If you decide to paint it, I'd recommend using camouflage paint if there's a color that works for you. I've used the dark brown on small rocks that for one reason or another I don't want to be seen. It's very flat and blends well with dirt. The dark green blends well with plants, so I'd use that option if you end up growing vines there. I've used the dark brown on cement blocks and it adhered fine. I can't say I've given it a long, weather-exposed test, though to see how it will wear. But it's easy to touch up.

Yes, I want the stepping stones to actually step on. The stones will go into the pond so I need to make sure its something fish-safe and doesn't increase the PH level in my pond. Concrete blocks would not look natural. I read something once about hypertufa(spelling?), but it has to be something that can sit in the water without breaking down. One rock I'm considering is 'featherstone'. I think thats what its called. Can't find it anywhere on the internet so maybe I've got the name wrong. It supposed to be much lighter (less dense) than granite and is very smooth. Does anyone know the correct name for this rock I'm thinking of?

Thank you INKcognito. Sent an E-Mail with Karrimors assistance department. Papoose? You got me on that one :) :) Spent an hour reading my gardening books to find the word papoose Mr. INKcognito :)Taught me a lot. Thank you for adding papoose to my vocabulary. One day I wish to have a child to love. I think sometimes without a wife and family my spare attention and time even if amounting to a little, has been oriented into finding stones for a garden. That will end once I have those responsibilities. The Journal you proposed will help me convey the stones memories many years later when I leave this phase of life for another. I will have to stop working for free and really buckle down. My papoos's right now are my stones. Japanese gardening lets me as a grown man find inspiration in inanimate objects to keep my spirit going. Finding inspiration in nature when I'm at a loss career wise. One day I will have a bit of nature in my backyard for the real papoose on my back to enjoy and play in:) Telling that child the adventure of each stone. Having a journal for my papoose to enjoy full of pictures and descriptions. Why each stone was placed into the garden and tells a story. A new Mythology full of adventure, metaphors and allegories. Like the golden Age of Japans poetic styled gardens. Papoose! A new word. But I did know the plant Blue Cohosh. . From there I could gather the context of youre sentence and elaborate as the connections were made. Caulophylum thalictroids of the Berberidaceae family - Blue Cohosh, (Papoose Root), Squaw Root : -Caulo'phyllum, from the Gr. kaulos, a stem; phyllon,a leaf -thalictroi'des akin to Thalictrum. -Thalic'trum : Meadow Rue. Gr. name for plant which may have been of that genus. Ranunculacaea. The texts refer to a Blue Seed Coat. I guess the Blue of Cohosh is related to the seeds skin color. -Cohosh, any of the two unrelated plants of the E. United States. Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohosh) of the buttercup family and (Blue Cohosh") of the barberry family -Cohosh, [1790-1800-Papoose, 1. Narranganset papoos 1634: A young child of American Indian Parents. North American Baby or Young Child. INKcognito, Being you propose I carry a Native American Indian inside my future rucsack and a crow bar to boot, I should learn the right Cohosh to pick for the babys mother! Blue Cohosh picked in the fall can be a usefull Decoction prepared as a hot cup of tea for the mother. So can Black Cohosh being of another family. Both having medicinal values for female related productive processes. But I dont think the mother and father would welcome me back to their home if I fed the baby some other Cohosh's red or white berries. A tril snack that would get me scalped or worse! Like Doll's Eyes or Snakeberry. Both very toxic. I'll stick with my stones leading to a Japanese inspired stone planting for the urban garden:). And leave the Native American child with more knowledgeable and wiser sitters. I would only get myself in deep trouble. Not knowing what Papoose would give me a boot in my caboose. On a serious note...I found some Indian stone tool artifacts while looking for Suiseki stones a few weeks ago. I didnt get back to the New York State D.E.C. police yet as to the laws for collecting rocks. Figuring to be safe I continued but looking for tiny pebbles thumbnail in size. They would suffice for a small suiban container or learning the different Chinese style Penjing pebbles each having a styled name and class. Like Turtle shell stones. I like how the Chinese gave each stone a name related to nature. . My eyes found the tell tale signs of Indian Craftsmen nearby. The spring floods revealed some charcoal, clam shells, stone chippings etc. Then I found the scraping tool. I'm giving the Item to a public school teacher who will use it in classes. I dont think my stone tool was part of youre more Northern Indian language Roots. Seems like Lower N.Y. Indians might have had a different word than papoose. Small world non the less. Ill try to find the answer. The word Papoos has been a pleasurable new tool to express my experiences in short form. And I did wonder how bringing natural stones temporarily in my home before I donated them to the place I'm building the garden could bring along more than I could see. If I was bringing in spirits of the indigenous peoples. I wasnt the one who questioned the notion. A relative said these stones have no business in the home. They look to special and sacred so put them outside where no spirit will dwell in our homes. Nect thing is some people at the Cultural Center were saying similar ideas. I ignored them. Some stones I brought home might have that god spirit in them. I hope to be that lucky as to see more than what is expected by an average individual like myself on a daily basis. Maybe its me finding the god spirit in myself in reality. Telling me to say a little more than just thank you to such a stone. More like may I barrow you for a garden and please dont get mad?! I dont want angry Kami Ike in my house or garden. American Indian and Japanese idol worship of stones has the qualities of respecting the people who traveled the same path your walking thousands of years before you. Finding teachers footprints on an invisible path.. Accepting the traditions of past cultures as still relevant to a modern Gardens Design. The customers lifestyle somehow connected to the design and its principles. Bringing back the Old God Spirits into modern lifestyles. Not just the Block prints, Teahouses and barrowed codes like the way of tea and Bushido in martial arts. These art forms all started with Nature as the impetus and god giving