SUBURBAN LAWN Converted to Unbelievable ROCK GARDEN

The standard American lawn is due for a makeover, and on this channel we've explored just about every alternative imaginable, from the wild charm of Stinson style lawns and native sedge and grass-filled spaces on our own land, to beautiful low-maintenance suburban gardens, meadowscapes, and even alternative management techniques. Gravel and sand have even had their moment in the spotlight. But today we're diving into a style that's as dramatic as it is drought-tolerant, the rock garden. It's part art, part ecosystem, and a masterclass in using stone as your planting matrix. Think less turf, more texture. We traveled to Goshen, Connecticut to visit Elizabeth Zander, a gardener who, over the past 20 years, has methodically lifted her lawn and replaced it with rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Lots of them. What's emerged is a stony tapestry filled with a panoply of plants nestled into every crack and crevice. And yet, as Elizabeth says... But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. If you're a plant lover, you'll know exactly what she means. Well, we just stopped in Goshen, Connecticut, and we're here with Elizabeth Zander, and she has an incredible rock garden. She showed me some photos, so we're about to see it. And her two lovely dogs, Pip and... Pip and Kit. Pip and Kit are flanking our sides the whole way. Well, this is my old lady garden here, this front here. When did you start this rock garden? So, I had a rock garden down in Watertown, Connecticut in the 1990s, and I ran the seed exchange for the North American Rock Garden Society. So, I had built it out, and then I divorced, and in 1999, I met Rod Zander. And there was no stone wall or anything, and we decided we wanted to live together. And so, I said, you know, I put a lot of work into my garden. I don't want to leave it. I don't think I can do all that stone work again. And so, he started by building this wall, and with the arch. That's impressive. I mean, look at that entryway. So, a guy was peeling off lentils one winter when we didn't have snow. Yeah. And he peeled that off, and Rod brought it home. Wow. And it's pinned, because I've lived in California, and I don't trust earthquakes. Yeah. So, it's there. Wow. Yeah. That's really impressive. Look, and this is all local stone, I'm assuming? No, okay. So, this is soapstone. These are soapstone troughs that were out of old houses. Yeah. And this is tufa, which is calcareous. Yeah, the tufa. Where do you get your source? This is very interesting. We met a fellow rock gardener in Czechia, and it was a friend of ours, and Rod sat down next to him. And Rod, of course, is in the stone trade. So, he said, you know, my wife's looking for tufa. Do you know where there is any? And he said, yeah, I just helped build the Betty Vale rock garden with tufa. Big, big pieces, but there were leftover stones. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, wow. These are the little ones that were left over. Yeah, that's great. Well, plus my lifetime collection, you know. You've been collecting for a while. Since 1986. So, I met Link Foster, who's sort of like a guru around here. He wrote the book on rock gardening. And he gave me a plant, which got me started. And so, I started coming to meetings. You know, the hell that goes. And so, from there, I've collected tufa anytime I could. Plus, I ran the seed exchange, so I could get to know the plants. Right. Take a little seed here or there, you know. Oh, we had, the year I ran it, we had 5,000 species. Wow. Yeah. You want to collect all of them. Yes. And over here, these are local stones. And they came out of my neighbor's foundation. He was just going to bury them. I mean, they look beautiful. So, this is early spring, before the leaves are on the trees. This is just fantastic here. Are these little Campanulas? Yes, they are. Well, the last name I knew was Symphiandra. Symphiandra. Oh, Symphiandra. I think they did change it. Yeah. What they changed it to, I have no idea. Yeah. I think they actually changed it to a Campanula, but maybe not. Well, these right here, this is a hardy Jasnariad. It's out of, it's been, it bloomed the month of May. Wow. The whole month. And then there's another one over here that's blooming now, which is a Rumunda, which is also another hardy Jasnariad. Written here, right? Yes. Kit, Kit. Kit's like, don't you want to take a photo of me? I'm the coolest. These are Saxifraga, which I, I was over at another meeting in Czechia a couple of years ago. And with a plant permit, I