Year of the rock, The Wall

Wow on the new house. I cannot believe the excellent shape that the outside is at that age. Someone has taken definite care of it. I wish him all the best.

Pretyt, pretty rocks.

Ruby

The outside looks good but the inside needs a lot of work. Josh is very good at remodeling. He will be able to fix it up beautifully. Absolutely every room needs something done to it, but it is very liveable and the major things are all in good shape. It has a metal roof and the electric has been updated and a new heat system. The best thing is it is only 3 blocks from the river and not in a flood area. It's a little town right next to the Susquehanna River where he has his summer cottage on the island. He has already made arrangements to dock his boat at a house just down the street that is on the river front.
Here is a picture from the back. The back was added later and has a huge walk in fireplace. There is an old carriage house at the back of the yard (2car garage with workshop size) and a small lot beyond that which will be prefect for him to park all his boats and keep them out of sight.

I like everything about it.

Ruby

I've always loved to make the stones dance. My back step is an 8x16x60 brownstone I loaded, transported, and placed solo. "Wally's Stonehenge from You Tube" was inspirational to say the least. Some of the stones in the front wall, my son and I have estimated to be 600# plus. The stones for the pond are much bigger, I hope to move them with a walking tripod and a lawn tractor. Mary Stewart and the "Crystal Cave"series about Merlin did have an influence, I must admit. Ric

Not a chance :( Maybe we can find a small birdbath or something for water but way too many tree roots to dig that deep! It would be nice though to hear the sounds of water :) Good idea, I'll have to put on my thinking cap! LOL

Ric, OMG 600# plus!!! I remember building my rock wall in Maine and estimated that the largest rock was at least 100# or more! Took quite a bit of maneuvering on my part to get it where I wanted it. When I finally finished the wall I came down with pneumonia - in the future I always referred to it as my "pneumonia wall" :) It's the one at the bottom of the steps in the photo.

Since we're "showing" our rocks, here's another wall I built in Maine - you can only see about half of it - probably about 20' long and my first attempt at working with rocks. This was back in the 80's, so you see I have a long history with rocks :) I had the good fortune to live close enough to a gravel pit where the pickings were plenty - many, many trips were made with the tractor and cart!

Holly, I LOVE Josh's new house! So much character and I know your mind is already working on landscaping for that beautiful back yard :) Two of my children are looking for their first homes. My son in Phoenix knows it would be too much for me to help him with landscaping there but when he's ready he said he knows who he's going to ask for ideas :) Now, my daughter, that's a different story :) She's still in Maine and my only hope is that she finds a place with shade! She's already thinking about Hosta gardens and she knows who will help :) I'll just have to make sure that I plan my visit when the ground isn't frozen! LOL

Good morning Debra. Oh my gosh, what a memory for building your wall. What month of the year were you building the pneumonia wall? Do you miss living in Maine?

Wind, from New Jersey sent me two flats of plant starts two weekends ago when my niece who lives near her came to visit here. I have been tending them still in the pots they came in and plan to begin planting some of them today. Certainly not ideal new planting weather, but will just have to be very diligent about watering everything. Are you all dry there too?

I am very thankful that it rained as much as it did early summer. That helped matters tremendously. Most of my prettiest blooms seem to be done for the year. My Gladiolus did an excellent job this year. Last year they had something going on that caused the blooms to rot before they could bloom. I hated that.

Most of John's Day Lilies seem to be done for the year also. He made a comment recently that we should never make vacation plans for July because that is when we had the showing with all of our flowers and we don't want to miss it other years.

Meant to tell you that I love the driftwood that you use in your gardens. I have always loved it, but never had any. One of these days I must make a quest for some to use here.

Anyways, to you and those who will be reading after you, have a great day.

Ruby

Hello again, we cross posted Debra. I love the second picture. I especially love the tiered bed. Looks so nice.

My older son bought a house this past year. Neither he or his wife seem interested in plants right now, so I am not going to offer anything at this point. Maybe some day they will begin to appreciate the beauty of plants and want to have some for their own. The previous owners of their house have a few things growing the yard. I confiscated starts of a few things a while back.

Gosh, I would be at a real loss if I were to have to plant anything in Arizona. Haven't a clue as where to start. Good thing I don't have any close one's there. ha-ha

Again, to all, have a good day.

Ruby

Ruby, yes, I miss some things about Maine, particularly my gardens :( But overall I am much happier in VA without the long cold Maine winters! We are dry, dry, dry here :( All the rain has missed us this summer - my memory isn't THAT good, but I'm pretty sure the last good soaking rain was Mother's Day weekend :( We've had a few good rains but none that lasted long enough to keep the soil moist for more than a day, barely penetrating the mulch! Regarding the driftwood, keep your eyes open - most of ours has come from fallen trees in the woods or from the side of the roads in our travel. Any time we find one that has character we drag it back home - we can always find a spot for them somewhere!

Great walls RCN, living near a quarry would help. Our original wall is probably over 20 years old, a friend was taking down an old barn and said do you want any stone...I spent a week in Island Falls, Maine one summer. It was beautiful there but it was the coldest 4th of July I ever want to see. Ric

Good morning all! I hope you do not mind me dropping in I just wanted to say I love your rock walls! I used to live in Pennsylvania ( born there) and I miss all those walls from their and other states along the east coast.

