All I can say is Wow! Now we can really appreicate that pond.
You all have done a fantastic job and the results are just wonderful.

Here I thought we had rocks..........I think you have us beat by a mile.

The pictures loaded just fine for me. Not a problem at all and I did enjoy them.

A technical question: Did you line the pond with a liner? and do you have a pump?

Thanks

glenda

An ambitious project, executed beautifully!!! I am also interested in hearing more about the mechanical workings of the ponds and what you do to maintain them. Thanks again for sharing your great photos.

Absolutely incredible, achieved no doubt through sheer determination. Are those raised beds in front of the house, or did you actually dig away all the gravel to add soil? Gosh the lush greenery is just SUCH an improvement - the photo of the pond and the mountain mist/fog is beautiful.

I'm in awe! I can't imagine such a huge project. With your beautiful pictures we are all reaping the benefits of your labor.

What a transformation! Your garden and a story got to be in a magazine! This is truly inspirational!!!

BEAUTIFUL !!!! I can hardly believe the before and after pictures. It had to have been an unbelievable amount of work.

Who in the world would want a front yard of gravel? Well, maybe in the Desert. I would not even know were to start.

The natural setting you have for your garden looks great with the lush forest in the backround. And those large boulders all over. You did a magnificent job of incorporating them into the landscape. And that pond is stunning.

All the bloom looks so inviting. I can not say enough that you have done a fabulous job.

Wow! You (and of course your fearless DH) have done tons of work and an outstanding job. Not only are you a hard worker, but obviously talented as well.

Thanks for sharing.

ThinMan

What an absolutely stunning transformation!!! How you had the imagination and stamina to turn a gravel desert into a paradise of beautiful flowers, cool greenery and splashing water is inspirational! Thank you so very much for taking time to share these lovely photos! I'm going to try to save them somewhere so I can go back and look at them again and again. Do you mind telling us where (general area) your home is? I am in miserably hot Texas, but have been lucky enough to spend some of the worst heat in Ruidoso, NM which has the terrific pines and a breath of cool air during the worst of the summers. Your evergreen trees remind me of that area and (unbelievably) many people own second homes there and strive for that total gravel, non-maintance, horrifying look! You have really created a most wonderful retreat. I like to imagine that you now are able to take a few moments to sit and enjoy all the beauty! Thank you again!!! Debby

Well done you! That is an incredible amount of hard work, transforming that gravel pit into a beautiful garden! Really inspirational. You should be proud.

I too am curious about what soil/soil amendments you did.

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!

What an amazing transformation! My back hurts just looking at the pictures and imagining all the hours and hours of work that went into this wonderful project.

I can't believe you are new to this...well done!!

K.

Here in New England we are aware that if we dig a hole we will hit a boulder. But, it can't compare with trying to dig into a mountain!

I can appreciate all the time and effort it took to create this lovely setting and you should feel very accomplished.
In no way does it resemble the work of a beginner.

It is so inviting. Now grab a tall glass of iced tea, and take a seat on your bench and just sit for a while and glory in the wonder of it all.

Liz

Beautiful! A slice of heaven. The pond looks so natural. Love all the flowers.

Edna

Fantastic...worth looking at time and time again. I too am curious what you did to make "soil" where there was none. Really talented . c

Gobsmacked! Everything is just amazingly beautiful! I love that pond/stream pic with the trees and fog. You definitely need to contact a garden mag that shows before/after renos of gardens.

I can totally relate to the gravel/boulders/backbreaking work. I live on the side of a mountain, too, except I don't have your lovely trees. We are on the dry side. I bet you and your DH have some great biceps. lol!

I hope you are finding some time to enjoy your awesome achievement. That sweet porch looks like the perfect spot for some lemonade and homemade pie. : )

Diana

Wow... ! You were all so very nice in everything you said. I have to admit it brought a tear to my eye to read them all. I can not thank you enough for the wonderful support and kindness. I will be saving this for my own files.

