Garden Designers Roundtable: Stone

I have kindly been invited to participate as a guest writer at the Garden Designers Roundtable to discuss the topic of stone. Being both a landscaper and a stonemason I think it is a fair assessment to say I have a passion for this subject.
So here is my contribution to the decision.

STONE

Neolithic stone circle close to my family home in West Cork

 Throughout the ages stone has been utilised by man for a variety of uses, ranging from the spiritual to the practical. It is one of mans oldest building materials, and yet its methods of construction have changed very little over time.
Here in Ireland, as in many countries, we have a rich history with stone. Even as far back as Neolithic times (4,000-2,300 BC) there is evidence that man was creating amazing stone structures that were not only built for practicality and strength, but also to be something of beauty. Newgrange (just a mere 45min drive from where I am living) is a fantastic example of this.

The entrance to Newgrange.

Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago, around 3,200 B.C. (That’s over 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt.)

This is one of the things I love about stone, it is permanent. A stone structure, whether it is an ancient building or your little garden wall, has the potential to be there to be admired for generations to come.
For archaeologists the great stone structures have been a great aid in mapping out our history, and although more modern stonework is of less importance (historically speaking) it still has a certain ancient presence to it, and defiantly sparks the imagination when encountered along a garden path.

One of the many old stone features I came across in St Ann’s Park in Dublin

Stone plays a role in most gardens in some form, whether it is a winding stepping stone path, inviting you to a tucked away part of the garden, a paved patio, or a simple rock lovingly dragged from your morning walk and placed in your garden bed (I’m sure most people who have a garden know what I am talking about).

Garden bed feature stone surrounded by Geranium lucidum (Shining Crane's-bill)

Here are a few of my favourite stone features to include in garden designs.

Stone paths


Stepping stones in a lawn

Curving cobblestone path in a driveway

Stone paths are a great way to lead the eye through the garden, and invite you to explore hidden or tucked away parts of the garden.

Stone seats and benches.

Limestone seat

I love including stone seats in gardens for a number of reasons. Firstly I think it is very important to have a spot in your garden where you can sit and take in all your gardening achievements, a place to just get lost in thought. Stone seats are great for this as besides looking like they have been there forever, they are also an inviting place to rest. I also love the folklore associated with stone seats here in Ireland (I have written about this in the past here)

A sneak peek at a stone seating area I am working on at the moment

Stone Archways

Stone Arch

Stone archways make a great focal point in a garden. They can create a sense of mystery, inviting you to explore what is beyond. They are also an exciting structure to build. One of the most fascinating things about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10th century, a procedure so primitive and simple in fact, that you sometimes feel you could be back in Roman times while you are building them.

The exciting part, of course, is when it comes time to remove the arch support.

The first large arch I built. It was an exciting moment when this arch was finished, as it came to pulling out the support. In your mind you know it is not going anywhere, but it doesn't seem to make you any more relaxed when it comes to taking it out!

Another thing you may not have considered about introducing stone into your garden is that you are also providing an additional habitat for rock lovers like moss and lichens.

Crustose lichens on limestone

I find lichens to be fascinating, they are in fact dual organisms, a fungus and one or more algae in a stable, mutually beneficial (symbiotic) partnership. The fungus provides structural form and protects the algae from extremes of light and temperature. Algae are capable of photosynthesis and some of the sugars produced provide the fungus with energy for growth and reproduction. Some lichens can live for many hundreds of years, and being sensitive to pollution levels they are important environmental indicators.

So that’s my lot, To see what see what fellow guest blogger Deborah Silver and esteemed members of the Garden Designers Roundtable have to say on this topic, please follow the links to their posts below.
(Please note this discussion begins on Tuesday 24th of May. I have posted a little early due to time restrictions so other links may not yet be updated if you are reading this before that time)

Deborah Silver of Deborah Silver and Co.

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN

Ivette Soler, Los Angeles, CA 

Jenny Petersen : J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Tara Dillard : Vanishing Threshold : Atlanta, GA

More on Stone Benches

So I have talked about stone benches on a number of occasions, and now I am going to talk about them some more.
I just had a lady asking me for more information on some of my stone benches, and while compiling the information for her I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone and write a blog post about it.
So here it is!