Rcn48 when your son purchases his house have him stop by the SW forum we would be glad to help him with landscaping!! Or you come on buy and ask away we will help your son have a great yard!!

I wished I would have taken a picture of the stone walls in Dublin, Ohio when I was there for the Irish fest. But I found this on the internet http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2589107102_2cbbc7b20e.jpg?v=0
Those walls are all over the place down there, and from what I could see it was this type of wall or no walls.
I would not want to make a miss step jumping over those OUCH!

I have really been enjoying the year of the Rock! Keep it going.

Lady, Those were very common in Harrisburg City where I grew up. All the walls were built with stones sticking up on the top. I always thought it was to keep us kids from walking on the tops of the walls. Of course it only added to the challenge. LOL

Ric comment
"Wally's Stonehenge from You Tube" was inspirational to say the least.
Came from this thread we both found it very interesting.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/818023/
RCN, Yes I have been thinking about Josh's yard quite a bit.The house is on the main street of town and on a corner so he will want it to look good from all angles. It's going to have to be pretty maintenance free. His job is pretty physically demanding with very long hours and with two properties, his place out on the island and now this house he won't have a lot of time to do more than basic care. Not to mention that he is 32 and has a pretty active social life. LOL
I'll get it all weeded and some new plants in but he'll have to do most of the weekly care after that. There is a pond of some kind already in place. It was pretty weedy in that area and I didn't investigate it too thoroughly but I could see a black rubber liner and a lot of pickerel growing.

Ric, you'd get a kick out of me when I do have an opportunity to get back to Maine :) Most people would be taking in the sights - me? I'm looking for rocks to bring back with me! LOL Just killed me when I visited last January they had had so much snow that there were no stones for the picking. My son had helped a friend build a rock wall that fall and knew right where we could find some though - people must have thought we were nuts, digging through a 5'-6' snowbank on the side of the road! Brought back seven nice ones - would have taken more but we weren't prepared...temps in the teens, cold snow and no gloves :(

Chris, those walls are similar to the ones I've seen in Salem, Mass - if I remember correctly they constructed the walls with the stones facing upward to "keep the witches out"! LOL

marie - thanks for the "invite" - I will definitely be visiting the SW forum when my son finally finds a house. Visited the forum last year before my planned visit and received wonderful advice for places to see while I was there :)

Holly - Wow Josh scored - "pond of some kind already in place"!

I bet it was cold! I'm more in the mood to build rock walls from the coral in Freeport, Bahamas, You know, shorts, straw hat, and flip-flops. LOL Ric
RCN, That's me driving along the back roads looking for rocks and yelling stop, stop there's a good one. LOL
Marieortiz, Welcome, Where in Pa did you live? I've only been to Arizona once and it was just beautiful, Ric and I keep talking about going back for another trip. It is so very different from here and I could see why you miss the east coast.

I was back down at Josh's house again today. He has settlement on Friday and needed to check out a few things. I guess they will do a walk thru on Thursday and then settlement on Friday. I got a picture of the ???? pond.

Is it possibly some sort of fire ring? How fun for you to be his gardener!!!

No definitely was a pond. You can see the rubber liner and there is Pickerel growing in it. I found an old broken pond filter laying out in some junk by the garage. I told him that he is getting landscaping and labor as a house warming. (I was inside again today and he's getting a lot of cleaning supplies, too. ) LOL
When my daughter bought her home I did the same thing for her. Did the weeding, showed her what was what. Took flats of plants and trailers of mulch up to her house.
It will be pretty exciting to see what Josh does with this house. He is a wonderful craftsman.


This message was edited Aug 17, 2008 12:01 AM

That's a great house warming, holly. Congrats to your son on his new home. No doubt it will receive a beautiful makeover--look foward to seeing more pix!

Hope the pond liner is still good. Looks like it could be a nice pond with some TLC. You will have a home for some of your water lilies when you divide and re-pot in the spring.

Keep us up dated on this new garden.

Just a note on the stone walls with the stone sticking up, I read that those type of walls are all over Europe, since a lot of families raised sheep, I'm thinking they were meant to keep the sheep from jumping over the wall. Any how the walls give me that old world feel no matter where they are.

Here is a picture of the park where the Irish Fest was held, I did not get very many pictures as all they showed was a sea of people, and the pictures of the shows were all blurry as all the entertainment was fast paced and full of energy

ladyg- that does look like a pretty setting anyway!

Holly- what a mess. That'll be fun. .. actually when I look at the pond I see it bordered by (boring ) little pavers and I see the extra brick laying around. I would take all that and use it for a path, then redo the pond into one of your "boxes" I think you said he's pretty social, so t it could add casual seating for those young people who can plop down almost anywhere they find a square foot of flat surface. And the box would be fast and not so permanent so you don't have to design the whole yard already.
I feel like I always heve "good" ideas for everybody else wile my own house-yard, I can never decide.

Sally, I can relate to having good idea for others and falling short on my own. In my case not having to do the work may play a huge part. LOL

That part of the park is at the far end, don't know what is in the large building, it is not part of the Irish Fest that I know of. But when I need a break from the festivities I take a walk to that area and just linger by the water.

Water is so relaxing, every garden should have some type of running water feature.