Using Landscaping Boulders Strategically

Using Landscaping Boulders Strategically

Natural Stone Simply Cannot be Replicated

There are a myriad of modern concrete products that closely mimic natural landscaping rocks, but there is a warmth and charming randomness to the real thing that is impossible to duplicate. The most high-end product choice for your landscape project has been – and will continue to be – natural stone.

Featured Landscaping Rocks

  • Dimensional Bluestone Patios
  • Curbstone Retaining Walls
  • Column Rock Water Features
  • Flagstone Pathways
  • Dimensional Slab Steps
  • Thin Split Veneer
  • Gravel and River Rock Mulch

The Unique Place of Landscape Boulders

Concrete manufacturers compete well against many natural stone options such as flagstones and pavers, but they cannot compete in the arena of accent boulders. Natural basalt boulders are massive, not only in terms of weight, but also complexity and uniqueness. After ages of formation, natural basalt boulders are harvested for landscape applications. Natural stone can help blend new landscapes into their surroundings and greatly enhance landscape appeal. But natural stone must be used in a convincing way or it can stick out like a sore thumb.

Considerations for Using Natural Landscape Boulders

Installation Logistics

A two-foot wide, deep, and tall boulder can weigh 500 to 800 pounds. If boulder placement is to be in a front yard, it may be able to be rolled out of the bed of a truck into the desired location. Placements on a hillside or at the back end of a property can be tricky, however. Heavy machinery is the best way to mobilize large stone. With experience, placement can even be achieved with a forked piece of equipment and a strap or even with the bucket and thumb of an excavator arm. When logistics are difficult, it is usually best to employ a team of professionals, both for safety and to ensure the end product turns out well.

Proper Selection

Material selection is something that shouldn’t be done lightly. The style of landscape being should be considered, i.e. formal vs. informal. Water features generally include more softened accent boulders, whereas planting beds lend themselves to a more aged product with moss on them. Unique nooks and crannies can juxtapose blades of grass and leaves. Boulders in and around retaining walls need to be more structural and tend to be more square.

Best Practices

A product like Hood River Moss boulders are great as accents in a planting bed, but weekend DIY warriors cannot just ‘plop’ the boulder directly on the ground. When ‘planting’ boulders as accents, a depression needs to be excavated to bury anywhere between 1/3 to 1/2 of the boulder. Landscape professionals refer to this as ‘anchoring’. This tactic is best done BEFORE plantings occur, so the risk of squashing plants is reduced.

Make a Natural Bird Bath!

A favorite method of our local landscape designers is to identify any concave sides to a boulder and place them toward the sky to trap water, like a natural bird bath! Often, man-made bird baths don’t match the surrounding landscape. But a properly placed Columbia River Basalt boulder nestled in close to a nearby Evergreen Huckleberry can provide a cool-off spot for native fauna, and also a quick drink.

Final Tips

When adding basalt landscape boulders to your landscape, use odd number quantities in grouping stones. Not that individual placements are bad, but varying the size and quantity of boulders makes the enhancement more realistic.

Picking and sticking to a natural stone choice (basalt, quartz, sandstone, etc.) and repeating it throughout the landscape can marry various natural stone accents and make a design more cohesive.

Growing Figs in the Pacific Northwest

Growing Figs in the Pacific Northwest

Pop Quiz: Which country produces the most figs? The answer? Turkey. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be growing sweet, delicious figs right in your Pacific Northwest backyard.

Choosing a Site for Growing Figs

Figs should be planted in a full sun location. Figs can be planted in the ground, or even in containers.

Fertilizer for Figs

Fig trees grow satisfactorily in moderate soils without fertilizer. If growth is unsatisfactory, an application of nitrogen is needed in the early spring. Don’t fertilize in the summer.

Training and Pruning Figs

Figs can be trained to be either a bush or a tree. The bush form is easier and more practical in the Oregon climate because of frequent winter freezes. To achieve this size of plant, remove 1/3-1/2 of the annual growth each winter. Pruning in the winter will help prevent the tree from suckering, or growing shoots from the base. Remember to keep the center of your fig tree open. This will allow it to get more sun and produce higher quality fruit. Fig trees can be pruned severely and kept small – as low as 5 feet. When pruned this way, the early crop is sacrificed. Figs planted in containers are also restricted in growth.

