Looking for advice, tips and tricks on the construction of a mini mountain rock garden with height.
Parameters:
1) It'll be a one person job; I can lift and set real stones to 50 pounds per, but if a portion of it can be made of lighter man-made materials I'm all for it. Could hypertufa be incorporated in the design?
2) Sans machinery to lift, dump or carry. All off-site materials will be personally handled by me, and ferried home with a large truck and small trailer.
3) Prefer a fairly natural look when finished, in all four seasons; one of which suffers negative number temps.
4) Variable heights, with planting crevices from bottom to top.
Musings:
I can do a mortar and rock wall type of thing, but I'm not too sure that I'll be fond of the non-natural form.
I really like the look of slate, but will using it allow for a cohesive design if I'm also using field rock and/or faux rock?
I'm thinking that a dry wall stack using slate for the height might be my best bet. If so, how deep does the earthworm gravel barrier need to be, or would I need it at all for a flat stack?
What do you think? Any tips toward answering these questions will be greatly appreciated.
