The one I set yesterday was about 800lbs. I have another one to do today that is in the 350 lbs range. Both of them were straped to a pallet so I slid them off the trailer, cut the straps and levered the stone off the pallet and into place using a 4x4 fence post with a tapered cut on one end.

I'm going to Kenny's (my 6 yr old grandson) soccer game this morning, then I'll take a few pic's and post them.

I'll post a couple pic's while I'm waiting for Deb to get ready to go.

This is the boulder that I set yesterday.

I'm going to move the pygmy date behind the rock to another location and transplant a sago from the back yard to that spot.

This is the other rock that I'll set today. It will probably go inbetween the 3 asparagus ferns in the lower left of the picture in the previous post.

Oops...all 3 ferns aren't in that pic.....so it will go in front of and to the left of the 2 ferns there. Unless I change my mind after I see it in that spot.

Nice Dan. I like the flat-ness and the white-ness of those boulders. Not what I had envisioned but it's good! Carry on.....where's the Advil?

Excellent choice of boulders! I love them! When Tony placed a big boulder in our front bed last summer, he ended up with arm and face rash, as he fell into the boulder trying to lever it into it's new home! He got it there, though, along with several others. I like how yours look like a natural part of the landscape, not just plunked down on top of the ground.

Those are some great boulders Dan. Hope you got lotsa Advil - lol...

Here's the latest and greatest. As I mentioned above I set a new decorative boulder Friday when I got home from work. Then Saturday morning I set the second boulder. Next I rearranged the location of some plants and started on the irrigation system. Today I had some labor help and removed all of the old gravel, finished planting all of the plants, finished the irrigation system and transplanted the large sago from the back yard to the front.

I think all that's left is to order and spread the new gravel. I will have to do the walking pods and the landscape lights some time down the road when the bank account is looking a little better.

This is the courtyard area near the front entry. I'm pressing the zone envelop and put in a Giant Bird of Paradise and a Red Sensation Cordyline. This area only gets a few hours of sunlight and is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. I left the open area so that someday I'll figure something out where we can have a couple of chairs out here.

It's looking great, Dan! Excellent!

That's looking really nice Dan.

Looks fabulous. Amazing work, Dan.
I would think the giant BOP would be OK. The Cordyline, deep water. You're giving it the best chance it has to survive by planting it now... established roots prior to the heat. Love that color! I'd like to know how this area develops!

I expect to lose a few plants this summer...all of these should have been in the ground at least a month ago but I didn't have much to say about the timing. Fortunately all of the plants are covered by store guarantees so if any give up the ghost within 1 year I get a free replacement. Gotta like that policy!

More pictures after the next phase is done.

how much your front yard has changed! I love what you are doing. Do the neighbors stop by and clap?

I've had an awful lot of curious visitors and nearly everyone that drives by waves or toots the horn. 3 of the neighbors that live on my street have told me that they want to do theirs like mine now too.

Dan, where can I buy bark inexpensively?

Becky....I haven't had the need to buy any bark since I've been in Arizona, so I can't help you much with that. I have a materials and price list from Pioneer and they don't carry it. If you don't need much you might want to try WalMart garden centers. I've seen bags of it there.

Looking great, Dan! Becky, come visit me and you can get bark chips really cheap from one of two places nearby... we got ours for free last year from one of the lumber suppliers! (You'll need a big trailer to haul it though...).

lol Brenda!

I was wondering how much concrete it was going to take to do the walking pods. So I went out and chalked them out to get some measurements. Now that I've done that and actually seen it on the ground (instead of the picture in my mind) I'm thinking I need to do this phase now too! And I want another boulder now. There's a spot just begging for one in between, and a little behind, the Queen Palm and the Sago in the foreground.