Fruit Bearing and Harvesting

Some varieties bear small fruit that ripen in the summer as well as the fall. They bear fruit continuously over a period of 6 weeks. Remove any unripe fruit in the late fall. For the best flavor, figs should be picked until the fruit wilts at the neck and bends over the stem. If any milky latex develops at the stem end when the fruit is picked, it has not reached its full ripeness.

Winterizing Fig Trees

All varieties are killed to the ground by temperatures at or below zero degrees F. At zero to ten degrees F., hardy varieties will be injured only on the ends of the branches. Trees more than three or four years old will grow back from the buds below the ground. It is wise to wrap your tree to protect it from the cold if you live in an area where temperatures fall below ten degrees Fahrenheit. To help your fig harden off for the winter, irrigation should be shut off after September 15 each year.

Looking for a fig tree or some help with your figs and in the Portland or Vancouver metro area? Come visit us at our Portland garden center. We look forward to helping you out!

A lifelong Oregon resident, Drake has been passionate about plants since childhood, beginning with propagating and growing flowers at his grandfather’s nursery. He opened Drake’s 7 Dees in 1974, while earning degrees in Business and Horticulture from Oregon State University. He later expanded into the design/build side of the industry, allowing him to combine his passion for plants with his love of family by maximizing the quality of family time spent outdoors.

Drake is co-founder of the Oregon Landscape Contractors Association and is a Landscape Industry Certified Manager (LICM)—a designation that less than two percent of landscapers have attained. Additionally, Drake serves on the Board of Directors for the Portland Japanese Gardens, widely regarded as one of the seven best Japanese gardens outside of Japan.

Drake is married to former Oregon Speaker of the House, Lynn Snodgrass. Together, he and Lynn received the Farm Bureau President’s award in 1999 for their service and dedication to agriculture in the state of Oregon. Drake and Lynn have two wonderful daughters, two talented son-in-laws, and seven grandchildren. In his spare time, Drake enjoys camping, water and snow skiing, reading, and of course, gardening.

Born and raised in the Portland Metro Area… Tim has had an appreciation for the outdoors from a young age.  Inspired by our local beauty ranging: the Mt Hood National Forest to salty, sea spray of Cannon Beach, the arid high-desert of Central Oregon to the rugged terrain of Steens Mountain – Tim sought higher education at the University of Idaho in their Landscape Architecture department.  Graduating with honors in 2004, he returned home to establish his professional career.

Now making his home in Sandy, Oregon – Tim and his wife [Nicole] are raising two happy and healthy kiddos and 4 fur-babies.  Between soccer, football, cheerleading, girl scouts and other extra-curricular activities… the Sellin family are heavily involved in their community and church family.  Since college, Tim has spent 13 of his 17 years with Drake’s 7 Dees and has ‘set roots’ in anticipation of long-term growth at the family-focused company.  Having spent his time away from Drake’s in a ‘boots on the ground’ capacity, Tim has fostered a love for the operational/production side of landscape business, as well as the design/sales.

His goal in life as well as business is to put others first.

Bachelor of Science Landscape Architecture, BSLA… 2009
California Polytechnic University, Pomona… Cum Laude
American Society of Landscape Architects – Honor Award

Steven has 15 years of experience in the residential landscape design/build and garden center industry, including 9 years with Drake’s 7 Dees. Steven also has experience working with the National Park Service in Yosemite on sub-alpine restoration projects, as well as volunteer experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer serving the community of Zaouiat d’Ifrane in Morocco.

Together, Steven and his wife Anna have four lovely children, all 5 years old and under! In his (very limited) spare time, Steven enjoys camping, hiking, archery hunting, and cooking. Steven’s passion for his work lies in helping others, through design to envision a more beautiful space that, once built, becomes a reality that improves their quality of life.