brought these back, they're special named cultivars, and put them in here to grow. And they will eventually seed or put their roots into all of the tufa. Yeah. And they bloom in early April, late March, with bright red, orange, yellow flowers. Each one is different. Now, will they, are they going to stay like little gumdrops? Or do they kind of spread? They spread. And I'll show you where I did cuttings when we get over to the main part. What is the amount of acreage here? Is it like a... One acre. Okay. One acre. And did you, you just decided to take up the grass? I mean, assuming this was grass. It's been a long pull on my part. I don't like grass. Yes. And so it started out that this was all lawn, and there were traditional lilacs up next to the house, and rhododendrons. One of the rhododendrons is now out there. I see. And inch by inch, I have built rock gardens. I'm going to note this first. This was a well that we had to put in a new well, because we only had a 30-foot well a couple of years ago, and we dried up. And so this one's 185 feet. So I'm just redoing this area. Okay, I see. It's so funny, because when people have dogs, they would normally want to have a little bit of lawn. And the dogs are like, nah, I guess I'm okay on the gravel. Well, no, they're fine on the gravel. But let me take you through the first thing that we built. I like how you have all these different styles of, you know, kind of pavers and stones. Yes. It gives it a bit more of a cottagey feel, but... It's pretty unique. Yeah. And look at the phlox over here, too. Nice phlox right here, and some dianthus over here. Yes. This was the first raised bed that we built, because I was working full-time in IT, and I said, I just need a little area so that I can go off to work and come home and then relax in this little area. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. I know how that feels. Not at all. Not at all. But that was the first area. And mostly it was the stones left over from here. But then up the road is a limestone quarry. So we went up and got some of the small limestone. Oh, you have a nice source of limestone here then. See, that's nice. Where we are, it's mostly like bluestone, like limestone. You'd have to go up to like maybe Syracuse or something. Yeah. I love how everything has seeded in between this. How do you pick and choose? OK, so these all bloomed, and I let them seed. It's a Iberus terricola, and it's a biennial, and I let it seed. And then right past this stage, by July, I'll pull these out. And then next year, wherever they come up, they come up. So it's quite a bit of work then, you know, just picking and choosing. Like you have an eye out here that you're like, not everything can stay. Because when I think of rock gardens, you keep them low and somewhat edited. Because other things, I would imagine like where I am, I would see goldenrod moving in, you know what I mean? Lots of things. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, things move in. Yeah. But other things move out. Yeah. Is this a foxglove or? That's a digitalis. A digitalis. Yeah, a foxglove. It's a nice color. Yes. Lutea, I think, is this one. And pardon my names. They're all Latin because there's so many different species. We like Latin names. This rock, we call the whale rock. And this area was the quarry for the house. OK. The house is 1850. OK, so this was quarried. This was originally quarried, and trees had all grown up within it. OK. So we took out 20 some odd trees here to put this in. And I went off to work one day in 2007 or 8, I can't remember which. And we were hosting a conference with a Czech speaker who was sort of the father of rock gardening over there. And he and my husband bonded over rocks. And I said, I really need a little area so I can have saxafraga. Yeah. So I came home, and they had built this. They had already built that. They had built this. Oh my goodness. It took a few days. Yeah. And then when he left, he told me, you know, finish the stones here. Oh, I might note this linusera here. Yes. Crassifolia. Yeah, I actually have some of this growing at my house too, which I thought was really nice as a kind of clambering linusera. And I'm also noticing how farinose this is. Yes. Is this like azalea or rhododendron? It's a yak. Yak. I love yak rhododendrons. And then this one, is this like an azalea? Yes, that's an azalea. It's very close to the ground. So cool. It's a little weathered, but not bad. And lots of heliobores. Lots of heliobores. I like to let them seed. Yeah. So, you know, they're seeding. I can't get that. I can't get