Here's a link to the picture. Scroll down to the bottom.

Annette

I have native rocks bordering all my beds. And a huge stack waiting to go around a new pond. That area will have rocks in the bed as well. In my other beds I use our native rock as stepping stones. I have so many I could probably start a business. Granite and decomposed granite, that's my native soil. lol

Thanks for sharing the link. So inspirational!

Diana

Some of the families down the road are selling large rocks that look like they must come from stone walls; I see flatbed trucks loaded with them going down the road all the time. It's sad. I understand that these are hard economic times, and don't hold it against them, but it's still sad.

Jenny P

Now the only rocks I have are those that line the pathway in the garden, and some outlining the beds by the arbor.
CMK

He dug into the 'rock pile' in the field nearest the house and found one stone so big he couldn't push it out of the hole he'd dug. If he'd pushed it out, he couldn't have hauled it. Some of the bigger stones required backing the tractor loader down the slope to set them in place.

Here's a link to today's views of my berms with rocks and flowers. I had not expected to put them in someone else's thread, but here they are:

Nell's Front Rock Beds, June 18

Give them a moment to load, please. There are 10 photos. Clicking on one will start a slideshow.

But they are very rare here in the sand hills. My dear brother has brought me rocks from his land in Kentucky and we've collected others during travels. Mostly I use them as others would use "garden art" - to make a focal point or "punctuation". I have some I use as edging and a few that I submerged just at the foot of the front porch steps so that the tops are even with the ground. Those are to keep my dogs from wearing a muddy spot there. I always want more rocks!

Annette

While gardening in a previous house, I dug out some decent sized rocks. I piled them up and edged beds with them. I liked the look, but did not like the grass trimming.

Tom, there used to be a post in the Stone forum showing how someone moved very large stones with some kind of ingeneous contraption using laws of physics -- all that lever and fulcrum stuff. Details are fuzzy in my memory, but you might go take a look.

As you can see I am crazy about rocks. Sometimes, I like them better than my plants. They don't need water, do well in any light, don't get pests or diseases, don't die while I am on vacation, and look great in the snow. What's not to love?

I have passed this love on to my girls and I am working on my husband. We not only have rocks in the yard, but have collections of rocks and minerals. We love to go to rock shows and out rockhounding. Is anybody else a rockhound? Like I said, I will try to upload pics but right now it is pouring outside.

Valerie

This winter, I plan to get these two out of the woods. Too many snakes in there for me to go moving rocks right now. Plus, in winter, I won't destroy the hosta and other plants that will have died back for the winter.

The largest of the two in the gully are 4-5' across. That's all I can see of them. They'll form the waterfall for the pond and maybe some seating depending on how I arrange them. The land slopes back there and I need to build up the lower end if I'm going to flatten it out for a patio. I've got broken bricks and chunks of concrete for the level areas.

I'd forgotten about the Stone Forum. I used to drool there regularly.

Same spot in winter

I used to have my cottage garden beds all lined with small rocks and then peastone paths, but we changed the paths out to slate so the rocks were all removed. Now I have friends come to pick up rocks from the "spare" pile!

-thyme2dig, I would kill for those rock stairs! Wow! Were they all flat topped to begin with?
CMK

In our current yard DH moved rocks with the tractor, some almost filled the bucket. I really don't know how he moved them. We have quite a few as the bedrock was near ground level where they dug the water line so many were split and dug up. I don't have a recent pic of the rockery but there's an old one in my link. This is all being redone as we are enlarging the yard.

Here's a Lady's Mantle at the bottom of the rockery.

Schoolhouse how wonderful that you have those fossiled rocks. That makes me so envious. ;-)

Thymetodig you really scored with the rock supply. What an excellent use of them. Your "stairs" are to die for.

Luckygal I don't suppose you have some current photos of your rockery do you? I really like the way you have the rocks worked in very naturally.

Lindakimy I totally agree about the stones making a beautiful contrast to the delicate plantlife. Is that petrified wood in that photo?

Nell tell DH that the bulldozer was a worthwhile investment. Your rocks look fantastic!

Angelclub, granite your native soil.. ROFL- I can so relate to that!

The pictures and ideas here are wonderful. I am glad to see there are lots of "rockhounds". It rained all day here so I was unable to get pics of my flower beds. I will try again tomorrow.

Just wanted to share a couple of pics of nature's use of rock.

Arches National Park

City of Rocks

DH and I are rock lovers also. We use them all over. When we went to NC a few years ago, he saw one he couldn't bring up for me, from down in a river gorge. Bummer, it would have added to our collection that's for sure. (I am always looking for rocks in the shape of a heart.) He said it was at least 3' across.

FlowerLady

I wish my lupines looked like those in the pics!

Belinda

We live on the southern Chesapeake Bay - a lovely place with a moderate climate, aside from near constant strong winds. Maritime forest habitat. Only strong plants survive here, and getting them through the first couple of years is a battle.

The only rocks here are riprap installed to keep land from eroding into the Bay. And lots of sand.

So many cool rock pics! Thyme2dig, those stone steps are beautiful! So's the landscaping!

Val, great Utah pics! I have many similar pics. We used to vacation in southern Utah - Brian Head. What a great place to mountain bike or just hike. Lovely wildflowers, too.

Bluesun, lol! yeah, there are probably folks who think we have rocks for brains for gardening in this "soil", right ? ; ) I love your big boulder. We have quite a few like it courtesy of the San Andreas fault.

