Stones: Good Company

It's amazing how accommodating stone can be -- stacked straight or arranged to curve, laid on the ground to outline areas or in concrete for retaining walls.

Rock Garden Design & Construction
Item # 99678 		Rock Garden Design & Construction

each $29.95
  • Topic: Stonescaping
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: design, stones, stone work, stonescaping, Garden Design, gardens
  • Date: June 2005

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Every garden—no matter what the size—needs to be in something. The soil and plants need to somehow be contained. Otherwise, they become part of the natural surroundings, which isn’t so bad, but it doesn’t quite equal our ideal of the true garden experience.

So the containment, or the hardscaping, is the backbone, the structure of a garden. Through the years I’ve used railroad ties, brick, cedar posts even 2×4s to enclose designated garden areas. My favorite material, though, is stone.

One of the stonescaping books in our Garden Center is “In the Company of Stone” by Dan Snow. He calls the preparation of making stone walls “a choreography of earth and stone-moving.” Such a lovely way to put it, and it comes closest to describing how I feel about stones in gardens. They just belong, and it is indeed a dance.

Stone is integral to the earth; and whether it’s river stone, field stone, flagstone or any other kind of rocky substance, this earthy hard stuff settles into a garden and immediately becomes part of the landscape.

In another book we carry, “The Art and Craft of Stonescaping,” the author David Reed goes into detail about how to lay pathways, set up planters as tree wells, how to install steps, create entryways and build courtyards.

He also says, “Sometimes, plants and stones look so congenial together, it’s hard to decide which showed up first.” And this is what is so pleasant about working with stone. It’s material that assimilates quickly, and its presence offers a quiet reassurance.

It’s also amazing how accommodating stone can be. Stone can be stacked in straight walls or arranged to curve. It can be laid singularly on the ground to outline bedding areas or embedded in concrete for both high and low retaining walls. Groups of stone can be placed for decorative purposes or assembled to replicate rivers and ponds.

Another book we have, “Garden Stone” by Barbara Pleasant, has many good ideas for merging plants and stone to make the arrangements look natural.

I love working with stone. There is something about the density and heft of these pieces of solid earth that is comforting. And I feel just as the author Snow says: “I may work by myself, but I’m not alone. I’m in the company of stone.”