Just before COVID hit, our chapter had agreed to do a re-build of the Marie Azary Rock garden, It was a small tufa garden, and with a quick redesign by Bob Grese (then Director) with our Chapter advising, we got started. The new plan involved more area, more tufa, more relief, and a design that centered around a dell to maximize microhabitats based on exposure and elevation.

So off we went — and suddenly crashed to a halt when everything shut down with COVID. We just barely got the outline laid out. But last fall, we started up again, started building up the dell, got some more tufa, and things are looking good.

Once we got the outline of the dell started , we started to work on the narrow (S) side, firming up the outline, and building height. The largest pieces of tufa were mostly on top, as they will retain the most water. The soil used was a fairly heavy moisture-retentive loam. Most of the planting will be on the tufa, so a moisture retentive soil will help wick water to the tufa and keep it moist longer.

We needed lots of soil to build up the spine of this lobe of the garden, and lots of helping hands.

Here is the upper part of this lobe. But more soil and more tufa later, we are getting up there.

This truck load of tufa got us to the end of the season.

Below, we can see the high point starting to take shape with more tufa.

Here is a view up the dell, with the highest point in place — just about all we could do last fall

We finished up the ridgeline along the south side, with a small section of tufa crevices, to have more habitat diversity. Should be great for Daphnes.

What’s next? The south section is done, and after settling over the winter, we first need to get the garden weeded. The richer soil will have lots of weed seeds, some perennial and nasty. Then, we will be ready for planting. We’ll keep you posted.

And we will also need to have work days for the north side, after getting yet more tufa.

Come help out — we’ll let you know when things start up.