Stone Benches.
Enrich your garden with one of Stone Arts trademark stone benches.  Each one of these immensely popular benches is completely unique and can create a completely new feel to any area of your garden. As they are built to look natural, the design of each bench is largely dictated by the style and shape of the stone used, as well as the location of the seat.
Each bench has been carefully constructed so that they are not only pleasing to look at, but are also comfortable to sit in.
Stone benches not only make great garden features, but they can also make beautifully unique memorials that can be appreciated for generations. They can also be engraved with any text or symbols on request.
Ireland has a rich history of stone seats throughout its history, click here if you would like to know more about Ireland's ancient stone chairs.
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Here is some more information on a few of the benches I have made to-date.

The Weedle Bench, Co. Kildare.

This stone seating area was built using quarried sandstone. It roughly measures 2.8 meters deep by 2.4 meters wide. It will comfortably seat 8+ people. Both the risers and the fill between the back rests are dry stacked stone.

The Weedle Bench

The Weedle Bench

Back Rest Detail, The Weedle Bench

The Weedle Bench

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  O' Donovans Seat, Co. Cork

This seat was built as part of a adults chill-out area. A place for the adults to escape the family and quietly sit in their own space, taking in the spectacular views over Bantry Bay, to the sound of the water feature beside them.
This seat was built from Kerry Limestone, rich in quartz. It comfortably seats two persons, complete with rustic arm-rests to rest your glass of wine on.

O' Donovans Seat

O' Donovans Seat

As the planting matures, the seating area will become hidden from the house, to become a little hidden treasure to be discovered.

O' Donovans Seat

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Hagal's Bench, Co. Cork

This bench also seats two people. It was built from local field stone. The bench is on a slight gradient and snakes along the garden, bringing shape into the garden. It has been positioned to get full benefit of the sun as well as the stunning views over the valley and distant sea.

Hagal's Bench

Hagal's Bench

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O' Sullivans Bench (Salmons Rest) Co. Cork

This seating area was built along a salmon fishing river over looking Carriganass Castle. The owner wanted a quite spot to sit and have his morning cup of coffee. It was also a spot where he could fish from, the quiet pool of water where the benches are located sits just above a waterfall, the salmon come and rest in the pool after climbing the waterfall (giving it its other name 'Salmon's rest seating area')

O' Sullivans Bench

 This seating area is made up of two stone benches opposite each other. They are about 2.4 meters in length and will seat three people each. Being built from stone these benches can also withstand the fury of the river during the winter rains (and summer rains)

O' Sullivans Bench

O' Sullivans Bench

O' Sullivans Bench

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The Butterfly Bench, Co. Cork

This bench was built into an old garden ditch where the ditch had partially come away, rather than simply rebuilding the ditch, I recycled some of the stones to build this bench. The back was build from a piece of local quarried stone I butterflied to make a symmetrical back. This is also a two seater bench.

To see these and more of our stone benches on our website click here

The amazing flowing stonework of Michael Eckerman

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

It’s not very difficult to see why Michael Eckerman and his stonework is loved by the surfing community, building stone features for many of the great surfers, and even getting featured in The Surfer's Journal back in 2007.

Bored with traditional stonework, Micheal’s creative nature has led him away from traditional design. Attracted by the flowing aspects of tectonic upheavals of lava flows that he observed in his travels, he began forming his own signature style of stonework, a style heavily influenced by these lava flows, as well as the movement of wind and water. 

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Michael Eckerman has been forming his own signature style of stonework since the 1970’s.

Forty years of building with stone has allowed him to expand his imagination and develop the free flowing type of stonework that he is known for today.

Michael Eckerman

 Like many ‘stonies’ Michael isn’t quite sure how he got into stonemasonry. There was no apprenticeship as such, although he learned much about what makes stonework strong and the principles of structural integrity while collaborating with an influential  builder from the ’60s and ’70s, called Ken Kern. 

He also recalls one of his first building ventures being a cabin he built with a friend in Quebec back in 69.

