Love your river of rocks!

Thanks HH. I'm having to roam further and further for rock and dig out them out so I can't go much further with the material at hand. The hosta and other plantings look sparse, they are big choices but even though I have trimmed branches and thinned out the trees, it is still very shady which means slower growth.

I think an arched Japanese / Chinese / Asian bridge down to the lower level would look nice, fit in and offer a viewing platform for when the area matures. It would be a project, but not as big as all those rocks. Maybe Asian style with a curved starting portion and then transitioning to steps down. You know, Asian style posts, caps, ballisters. It would have to go over the ravine to be authentic looking.

Definitely a pain in the butt project, but not too many people have something like it.

Jon san

Jon, I think an asian style bridge would look great there and maybe add a few Japanese maples or small conifers.

Linda

The bridge is a great idea and would look wonderful. Wish I had that much shade to work with.

I apologize for rocks being the main theme with my hosta not up to speed yet.

Linda,

More Japanese maples (one lonely one there now) would be a good idea. I had one Blue Spruce in the area, but it grew painfully slow so I move it to a sunnier location. I did trim out a lot to get some sun back there, however I am convinced that it is still too deeply shaded.

Tim,

A half days sun is maximum here. Huge trees cover the area. My neighbor is cutting down 9 huge trees, but unfortunately he is North of me and this won't help. I am hopefully making lemonade with hosta.

Jon

Are you planning on removing the tree that is in the middle of your rock river? If not, you may want to consider moving some of the rocks away from the trunk to give it space to grow. With the rocks right against the trunk it will try to grow over the rocks, making the tree weaker, and more susceptible to coming down in a storm. Just something to think about.

I'm not worried about the tree. I need to thin out the area and if it should come down I don't really care. At one time I thought I would take down all the deciduous trees back there and just leave the pines to keep it neater and took out most of them. It stays pretty well clear and leaves or even weeds are not a problem in the area.

Jon

PS- the ravine has expanded another few feet today. Some of these boulders are really too much to wrestle with. I'm going to hurt myself if I'm not careful....good thing it is almost done.

I like the simulated creek beds in gardens. Around here though they would fill with weeds and voluntary trees fast.. It has been an awful year for voluntary tree seeds taking hold...

Leaf watcher, it is so shady that I get only a few shoots coming through. The rocks do get filled with leaves, but taking the blower to it takes care of most of it every Spring, except branches that need to picked out. The rocks are fairly deep so it is almost (or exactly) like having permanent mulch. The variegated vinca I planted is starting to invade the bed and will probably begin to get beyond simply picking it out, but that's what Round Up is for.

Jon