James’s Rock Pile Garden in Iceland

Filling a garden with rocks for a purpose

My name is James Rail , an American , who has been hold up in Gardaber , a suburb of Reykjavik , Iceland , for almost 60 years . Obviously , horticulture shape in Iceland are different with a short growing time of year , cool temperatures , and impregnable winds . Nevertheless , with the long day hours of summertime , flowers and trees develop surprisingly well . As a novice gardener , it has conduct me a farseeing time to prove my garden , which now has some 140 varieties of perennial , 38 different bushes , and 9 kinds of trees . I build a sunroom onto my house that has added several more month to my gardening joyousness . In spitefulness of temporary near freeze in the wintertime and with modified day hours , I have succulent and cactus surviving along with fuchsias and bougainvillea in the sunroom .

Rocks are prosperous to chance in Iceland . The fact is that the whole island is one Brobdingnagian expanse of stone , with a small pct of the land made up of sand and soil that has been easy building up in the fjord and flatlands . So when I need rocks to add to Stekkjarflot 8 , go out and find them is no problem . I started demand rocks when I began landscape the 1000 back in 1964 . Actually , the land was load with rocks and Oliver Stone that I drop a circle of clock time removing so I could plant a lawn . as luck would have it , the mansion next door was excavating for a service department , so I could dump barrow after wheelbarrow of Rock into the hole . But once I had the sens in blank space , I need special kinds of rock for stairs , hold paries , planter box , trim lines , bloom bed terracing , freestanding walls , flower bed enhancement , ground surfacing , and peculiar projects . Of course , all of these needs for rocks did n’t happen at the same time . They come in over the last fifty old age , and I ’m still adding rock-and-roll here and there .

One of my first projects was stairs that I needed to put in stead from the ground level up to the house storey . This was about a 4 - foot to 5 - foundation raise that required seven to nine flat , steplike rock and roll . Luckily , I live near the gravid park Heiðmork , which was formed from lava flow from nearby volcanos about 7,000 years ago . The lava shapes and size are endless . So I explored the area and find the careen for four sets of staircase . I loaded the rocks into my auto automobile trunk and construct stairways in the front and back of the house using 33 no - cost lava careen .

With my sign being built on a street that has a slope , there was a need to have retain walls between the different priming coat grade . In the backyard , there is a 2 - foot pearl that require a retaining paries between my property and my neighbour ’s . Again , I was in luck , this time with a street undertaking closely by where immense rocks were being blasted with dynamite . The rock were being truck away , and I require if they would underprice a couple of freight in my backyard . They were felicitous to do so , and I wound up with big rocks that could n’t be lifted . I spent the next few months moving these rocks into place using an 8 - foot , 2 - in pipe as a lever and interracial size of rocks as a fulcrum to tip off the rocks up and over from side to side until they formed a rampart . I had some extra rock’n’roll that I used to outline a pack of cards . A tree diagram start growing in a hole drill for a dynamite billing that is now 6 understructure high . The project necessitate 23 large rocks .

The retain wall I ask in the front driveway was much easier to build . This time I find long , square - sided rocks along the main road that I ride every day to my business at the NATO base . I would spot some rocks that looked full , stop the car , and load three or four retentive ones into the trunk . Together they made a solid wall of rock .

I had to use long , straight - sided rock on the side of two of the stairway . I also used these long , full-strength - sided rocks to build up a retain wall around the concrete hot pot that I built when the geothermic water was connect in 1978 . Finally , I used a few more of these rocks for a modest urine pond that I made for the birds . It have 98 rocks to build all of these retain walls .

It was prosperous to see that I require to incline the ground from the theatre level to the street storey . This result in a incline that wind around three sides of the theater . I plant flowers on most of the slopes and used a mix of tilt types to fill in for tilt garden enhancement . I looked for rocks that had interesting shapes , colors , or lava flow ripples , or that were blot with lichens . I meet these rocks when I traveled around Iceland as well as from Heiðmork . I have 12 six - sided rocks from the top of a cliff on the farm Arnabæli , which I struggled to retrieve . I wish these six - sided rock and have taken them from Arnafjorður on the east coast and from a waterfall area . full : 266 rock .

I needed to distinguish the lawn and the heyday have it away that I plan . So next came observe rocks with straight sides that were 6 to 12 inches in high spirits to terrasse the flower bed . Again , I found most of these rocks along the road to Keflavik . I would load 6 to 10 rock and roll in the gondola trunk depending on their size . These rocks were used in foresighted stock in the front and back of the house . Much later I removed a incline of grass and terrace the sphere for flowers , put magnanimous flat rock candy on their edges . It took many draw because I want 138 rocks to complete four flower beds .

I enclose a patio field with drinking glass in 1970 , which became our groður hus ( greenhouse ) . With the nursery issue , the temperatures were suited for dining and growing special flowers and succulents . I planned for two magnanimous plantation owner box about 2 feet high . Finding tilt for this project took some time , since the meridian and thicknesses of the tilt had to be about the same . This clock time I cement the large , flat rocks in spot . Twenty - one rocks did the job .

In the early days of begin the garden , I needed a freestanding wall to split the garden in the front of the menage from the backyard . I found large 2-dimensional rocks that stand on their thick edge and also laid them flavourless . For the part , I put the 20 rocks in a single course .

There are a few level position in the thousand that needed rocks for flat sphere . I went to the ocean shoreline to collect around , smooth rock the size of flannel-cake but thick . I filled an 8 - foot by 8 - foot space with about 250 rocks . Over time , thyme and ground - covering plants have grown over them . In another area , I removed a wooden deck and occupy the space with 36 big flat rocks that come from Heiðmork . I also filled a bland space at the top of a stairway with nine large smooth rocks that I find on the ocean shore .

Then there are some rocks that stand on their own for various intellect , like this moss shock seat .

As you may see , I don ́t really have a rock pile at Stekkjarflot 8 . All of the rocks that I gather are doing the special job they are signify to do . However , if I would pile all of the careen together , all 996 of them , there would be one crowing rock ‘n’ roll heap . Whatever , I ́m happy that all of the rocks have found a raw home .

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

ARS Telescoping Long Reach Pruner

Fine horticulture receive a commission for items purchased through links on this internet site , let in Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programme .

Lee Valley Mini Garden Shear Set

Pruning simplify : A footfall - by - Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and bush

Get our latest tips , how - to articles , and instructional video send to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Building a Rock Garden 101

Guidelines for Building a Rock Garden

Janet’s Rock Garden

Grow a Rock Garden in a Challenging Area

Join hunky-dory Gardening for a free lease live webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a famous plant pathologist as well as prof emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals expert manager …

When I blob a particular gumption buck cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in bother . With a delightful colouration pattern …

When we only prioritize plants we want over works our landscape needs , each season is filled with a never - end tilt of chores : pruning , pilfer , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

rock wall covered in moss and flowers

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to turn on on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a duet …