Stairway to Heaven Part 3. The Dock Stairway

If you remember, I had promised to continue the Stairway to Heaven post in Stairway 2

Looking down towards the lake. (If you remember, I used to like to sit on these steps and survey the lake).

 If you turn around, you face another set of steps.

Here you can really see the railway-tie step-building technique.

At the top of this stairway (which eventually leads down to the Dock) is one of our first gardening attempts, the Dock Stairway Garden (DSG).  Over the course of 5 years, David has dug out the grasses and debris between the existing rocks, shifting some and maneuvering others to create a pocket where a plant could be tucked.  The DSG is mosty situated to the left of these steps, however, if you look closely you can see a small planting of sempervivums on the right of the steps.

This technique is called "Developing a natural outcrop" (who'd have thought this is an actual technique!), and I will be showing you our progress in the next post.