I've been asked to add photos of my planted garden bench so I thought this would be a good place to do. I've likely posted them before but there is no way I could find them in all of my posts!

Instructions for how I made it:




Showing a little sempervivum growing in the crevice of a bark "pillow"


Lewisia, Sedum Angelina (self-planted of course) and Sedum Cape Blanco (note the self-planted clump in front of the bender board)

Yay, Connie! Thanks for getting back to us with this! I love that last photo!
P.S. I still have the slate from our landscape supply shopping spree but haven't done anything with the slate to attempt the table garden. Just can't figure out where to put one and if there's enough sun to sustain the semps. Also the HOA may be picky about what can be put in the area where there's afternoon sun. Maybe if I moved to another house....

You can always use the slate to set a pot on especially if the slab is big enough to show around the bottom edge of the pot.

Yes, good idea! Now where in the garage did I put those pieces?? I did finally use up that bag of bonsai soil you introduced me to so long ago. There's a few plants sitting in it in different pots.

Awesome!!!
Thanks Connie

Connie that bench planting is lovely. I keep going back to the last photo, my favorite. It fills me with a feeling of peace.

Thanks Lynn! I wish it looked like that now... the roses are gone (too much trouble with aphids) and the bench really needs to be completely redone. These things just don't stay nice forever. I completely reworked it several years ago.

So true about not lasting forever. How are your table and slate slab gardens doing?

Lynn, the big table garden needs a work over too. My worst enemy is moss as it really takes over. I think what I'll do is replace the soil all around the four edges and replant with new stuff. The "Stinky Maple" is doing ok but the Snow Bell tree, well, I accidentally let it go dry and all of the leaves withered. It is done for the year but this has happened before so I think it is ok for the future. Otherwise I will replace it with something not so sensitive to a little drought.

The little alliums you gave me a few years back do great and return each year . The Delosperma nubigenum is a favorite of mine. It now has hangage almost to the ground! Other "hangy" perennials are doing ok too! My backyard next door neighbor gets to enjoy those views as they are not seen from in my yard unless one walks around and then only seen close up. My neighbor can enjoy the view from his patio.

The smaller little garden-on-a-rock that visited your placed isn't too bad. I need to add something to the top because the Sedum anglicum is gone. It was so pretty in bloom!

I wonder how S. urvillei would do? It has a pretty little yellow bloom.

Thanks Lynn. I put that one on a list of possibilities. I also have S. hispanicum growing here, there and everywhere and that is another possibility. Or I could just replace the S. angelicum seeing as I still have some on the table garden. Will have to give it some thought. On the other hand making big changes is always interesting too!

The possibilities are endless.

That is what makes projects like these so much fun!!