rid of that one. Well, I've tried. Is it the same one all throughout? Well, no, there's different ones. But that one is so vigorous. I've tried moving it more than once. Right. Without luck. And then you have the chorydolus. Chorydolus. That's, I want to say, lutea. And the other one is ochroluca. There's a little penstemon here blooming. I love little penstemons. Later on, there were another 20 trees that we took out so that this became a sunny area, because before this was all very shady. Look at these little aquilesias. They're tiny. Sexy Montana. But they have the same size flower, you know? They're just really short in stature. There's another one in here that's flabulata nana. So there's several. That's a funny name. What do you think is the best month of bloom for your garden in general? If you had to pick one month that you like the best. It's a performance art. Okay. It's a performance art. And how could I say that I don't like companulas or aquilesias now? Right. That I prefer, I have it start in March and it goes through to November. Fantastic. And it's a performance. It's, it's, that's just my preference. Is this a Jeffersonia dyphylla? Wow. Is it like really wet here and shady or? Wow. It picked that spot. I love how your dog said, what are you doing? Oh, he's, well, we have voles here. One thing of note, voles can't make it in a rock garden. Interesting. There are no voles in the rock garden. How much, how did you go about crafting this? Like, is there sand? Okay. So crushed granite is the fill in this whole bed. Okay. And then I've top dressed it later on with pea gravel. I see. But, and I'll show you the mixes. How many inches would you say, or feet did you go? From the top to the bottom. So we started with a layer of maybe two inch stone down and then put these rocks on top. I see. So it's, it's built like a traditional stone wall. But when the herbaceous perennials kind of die back and the leaves of the deciduous trees fall onto it, how do you keep the organic matter from building up? It doesn't build it. You'll notice it's a slope. Yep. And the wind comes along and... Just takes it away. There's nothing here. There's sometimes in the corner over there. Okay. I'll take it away. Okay. So you've kind of designed it in a way where it blows off, it drains extremely well. Right. And you don't really have to go in there and like clear off the witch hazel or whatever that is hanging over here. Yeah, the witch hazel. Okay. Yeah. Now this, this is relatively new. Maybe... This looks like tufa. This is tufa. And a friend of mine said, well, why don't you finish this with a curve and you can put your tufa in there. So I did. And I was going to put silver saxes, which are blooming now and they'll eventually spread. I love silver saxes. Yes. And now this, this started out as a single cutting and I placed it in a pocket in the rock and you see how the roots are embedding themselves. Yeah. And it bloomed. You see the bloom. It was fantastic. So it will eventually spread all over here. People on the West Coast do this quite a bit on the, um, in the Northwest. This looks like a Hukara leaf. It's a talima. Talima. It's a native. That's nice. It's kind of got those little fringes of a dianthus. Yeah. But the raceme of a hukara. Yeah. I like the leaf. Yeah. The leaf looks, it looks like tiarella hukara, that kind of thing. Right. Tiarella and hukara are very close. And let's see. Okay. So that was 2007-8. Okay. All right. We're going through time here. We're going through time. And over here, before that, actually, I should say, this area, Rod said I could have this area. Rod's my husband. And I said, okay, I took him to Czech Republic and showed him how they built gardens. And I said, actually, what I'd like is to remove the dirt and put in sand. And so these are all stones left over from when they farmed this. This was a farmhouse originally. Great stone. I mean, it's really pretty stone. Yes, it is. Yeah. And so he put in the stone and I filled it with sand. Road sand without the salt. Okay. Which is, you know, easily available. I can't tell you, this winter was devastating. I'm still taking things out. I mean, it's also been very rainy. I don't know if you have the same here. Oh, is this a little camassia coming up? That is an asphodeline. Asphodeline. Yes. It almost looks like camassia. It does look like it. This is Clematis columbiana columbiana. Oh, like a little bushy one. Yeah. And penstemons and dracocephalums. They sort of seed around. This looks like a eutrochium. That's a salvia. It's a salvia. What kind? Yellow. Nice. Yeah. A