Well, I now have the southern anchor point for the next phase of the Stroll Garden construction. It is the new ripplestone bench.
Next summer I am planning to complete the horseshoe shaped section and the small bed within it will be begun. The following photos are a set I took a couple of days ago right after the new bench was set in place. First one is the north side, second one is the south and west side of the newest addition. The hoses are laid out to indicate the edges of the new beds.
Yes, I realize that this is going to be a huge undertaking, but I am up for it. As you can see, many of the shrubs for the northern arm are already in situ, and one of the crepe myrtles at the south end has already been planted too. The bench serves as the anchor point for the southern arm.
Jim and Jesse retrieved that rock from a stream about 30 miles south of here. On the day we were planning to set the bench in place, Jesse’s friend Justin just happened to stop by for a visit. In this photo, don’t get the idea that Jesse (the young man on the left) is some sort of a midget. Justin is 6’5″ tall, and used to be a competitive body builder.
They made moving that rock from the bench it was on to the garden cart look pathetically easy. Heck, they didn’t even grunt.
This is right before the rock got set on the legs Jim set up for it. Of course, it is all perfectly level — Jim’s Virgo soul will not allow anything else. The fact that the rock has a natural twist in it is something he just had to “deal” with. The legs are level.
It didn’t take us very long to realize that the original legs were not in proper proportion to the rock, and needed to be changed. In the following picture, you can see that one of the 8″ blocks on each leg has been replaced by a 4″ block. This made the bench look better. It is quite comfortable to sit on, and has a wonderful view of the Rain Garden, the Rock Garden and the Hosta Dell.
The only thing that could make the bench better in my eyes is if we had a couple of sandstone blocks to set it on instead of the concrete. The chance of finding two appropriate rocks is fairly small, actually. But don’t think I won’t be looking! Of course, I’m not sure that we’ll have the tall strong workers available for the switch if I don’t find some quickly, so I went looking for some more rocks last night.
I found a really cool one that has very large ripples in it, each fossil ripple is about 4″ from peak to peak. It’s not the right size for a bench leg, but I brought it home any way.
I found a cache of amazing rocks while I was out looking.
Needless to say, I did not pick up that rock and put it in my car. This is not a trick photo, it really was about half the size of my car.
So, inspired by the garden and my trips around the blog neighborhood admiring other people’s art, (specifically Sue O’Keiffe’s mandalas and Tammy Vitale’s art) I sat down and made a couple of cards while Jim watched the Cardinals smack around the Carolina Panthers.
I’m still having a lot of fun with the white faced hornet paper.
And the rocks. Of course.
The bench looks fantastic! And I’m sure the concrete blocks will weather and soon acquire some lichen etc to help them blend. I’m looking forward to seeing those beautiful sweeping curves of the planned beds be realised next Summer.
It’s so nice to have hulking big men to help with things like that.
I like what you’re making with the hornet paper very much!
Hi, Truce! It does look very nice, doesn’t it? I may help the weathering a long and rub the concrete with mud. It won’t be hard to do since there is a source right there on site. If I put a rock with lichen in the area maybe the spores will catch.
Thank you Henitsirk. I am having a good deal of fun with this paper, embarked on a fairly large piece last night because the piece of hornet paper was one they built around the hole that was the door of the nest. It makes the most amazing spiral circle I couldn’t break that up.
Hulking big men are an asset for sure. You should have seen the ones that came to move my piano when I lived in San Francisco. All I could think was, “I’m sure glad these guys are friendly.” I mean, one of them was at least 2 inches taller than the arch that divided the hall from our living room.
Your new bench is simply marvellous and I’m envious of that gorgeous pick ripple rock you picked up. Wish we had rocks like that over here. Wish we had rocks here period. 😉
Yolanda, I am rapidly becoming aware of how valuable and rare rocks can be in certain parts of the world. Seeing as how we have a plethora of rocks in and on the Ozarks Plateau, we forget that there are other places that are big ex-continental shelves out there that sport a collection of mud and sand.
Rocks “grow” in our fields as the large chunks of limestone break off the karst formations beneath the topsoil and float to the top. We even have equipment designed to be pulled behind tractors to pick the rocks up off the fields so the mowing machines don’t get beat to pieces.
Of course, when I was growing up we lived in the Rocky Mountains and 8,400 feet elevation and you had to pretty much manufacture any topsoil you wanted to grow plants in.
So the idea of not being able to find rocks is foreign to me.
Gorgeous rocks, gorgeous card. I’m envious. Must try to get some of my artwork done. I won’t be able to show my next project, I will be cutting family video from VHS to DVD for my Dad. At least I have the tools.
Re weathering – I have heard that one way to encourage lichen etc is to smear some yoghurt or something on the concrete, any mould to start with might help the look.
I think I’ll try the yogurt approach. sounds logical to me, and besides, I can mix it with dirt and then there will be color as well as the mold/lichen promoting properties of the yogurt.
Very cool bench!
We get chunks of rock when we dig, but they’re not much use as garden furniture. Wow that bench looks great, Healing Magic Hands!
I’ve heard of painting on buttermilk to get moss to grow and give a look of age to new surfaces – maybe it works on lichens, too.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
[…] New Garden Bench (healingmagichands at The Havens): The next phase of the Stroll Garden in this Missouri garden hadn’t yet begun at the time of this post, but one element was already in place: a gorgeous new stone bench. For an update, visit On Assignment: Green World & Garden Benches. […]
I like your bench! I think once you get some flowers growing under and around it the base won’t be too noticable at all!
I’ve gotten so I don’t even see the base any more.