Stone Un henge

Stone in the landscape is a powerful element, and one which is used to great effect in Japanese gardens which are a particular favourite of mine.

I had three small pieces of stone which I salvaged from a waste site following road construction. (Though small the two larger pieces were about as much as I could lift uncomfortably!) I used the stone to set off small plants at the front of the house where they afforded a little shade to the roots of the young plants. Now that those plants are established I thought the stone could be used to greater effect if placed to break up larger areas of the gravel garden.

Watching the shadows cast by the stone, and how the sun illuminates the various facets of the material helps to select the best orientation for the rocky formation. Once the rock is in its final position the gravel around the stones will be raked to accentuate the design.

As the garden develops we hope to use larger pieces of local stone to add height and structure to the plot.  

Osteosperum

Late April and already the Osteosperum is in flower. This one we brought out from home last year and has an almost metalic quality, the white flowers carry just a hint of lilac.

The plant forms a low cushion of dense green foliage which show the flowers off well.

Here the pebble mulch also gives a nice contrast with the plant.

The System works for her!

We have began to cut the finca but before the machine could be utilised we had a lot more rock clearing to do. Both of us lift any loose rocks and place them in the wheel-barrow, and any embedded and protruding rocks I remove with a pick, and add those to the collection. Once sufficient land is relatively clear Carol starts the machine. I walk ahead of her, as she cuts, picking up those rocks we missed on the first attempt, already we feel we are making progress.

The rocks we remove from the finca are tipped into the ´pit of doom´ which we had previously excavated in front of the stable block. It is a trench 60cm deep 20 meters long and 3 meters wide and will take some filling!

Landscape design challenge

These are the rocks or 'piedra' that we are digging out of the ground. They have been found by riddling the soil by hand, once washed they will be graded into usable sizes . We are considering a number of options to utilise the stones which are abundant.

The 10 - 15 cm pieces will probably mark out the contour of the paths we form.

The 15 - 20 cm pieces will form the walls of raised planting areas.

The 20 - 40 cm pieces will be used to build a circular table with bench style seating.

Individual larger rocks will create steps were required.