PREVIEW...CD-ROM and SUBSCRIPTIONS
BEST and WORST ROCK

PLEASE NOTE...SOME OF THE WORDS IN THESE PREVIEW BOXES
HAVE BEEN DELETED FROM THE ORIGINAL TEXT ON THE CD-ROM. AND ARE SHOWN LIKE THIS...XXXXXXXXXXXX.

ALSO NOTE THAT MOST OF THE PICTURES ARE NOT IN THE SAME SEQUENCE AS THEY APPEAR ON THE CD-ROM. AND IN MOST CASES THEY DO NOT RELATE TO EACH OTHER IN THESE PREVIEWS.

Finding natural stone of this quality is a problem...it can take me and my men a whole day to pick through piles of rocks containing 1,000's of tons to find enough for a large project.
But handpicked rock is what I demand for myself...and on a lesser scale you too must try to find a supplier that will allow you to handpick your own rock.
The more interesting the rock the more natural the end result will be.
Here you see my preferred rock, it's Brown Limestone, full of iron and fossils.
It's my favourite rock because it's thin and jagged as you can see. This rock was formed in layers and therefore when it's dug out, after sitting there for millions of years XXXXXXXXXXXX...that's why it looks so natural.
Other types of stone are XXXXXXXXXX and they usually come out in XXXXXXXXXXXXX. This type of stone, although it can be used cleverly, is the worst...unfortunately that is mostly what Stone Suppliers sell!

Yes these are the same rocks...and very, very natural.

And here's some very large rocks of the same type as the last.
Notice how the rock to the left of the waterfall would split into small slices if you attacked it with a hammer and chisel.
I picked these for their interest...as you can see the "faces" are very marked. So you see, big rocks do not have to be boring rocks.
You cannot use big chunky rocks like this in the same way as the thinner types...but you can use them to great effect as specimens, which means they stand apart from the rocks on either side.
This type of rock formation relies on planting to make it look natural...here you see them raw and hard...look at the next image and you will see the same rocks completely blended by textural planting.

Construction Note...notice the perfect curve of the waters edge...it didn't just happen...below the stones and the XXXXXXXXX.
The heavy rocks are XXXXXXXXXXXX.
Design Note...notice the mixture of natural stone at the waters edge. Also notice the stepping stone path laid because loose stone is difficult to walk on and also walking on it mixes it up and spoils the natural effect.

More information in the Main Index regarding "Textures" and "Stepping Stone Paths".

And then there is what I call "River Boulders".
This was built for clients who wanted a Natural Stream, but with no rock!
Now there's a challenge...and why no rock?
Because there was no natural rock in the area and they wanted it to be "authentic.

Design Note...when it's planted this stream will blend perfectly into the landscape...but as the clients wanted to plant it themselves I cannot show you the finished effect. So in this picture it looks very raw...but at least it's plain to see.
The concept with a stream like this is that you just come across it, as you would wandering through a meadow for example.