Garden

Putting Rocks to Good Use in the Garden

A creative twist transforms unsightly rocks into a distinctive "fern table"

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Credit: Carolyn Jones?

Greg Graves and Gary Waller’s “fern table”

Gardeners Graves and Waller explore a creative combination of rocks and ferns

On the old farm site where Greg Graves and Gary Waller garden, the soil is glacial till replete with an endless supply of boulders. These creative gardeners have put all the rocks to good use.

Their first project was a stone-filled metal pillar; their latest a “fern table.” A local welder made a cage on site, just the right size to hold three cement pavers (30 by 30 cm/2 by 2 ft.).

The cage was gradually filled with boulders and the pavers set in place. Then an outer frame was created with stones and tree branches of interesting shape. This border was filled with soil and a variety of ferns and miniature hostas.