WHEN IN DOUBT, ADD MORE ROCK

This morning I went to the stone yard. It was the final step in the completion of a project I started on Labor Day.

This summer I lost the two Japanese aralia in the front courtyard garden. They were growing against the wall in a long neglected area. I have never been happy with this part of the garden. It is mostly hidden from view except when I walk down the hallway to the bedroom. I always avert my eyes because I don't like what I see.

It was probably the least photographed part of my garden ( you can just see the area in the far left hand corner of the photograph, with the Japanese aralia during better times) and I needed to change that. I knew exactly what I was going to do; extend the dry creek up into the corner.

Sometimes thing have to get worse before they get better. I began digging out the new creek bed only to be confronted with a drain pipe running right across the path of the new creek. We did however decide that it was an offshoot from a drain in the far corner of the house and as the pipe was higher than the drain it really was not functional( not our doing). David now became involved in the project cutting off the pipe and sealing both ends. So I carved out the new creek bed and lined it with granite. Meanwhile David was sent on a mission to find a new bridging stone.

Here comes the stone. I can't tell you how long it took him to drag this stone up the hill. Hours. Later that evening we were sitting quietly when David said, "that is the last rock I am bringing up the hill" Should I believe him. I think he may mean it this time.

Here is the rock in place, spanning the new creek.

The original stepping stones leading to the door needed some adjustment before I began filling the creek with New Mexico river rock. I moved the rock from lower down the creek. It was an opportunity for a good clean out. Then today I went to buy more. $30 of stone finished the job.
The larger rocks were repurposed. They had once been used around the fountain pot in the sunken garden. In order to tie the river rock to the rest of the area I added some native limestone rocks. I can just about manage the small ones by myself.

For me, the design of the hardscape is the easy bit. The planting is the hardest. What I need is plants that are easy to care for, drought tolerant, and don't shed leaves. The sun never shines in the far corner. I relocated this twist leaf yucca from one of my vegetable beds. I hope it isn't too unhappy in its new home of limey rubble.

You can see that it was about to produce a bunch of new shoots. In the shady corner, for the time being, I relocated another plant from the vegetable bed, A.weberi. It may just be a temporary plant until I decide what is best for the corner. I'm always open to suggestions.

All I need now are a few plants to soften the edges of the creek. I already see bluebonnets have germinated at the top end.