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I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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Posted by HotHouseHen (My Page) on Thu, Feb 3, 05 at 18:03
| Hi I am a newbie to this forum, but need some ideas from you guys. I have found and moved to my yard a PERFECTLY round rock that is approx. 3ft. in diameter and approx. 1 ft. thick. It is almost completly flat but for a few small rises in the texture. I would like to incorporate it into my garden by using it as a focal point but I don't know what to do with it. I want to keep it in it's natural state as much as I can because it is a beautiful gray color with moss growing on the top and down a few inches on the sides. Any ideas will be appreciated. Oh ya....almost forgot, I am trying for a cottage garden look with the front yard (if that helps). |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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Hi HHH
I wish I had that stone, I would sculpt some design on the face of it and put it in the yard. Since you don't want to alter it find the perfect spot in your garden, make sure it is the final resting place considering a stone of that size weighs about 500-700lbs. maybe a slightly raised to show it off a little more. And then adorn it with a beautiful pot that may have something in it or not. Perhaps in the pot you could put a foutain grass or perenninal, or annuals. You'll have to make the call on what to put on it but my opinion is to lay it flat on the ground and use it as a center piece or base for that specific bed.
When its all done post a picture to let us see it.
I went to the stoneyard on Friday and picked up a piece of sandstone to carve, it weighs about 800lbs.
Good luck and don't hurt that back! |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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Thanks for the reply! The rock is already in my yard thanks to my father in law and his tractor.....LOL
I heard that if I put sour milk on the moss it will grow better.....truth?
Do you have any pics or your carvings? I have never heard of rock carving before.
I get all my rock off of our 300+ acre farm and wish I had a tractor of my own to haul the beautiful peices I have found that still sit in the place where I found them. Father in law says we need a crane......ha ha ha |
I have the perfect solution --
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- Posted by Broc Omaha, 4b (My Page) on
Mon, Feb 7, 05 at 19:10
| Since we don't have **ANY** rocks herein the Bluffs, here is the perfect solution -- Put it in your trunk --
Take I-29 North until you get to
I-80 exchange... Phone from the gas station, and I give you directions to my house. If we're out, just leave it in the driveway... Thanks! :))) ~ Broc |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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In your dreams deary! I don't think my car would go with that bad boy in there anyhow!
I didn't realize how lucky I was to have a wealth of natural rock and stone at my front door until reading here of how many people have to buy it or travel long distances to get it. If I were more knowledgable I would list the various types of rocks available to me, but since I'm not, I can only say......"I wish I could share all of these wonderful jewels of nature........but let me pick mine first!" LOL |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| What a nice focal point you have! I think that I would consider a few things; I'd probably plant a tree that will remain smaller in size off to the side then plant some delphinium, foxglove, whatever is on the taller size behind the rock with some type of showy shrub behind the flowers and almost touching the tree. You could build up the soil in back of the rock to create a burm even. On the front side, I'd probably dig out some soil to create a lower area and continue planting smaller flowers typically seen in a cottage garden around the sides and down in front but never covering the rock. You many want to use your hose to create a shape and consider planting perennials also. Once your plants are in, I would stand back and decide if the rock needed anything on top, a plant, pot, stone artwork, etc. When my yard was landscaped, several rocks were brought in and placed as if they had just rolled into their positions. I have planted columbine, lilies, fescue, and barberry around them. It's great because I love the rocks but I also get to enjoy what pops up behind, between and in front of them. How about posting a before and after shot? |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| Hi Hothouse Hen! I had to laugh...I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and my late father had serious issues with rocks. Intense dislike! Then I married a non-farmer who had serious issues with rocks too, he loves to collect them. We have an ongoing 3 year project right now involving 500 tons of limestone from our local quarry, we're trying to build a garden resembling an abandoned quarry. Rocks are so addictive! Let me know what you come up with. |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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Rocks are very addictive. I love em, DH hates em!!! We had a small yard last year and I had some rocks I hauled from my GM flowerbeds. Looked nice after I placed them and even DH admitted it looked good. Now I get to haul those rocks over to my new home with a 2 acre lot. DH could see the wheels turning in my head when I first saw that big lot. He told me not to get amymore ideas about rocks. Little does he know...........LOL
Sheree |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| Sheree, 2 Acres?! I can see your wheels smoking all the way over here in WI! Your DH should be afraid, very afraid, lol! ;-) |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| Make a fountain. Drill a hole through the center. Bury a tub with a pump and cover with cobble stone. The water can come up through the center, over the edges of the rock and down through the cobble to the tub to be pumped up through the stone again. |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| Like Krensgarden said, "rocks can be addictive" I have done several things with huge rocks but have two favorites. One rock I hauled out of our local lake shore and it sits in a gravel spot in the rock garden inside my circle drive way. I set a statue of a boy and girl sitting looking at a large flower petal. It has that aged green look and just seems to invite you to sit on the bench near it and stop to smell the roses. The other my neighbor told me about and we went back on his ranch and hauled it out with our frontend loader on the JD. It has a bunch of holes and I put dirt in several and planted hens and chicks. They have multiplied and it is hard to believe hoe large they can grow on little more than a couple tablespoons of dirt. If you send me an e-mail I will send you picture. Just lift those rocks with care and wear a support belt. Jim |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| Maddigger.. my house is built on a solid granite mountain in Colorado so I have plenty of rock to built all sorts of rock walls, paths ect. My problem is where can I find those couple tablespoons of dirt you mention?? |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| I thought I had problems WYOCOLO, LOL I've hauled so much top soil bags from Wal-Mart these past few years they gave me my own parking spot in the garden section. It is truly amazing how little dirt hens and chicks need. In a hole that was about an inch in diameter and about an inch deep, I have hens and chicks grown to about six inches across and several on top of each other. Unreal. I'll try and send a picture of the rock. as soon as I figure out this dang machine. Jim |
RE: I have an awesome rock-need ideas
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| I think it would make an excellent focus of an area for contemplation in the garden. You could make a table out of it or some other kind of tableau. Place it in the center of a dappled shade area perhaps on a larger cicular or hexagonal area of cobbles or pavers with moss in between and a few chairs or benches. You can also plant ferns. I would not add sour milk until you are sure the moss is taking well to its new location (shady, damp?). |
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