I hired a guy who does grave markers to do it. That rock is really, really heavy and there's no way I could have had it delivered there and then back to my house, so he came to me. Anyone who does grave markers has to be mobile, because many times, the death date isn't put on the marker at the same time as the name and birthdate are. I wasn't there when he did it (I was at work) but he said that he uses a rubber stencil and a sandblaster. For some reason, the sand will bounce off the rubber, but will eat away the stone. He had to make a smooth spot with a hand grinder first. I forget the exact price, but it was very reasonable. I think it was $300 or so. He said that it would have been cheaper if the rock was smoother so he wouldn't have had to grind a smooth spot first. Now I'm just praying that they never change the numbering system on my road since it's etched in stone.

My oldest border is in its 5th season, and even so I redesigned a section and moved a few things around this Spring. The 2nd oldest is in its 3rd season and I re-designed the entire corner (about 1/3 of the garden). I move stuff so much it would be nice if the plants were on wheels. I'm embarassed to admit I have even moved shrubs after spending months thinking about their placement. In the first year I made mistakes like planting short red and orange Zinnias next to tall pink and white Cleome. Those are annuals so they're easy to change the next year, but sometimes that happens with perennials too. The first year I planted Helianthus Lemon Queen next to red Monarda and Asclepias incarnata and the Lemon Queen grew 6 feet tall. It looked like a giraffe next to the other perennials, so of course it had to move the next year...:) Nature and the gardens are constantly changing...that is part of the fun!

Minnamouse, I wasn't going to respond until I read in your memberpage "I'm a 21 year old gardener from Maryland". Clearly what you don't know is that our state has the unhappy distinction of being partly responsible for introducing Bradford Pear. The research was done in Glen Dale. PG County is considered the epicenter of the "Plague of Pears" Bob Stewart, from AA County wrote the excellent article by that name. A previous poster says that an intact soilball is not necessary. He got that one right! Dig out the BP unceremoniously and run it through the shredder. I commend you for wanting a wildlife-friendly garden, I'm sure that you know that BP has no wildlife benefit whatsoever. Bob Mitchell was a great entomologist who lived in College Park. He authored a Golden Guide "Butterflies and Moths" which you might find in the nature store. Check out larval hosts for these insects. I would recommend Sassafras or Spicebush which can be purchased at next month's plant sale at St. Timothy's school. Sam Here is a link that might be useful: Irvine Science Center Plant Sale

Hi, I disappeared for a while putting in a large shade garden! Love starting a new project. The rock garden looks pretty bare in the winter except where I have the creeping phlox. This does very well through the hot weather if I keep it watered well. Stays green throughout the winter. I did some rearranging of that this summer so I will have some evergreen to look at out my kitchen window. I also have lavender in one of the wells, It does keep it's leaves during the winter but they turn a greyish green during the winter. I cut it back in the spring and get lush new growth. Very fragrant. I do like the way it looks when we have plenty of snow on the ground. Nice lumps of fluffy white on the different ledges. The center top always looks like a snow cone! I am still looking for more evergreens to place in the wells I made to keep some color in there when the snow flies. If I come across some good ideas I will definitely pass it along. I keep adding on to the mound. I just finished adding two more wells. These were on the side facing the house and the base facing the rest of the yard. I threw some annuals in there to add some more color while I impatiently wait for the soapwort to rebloom. I cut that back recently because it was starting to seed heavily. New growth is starting up again. I should have it trailing back down in another week or so.