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Irene
and Drew wanted to come home to boulders in the front yard. They
didn't want a monochromatic look to their stone, they wanted variety and
character.
We
went to American Soil Products and wandered in the boulders field
evaluating possible choices. I told Irene and Drew that a boulder must
speak to them, that they must really love it. Sounds corny, I know, but
it's the best way to narrow the choices when you are standing amongst
hundreds of boulders. We gave each contender a name, 'undulating
dough', 'mountain', 'birdbath', which is how we kept track of the ones
we liked best. The names also helped us better understand how our
collection was falling together.
When
we got back to their home we talked about the boulder placement and
again, the names of the boulders helped us decided which should go
where.
I
made sure there were no distractions when the boulders were delivered
and I would be working with the forklift driver. My crew was on another
job and Irene and Andrew were at work. It was a mild sunny morning on a
quiet street in the Temescale area of Oakland.
Each
boulder was lowered into place. The front loading tongs of the fork
lift gently pushed this way or that depending on my direction. I
balanced one of the boulders so that the depression in the top created a
perfect pool for a birdbath. Another boulder needed to be tipped just
so to show off all its ridges. Placing boulders is one of my favorite
activities. I get a charge from how permanent the results are.
The
plants and irrigation went in and bark was placed to cover the bare
soil. People from the neighborhood dropped by and the kids played on
the boulders. I could look at this new garden and see what it would
look like a year from now. The grasses flowing over the stone, the
flowers attracting hummingbirds, the burgundy of the maple and Berberis
punching out from the various surrounding greens.
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