yellow salvia. Little later on. You know, that's why I'm saying it's all seasons garden. You can see the Edmureanthus. Another animal coming in. Oh, yeah. That's Max. Maximilian. But I was going to point out the plant is a Campanula relative. And it's next to... Now the name escapes me. I was going to tell you what the yellow was. It looks like a little potentilla sort. No, no. Lavangelifolia is its species name. But I'm blanking on the... I'll look it up. The Campanula one almost looks like it has a slightly gentian form. Yes. The way that the flowers go up. A bobble. After Stenius Volanik, the builder who taught Rod how to build rock gardens, left, we had this area to develop. And we had a cistern there and there were a bunch of lilacs and rhodes. So we took those out and I had... I told Rod that I wanted a sunken garden. And don't worry about stepping on anything. And tell me a little bit about Rod since he's not here. OK. It sounds like you're saying, now I want this. But he's really a stonemason. He's a stonemason. So this is kind of his trade to a certain degree. This is his trade to a certain degree. Yes. And he wanted a garden. He had a small vegetable garden. He had several of them. And I took over the vegetable gardens. And we both agreed that this would be a fitting area for putting in a raised bed. And this is all Western and Turkish plants. Yeah. Mr. Max. Be careful where you walk, Mr. Max. And, well, I guess this is another salvia. Salvia sespitosa. This guy here. So he's from Europe, but that's from our West. That's a cylindropuncha, I forget what the middle name is, but snow leopard, which stays nice and low. And now is this, this almost looks like an antenaria of sorts, but what is this? This? Yeah. Oh, it's a, it has a yellow blossom, not open because of the sun. I think this one is, is that not yellow? Yeah, yeah. There might be some further out too. Yeah. It's an asteraceae, so no, but it's not, it's not a pussy toe. Oh, wow. Because if you're just looking at the leaf, it could totally fool you. Yeah. I wanted to note that these are all hardy cactus. Okay. Nothing ever gets lifted or taken inside. And even if you have like a heavy snow or whatnot. They're fine. Yeah. They really are. They, yeah. That's an amenuartia, and notice it only gets one or two flowers. Right. So it's never like really covered in it. No, no. You grow it for the texture. And this is a puncha long island. Which has been there for, since we've built this. So the cistern was here and we were trying to figure out, well, what can we do? And so we covered it over and made it a patio. And is this limestone? It looks like limestone. Yeah, some kind of limestone. I don't think it was blue. I think it was just plain, plain limestone. I really got into cactus and areogynums. And that areogynum is blooming now. That's ovalifolium. What a cool color. Yes. Some of the rarer daphnis I've put up here. So I'm into species plants. And these are, of course, the big hendersonii hybrids. But this one is daphni domini. And I think it would be good for a hedge. It's self seeds. And so you get a lot of them. A lot of folks that I talk to have rock garden say that daphnis are very challenging for them. Is it? No, it's where you put them. Okay. And which ones you grow. Now, mulchia petraea is one of my favorites. And it's not open yet, but it's like an intense blue against that yellow conifer. That's just outstanding. Do your neighbors ever pass judgment or say, wow, that's pretty unusual or? Oh, they all know. Yeah. They all know. Has anybody ever said, I'd like to do that? Even starting with like a little trough or has it taken? So I'm the chairman of the local chapter and I ran a trough workshop here. So these are styrofoam. Oh, wow. Okay. So, you know, it used to be that we would make them out of hypertufa. Right. Like these, but it's too heavy for people. Interesting. And so the styrofoam, there's another one over there and another one over there. They're, they're portable. And so people can put them on their table outside if they wanted. You know, it's not a problem. And it doesn't degrade. And it's a good, it's a good way to recycle. So you can get them at a lot of medical facilities. So do you just paint them or? Okay. Yeah. Well, with the proper paint. Okay. Yeah. You know, and score them, you know, you can, you can give a texture to it. But I think they're quite attractive. Yeah, I guess they're ready to go. Because with the hypertufa, you still have to produce it. And then by that time you're like, okay, tomorrow we could start planting. Right. This is the