I recently joined a Facebook group & she's wanting to do a small group exchange where a name is drawn & everyone in the group will send 5 things to that person (group size will only be 3 or 4 people). Some of us (like me) are just getting started & either don't have enough plants or don't know how to take cuttings. The lady over the group is fine with that & says we can send fairy garden stuff, etc. I plan to send some small petrified wood we have but what are some other ideas to send for enthusiasts?

Petrified wood? As in the agate/chalcedony petrified wood? And sorry for being completely off topic..

Some small red or black lava rock (about the size of fine gravel) for top dressing. Or any kind of decorative rock in that size range.

The previous owners collected petrified wood, quartz crystal, & iron ore from somewhere around here. They even put it in the house when they added on. There was an arrowhead or spearhead the owner's son pointed out to us but was missing by the time we moved in. My husband believes one of his ex-friends is the guilty party because he was only one of a few he showed it too. Its in the long vertical strip.

I just thought the petrified wood would look interesting amongst cacti or succulents.

Interesting. Is this it?is this some sort of petrified wood?


Its difficult scratch with pretty much anything and a bit translucent. Also @Daisyl , maybe you can help as well?
As for the exchange: depends. zone 8b means not a lot of succulents to be found. If i recall, agaves, yuccas, some aloes, semps, delosperma, dwarf globular cacti, opuntiads and some echinopsis - trichocereus. So, you are very likely to meet people also growing in pots. I suggest getting some, idk what you'd call, small size material? Gravel(in different colors) , decorative pumice(like baja said, lava rock), jasper pebbles, crushed brick etc.
The next photo ended up being a completely bungled up failure, but not because of the rocks

This one is still ok

Just some ideas..

I'm no expert but that does look like petrified wood to me. Where would I get the pumice or lava rocks? Is that the same stuff you see where they sell fish aquarium supplies?

Yes but usually its more expensive than the stuff found at nurseries/plant stores.
There was also talk that you can find pumice in dry stall or something called like that. Something for horses i think.

I have found lava rocks at the nursery (sometimes) and the pet store (more expensive).

It doesn't look like petrified wood to me, but it looks interesting.

My other guesses are spodumene...but not entirely sure on that either. Could also be some weird type of feldspar...

It looks like like a form of agate to me. silica is hard to scratch with most normal things. There are quite a few forms of agate/silica that make you think of petrified wood, so you usually want to see some features that you can clearly relate to the structure of the wood it replaced. Unfortunately just stripes running through the agate is not enough as there are plenty of ways during agate formation that you can form striping.

If you could provide the photo of the bottom of your piece there might be more to see that would help.

The thing is a bit damaged(i mean, it was excavated so...)
bottom and top



Also spent time looking for photos of striated chalcedony/agate.
Doesnt happen as much as youd think...

Idk though,
It does look like the genuine(if this is genuine that is) thing
https://images.squarespace-cdn...

It is translucent enough that light passes through on the "scab" free thinner parts.
Trying to scratch it with steel leaves a streak which can be cleaned of the specimen.

If you believe that rock in the picture is actually petrified wood. Calling something petrified wood rather than a nice piece of pink agate increases the price you can ask for it dramatically.

Not saying it cannot be petrified wood, just that it looks like many other pieces of regular agate/calcedony/silicate I have come across over the years doing geology fieldwork . Without proper context or really obvious signs it is hard to know for sure. To me your piece does not show any obvious signs of being petrified wood, which makes it unlikely but not impossible that it is petrified wood, just hard to say for sure.
Same with the piece of rock you link to. I am sure it could be, but when I see the price tag I get a little suspicious given how little in that piece of rock screams petrified wood at me.

Hmmm. But its some kind of chalcedony, yes?

@Sumire is a geologist. Maybe she can help.

Well, now I'm wondering if what we've been calling petrified wood is really that.

Skopje - I am also almost positive that your rock is a piece of agate or chalcedony. I would agree with mcvansoest that calling it petrified wood is premature. I do not see any evidence of wood grain type features typical of GOOD petrified wood (some is so finely preserved that you can see individual cell walls). It does have agate patterns suggestive of striping, but that is typical of almost all agates. So my answer: probably not, but I would want to flip it over and over in my hands in a bright light before I declared myself certain either way.

I am almost positive that the pink rock you provided the link to is NOT petrified wood. I would agree that it has none of the features you would typically see. (I could be wrong though, if the next picture was of the back and showed a nice wood grain pattern....)

Kathy - Looking at the pile, I think some is petrified wood. Most is not, and that yellow thing on the bottom is a brick, I think. Please don't feel bad that your husband's ex-best friend stole the arrowhead. Looking at the photo, it is a piece of slate or shale (not an arrowhead or spear point).

Mcvansoest - you are a geologist too? Awesome!

Sumire, yes, I also am a geologist, but these days I am mostly a lab rat. Started out in volcanology/geochemistry, then volcanology/geothermal energy exploration related work for which I moved to the US, where I saw a lot of silica related minerals/deposits and a whole lot of area of the western US, now I run a geochemistry/geochronology laboratory at Arizona State University, so most of my work related field days are behind me. However, I get to be part of a lot of different projects working on rocks from a lot of different geological settings. Recently I have worked on Martian meteorites, lunar samples brought back to Earth during the Apollo program, but also on rocks from a mountain range almost in my back yard here in Arizona (about 15-20 miles up the road), so lots of fun.

Cacti, Agaves and other mostly drought tolerant plants are my big hobby.

Here is a giant piece of petrified wood that they keep outside one of the department's buildings on campus, you can still see clear evidence for the presence of growth rings and even bark:



As many of you will probably know Petrified Forest National Park is in Arizona and it is pretty impressive. I have been there are few times, but for some reason I have no great pictures of it. I will have to remedy that!