Even from the magical entrance to Michael’s home (a fantastic combination of stone and driftwood that seems to flow so naturally and playfully), it is clear that this is a home that lives and breathes art. And not only by Michael’s hand, for here creativity is a family business. Micheal’s wife Karen is an arborist, while his younger son Wes explores his creativity through photography and his older son Ea Eckerman expresses his creativity through both graphic art as well as sculpture. 

Pine Arch with Drift Wood

 

In the article by The Surfer's Journal, Michael tells a bit about the creative process of his work.

M. Eckerman beside his piece ‘Ledbury Tree’

"Each project is different, but the forms come through with a similar telegraphing message: flowing harmony. The stone suggests its form, he says. There’s not a lot of planning in his projects, no detailed drawings, maybe some chalk lines sketched on a wall. A flagstone forms a bench in a barrel. A helix has two platforms on opposite sides of the spiral—one for you, another for your sweetie.

The rock calls for touch. Natural, somehow, that stone should represent water. There’s good workmanship in all of it too: steps built to code, walls built to stand for centuries, ascending fireplaces around which the houses rise. Michael works with materials from the region he’s building in, whether it’s granite in the Sierra or lava rock in Hawaii. “If you knock it around in the surf for a thousand years,” he says of lava rock, “it gets interesting—very smooth, blue in color.”" [From article 'Natural Fit' in The Surfers Journal 2007]

Lebury Arch

In addition to stone, Michael accents much of his work with other materials, like brick, tile, glass, ceramics and metal.

Ceramic & Stone arch wall

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know my passion for creating stone benches. Well, Michael too has built some stone benches, but probably not in the way to which you may be accustomed. Check out this art project he did for the city of Menlo Park, California. Titled ‘Convertibles’

Convertibles

Micheal is currently working on a series of stone dog sculptures. It is interesting to see him use these same flowing stonemasonry techniques in a new more miniature and intricate way.  

Valcor- stone dog w:stacked driftwood

Guard Dog

 Michael has a vast and fantastic portfolio of work, so I suggest you check out his website www.eckermanstudios.com/ if you would like to see more. I have not even mentioned his absolutely stunning fireplaces and chimney stacks, so impressive in fact that they justify a blog post of their very own, which I will post later on in the year.  

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

 A big thanks to Michael for taking the time to send me the photos and information for this post. If you are interested in seeing the the article 'Natural Fit' from The Surfers Journal, you can purchase a download-able copy of the article from their website here 

Sources 

2010 Artist Bio written by Michael's daughter Rosie.

http://www.eckermanstudios.com/

The Surfers Journal 2007 article 'Natural Fit'

Theater in the garden

Garden Theatres

Although there are many grand Garden Theatres and huge impressive amphitheatres out there in the world, they are not something you find very often in normal residential garden design. They are however, something I like very much. So I will leave the many grand garden theatres and the huge impressive amphitheatres for another post for another day.

Today I am going to talk about the intimate and sometimes modest (but just as effective) garden theatre.  

Bonfire Garden, Hagal Farm

Growing up on my parents farm in West Cork, we had a garden stage, but as you can seen in the picture across, it is now quite overgrown and a little neglected (although this in itself gives it a certain charm)

The stage made up part of a bonfire garden and back in the day, there was many a party held here.

West Cork is well known for being full of fine food and culture, so back then there was no shortage of  fine musicians to prop up on the stage (these would often overflow onto the simple timber seating that surround the fire pit). To the left of the stage was a round concrete pad reserved for dancing.

At night the garden would take on a very different atmosphere, as you went from being in an open outdoor garden into what seemed like an intimate enclosed space. One got this sense of enclosure as the light from the fire illuminated the trees that surrounded and arched over the entire area, hiding all that lay beyond.

   

A lovely garden theater at the Everglades Gardens, Leura, Australia.

I also love this garden theatre I came across in the Everglades Gardens in Leura, set in the amazing surroundings of the Blue Mountains in Australia.

The golden pyrmont sandstone arch which forms the dramatic backdrop to the stage was originally the recessed entrance to the London Chartered Bank of Australia on Sydney’s George Street. The arch is flanked by tall hedges clipped formally to form the wings of the stage.

