Stepping Stones Ideal on Rainy Days
On those rainy days, or right after you’ve watered, wouldn’t it be nice to step into the garden to, say, prune a rose or pull a weed, without getting your feet muddy? What a treat it would be to then walk to the far corner and deposit those weeds in the compost pile without even getting your shoes wet.
You certainly don’t want to walk on garden beds when they’re wet. Stepping on soil compacts the particles so that air and water have a hard time reaching the roots, undoing any effort you have put into digging and amending the dirt in garden beds.
The solution is simple: Garden stepping stones can lead you across the garden or simply give you a solid place to land when you must step into a flower bed. They’ll keep your shoes dry and disperse your weight so feet don’t make such an impact on the garden.
We’re not talking about slabs of stone or concrete that can weigh a ton but about new lightweight steps made of tough resins often combined with pulverized rock. (The editor of this section has been testing two of these discovered at TJ Maxx for $8 to $10 in his own garden; he reports that they are very sturdy.)
If you shop around, you may be surprised to find out how many interesting stepping stones--made of resin or traditional concrete--are available. I found more than could fit in the trunk of my car--or on this page. Each costs less than $20, with those made of lightweight resin generally being the most expensive.
When early gardeners first thought of keeping their feet dry, they used flattish stones, and these are still a handsome choice, though sometimes a little tipsy. Circular or rectangular concrete pavers are easy to find and, if they’re large enough, very stable. In my own garden, I’ve used 2-by-2-foot concrete squares to make all the paths and even part of the patio, but we were intrigued by the wealth of new decorative and often intricate designs that have appeared in the last year or two.
There are stepping stones that use Celtic, Gothic and Edwardian designs, steps shaped like plants and animals, even sunflower-shaped stepping stones. One of the resin kinds copies a classic architectural acorn design from the Biltmore Estate built in North Carolina in 1895.
Some have openings large enough to plant in. You could tuck a sweet-smelling thyme or a tiny pink-flowered sea thrift in one to add interest to your path.
Use just one in front of a garden spigot to keep feet from getting muddy in that frequently soggy spot or put them here and there inside wide garden beds so you can step among the flowers without compacting the soil. They will disperse your weight, and roots appreciate the cool ground underneath.
In my own garden beds I’ve put several of the more interesting shapes about two feet inside my 5-foot-wide beds so I can step inside to prune the roses or add more flowers. From a slight distance, they are barely visible; when you do catch sight of them, the intricate patterns are a pleasant surprise.
Especially nice for this purpose are the animal and flower shapes, though I used the classic designs made by Cloverleaf Stone Guild in Ventura. Owner Joe Kleemann restores ancient metal and ceramic art objects for the Getty Museum and private collectors, so coming up with the classic Gothic, Edwardian, Druid, Celtic, French and Chinese designs was a natural. He also makes most of the clever designs found in the Smith & Hawkins catalog.
They’re made of a reasonably lightweight concrete with a reinforcing mesh embedded in each, so they are not too heavy and are unlikely to crack. Most have some kind of cutout in the design, so I have planted things in each opening. They cost around $12 each. These and other stepping stones are often stained with earthy colors if they are concrete, or the resin is a green or slate color.
Use them individually or line up a bunch for a garden path. Even on a lawn they help keep shoes from getting wet on the dewy grass. All of these can simply be set on the ground after it has been leveled by hand. On the lawn, put them where you want, then cut the sod around them with a sturdy knife and scoop out the soil with a trowel. Use a short board to level the soil in the bottom.
Or set them on an inch-thick base of builder’s sand if you want to keep them from rocking or tipping.
Part of the step should by buried--surrounded and supported by soil--but enough should be exposed to keep your sturdy place to step from being flooded during a downpour.
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Stepping stones are available at Armstrong’s The Home and Garden Place in West Los Angeles, Heart’s Country Gardens in Westminster and Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Garden Events
Walks, Talks, Shows and Special Sales
Monday: A walk to see the ceanothus in bloom, 12:10-12:50 p.m., at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, (805) 682-4726. Admission: $3, adults; $2, seniors and students; $1, children.
Wednesday: A class on selecting and growing cymbidium orchids, 9 a.m., at Sherman Gardens, 2647 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar, (714) 673-2261. Cost $25, reservations required.
Saturday-April 14: The Spring Festival of Flowers with thousands of flowers in bloom and special displays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, with a cut flower show March 23-24, at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge, (818) 952-4401. Admission: $5, adults; $3, seniors and students; $1, children.
Saturday-March 24: Ikebana International Japanese flower arranging show, noon-4:30 p.m Saturday (demonstration at 1:30 p.m.) and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday (demonstrations at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.), at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, (818) 447-8207. Admission: $5, adults; $3, seniors and students; $1, children.
Saturday-March 24: California Bonsai Society show, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., with demonstrations both days at 1 p.m., at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, (818) 405-2141. Admission: $7.50, adults; $6, seniors, $4 students and children.
March 24: A talk on “Secrets of Cymbidium Culture,” 2 p.m., at South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula, (310) 544-1948. Admission: $5, adults; $3, seniors and students; $1, children.
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Send garden announcements to Garden Events, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles CA 90053, at least three weeks before the event date.