A friend of ours recently finished a pond/waterfall project. There are three ponds with the one at the bottom near his deck being the largest. All the rocks are from his property. He lives about 10 minutes from me. I've been dividing some of my plants for him, hoping the bears don't eat them before he gets them planted. ; )

The two smaller ponds don't show up in this pic. There is one above the top waterfall and another where you see a gap and the clematis begins. He is so going to have bears using that pond as a jacuzzi. lol

Rock on!
Diana

But FlowerLady mentioned heart-shaped rocks, and I photographed this one last week when I noticed it underfoot at the side of my dirt road. When it comes to hearts, I guess you could say every little bit counts.

Did anyone else notice that there appears to actually be a bear in the second photo of Diane's friend's waterfall? I don't know it that is what it is but it isn't there in the first pic of the same spot.
Oh, and by the way, That's a lot of da** rocks! Awesome waterfall.

Flowerlady and Alisande those are great heart rocks. Really special. Sorry you couldn't get that big one in your garden though. :-( Alisande's little one is very sweet.

Luckygal thanks for link, you have a very nice looking home page. Your garden is so pretty and the rocks make a terrific contrast to the plants and blend in so beautifully.

Pat, there is a soil forum?! Oh now you've done it. ;-)

So we are going to try to roll the rock to the front of the house today. Wish us luck!

bluesunflower - Wow! What a massive beast! However did you move that thing? I want one!

Schoolhouse - fantastic details/ fossils. Any idea what they are fossils of? I have some interesting ones and I don't know of a website (or person) that does identification.

Angelcub - truly impressive waterfall. And that's a private residence?! Looks like a fancy schmancy resort. Wish I had hills like that. It's gorgeous!

Nell, your rocks are always so natural looking, like they'd been there for centuries.

Thyme2dig - those stairs are to die for! Many, many generations will get to use those beauties and always wonder who made them. I would have them in my dream garden. Sigh . . .

I'll sort through photos later and post some.

I really love rocks in a garden, too. All of our rocks for the stream, foundation, chimney, walks, etc. had to be hauled in. We have NO rocks.

When our house foundation was dug, not a single rock (not even small) was dug out. A few rocks came up from the driveway building and we rolled all of those to the end of the dry stream to help keep rain from washing out our driveway.

Cameron

Lynne

Lining an island bed

~Natalie

Gottagarden- how I got the massive beast is a little funny actually. I neighbor knew I was collecting all the rocks and interesting stumps I could find. One day I heard this loud noise of heavy machinery and it was coming down my driveway. He was pushing it with the trackhoe. (like everyone just has a trackhoe hanging around. LOL) Apparently he had run across this one on his property and "thought I could use it".

I was shocked and had no idea what to say or to do with it but I wasn't going to look a gift boulder in the mouth. lol. He stuck it in the middle of the yard and said he'd move it for me when I had a place picked out. So all of a sudden I had a very large boulder in the middle of the yard. Hmmm.. water feature! Never did move it. I guess that goes under the Serendipity post.

Now, the specimen below I bought for $.50 from a little Amish boy many years ago at a garage sale. I took it to the geology dept. of the local college and this is what he wrote down:

Fossil Honeycomb Coral, Phylum Coelenterata, Order Tabulata, Devonian Period - 400 million years old. A colonial, sea anenome-like organism.

No, just a rock. I can't remember where that one came from. Most of mine are from my brother in Kentucky (but not that one) or from a trip out west (like Arkansas or Texas maybe) dh and I made several year ago. There just aren't any around here unless the highway department brings them in to keep our dirt road from washing away.

Hey...I'll liberate those, too!

That is from way back in early spring. Wish you could see that now...LOTS more plant stuff going on!

Nell

I was thinking of the river rock that are in bags at the big box stores. They seem to last longer.

Nell

LOL Nell, "buying dirt in a bag" but hey did you ever think that you'd be paying for poo in a bag too?

You are absolutely right about most of them, though. I have rocks that have moved with me three times!

Bluesunflower, thanks! Having seen the beautiful forests in Washington state, I am blushing for my scrub oak and slash pines. LOL But thanks, anyway. I really do love the privacy the woods provide even though it means no one sees my flowers without a specific invitation - or a Gardenweb habit.

We don't have much in the way of rock in my area, so I have to buy it by the pound (very expensive). Sometimes people put it out for the trash and I pick it up.

In my pool yard I use big hunks of blue-green glass (slag?) instead of rock.

I like to use them because they match the water in the pool. (I also use shells and driftwood for a more nautical look).

Here's a closeup of some glass rock.

Beware of the soil forum, I discovered it last year and now have 5 compost bins. I used to think one was good but now I know more is better when it comes to compost.

LeSan---I think you hit the nail on the head---it's just like suspended water. I like your idea of putting them in the garden. I got mine at a local stone supplier (they sell more expensive rock like alabaster and marble as well, that sculptors use).

Time to get more for my other gardens! LOL

Xuan

"Did anyone else notice that there appears to actually be a bear in the second photo of Diane's friend's waterfall? I don't know it that is what it is but it isn't there in the first pic of the same spot.
Oh, and by the way, That's a lot of da** rocks! Awesome waterfall".

Haha! I forgot about that "bear". It's not real. It's a metal form of a bear. It does look real in the pic, though. If you look at the other pic you can see that it's taken at a slightly different angle, just enough to hide the bear. But these are the San Gabriel Mtns. and we do have bears so I'm sure my friend will be having real fur friends visit this winter. : )

DH and I are digging a pond, which seems to be growing in size everyday (is that a guy thing?), as is the rock pile. We've even found wood attached to some of the rock. Very cool.

I wish I could find an online picture of the flower garden around his tool shed. A true Cottage Garden! Absolutely charming. If I could post it, you could identify some of the plants for me......

Susan

Xuan, I love your use of color in your desert garden!

Cynthia