also. It has a little more of a presence to it. It does leave more room for plants!
Dave I think I have a picture of the small island in the pea gravel that I could send you… What email address do I send it to?
Try dvtown@gmail.com. I should be able to get it there. 🙂
Hello, I love rocks and stones in the garden too 🙂 They look best when they are partially buried in soil – this gives them more natural look 🙂
We’ll se your progress.
Greetings from over Poland,
Will try Dave, Thanks…
I think the upright position looks better. It being white it would show up real good in a bed of low growing plants–maybe all green or with a few flowers.
I love rocks also. Had a ball with them when we lived in N.C.