Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012 - (Page 266)

Rebuilding a Rock Garden in Pittsburgh AlAn PeAcock NARGS 2012 WINTER STUDY WEEKEND PITTSBURGH, PA Autumn in the GARDEN - A Time for Troughs - For the last eleven years the Allegheny Chapter has been tending a rock garden located adjacent to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. Once a month a handful of members met for convivial conversation over breakfast to gain sustenance before weeds were pulled and plants watered. Imagine our dismay when we found out that an expansion program for the Aviary was going to obliterate our garden. No more Thursday breakfasts! October 12-14 The area taken up by our rock garden 2012 was needed to park the large machines being used during the excavation. Efforts to avoid this were to no avail. And so, on an overcast damp and gloomy morning we had breakfast for one last time before going to dig up what plants we could save, for sale at our annual show, before our rocks were unceremoniously carted away. But, as is well known, behind every cloud there’s the potential for a silver lining and this was to be the case for us. We were offered a different site that was larger and better located than the previous one; a corner lot up against the perimeter fence of the Aviary and adjacent to the entrance to the parking lot. A plan was evolved to create a new rock garden. A design was solicited that included a pathway meandering through the middle of the garden, leaving and rejoining the main path. This would allow better close up viewing of a series of beds either side of the pathway. Mostly in full sun, one area is shady that allows plant variety. A crevice garden was conceived and a stone bench for contemplation also included. But before this design could be implemented, most of the overgrown trees and bushes crowding the area had to be removed. Only three were retained; a tall attractive spruce, a small weeping cousin and a basswood that provides the shade. Then numerous rocks, in addition 266 Rock Garden Quarterly Vol. 70 (3)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012

Digital Quarterly
Expanding Panayoti's Axioms
Photo Contest 2012
Photographing Alpine Plants: A Landscape Point of View
NARGS 2013 Election Timetable
Rock Gardening from Scratch - Seeds
Kim Blaxland and the Violets of North America
Viola pedata
Violas, Kim, and Us - A Celebration
Cooking Native Japanese Plants
Carl Gehenio Memorial Trough Show
Fire in the Hole: Phlox across Colorado
Rebuilding a Rock Garden in Pittsburgh
A Remarkable Garden: David Douglas and the Shrub-steppe of the Columbia Plateau
Bookshelf - Reviews
Swedish Dreams
Treasurer's Report
Bulletin Board
2012 - Eastern Study Weekend: October, Pittsburgh

Rock Garden Quarterly Summer 2012