landscaping
Laying Rock in the Courtyard
Work on laying out rock in the courtyard has been going slowly. It’s just too darn hot to move rocks for more than an hour or so at a time. It was 102 today! Brutal. But in the afternoon, rain developed north of us and the outflow cooled it down to 90 so we worked on the courtyard for a while. It is starting to look the way I had envisioned it in my mind’s eye.
We are building a small bed surrounding the fountain with a single layer of the same stone we used to build the courtyard raised beds to tie the fountain in with the beds and to give it a more built in look. I plan to plant small grasses and creeping herbs and succulents in this bed to soften the fountain area.
Courtyard Fountain from Above
The rock pathway draws attention to the entrance to the courtyard and leads one into the courtyard area. Another path will branch off the south side of the courtyard and connect the courtyard to the vegetable garden, and then continue to the small patio area in the grove adjacent to the vegetable garden.
Entrance to the Courtyard
Rock Path Leading to the Courtyard
I’ll take more pictures when we get this project completed.
Cheers.
Carol
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Wow! Your rock work is looking great. Every spring I think I want to lay some stone patios and paths and every summer I cringe at the though of all the heat retained by the stone.
Hardscaping really does make a difference though. I need to bite the bullet and get on with it.
MSS – I love doing rock work and hardscaping during the cooler months, but I don’t enjoy it much at all during the summer, however, I was so anxious to get the courtyard to some sort of state of completion that we decided to bite that bullet, grit our teeth, and git ‘er done. If I had been doing this during the winter I might have taken more time and care with rock placement, but I guess I will have to live with it the way it is. Thanks for the positive feedback!
That is going to be wonderful when it is finished. I love the white stone.
Hey Linda, thanks for the compliment. I have to admit I am really pleased with how the courtyard is developing.
If you do decide you want a little color in the rocks you can take ironite[the same as for fruit trees], wet the rocks down and sprinkle it on and leave over night. Depending on how much you put on you can get colors from dark brown to red and it looks like natural limestone. I’ve done it to some of ours and it looks quite nice and seems to last a long time.
Hi Bob, great suggestion. I actually had been thinking about adding some color to the rocks – they almost blind you in the bright sun. Thanks for the excellent tip. We use ironite all the time, and the technique you describe sounds easy as pie!
That looks amazing! I can just imagine how much work you’re all doing!