How can one take a postage stamp-sized back yard and landscape effectively? The image below is of a home with a 15 foot by 60 foot rear yard. Grass was out of the picture, owing to allergies and a sense of water-conservation on the part of the owner. Glaring sun was another factor – relentless and hotter than heck with still air a factor from the high fencing.

Use rocks!

(left click to enlarge any image, sometimes twice for better detail)

A mix of perennials, some grasses, a shrub or two and a Decomposed Granite walkway gives us something which is at least interesting. This picture is about 2 months following installation and I can definitley say that everything grew remarkably well.

This property below was featured  in the post I made most recently. I just recently re-discovered these pictures I had misplaced. Here is how the Lunar Landscape evolved. Note the different types of rock. I used a river rock type in the creek bed, drainage swale and the more pretty igneous types in the rockery/bed. From these humble origins –

To this:

From This:

To this:

Below is the bare bones of a water feature project – among other facets of a complex operation – near a porch where we utilized Reno’s “rock assets” liberally. We “mined” a few of these and ordered up the more rounded river rocks. It can seem weird, featuring such a sun-burnt, crispy lichen-covered boulder such as this in the middle of a water feature, of all things, but the surprise element, mixed with its stunning color and texture was too much to pass up.

Honestly, using the river rocks is probably one of my favorite pastimes, in their billions of applications. As my companies have matured and individual “specialists” formed, it always seemed I would have one guy who took as much interest in making artificial creek beds as myself. Many projects would find me and “that guy” busy building little naturalistic creeks while the other slugs were off planting plants or making paver systems work. 😉

It’s a weakness.  Hey!   Look!  Here’s a specialist now!

Mixing can be as fun – after all a certain shamelessness never hurt in design and installing one’s own particular set of rules and non-regulations.

There are times when mixing a blend of volcanic rocks with the smoothed-out Granite, river-washed look can be effective:

We revisit a favorite topic of mine and one into which I have invested hefty energies, through the years.

(left click all images to enlarge)

Stones. Rocks. Boulders. And even their smaller children, if such a thing can be said.

Particular individual rocks such as the one below from Reno, Nevada are among my very favorites. Igneous by origin, attached with fascinating lichens coloring things up dramatically, these solo rocks are completely entertaining by themselves. There is a nearly embarrassing richness of these in the surrounding hills and valleys of Reno and I would often encounter them just beyond a property line then shamelessly scoop them up for my own selfish decorative uses, I admit. Typically, I would be taking boulders whose lives as natural beauties was on a limited time span anyway – as the neighborhoods developed farther out.  I pretty much stick to a rule of sticking within eventual expansion boundaries, for the record. Anyway – Handling them always presented a big challenge inasmuch as pretty much the last thing one wanted to do was erase the lichens. So rolling them was definitely out. Once again, we thank the Machine Lord for providing clamps and buckets for extracting these rocks in relative pristine fashion. We would even use chains and padding and lift them gingerly with our machine buckets

It was difficult to stay way from a tendency to want to make a totally Lunar Landscape out of this one. The boulders used here were all “on site”, parched and par-broiled in the sun up on the ever-sunny slopes of the foothills in the Caughlin Ranch estates in Reno, Nevada.

The above  was taken at a rather raw phase, soon after installation. It does indeed look quite “Lunar” – which is exactly what the lady of the house said as she watched it develop. Yet, it morphed into something alotgether different as time moved along, allowing a future where pruning and ignoring plants and surrounding effects could determine what look one wanted to cultivate – Lunar or lush?

There are some stunning igneous rocks in this lot. Enlarging this view, below, hopefully some of the color will come out as we check the boulders in the foreground. Honestly, many of these stones told stories all by themselves. It often felt like dealing with literal personalities.

Then we come to the “rolling thunder” edition of “Rockeria” madness and the role and placement of larger, glacial or river-produced stones – rounder and ‘softer-effects’ sorts of rocks. For these, which can also be featured in the right spots, there is beauty in simplicity and plain size.

I’m going to divide this stream of posts up a bit more than usual. I’ll also enter them a bit more often.