We are currently working on a very large, even spectacular landscape design project. One landscape feature we have already created is a rock feature involving boulders weighing up to 24 tons.

Here is one of the massive boulders for this landscape design before installation.

The installation was a technical challenge. We weren’t even sure if we could get the crane in there, and we had to demolish part of the house before the crane could get through. Fortunately, the house was going to be demolished anyway. The crane had to lift the truck carrying the boulders over a bridge because the truck was too heavy to cross the bridge. We also were not entirely certain how deep we could dig without hitting the water table, but fortunately we had no problem with that.

Below you can see one of the giant boulders being set into concrete. Whenever you see a really massive boulder in a landscape, if it is properly installed, generally about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rock is under ground so that it is securely planted in the earth. In this particular case, we added concrete underground, connecting the rock to the concrete foundation with heavy rebar, grounding the rocks securely even though there is less than 1/3 of the rock underground on the side away from the house. In this way, we are preserving the looming height of the rock which juts dramatically upward 14 feet from the ground on that side.

We handled these 24-ton rocks very gingerly because they are moss rocks and the client really wanted these mossy surfaces to be undamaged by the installation process.

Here is the same boulder being set into concrete re-enforcement.

And in the picture below we can begin to see what the final product will look like from the house. From this side, they present a much more modest six foot tall form, which is something of an optical illusion. As you walk around the rocks, you suddenly find the rocks are 14 feet tall on the other side.

Not only will this provide a main focal point from all aspects of the property, but it will also provide a backdrop accenting different forms of the garden.

Here is the final product as seen from the house.

I always enjoy projects that involve inclusion of massive boulders that incorporate the surrounding landscape and nature with what has been created within.