Help with My Big Rock Please

As you recall my true luv built a path in front of the greenhouse because I'm always slipping in the mud in the spring. Now he has added a big rock which apparently one of his clients was 'going to throw out'. Setting aside my befuddlement about how one actually 'throws out' a giant boulder, what do I do with it I wonder? Raise the bed high behind it? It's 30" long and 1 foot high at the back which has a flat face. I can only wobble it, can't move it. It's too big to plunk in a bed and I would have to bury it 2/3s to make it look natural according to my book on landscaping with rocks so I would like to incorporate it into this path somehow.

It's a very cool rock as you can see.

Wow! Sounds like a great thing to get to play with. I've seen a couple applications with a big rock half surrounded by a path, as if the rock was there first. Does that make sense? Very zen. I wouldn't bury it that much; you could always backfill it with the landscaping book.

You only need to make it LOOK like it is half-buried.

Looks like a dinosaur tooth to me... or blue cheese?

Can you find some smaller stones that can bring out those beautiful colors and bury them around it?

I do still have a stash of multi-coloured rocks stash that I can mix with it. I have been wrangling it around and finally decided that its just too big for that spot as I want to put a bed there too. Stayed tuned for Plan B.

I have such a rock in my front yard left by the previous owners. They planted low junipers and cotoneaster around it so it would look like it belonged. Works pretty well and makes a nice contrast with the plants. I suspect there is very little soil in the spot where the rock is placed and that is why they put it there -- only a rock could grow there.
Here is a picture. The rock is actually quite large sticking out on either side of the juniper branch but doesn't seem that large because of the creeping plants. It actually wobbles a little if you walk on it, but nobody does probably because or the juniper -- also because it is on a hillside where nobody walks anyhow.
Someday, I may replace the juniper with a nicer plant, but for now, I have some more serious gardening challenges.

P.S. Don't you like the cleverly place tree stump behind the rock? LOL. I have never been able to figure out how to get it out without major exertion. I have decided to let it rot.

This message was edited Aug 21, 2008 8:41 AM

I LUV that look paj. I have a big stump in the back. You can see it at the corner of the raised bed in the back in this pic http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5149486 . It gets a fairy ring in the Joon Monsoon so I would never take it out. I stick a pot on it in the summer.

Ah yes, very nice stump, DN, or rather pot stand. Every yard needs at least one. Perhaps mine will someday have a fairy ring. Right now it just sits there like a .. ummm stump.