Rock Borders - A Subtle Change

On a chilly winter morning I reshaped the line of moss rocks along the gravel strip and it was not hard to do. 

In fact, I loved being out on a sunny morning, in my garden clothes, on my knees, changing things.

The day was cold, barely 40 degrees but it was still and sunny. The top inches of dirt had frozen overnight, but the rocks were easily moved with a claw to pry them up, and leather gloves. 

In an hour I was done, happy with the result. Not even that dirty. 

I had rocks left over to extend the potting bench curve out along the bottom of the fence a bit.

The result is subtle, just a slightly altered shape but it makes a difference in the visual flow of my tightly compact garden.

Instead of wrapping close around the crabapple, the moss rocks now skirt it and end at the lower patio. The vee between the flagstones now draws the eye from the circle garden down into the lower patio, no longer blocked off by rocks wrapped around to the side. 

It's a small change and just a little opening between the two areas, but it makes the two garden spots a bit tied together. I still like the idea of planting creeping sedums and speedwells around the rock border to soften it a bit, particularly at the endpoint.

I had rocks left over and made a simple border along the bottom of the fence. At first I placed them close to the foot of the fence, planning to plant outside that border, in the gravel. 

Then, in the afternoon I went back out and changed the rocks to come out away from the fence (a bit) to allow planting inside the border.

(This is why I can't hire installers -- I change my mind and re-do things after a little consideration.)

There isn't much space in this bit of curve for the agastache and Rocky Mountain penstemon and verbascums I am planning. They'll have to be placed right up against the rock border -- the vine grows way out from the fence in summer.

Now the corner where the peony is extends out in a bend to the lower patio. 

The rock border had curved sharply under the peony to stop right at the junction of fence and stucco wall. It's not so sharply defined now, and the wall and the fence tie together.

This rock border and plantings won't hide the fence (my original plan for a long time) but it ties the abruptness of the fence and stucco wall to the ground. It visually brings garden and fence and gravel and patio together seamlessly.

And I really like how the sweep of rock border coming from the garage down to the patio stops, then picks up again in the same arc running toward the aspens. 

It's very subtle, but the feel of it is there.

I have so little space to work with for a design, and what I have is very long and narrow. My first impulse was to separate the length with defined and bordered "rooms". 

I bounded the upper circle garden between garage and patio, left the patio flagstone area as a little square, then the deck and the problem of looking at the blank wall of fence, then the planted area under the aspens. 

And finally the step down to the potting bench work area. All separate and defined.

But I like this better. A long arc of garden plantings running the length, interrupted at an angle by the open flagstone area, but continuing on.

I like the idea of tying it all together, narrow as it is. This very subtle reshaping of these rock borders makes a difference. Can I get some plants in there to tie together even more and have something to look at besides the rocks?

I had a lovely time outside doing some meaningful garden work. In January!

🌞