Yeah, I created another rock feature.
If you’ve been reading my column for a while you may remember the ones I made at my last house starting in the spring of 2017. That first corner of rocks spurred not only more flower beds, but two dry creek beds full of rocks.
As I was creating the last creek bed, my husband wandered through and said, “What if we move?” I stopped what I was doing and said, “Tell me now if you think we’re going to move.” He said, “Nah, the kids are in college, we can’t afford to move.”
Yet here we are, eight months in a new home. I mourn all the rocks I left behind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not devoid of rocks around my new place in the path of Mt. Rainier. Not that I want the mountain to blow so I can get a few more rocks, rather being in the corridor of a volcano is akin to salmon spawning in a creek.
The difference is that I actually have to dig for them myself. It seems rocks are birthed here, as there were a few large ones sprinkled around our property and I did unearth some while digging the new bed. At my old place, for some reason, all the neighbors had piles of rocks they didn’t want. When they found out I wanted rocks, they were like barkers pawning their wares.
“My rocks are bigger than theirs. My rocks are closer to your house. I’ll have my daughter help you.”
It ultimately came down to whose rocks weren’t covered with weeds and grass. I didn’t want to have to dig out rocks that were already dug.
But I can’t go back; my new neighbors don’t have piles of rocks, nor is my current yard anything like my old one. There was only one spot, so far, I pinpointed as inspiring a new bed – an odd, unusable, grassy bank. It would have to be maintained anyway, so I figured making it into a rock garden would be just as easy to take care of.
The complete vision wasn’t immediate until I started digging it a couple months ago. Then visions of a succulent garden danced in my head. However, when I’m overwhelmed I just lose my heart to create new things. I’ve even been paralyzed to buying new plants. I went to McLendon’s pancake breakfast and didn’t purchase one thing (hubs was happy), so didn’t even get my free tomato plant. Though creating the new rock garden didn’t overwhelm me, everything else going on in my life did. So I quit digging.
Last week, my husband and I made a quick trip to Westport to figure out the poker run for his club’s run this summer. The Pot Shed, a succulent garden in Grayland, happened to be open. I stopped by to show her what I had created with all the succulents I bought from her last summer and mourn the demise of my clever dry creek succulent garden. Before we listed my old house, my Florida friend and I pulled everything we had just planted and stashed them in various flat pots to await a new home.
As I talked to the Pot Shed owner, I got re-excited about my new rock garden. I showed her the pictures of what I had accomplished up until then. And even though I told my husband that I wasn’t going to buy anything, she had some succulent suggestions for the new space. Of course I bought them. When I got home, I was enthused to finish the rock garden and plant new, and old, succulents. Rock on!
Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in a neighborhood near you. You can read more of her writing on her website livingwithgleigh.com; to read her column every week and see pictures illustrating them, follow her on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh by Gretchen Leigh.