last one that we've done. You can come this way. And with this one, you know, I, I have. This is more like a crevice garden. Yes, this is a crevice garden. So, so everybody in town knows that I collect rocks. I was going to say, are you the rock dumping ground lady? And when the road crew and the farmer, you know, spotted one, somebody was going by and called me up and said, hey, there's a, there's a big limestone rock. Do you want it? You know, the road crews down there. And so I said, yes. And I had, Rod has all the equipment. So we were able to get these giant, giant limestone rocks. And then he taught my, my friend's daughters how to split rocks. Yes. So they were, they were in their teens. Yeah. And they were into flint knapping, I guess it's called. I have no idea what that is. Well, where you're, you're. Oh, you strike. You're striking the rocks and making. Fire or something. Yes. Yeah. Well, at any rate, they learned to split rocks. And then, so we then brought them over here. And this is year three for it. The first year we made it, I planted it with the fill. And then I started putting in plants last year. So the plants are just taking hold now. What's interesting here in this crevice garden is that there's so many different types of stones in here. And it actually looks really nice. You know, it's not, you know, it's a lot of the crevice gardens. I see all kind of a more uniform stone. But this is like. This is more Czech style. Yeah, interesting. So, you know, I've had many trips to the Czech Republic for conferences and seen gardens. And this is more characteristic of what they do. And, you know, the poppies, I just sort of let them do their thing. They're good seeders. Yeah. There's one plant over here that I was very proud of. Not that one. Not this one. Not the bindweed. I have to deal with that. So this is the stellera camijazni. It's got such a lovely structure. It's just about to be in full bloom and very difficult to move. And I moved it and it took. So I was very happy. But it's from China and it's poisonous to the cattle. So it grows in the grass usually. So I thought, well, down here would be fine. Here, is this like a little batagilla? Yes. Yeah, with bindweed. Everyone has it. I have never seen. The bindweed. Yes. Yes, I have never seen such a year. You have to really get out every single root. And the root is, it's called devil's guts. Yes. The root is like, kind of looks like entrails. And you have to get every single bit of it out. I've had some advice that, OK, I can burn it several times to weaken it. And then I can cover it and try and sterilize it. That'll take a couple of years. And then anything left, I have to dig out. Yeah. Is this a little clematis too? Or what is that? Yes, that is clematis. Is this also kind of considered a bush or does it start growing? Yeah, it's no, it's a bush. OK. And it'll just cascade down. You always have a box of rocks. I always have a box of rocks. Rocks on the wall, rocks around so that I can chink where I need to. You have, whatever you could find, you patchworked it in. Yes. As far as, you know, because these are really beautiful. This is, I was down in Patagonia and saw this Plantago patagonica. Unbelievable, right? And I just, I loved it because it's soft and silky. It's so soft. Yes. And then it's easy enough to edit. Yeah. You know, it's really easy. It's such a pedestrian plant. Yes. Plantago, but that one is very neat looking. Yes, but I always keep Plantago for bee stings. Yes, it's a good one. It's always necessary. The rock garden has, I think, pushed out into the landscape even more. Yes, it's shadier in this area. This just goes to show you that gardening is a multi-decade project. Absolutely, absolutely. It's a way of life. It is, it is. Well, and, you know, I mean, and you get to choose like this clematis. It's Texensis, which I really love, but I planted it on the wrong side because I should have planted it over there and had it cascade this way and then I wouldn't have to do it. So one of these days, I'll make some cuttings first, then I'll get the courage to actually move that to the other side so it will flow down. So, you know, it takes time. Over here, it was grass for the longest time. You know, grass just makes weeds. There's no way around it. So I said, okay, can I have this area? And yes, the kids had all left. They're all grown up. They're all out of school. They're all getting married. You can have it. So this is 10 inches of sand. So we took out 10 inches of dirt, made the vegetable beds raised. By that time, though, how did you get it in here? Did