My yard rock collection

donrawson

17 years ago

Anyone want to see some photos of some of my yard rocks I've picked up over the years? Follow this link. Don

http://www.perennialnursery.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41301

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Comments (11)

gardenscout
17 years ago
OMG! Those age some real gems! (...pardon the pun.)

And amazingly you know what they are all called. I could only dream of having a collection like that.

And hey, get those beauties out of the garage and out into the year for all to enjoy. Build a quarry like in the Stone Collecters Beware thread.
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tufftufa
17 years ago
A simply question. How on earth did you manhandle these things? And how did you get them from distant parts to home? I find 40lbs of kitty litter difficult and 90lbs of Portland impossible!

Sure wish you lived in my neighborhood so I could visit.
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I totally understand your fascination with ROCKS. When I first arrived in Massachusetts (a totally TEMPORARY CONDITION, believe me--I'm headed SOUTH AGAIN SOON) I could not believe all the ROCKS. I was smitten with ROCK ENVY. My new hubby laughed at me as we drove into New Hampshire, AKA "THE GRANITE STATE".....because I wanted to bring home some quite lovely boulders. And then I began dealing with HIS yard, composed of what he lovingly calls "glacial junk", what was left over after the glaciers receded. Unlike Mobile, you put a shovel or a trowel into the soil, and you hit ROCK. All the rock walls terracing his back yard and lining both sides of his driveway were dug from this property. Yeah, hard to believe. I was scheming how to ferry SUV loads of big rocks back to Alabama. In our garden in Mobile, I don't run across gravel and I prepare flower beds by applying decaying leaves and let the compost worms dig the ground for me. When we go back to Mobile in a couple of months, my husband is looking forward to creating a raised bed garden so he can enjoy gardening all winter long. He plans to use 2x12s, not rocks. Various designs of raised beds can look attractive, and I think that Sunset magazine publishes some examples of those designs. In the interest of simplicity and maybe economy too, I'd try an alternative to the rocks. The last 100 pound rock I TRIED to lift snapped my rotator cuff and popped my hip two inches out of line. So I gave up rock envy.
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Hi everyone. Lars -As for the improved colour in your plant; it could be due to a couple of things. Firstly the garden situation may have less plant food than was previously available in the pot and this would improve colour as too much nitrogen will rob a plant of colour therefore less nitrogen will improve colour. Secondly, you say you have planted these plants "fairly close to the house where they only get , get full sun part of the day". The thing is they don't necessarily need full sun to have good colour; they just need good light which isn't necessarily the same. This could also include reflected light from the house which would also help. Also being closer to the house the temperature may also be warmer which could also help somewhat to improve colour. I wouldn't worry about the water in the vase of your Neoregelias, after all, who empties them out when they are growing in their natural habitat? I've been growing Neo's in excess of fifteen years now, both in pots and planted in the garden and mounted on trees, and can honestly say I've never emptied water out a plant yet as the collection of water by these and many other bromeliads is a natural process and they are doing just as Mother Nature intended. As for the mosquitoes; if they are a serious problem for you, I would recommend you try Len Trotman's recipe as a solution to your problem. This is in a New Zealand Bromeliad Society news letter and can be found at: http://bsnz.org/articles/47-mosquitoes All the best, Nev.
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Here is the first Chinese Privet after getting a light pruning and it's first wiring. I will add more bends over time but this is a lot of stress for a young tree so I'll do more later once it's had a chance to adjust to these new contortions for a while. When it gets repotted, I will probably tip it more back to the left. Photoshop can be fun to play around with the images to cut and paste, rotate, and see what options you have visually before you attempt the changes.
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I hope you don’t mind me playing around with the image (I’m not a pro) ... I added river rock, stacked boulders, decorative pot (for a sculptural look), ornamental grasses, Lantana, and an idea for a low ground cover (front corner). I don’t know what plants do best in your area, a good nursery will. This isn’t an idea set in stone (heh), just to give a visual idea of a minimal look. I personally think a tree there would be too much. I like how your house is framed by mature and lush plantings — it’s attractive and provides nice borders with neighbors. I think a simple, Xeri/zen area just in the front there would compliment your house well and be a nice contrast with everything else. (The bed between the driveway and walk seems overgrown, are you wanting to change it, too? I think low growing plants would be better there.)
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donrawson
Original Author
17 years ago
I enjoy spending my vacations looking for rocks and following up on leads that I hear about from friends, books, and the Internet. I haul the rocks back home one-by-one in a pickup truck or on a trailer. I have a tractor and a bucket loader which allow me to lift them off and landscape my yard. (I've hauled boulders weighing #14,000!)
The only rocks which I didn't personally transport are the ones from overseas. I was able to scout those from the basement of an old rock shop that went out of business several years ago. If you're ever in Michigan, stop in for a visit. Email me and I'll send you my address. DonRawson@juno.com
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jugglerguy
17 years ago
I thought I had a problem. I only haul rocks from about 15 minutes away. I live in northern Michigan. Do you know what kind of rocks "Michigan fieldstone" really is? I'm sure there is a variety of rocks here, but I always wondered what they were. I have a cool looking green one and another with some good veins. As I've moved them, I've noticed that the dark colored rocks tend to be more dense. They're always heavier than I expect them too be.
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donrawson
Original Author
17 years ago
I'm not particularly educated on this like a geologist would be. I suppose a fieldstone can be any type of mineral- whatever is commonly laying around in the fields. In Michigan, often that is granite, sometimes with a little quartz in it. But it can also be other rocks such as limestone, sandstone, etc. Don

PS Granite and quartz are 168 lbs. per cubic foot. That's why it's heavy! Limestone is usually 158 lbs. per cubic foot.
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jugglerguy
17 years ago
Thanks Don. I know what limestone is. I don't really like limestone that much, so I just get the harder types of rock. They tend to be much more varied and interesting.
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gottagarden
17 years ago
Wow! Those are fabulous! I have a bad case of rock-envy after looking at all those.
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busyd95
17 years ago
My mother collected rocks on all our vacations--it was the family joke--who got to sit in the seat with the rock on the floor. I swore I would never....

Well, now I do and it's again a big joke in my family. Because we tend to travel by plane, I am limited to what I can bring with, but my kids always laugh when they see me eying the landscape. I have a fairly large collection (many stones), but small in size.

My favorite is a perfectly round stone I found south of Monterey in CA--it's larger than a soft ball--the beach was littered with them!

When we moved into our current house 20 years ago, the back yard had been used as a parking lot for years--hard packed dirt, stumps and oil stains--the only thing of value was, you guessed it, the rocks.
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kendal
17 years ago
WOW are those beautiful, I'd love to find some rocks likes that. I live in the Seattle area, wonder where I'd go to find some rocks like that!
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mamabirrd
17 years ago
Very cool! You are an inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing.
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gardener64
17 years ago
Wow just went thru the pics
And I am impressed when I find a cool rock as big as my hand
you got me beat LOL

great collection
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My yard rock collection

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My yard rock collection

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