Many of you asked some of the same questions so I will try to answer them as best I can without rambling on too much.

My location is in Washington State east of Seattle. We are 1,000 ft up so we do get snow and our spring starts later. We moved to Washington from Arizona some years ago and to this place 3 years ago.

My overall goal was to work with the surroundings. No one has fences here other than electric horse fences and I really didnt want to break that spacious woodland experience. My hope was that it would end up looking like it should be there. Thats why I used the stuff from the area.

Pond-- The pond is totally dictated by the bedrock.
The idea had been to take the worst feature of the yard and make a big deal out of it. So thats where I started. What appeared to be just a large buried boulder actually stretched way across the yard. It slopes down toward the driveway. I cleared off what I could as it sloped down and then I pick axed the gravel down 3ft. I did use a liner for it. It was a lot of liner! A 25x 50 ft roll and that stuff is heavy. I do have a pump for it to run the waterfall and 2 streams. I am currently working on a new waterfall for the big boulder on the right in this picture below.

How do I keep it clean? Who knows. LOL I keep a variety of plants and try to keep the leaves and stuff out. I was not looking for the crystal clear bottled water some ponders want. I really just wanted something that looked like it would naturally be there and the wildlife would come to. I am afraid to tell the pond people just how low tech I am but the water is clear and I can always see the bottom. I have not had algae problems or even the usual algae bloom and the fish and frogs seem pretty happy and all the animals use it. Its only coming up on a year for the pond so it could still all go south on me any minute. Fingers crossed.

The little pond was really just because the boulder was there and I found a perform pond kit on deep discount. A neighbor has a track hoe and just brought the rock over one day because he thought I could use it. What was I going to say? I found a use for it. Its the best though because you see it right out the front door. It became a balancing center piece. I did have to dig out the hole for the preform to fit into. It is about 90 gal with plants and frogs, no fish.

The soilWhen I was trying to clear the path to make my pavers (yes, I made pavers) I discovered that there was no way I was going to find a bottom to this gravel. There was also no way I could afford top soil for the whole place. Even that much fill dirt was cost prohibitive. Being on limited well water was also a factor in how much I could actually water. A lawn was out of the question. So I decided to do mounded beds.

The bed soil was made out of:

1 ½ loads of good top soil
1 load of lousy clay like soil. (cheap fill dirt)
as much horse manure as I could get and
bales of peat moss
I mixed it as I went and did a 1 to 1 ratio.

Last fall I did another mix of manure, peat moss, compost, and leaves and used it to mulch with. I figure I'll have to keep doing this for awhile. In the rest of the areas the sawdust base and the bark should break down and become some sort of dirt after awhile.

It was a tremendous amount of hard labor. It took some time. There was a good deal of annoying elements along the way. I actually nearly died the first year but, thats another story.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have been so kind and supportive. I never knew if I was doing the right thing or not because I had never seen it done before. I often doubted my mission and questioned my sanity. I am learning here that a garden is meant to be loved and appreciated. You have all given me such a gift in your words and I sincerely thank you for that.
LeSan

This is as we were laying out the liner. The boulder on the right is the one I am now working on for a second waterfall.
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This was spring last year. That is the horse barn up the hill behind the trees.
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I absolutely love how you can make a mountain out of a mole hill! WOW! It's totally amazing. I love the way your pond really fits into the natural surroundings around your home.
Fantastic!

Talk about inspirational.... W*O*W ! What amazes me is the look of maturity the new spaces already have. To see those towering pink foxgloves and those misty foggy views is truly magical. You should be very proud of your ability to envision something in your mind's eye, and execute it so perfectly. Great job with the hardscape and the plants you chose blend with your surroundings very harmoniously. Have you enjoyed the increased traffic from birds/hummingbirds/butterflies/etc ?

girlgroupgirl, LOL! Mountain out of a mole hill? My husband is going to love that one. ;-) Thank you very much for the compliment. I really did want the whole thing to fit in with the environment. I am really glad that you see it that way.

