Tabby, I hope your engagement in Longmont went well.
Carey, Speaking of limestone, I remember planting five Old Blush roses in a bed in Round Rock, TX. The bed was created by removing sod and digging. I wish I had just stuck a shovel into the ground to test it before deciding to plant there. There was limestone within six inches of the surface. But I was young then. And I had a digging iron. Over the course of twenty or thirty minutes I managed to hollow out a hole that was eighteen inches deep and two feet wide for the first rose. The second hole was a little smaller. I took a long break and had a cool drink. The third hole was, smaller yet. By the time I got to the fifth my hands were blistered, I was beat, and the hole was just a few inches bigger than the 2 gallon rose. Months later it was really easy to tell what I had done. The roses grew in proportion to the size of the hole. It looked pretty funny.
Porkpal, I was happy to see rocks in Austin. And sad to live so far from them in NJ. I think that the pleasures of living in Texas are redoubled if one lives near rocks and water. Sounds like you did pretty well in your choice.
We chose this location in Prescott for many reasons, but an important one was the rocks. Granite rocks have a profound effect on me. I do love how they look. A contractor once told us that the value of the boulders could be estimated at about $1.00 per pound. If that were true, I guess we have a couple million dollars worth of boulders. Of course, about $1.05 of that value lies in transportation and mark-up: if we were to decide we didn't like them, we'd probably have to pay to have them removed. In a gardening sense, they can be viewed as decorations. Or as very large bits of mulch, preventing evaporation over large areas. They make the growth of certain perennials that need water a little more viable. But they can also mean that on a 2.4 acre lot you can plant 0.4 acres of plants.
