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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. | |
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| | 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. | |
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| | 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. | |
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| | 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. | |
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| | 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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