Brad's Tropical Paradise

A big rock can make a dramatic statement in your garden, or it can just look ridiculous. I've been working on developing this area of the garden, by extending the path and cutting away the plants that had made it narrow, and I've been moving a big rock around. This morning is the fourth time I've moved it, and it reminds me of common mistakes that I've seen with big rocks. The worst mistake that I've seen is a big rock that looks like a tombstone. That is, sitting upright as if someone were buried underneath it. Big rocks in nature don't stand up like grave markers, they respond to gravity, and lie down. The rock should rest in peace, not look as if it were marking someone who was doing that. And that brings me to the next mistake, not digging it in enough, and just plopping it on the surface, where it will look as if it were going to roll down the hill at any moment. Avalanche! So dig a nice deep hole for it to sit in, and look at it afterwards to see as if it ...

The area behind the tree is a place that I originally called "the Outback" - mostly neglected, and an area that I really didn't consider to be part of the garden. But over the years it's changed, and since I walk there every day, since that's where the pooper scooper is, I decided to make it more "walking friendly" (although still not as refined as the rest of the garden), and am laying in some flagstone. The ground back there is typical Arizona hardpan, which is just about as hard as concrete - essentially clay, so it's difficult to dig in it unless it's wet, but I can do it now since the ground is still kinda mushy from the rain that we had recently. So with the ground being kinda mushy, and my pouring water, it's workable, and I'm doing the best I can around the root of the tree. This won't be permanent, because the tree will continue to grow, but it will be "semi-permanent", and will give me a better place to walk, and b...

One of the things that I did along my garden was to lay some flagstone to give people a clear place to walk, and stand. Over the years I've tried to do things to discourage people from walking into the planting area, including putting jaggedy rocks along the edge. Since they don't look like stepping stones, people tend to not step on them. And from there I put river rocks which lead up to the half-inch gravel of the planting beds. I like this transition, and I'm still working on it, by grouting the jaggedy rocks to the flagstone, and also by adding more river rocks. This transition keeps the gravel from falling down onto the path, and I also think that it looks great. I'm in the process of replacing the old broken grout that's been there for years and years between the flagstones, and I'm replacing it with a flexible adhesive that you apply with a caulking gun, and then I "dirty it up" a bit by sprinkling dry grout on it, and some stray pieces of finel...