And WOW right back Threedogsmom. I love your gardens.

I was just taking my cue from the surroundings. The back side of the house has a million dollar view of the valley and I didn't want to "fight" that with something that didn't really belong. In another place I probably would have gone a whole different direction.

We do get lots of wildlife. I did a lot of things with that in mind. This spring/summer we have attracted 3 new species of birds, Western Tananger, Evening Grosbeak and Cedar Waxwings. I love all the birds and today I actually saw a bright red butterfly! Never saw that before. I did however see a bear taking a stroll along my pavers one evening. That was new.

OMG,what a difference some time and sweat make!! Absolutely Gorgeous.TFS
Kathi

Thank you Kathi! It really makes my day to hear that.
- It was teeny bit of work, yes. ;-)

Bluesunflower~

How BRILLIANT, impressive and beautiful!!! Your hard work and dedication have finally paid off and now you and your DH (and the wildlife!) can finally reap the rewards, and I'm sure there are many.

Thank you so much for sharing your vision, story and photos, this has truly been such an inspiration to me. I just love everything you have done. Congratulations on a job brilliantly well done-- a real dream come true!

:) Becky

What a major accomplishment. You should be sooooo proud. I think you should contact some magazines, especially since you have such good "before" pics. You have enough pics to be a great mag. layout. Also contact a local tv station that may have a garden segment. Continued pics welcome.

Pat

Becr thank you so much! You know I actually feel awkward just sitting around "enjoying" it but I am giving it a real concerted effort. LOL. ;-)

Ladypat you really are too kind. Thank you very much! I actually hate those before pictures. They are just so recent still and I fret about it all coming undone like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight. New gardener angst I guess. LOL

Oh my gosh, how did I miss this post! Fantastic, beautiful, fabulous, colorful, serene, a few words that come to mind. What a lot of work, but look at the beauty in the forest you have created. All the rocks are incredible and add to the wonderful look. You did an awesome job. Please share more pictures of your place.

FlowerLady

Somehow I missed it too, At first I was having trouble getting past those gorgeous rocks (I have a thing about rocks, they fascinate me) but what you did with them blows me away. The thought and work that had to go into what you have created... well I can't think of anything else but to ditto everybody's comments. It really is a work of art.

Annette

Flowerlady I am so glad you came to visit. Thank you very much for the generous compliment! As you know it always means so much when a real gardener offers a compliment. :-)

Annette it is so funny that you were admiring the rocks. If you notice in the first couple of before pictures there were no rocks. I drug all those stupid things in from the forest myself. Four of them a neighbor with a track hoe pulled in for me. He made a comment about " 'why would anyone want all that crap in the yard..." I've mulled that question over a few times myself. LOL
Thank you very much for the compliment. It makes it all worth while.

Amazing. What an unbelievable amount of labor. After looking at your beautiful poppies in the other post, I knew I was in for a treat, but BOY I didn't expect this much of a surprise! Thanks for posting these photos, they are inspirational.
Renee

Hosenemisis..first off I really enjoy your "name", too funny. :-) Secondly, thank you very much for the very uplifting comment! I know everyone works so hard to create their own little heaven in their gardens and it means so much when someone appreciates the vision and effort it takes to create it. Thank you very much!!

Oh, gosh, nothing new to say after all these comments, but ditto, ditto, ditto! We moved a few rocks at our old house, but nothing like this! Hard to believe you've never done anything like this before!

Irene thank you for the dittos :-) and thank you for appreciating the rocks! They were a challenge to be sure. I think if I had ever done anything like this before I would definately have known better than to do it again! LOL

Just discovered this thread while searching for something else and now I want to just shot myself. I'm amazed at your vision and how beautifully it all came together. And I'm dumbfounded to think of how much work this entailed. So I just wanted to pass along my appreciation.