Author Shawna Lee Coronado's Garden Stage

Another one I like for its sheer simplicity and functionality is this one by author Shawna Coronado. On her blog ‘The Casual Gardener’ she wrote about how the answer to her garden dilemma was resolved by creating this lovely little garden stage.

It is also a great example of how you can create an interesting garden feature on a small budget.

When having a rainwater collection system installed in her garden, she was left with a huge mound of soil from when they dug the hole for the tank, and of course this soil had to go somewhere! She did not want it to go to landfill so she decided to make a feature out of it. Even on a tight budget she managed to create a lovely little feature out of it. The four large tiles make up the stage, which regularly features her 10 year old daughter performing her latest stage show. It is also a spot where a musician might perform during a garden party. You can see her post about this here http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-i-transformed-mound-of-dirt-into.html

Mainly because of my passion for stone, one of my favourites is this here, at Dick Schwab’s Celebration Barn near Solon in Iowa.
This amazing amphitheatre has an impressive dry stone arch, built with Anamosa Limestone from near Stone City, and has an impressive internal radius of 16ft (4.8m) weighing in at about 65 tons.

 The celebration barn often hosts weddings, the ceremonies often held underneath the mighty arch.

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The arch and amphitheatre were built by ‘Country Stone Masons’. Fellow Stone Foundation member Eric Whittlesey who works for ‘Country Stone Masons’ told me a bit about the construction process, and was nice enough to share these photos as well.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The curved seating of the ampitheatre itself is also made with Anamosa Limestone, each stone meticulously chiselled to fit tightly to its neighbour. The area can seat over 300 people.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

All 68 stones that make up the arch, some weighing as much as 1.5tons, had to be painstakingly carved into the angle of the arch.

On of the most fascinating thing about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10^th century.

The shear downward force of weight (all 65 tons of it) combined with the angles of the wedge shaped stones or ‘voussoirs’ means that the stones are almost welded together, evenly spreading the weight down both sides. 

For these reasons the arch does not require any mortar to hold it together, however for peace of mind the stones were pinned together so that the masons could sleep soundly without having any nightmares about brides tragically being crushed by stones on their wedding day! 

Completed arch with form still in place. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

For the form that supported the arch as they built it, they used massive cotton wood timbers, which were stacked on top of each other as the build progressed. Then when the key stone was set in place, the most anticipated part of the build could be performed, this of course being the removal of the support form. I remember removing the form from the first large arch I built. As I was pulling it out, my brain kept telling me 'Of course it will stay up, there is absolutely nowhere it can go’  however its still a nerve-racking moment!

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

Stone Woman, Thea Alvin

Stone Artisan Thea Alvin

A while back while visiting Jan Johnsen landscape gardening blog 'Serenity In The Garden' (a blog I highly recommend checking out if you don't know it already) I saw this photo (derectally above ↑) and at first glance, thought it was a piece by Andy Goldsworthy. I quickly discovered that this fabulous piece of stone art was not the work of Goldsworthy but of Vermont Stonemason/ Artist Thea Alvin.

Thea has been a professional stone mason for 25 years, and uses the dry stone stacking techniques learned from master masons around the world to create sculptures and natural landscape installations. She admits to always being a bit of a 'tomboy', apparently (in her own words) "When other little girls were playing with dolls... I was eating my 15 pounds of dirt." 

Thea wants to travel the world, leaving works of stone art behind her, and to date, she is doing a pretty good job of that. Besides creating works of art all over North America, she as also created works in England, France, Italy, Canada and while cycling around China she managed to find the time to build ten arches from bricks, tiles, slate and marble.

 

I believe that my hands are smarter than I am, and that they operate on their own, and bring me along for the adventure, and to take notes about what we did together while we were there.

Besides creating works of stone art, Thea is also an instructor at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, where she is running courses in 'The Art of Stone' and 'Masonry Restoration'. She is also in the process of writing a book.
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In my last post I talked about 'Stone Balancing' above is Thea's take on the art of stone balancing.

  

 

Thea Alvin has a huge and impressive portfolio of work, check out the rest of her work on her website www.myearthwork.com.

All photos in this post are from Thea's website, A big thanks to her for her kind permission to use them for this post.