Garden Designers Roundtable: Stone

I have kindly been invited to participate as a guest writer at the Garden Designers Roundtable to discuss the topic of stone. Being both a landscaper and a stonemason I think it is a fair assessment to say I have a passion for this subject.
So here is my contribution to the decision.

STONE

Neolithic stone circle close to my family home in West Cork

 Throughout the ages stone has been utilised by man for a variety of uses, ranging from the spiritual to the practical. It is one of mans oldest building materials, and yet its methods of construction have changed very little over time.
Here in Ireland, as in many countries, we have a rich history with stone. Even as far back as Neolithic times (4,000-2,300 BC) there is evidence that man was creating amazing stone structures that were not only built for practicality and strength, but also to be something of beauty. Newgrange (just a mere 45min drive from where I am living) is a fantastic example of this.

The entrance to Newgrange.

Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago, around 3,200 B.C. (That’s over 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt.)

This is one of the things I love about stone, it is permanent. A stone structure, whether it is an ancient building or your little garden wall, has the potential to be there to be admired for generations to come.
For archaeologists the great stone structures have been a great aid in mapping out our history, and although more modern stonework is of less importance (historically speaking) it still has a certain ancient presence to it, and defiantly sparks the imagination when encountered along a garden path.

One of the many old stone features I came across in St Ann’s Park in Dublin

Stone plays a role in most gardens in some form, whether it is a winding stepping stone path, inviting you to a tucked away part of the garden, a paved patio, or a simple rock lovingly dragged from your morning walk and placed in your garden bed (I’m sure most people who have a garden know what I am talking about).

Garden bed feature stone surrounded by Geranium lucidum (Shining Crane's-bill)

Here are a few of my favourite stone features to include in garden designs.

Stone paths


Stepping stones in a lawn

Curving cobblestone path in a driveway

Stone paths are a great way to lead the eye through the garden, and invite you to explore hidden or tucked away parts of the garden.

Stone seats and benches.

Limestone seat

I love including stone seats in gardens for a number of reasons. Firstly I think it is very important to have a spot in your garden where you can sit and take in all your gardening achievements, a place to just get lost in thought. Stone seats are great for this as besides looking like they have been there forever, they are also an inviting place to rest. I also love the folklore associated with stone seats here in Ireland (I have written about this in the past here)

A sneak peek at a stone seating area I am working on at the moment

Stone Archways

Stone Arch

Stone archways make a great focal point in a garden. They can create a sense of mystery, inviting you to explore what is beyond. They are also an exciting structure to build. One of the most fascinating things about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10th century, a procedure so primitive and simple in fact, that you sometimes feel you could be back in Roman times while you are building them.

The exciting part, of course, is when it comes time to remove the arch support.

The first large arch I built. It was an exciting moment when this arch was finished, as it came to pulling out the support. In your mind you know it is not going anywhere, but it doesn't seem to make you any more relaxed when it comes to taking it out!

Another thing you may not have considered about introducing stone into your garden is that you are also providing an additional habitat for rock lovers like moss and lichens.

Crustose lichens on limestone

I find lichens to be fascinating, they are in fact dual organisms, a fungus and one or more algae in a stable, mutually beneficial (symbiotic) partnership. The fungus provides structural form and protects the algae from extremes of light and temperature. Algae are capable of photosynthesis and some of the sugars produced provide the fungus with energy for growth and reproduction. Some lichens can live for many hundreds of years, and being sensitive to pollution levels they are important environmental indicators.

So that’s my lot, To see what see what fellow guest blogger Deborah Silver and esteemed members of the Garden Designers Roundtable have to say on this topic, please follow the links to their posts below.
(Please note this discussion begins on Tuesday 24th of May. I have posted a little early due to time restrictions so other links may not yet be updated if you are reading this before that time)

Deborah Silver of Deborah Silver and Co.

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN

Ivette Soler, Los Angeles, CA 

Jenny Petersen : J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Tara Dillard : Vanishing Threshold : Atlanta, GA

Theater in the garden

Garden Theatres

Although there are many grand Garden Theatres and huge impressive amphitheatres out there in the world, they are not something you find very often in normal residential garden design. They are however, something I like very much. So I will leave the many grand garden theatres and the huge impressive amphitheatres for another post for another day.

Today I am going to talk about the intimate and sometimes modest (but just as effective) garden theatre.  

Bonfire Garden, Hagal Farm

Growing up on my parents farm in West Cork, we had a garden stage, but as you can seen in the picture across, it is now quite overgrown and a little neglected (although this in itself gives it a certain charm)

The stage made up part of a bonfire garden and back in the day, there was many a party held here.

West Cork is well known for being full of fine food and culture, so back then there was no shortage of  fine musicians to prop up on the stage (these would often overflow onto the simple timber seating that surround the fire pit). To the left of the stage was a round concrete pad reserved for dancing.

At night the garden would take on a very different atmosphere, as you went from being in an open outdoor garden into what seemed like an intimate enclosed space. One got this sense of enclosure as the light from the fire illuminated the trees that surrounded and arched over the entire area, hiding all that lay beyond.

   

A lovely garden theater at the Everglades Gardens, Leura, Australia.

I also love this garden theatre I came across in the Everglades Gardens in Leura, set in the amazing surroundings of the Blue Mountains in Australia.

The golden pyrmont sandstone arch which forms the dramatic backdrop to the stage was originally the recessed entrance to the London Chartered Bank of Australia on Sydney’s George Street. The arch is flanked by tall hedges clipped formally to form the wings of the stage.

