Someone posted a topic in Discussions asking if anyone had ROCKS in their garden, on purpose. I have had and used rocks for decades, but also old pieces of wood.

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A couple of weeks ago I bought three new Azaleas (Rhododendrons)- "Hershey's Orange", "Hinode Girl" and "Girard's Rose". I was thrilled to get them. Originally $30 plants for $7 each! They were healthy, full-sized plants in 3 gallon containers. What a great buy!

My new project was to get these new Azaleas planted in a good location and then move some of my old rocks and stepping stones where I wanted them to compliment the new plants. I took pictures of the process.

First, I moved the stepping stones to where I wanted them last night. This morning, I planted out my Azaleas and mulched them. Then moved rocks to border them along one side of the stepping stones, added more peat soil and pine straw mulch.

I was joined by two of my cats - Terra and Binx. They were delighted with my new project! It was great sport jumping in and out of the new bushes and running along the new stepping stones in the cool shade. Lots of help.

I removed the old window box that had rotted and was hidden beneath the Spirea bushes and found more rocks to use. Goody! These had been the supports for the window box. It had rotted. The dirt however was still intact, so I spread out the soil that had been in the box and filled in the holes where the rocks had been and hauled the rotten boards to the burn pile. (Puff, puff)

I dug out two clumps of Shasta daisies that had partially died back and potted them to move to a sunnier, drier location later, and then set in their place a small upright Juniper shrub that is supposed to stay smallish and upright.

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I stopped for a minute to rest and look at what I had accomplished thus far, and a huge Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly flew right up to my face - my hanging pot of Verbena was next to me and the butterfly was visiting each flower over and over again. I took pictures of her too.

Then, I planted a purple feather grass at the top of the walkway where it meets the statue garden.

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I love how it is looking thus far. I have to get several bags of pine bark mulch and fill in the bare spots and add around the new plants, but it looks so good already that I wanted to share what I've done so far with my gardening friends.

As for my "Old Rocks", I have been collecting rocks for years and years. Whenever I go somewhere (or move to someplace location), I always collect rocks for my personal souvenirs of having been there. Some are big and some are small. Sometimes I collect Sea Shells and sometimes I find Fossils. The big rocks *and fossils) go into my garden and the small ones go into an old milk crate which I set out on the patio so I can admire them and reflect on the time and place where I found them. I do research on the specimens so I know what they are and about how old they are too. My shells go into glass jars with sand from the same area and sometimes bits of plant material I found too. The tiny fossils or small ones go into bowls or jars and sit on a shelf in the house.

I love rocks!

I also like to use old wood in my garden, like aged tree trunks or logs and interesting pieces of dead cedar limbs. Desert driftwood is very cool looking. It is aged by the sun and blasted by the windblown sands. It has a patina that I especially love and is smooth to the touch. I have a walking stick made of desert driftwood that I use all the time. I have found driftwood that was washed up on the water's edge somewhere, along rivers, lakes or near the seashore. These are incorporated into my gardens too.

Some of the rocks in my garden are local ones I gathered along the country roads and set in the ground for paving my paths and to extend my patio area. The stepping stones I bought are of the same terra cotta color so they go together really well. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy looking at part of the rocks I have in my garden.

I will keep adding to this project, and I suppose, like my gardens, it will forever be a "work in progress".

~Annie

P.S. - when you view it is "slideshow", view it in reverse order to get it in the correct order. Also, for some unknown reason, Photobucket sometimes turns my images, and some are sideways. What the ??? I'm going to try to right them.

Here is a link that might be useful: View - New Azaleas and Old Rocks