you just kind of wheelbarrow it in one by one? Because everything else was developed around it. No, we had a truck. We had a truck pull in. Yes, well, a truck pulled in. That stone namaste, the stone hands were not there. So he could just back in and dump dirt. And he has a small dump truck. So Peter Korn had come through and had told us about the advantages of sand and top dressed with gravel. And so I did it. And it's really easy. And so that side, you did the granite. And then this side, you did 10 inches of sand with the gravel topper. Right. Okay. Right. That side over there was also what my husband calls process, which is crushed granite. Okay. And I've got pieces of it up there. So do you notice any performance differences between? Okay. So what would you say is the performance difference with sand versus just all? Sand is easier to pull things out. I see. Okay. Granite, the roots get a little more embedded. But then again, it depends upon what you want to use it for. So for a raised bed, I would absolutely use granite. Right. Because the sand would just kind of fall. No, the sand works. You know, the sand's in all those other beds and it works. But it's not as dense. And I think that the roots in the granite have more minerals. And that's what the plants want is minerals. They don't need sand. They don't want sand. But they do want minerals. Okay. So no matter what you do. This area was the phlox, many kinds of phlox. I think I bought a bunch of them at Stonecrop. Yeah. And then over the years, they just spread. And that would be some of our native phloxes as well? Yes, absolutely. They're all native. And this is where the wind came through. And you can just see the damage was incredible. But this seems to be like a transition area now. Yes. Yeah. It's going into your veggie garden. Yes. So evergreens, you know, make a wall of them. Stop the wind. Well, you still have some grass, so you still have a ways to go. The dogs need to run. Yeah, I was going to say, where do the dogs get to go? The dogs need to run. But they run through here. Yeah. And they have no problem traversing. And I see that you're not overly controlling when the dog is like in the stone garden. Well, I will put rocks at the base of my evergreens where they try to dig it out. Okay. So that works. It looks like they started right there, too. Right, I see, I see. So I'll put some rocks there. And you have some trillium and epimedium and podophyllums here. And this is more of a shady area. Iris cristata, yes. This was also Phlox divericata. I don't know if you're familiar with that. Phlox divericata, the ones with the flowers that have like, they kind of look like little bones? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The flowers, there's the flowers. That's cool. Yeah, yeah. And this looks like one of those prostrate asters. Yes, it is. It is? Okay. The snow flurry, maybe? Well, it's... Symphio trichum arikoides? Right, but I had it before they named it that. Oh, really? Okay. So maybe it's the same. Maybe they just named the one that I had. But that came from someone back in the 80s who was up at Smith. Yeah, I read that it, and this could be false, but I read that it was a natural prostrate. Oh, yes, it is. Symphio trichum arikoides, and they must have named it snow flurry. Okay. But I love that one in the fall. Yes, yes. I love how the bumblebees and everything just crawl over it. Solid white, solid white. And of course, the forget-me-nots are edited, you know, by then too. So, and lots of special epimediums. I have to get the Phlox out of here, but I'm going to, I'm going to throw it. I'm starting a new woodland bed. That was a stone wall under where that planting is. And it was buried. It was the farmer's wall. And so it has really good drainage. So I thought, well, this Phlox can go back there and just take over. So that's a project because it's really knitted in there quite well. Yes. Oh, it's easy though. Okay. You know, just give me some rainy days like we've had. Yes. And I can get it out. Easier to pull out. Yes. Now the voles will go into this area and that's why I have that rotating. Oh, that's what it is for? I thought maybe that was for flies or something. No, it's for voles. So that rotating thing, they don't like the sound of it? They don't like the sound of it. Okay. So, you know, it's not available here in this country. And on one of my trips overseas, I saw them. And then we have a daughter who lives over in Berlin. And I was able to pick it up from her. What is it actually called? Like a wind chime, a vole? Well, it works for voles. It