Re: more rocks
Rocks!! I love them! I couldn't garden without rocks. They provide the
niches, the crannies for plants both large and small. They complement
plants in shape, size, color, as well as helping to keep my corgis from
running through and over my plants.
Walla Walla is relatively flat, and my home is in an area that was once a
flood plain. But my soil is deep, at least 6' or more of dirt with no
underlying rocks (some of my friends are not so fortunate---their gardens
are full of cobble-sized rocks). So whatever rocks I have in my garden, I
have mostly collected and lifted by myself. A few friends and relatives
also bring me rocks---the perfect gift!
On every trip to most anywhere, I bring home rocks. My brother's vacation
property in N. California has a swale filled with beautiful weathered chert
boulders---celadon green, off-white, soft red, light gold--from fixt size
to 'way too big to lift. I dig rocks out of the low bank on the road above
his land (so as not to deplete his bounty) which have fallen or will fall
into the roadside drain. I call them "road kill," and figure I am doing the
road maintenance crew a favor by removing them before they clog up the
drain! These rocks are just too beautiful to weather away in a California
ditch. Not too hard to rationalize this one!
I have another unique source---our local private college. Several years
ago, I noticed that at the end of the school year, the geology department
would dump a bucket or two of small specimens just outside a door on the
side of the science building. Every time I walked one of my dogs, I would
load up my pockets with pretty rocks, and now have a bucket full myself for
a small scree bed.
I will never ever tire of collecting rocks. My dream is to buy a load of
big ones---200 # or larger---and arrange them with a frontloader in both
the back and front gardens. They will be added into the mounds (I collect
dirt too) to make my own garden rooms---ah, wishful thinking, but I'm not
forgetting it!!
So for those of you that already have big rocks, treasure them for what you
have! I envy you!!
Barbara in Walla Walla WA, where rocks are where you find them!
