#-21--12 days and counting

With less than two weeks to go, the major boulder work is complete and many of the plants have been purchased and placed. It is becoming a marathon of fits and starts due to the weather and trying to coordinate people to work. The solar equipment is going on top of the mound where it will be hidden from view. The rest of it will be under the still to be constructed patio. There's probably about 2-3 full days of work to go...

Partially planted, the solar tower of power--also known as 'That's a big pile of boulders!'

The nursery shorted us about 60 grasses and other plants so now I have to go on a major hunt to find substitutes. Nothing is ever easy. Here's what it looked like when we were almost done today. The planting is very slow because everything has to be tucked in here and there.

#19--Muck and Mire

We went back to work today for a bit. It was a muddy mess. I had to give Harry the dirty dog a bath immediately upon return home. There's three weeks to go and actually we need to be done in advance of that.

Yesterday, I went to a favorite perennial grower yesterday in the rain to choose some of the plants. It's odd, but when I design a project for a client I don't have any problem deciding on which plants to use, but for me--I go round and round and round. I did see and buy some great plants. Some are native, some are not. I deviated a bit from my original plan, so here's what I bought:

Ameria rubifola
Euphorbia palustris
Phlox subulata Emerald Cushion Blue
Eragrostis spectabilis
Festuca glauca 'Boulder Blue'
Teucrium hyranicum 'Purple Tails'
Salvia argentea
Aethionema coridifolium
Pycanthemum muticum
Sedums--Acre, rupestre 'Angelina', dasyphllum major, floriferum 'Weihenstepahaner Gold', 'John Creech', 'Czar's Gold', 'Vera Jameson'
Artemesia --whichever looks best at shipping
Mixed thymes
Aurinea saxitilis 'Compactum'
Veronica repens

They also had some beautiful Yuccas...I forgot the Dianthus--damn!

Here's two photos of the 2nd emerging rock pile that will have solar panel hidden from view (by virtue of height) on the top. This one is eliptical in shape and stands about 5' tall. This and a smaller circular pile will look vastly different when they're planted. I hope we have enough stone. The patio stone is arriving on Thursday. I hope it's not raining.

#14--Rock Star

The arch was finished today in anticipation of the 'in progress' press junket at the show house tomorrow. Many people were working today trying to get something done for the press to cover. We've been kind of on our own for the past few days and we're the only landscape design group with anything major done. It wasn't really planned, it was just when we could get everyone together to do it.

We also started the secondary stonework but didn't get as far with that.

Here's some photos of our rock stars--the arch and its creator, Dan Lupino.

Adjusting the keystone before dropping it into place
Dan, knocking out the temporary supports as his heart beats faster and faster.
Rock Star!!

#8--Start Up

The weather has been iffy so hopefully, if all goes according to plan, I'll meet the crew and the excavator at the mansion today. The main goals will be to tag boulders for specific use, identify inhabited burrows and move the inhabitants, and generally mark everything out so we can begin getting it together. Weeds may or may not be removed depending on how thawed the ground is or isn't.

We start so far in advance because it's a volunteer effort and this work gets mostly done in between the paying work. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so we have to get started asap.

Later that day...

Moving the granite medallion to a safe place
The 1/2 weird granite thing isn't a planter at all--I don't know what it is

Beginning deconstruction

Further Deconstruction--some of the boulders are massive

Today's drama included the fact that someone had moved boulders before we got there (the property owner) to remove tree stumps and I freaked out and the stakes marking the proposed placement of the gala tent--in the middle of where my pool will be, and one of the excavator operators almost tipped the thing over moving a boulder.

The day's goal was to sort boulders and to try begin to see what is going to go where. Tomorrow we'll mark out the basic shape of things and start placement.