makes a sound in the wind and it's not consistent. So they never know. I wonder what they think it can be. But it must vibrate. It vibrates, yes. And so there's no voles in this side. But there are voles over there. Interesting. Yes, yeah. But do you get a lot of bees visiting? Yes. Imagine you're in bloom since, like you said, March until November. Right, yeah. Well, the species peonies start early April. Yeah. But now peony japonica is just coming into bloom. And there's one, but there's a bigger one over there. And it's more in time with our native, or not native, our cottage garden peonies. How's that? This iris is interesting in that it was brought back by a seed collector, Wojciech Halubek, back in the 90s. He was making trips to Siberia. I would always get seed from him. And it was such an unusual color, but nobody's been able to actually name it. They just call it a 28 chromosome iris. It's really, for me, it's all about the plants. Yeah, clearly. There's also a cute little eunomia down here that stays really dwarf. Well, aethionema, they call it. It's like cotton candy, little bits of cotton candy. Yeah. Kit, with me. Come on. But you can see it's very different. I have some more of it there. Yeah, very different. And it self-sows beautifully. For every year, the garden is different. Yeah. And that's why I always say it's a performance, because you never know what's going to have its year. So this has been basically, you would say, about 30 or 40 years in the making? I started the garden in 2003. Okay. This garden here. All right, so about 20 years in the making. 20 years in the making, starting in the corners and then working on down. It's just me. Yeah. But this is my retirement. Yeah. So I'm the webmaster for NARGS, which takes some time. And I do this, and then I'm a local chapter representative. So plants are the thing. It's very grounding. Well, this is a great inspiration. I mean, we're thinking about putting a little rock garden in our area. I don't think we would go on acre, but hey, you never know. You never know. We're not retired yet. Well, we built all of that before I was retired. Yeah. So that is one of the last things. We built that since I've retired. Well, this is really beautiful. I love that you have some themes as well. You send a lot of Turkish plants in here. Yes. A sunken garden, a crevice garden. You have a little bit of everything. Yes. And even different ways of constructing it with sand and then also with gravel. That's been the experiment. It's an experimental garden, I guess I should say, because I wanted to try out things that I saw and see how it worked. And where the crevice garden is now, that used to be this huge mound where I had all kinds of perennials. And it took me more time to weed them than I was willing to give. Right. So out they came and in went the crevice garden. I love styrax, too. Oh, yeah, that's nice. I just got one with dark leaves. So this is what process looks like, you know, from fine to large. And then, of course, you know what the road sand looks like. And then I top dress it with the pea gravel. Nice. Yeah. And this has basically kind of almost like a sandy grit. And then has the minerals as well. Right. And it allows it to feed the plants. So you're not really fertilizing anything. This is... That's it. This is the food. I don't fertilize. Yep. Well, I take that back. There's one plant that I will fertilize and that's called Physostagia cummosa. Not Physostagia. Physoplexis cummosa. Okay, Physostagia is our little... Physoplexis cummosa from the Dolomites. And it's the devil's claw. It's a Campanulaceae. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it has like these huge claws in purple. And I will fertilize that. And what does that usually take? I put slow-release Osmocote on it. And it's because it just the flower needs it or? Yeah, it seems to need a lot of minerals. I see. Okay. I went ahead and did that. Well, this is great. Thank you so much for sharing your garden with us. 20 years of just producing this beautiful garden that is just so unusual. Because when you look around, everybody has lawn, the standard American lawn. And this is just a panoply of really beautiful color. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Now we'll be crisscrossing through the northeast to explore more gardens and greenhouses. In addition to diving into more renovations and landscaping on our own land. So be sure to like, subscribe, and even consider supporting the channel by becoming a member. Thank you so much for your support. And we'll see you in the next video.