So far only initial placement of maybe 2500kg of native granite and soil. That’s maybe 1/5th of the final load with this bed maybe 1/3rd finished.

This one has taken a year of trying to get funding approved. The site was originally a pollinator garden that was poorly planned and implemented by non-horticulturists. It took several dozens of hours of labour per year just to look terrible and achieve none of its goals. The only upside to it existing is that I was able to harvest like 50 native snowberry bushes that still seem to be surviving, mostly from this particular bed.

We are redeveloping it into a crevice garden, a planting style where rocks are arranged to recreate the plant communities in high alpine settings. The rocks are oriented as if they’re one formation that has been naturally eroded by wind and water. Each gap between the rocks is its own microclimate, sheltering a plant from weather extremes while trapping water and nutrients in tiny soil pockets. The project will include 3+ beds in different styles matching the Rockies behind them. By Spring it will be fully planted, while I expect it to take three years before those plants are fully established. Hopefully it will help inspire xeriscaping efforts from the people who visit the park, one of our most visible public spaces. Recreating the landscape we paved over makes a far more interesting and beautiful lawn than grass. If I had control over the geology of this project it would have told a 1.5 billion year story with plants across 2500m of elevation difference within a two hour drive.