Author Shawna Lee Coronado's Garden Stage

Another one I like for its sheer simplicity and functionality is this one by author Shawna Coronado. On her blog ‘The Casual Gardener’ she wrote about how the answer to her garden dilemma was resolved by creating this lovely little garden stage.

It is also a great example of how you can create an interesting garden feature on a small budget.

When having a rainwater collection system installed in her garden, she was left with a huge mound of soil from when they dug the hole for the tank, and of course this soil had to go somewhere! She did not want it to go to landfill so she decided to make a feature out of it. Even on a tight budget she managed to create a lovely little feature out of it. The four large tiles make up the stage, which regularly features her 10 year old daughter performing her latest stage show. It is also a spot where a musician might perform during a garden party. You can see her post about this here http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-i-transformed-mound-of-dirt-into.html

Mainly because of my passion for stone, one of my favourites is this here, at Dick Schwab’s Celebration Barn near Solon in Iowa.
This amazing amphitheatre has an impressive dry stone arch, built with Anamosa Limestone from near Stone City, and has an impressive internal radius of 16ft (4.8m) weighing in at about 65 tons.

 The celebration barn often hosts weddings, the ceremonies often held underneath the mighty arch.

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The arch and amphitheatre were built by ‘Country Stone Masons’. Fellow Stone Foundation member Eric Whittlesey who works for ‘Country Stone Masons’ told me a bit about the construction process, and was nice enough to share these photos as well.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The curved seating of the ampitheatre itself is also made with Anamosa Limestone, each stone meticulously chiselled to fit tightly to its neighbour. The area can seat over 300 people.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

All 68 stones that make up the arch, some weighing as much as 1.5tons, had to be painstakingly carved into the angle of the arch.

On of the most fascinating thing about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10^th century.

The shear downward force of weight (all 65 tons of it) combined with the angles of the wedge shaped stones or ‘voussoirs’ means that the stones are almost welded together, evenly spreading the weight down both sides. 

For these reasons the arch does not require any mortar to hold it together, however for peace of mind the stones were pinned together so that the masons could sleep soundly without having any nightmares about brides tragically being crushed by stones on their wedding day! 

Completed arch with form still in place. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

For the form that supported the arch as they built it, they used massive cotton wood timbers, which were stacked on top of each other as the build progressed. Then when the key stone was set in place, the most anticipated part of the build could be performed, this of course being the removal of the support form. I remember removing the form from the first large arch I built. As I was pulling it out, my brain kept telling me 'Of course it will stay up, there is absolutely nowhere it can go’  however its still a nerve-racking moment!

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

My Favorite Photo Meme

This post is part of a Photo Meme. The other day I was asked by fellow garden blogger, and fantastic photographer, Britt Conley from the Photo Garden Bee to partake in a photo meme. Basically the idea is, to pick one photo that I love - it can be of anything - not even garden related but you explain why you love the photo and pick 2 or 3 other photo-garden bloggers you like and ask them to do the same.

I must say that it’s actually a far greater challenge than I anticipated, as to pick your favourite photo is near impossible. Fortunately for me I don’t have a fancy camera, so I don’t have a huge archive of photographs (can only imaging what it must have been like for someone like Britt), which makes it a bit easier, but still no easy task. So eventually I came to a decision.

To help me choose, I decided to ask myself ‘which photo brings back the most memories, and amazes me every time I see it?’ And this picture is the answer to that.

A couple of years ago my wife and I spent a few mounts travelling in Australia. Some of our best time was had, bush walking in the Blue Mountains, just a few hours outside of Sydney. It is such a wonderful area (anyway back to the photo) we were staying in a town called Katoomba, and decided one day to take a more civilised walk, so we went to the nearby Everglades Gardens at Leura, what a lovely place it was too. And it was here that the photo was taken.

What amazes me about this photo is that this garden sculpture was sculpted by none other than mother earth herself. These fantastic rock formations can be found all over these area in a larger scale, but what I loved about this piece is that it looks as if it is sitting on a plinth in an art gallery. These rock formations are formed from Triassic sandstone rich in the iron oxide which coloured it with dark red and purple bands. Sandwiched between the ironstone, much softer layers of sandstone eroded at a faster rate over the millennia, leaving a rock face deeply etched with curving hollows and stripes.

So this brings me to the part of the meme where I tell you about some of the garden photographers that I enjoy, and let me tell you there are many fabulous blogs to choose from, you just need to look at my blog role to see that there are allot of very talent bloggers out there. So I decided to choose some blogs I enjoy that don’t get as much exposure as they deserve.

First up (in no particular order) is Michelle’s fantastic blog, ‘Garden Porn’. The title of the blog alone, tickles me every time I see it ‘Garden Porn, Is that a pistil in your calyx or are you just happy to see me?’ This blog is full of all kinds of fantastic things, from delicious gardens to fun and creative garden design and sculpture.

‘Michelle has been sculpting gardens for the past 27 years. She strongly believes that the most successful gardens are those that capture the spirit of the individual and the essence of the site. Together in our unified efforts our team strives to create sculptural gardens that Inspirit the Heart, Imbue the Senses and Inspires the Eye of the Beholder’ http://deviantdeziner.blogspot.com/

Another blog I love to visit is Birger’s lovely photo blog ‘North of Sweden’ This blog is a photo diary of his snowy garden near Norrlänska, Sweden, as well as gorgeous photos of the local area and wildlife throughout the year. Birger himself is Professional musicians and an avid photographer.
Please click on the link or the photo to be directed to Birger’s blog and see some of his amazing photos and some breathtaking Swedish landscapes.And thanks to the fantastic Google translate tool, you can also read his stories and descriptions (well sort of). Enjoy!http://northofsweden.blogspot.com/