form. Japanese and Native American Arts are some of the last forms a man like myself can feel the Rythems of the Universe without knowing the texts of Bhuddism or the oral traditions of the Algonquian Indian Peoples. How my senses respond to the materials that make up Zen based Temple Gardens. Those materials selectively chosen and collected then incorporated in the garden set the senses of touch, sight, sound along with the related emotions into the surrounding Architecture of the Temples Design. The same goes with Native American Standing Stones and Carved Trees. They materials chosen set the senses and emotions to swirl naturally into the larger picture of the Forest or Mountains. The man made Architecture becomes almost as religious and original as the experience felt while viewing the elevated or planted stone depending on the cultural backround. Barrowing from Nature to make a building or home seem to flow with the natural environment. Eventhough human society becomes further removed. Gardens and buildings can keep us in touch with the cylces of nature. Finding the Iwa Kura (STONES) of the Japanese Archipelago and North American Continent you find the antitheses of our American concepts of Gardening Principles. Stones were once alive like us. No different. Letting us look back in time. Fathomong our existence and times infinite expanses. Separating the Wild garden from the Controlled garden. Finding why a gardens design speaks to you and how to find the proper lifestyle that will continue that same Gardens existence. Not loosing the Priciple of Iwa Kura. The stone and its new found principle for the American becomes something to preserve even if the whole Gardens Design changes concepts over the decades. The stone planted properly will grow deep roots. Like the Old Oaks in the Enlgish Countryside. Some things are just accepted as to mythical in dimension to remove or alter. I know when a garden has touched the customer. Its when the customer says no more. Im content. At the PRECISE moment I lay the last pebble in my hand and think the same. The garden is understood by both of usand I can fully appreciate the gardens relevance to my lifestyle and the customers. A rare moment that may only happen a few times in ones life. No longer will the Garden be admired like that of purchasing a new car. Finding the car perfect then realizing you become bored with it. The car gets old and you no longer wish to keep it. Some people only take a few months for this to occur. So all of us are already looking for a better car at some point in life. Cars lack the God spirit. Sure they are full of the human spirit. But never will the car attain the perfection of God and nature. But a stone never altered by mans hand planted properly in a Garden can become more powerful than any manmade creation never needing to be upgraded or discarded like most inanimate objects are. I think A Japanese Styled garden has to be built for a customer who is at the most sensitive emotionally raw moments of lifes cycles. All those phases that the human body shares. Cycles in life that no individual can escape or avoid . The human experience no matter what race or nationality is done in the same body. Having the same unavoidable cycles. Finding the materials and assembling them at the cusp of ones pivotal cycle is when the garden becomes immortalized into our memory. Like how we want the most beautifully designed garden to coexist with a weddings date and location.. Making that cycle in life remembered.. How one defines the garden is the tricky part. Is it the formal English gardens or simply a wedding on the oceans edge at a beach.. . Those rare gardens that have never been destroyed by mans hand. Preserved somehow or its memory passed down in some form to be recreated. Fulfilling our deepest desires. The word "Papoose" will have a respectful place in my heart and mind. Melding product of giving birth to a new born baby with the medicinal values of a plant. Both sharing the word Papoose. Helping me recognize how all questions flow into answers creating more questions. How everything one learns is relative to any experience. How all experiences can be found in the Garden using plants and stone. A seamless design. Full of hidden bueaty and meanings. Like the word Papoose. I need that rucsack. Gotta find those stones that will have in it the human experience I seek in a garden. Something to share with like minded people. Hopefully at the right place and time. A different way of recording and accounting histories lessons. Maybe the oldest and most forgotten. Stones that make us seem like the papooses. Stones being what we came from. We humans are the earths papooses. Enjoying the ride on our parents back. SHINTO. thats it ..holy cow. Shinto is simply our parents. Seeing earth as mother and father. Recognizing the universe as the continuation of Shinto. Shinto is the way to live life with our parents blessing. Asking the infinite unknown agelessness of the universe to help guide our paths into the future. Thats why the Japanese must see Shinto even in a new car. An old tree or a stone. Shinto gives the whole human process of experience developed in the Japanese Archipelago some type of tangible form to bless the descending survivors future success and chance to create new life continuing the cycle. The same inescapable cycle that every human body will experience. That is probably why Shinto and the aboriginal beliefs of Japans peoples has been so successful in adopting continental Asais religious beliefs into their Shinto origins.. Never loosing touch with the Godspirits and subconscious experiences of life. I need to really find out what Shinto is. So far Ive only read a few pages. I have no idea what it is in reality. So by understanding Shinto with an open heart maybe I can plant a stone using the Japanese styles of gardening that speaks universal truths. The roots of humanity. Thats a lot to pack into one stone. Boy Im never going to get the word papoose to mean anything other than me being the child of nature.. No matter how hard I try Im an amatuer when it comes to finding how stones can be placed in a gardens design. Hope I didnt kill the word after so much rambling:: )

Thynes! Thanks so much for giving me the exact name and number for your tile. I had seen your expanded kitchen post and couldn't find the exact tile. You have such a lovely kitchen, so warm and welcoming and the tile really makes a statement. I also see they only have one USA distributor. Your tile in your kitchen looks totally different than on the website..were you able to get a sample or see the tile in a store? I've sent Saltillo an email as well..so we shall see. Thanks again for the information. This post was edited by harleysbud on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 15:25