Makin’ Mosaics

I'm not sure when I first became fascinated by mosaic pavings. Perhaps it was while looking at photos of the ancient Roman villa floors of the ruins of Pompeii. Or when traveling to Europe and noticing the intricate pavings in many public sidewalks and streets. Over time, I became aware that this was the paving of antiquity for many cultures, from Asian palaces to the Appian Way.

Mosaic landing at the bottom of our garden

By the early 2000s, it was my paving of choice for the first landing we would create on our hillside. It seemed perfect given that the clay on our hillside expands and contracts seasonally with the winter rains and the dry heat of summer, and there were many readily available materials to use. We had lots of broken red clay roof tiles that a former owner threw down the hill as well as rocks and even discarded orange and gold ceramic tiles with a definite '60s vibe. So I attempted to create a star-like pattern on a semi-circular landing with a round fountain (today a planter) up against the hill. It turned out much cruder—or, shall we say, rustic—than I anticipated, but it quickly became a stopping spot for garden visitors and many have commented on it.

First mosaic in the garden. Made from items found on the hillside

Fast forward a decade and I became of aware of Portland, Oregon artist Jeffrey Bale's wonderful stone and pebble garden mosaics. He was a San Diego Horticultural Society speaker and he dazzled the audience with photos of his artistic creations. I follow Jeffrey's blog as he takes annual winter-long trips exploring gardens around the world. Jeffrey's mosaics are set in mortar and he often collects local rocks to tie the works to their immediate environment.

Our cat, Stanley, resident art enthusiast, enjoying he finished work

Laying cut roof tiles on edge into decomposed granite

Ready for decomposed granite

After adding decomposed granite and wetting down

Steps were added leading up the hill from the landing in fall 2019

Jeffrey became an inspiration for me to create more mosaics. I was determined to add more mosaics to the garden using found, discarded, and recycled items. Several years ago, we had our house re-roofed and I saved a very large pile of broken and leftover red tile. It sat for several years and we slowly used the unbroken pieces to create short retaining walls next to pathways through the garden. However, this left a large pile of broken tiles. After some trial and error, we ended up running them through the tile saw and cutting them into two-inch-wide strips. These were used to surface a flat landing for the shredder halfway down our hill. They were set on end in decomposed granite in several circular patterns. The center of each circle was filled with small rocks from the hillside. The result was something that looked a bit like Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night recreated in terra cotta. However, the resultant landing was too nice for the shredder, which now sits to one side of the landing. I posted a photo of it on Facebook and, much to my surprise, it got shared quite a few times and became the single most liked photo I ever posted.

In 2016, we finally got around to replacing the heavily damaged chain link fence between us and the hotel parking lot at the bottom of our hill. We chose an eight-foot-tall wooden fence, which gives us pretty good privacy from the hotel. However, before it could be installed, we needed to move the two-foot-deep pile of boulders and rocks that had been placed at the bottom of the 200-foot-long fence. We moved and piled them up away from the fence by hand carrying buckets of rocks. I estimate there were about seven tons of rocks. I had long wanted to try using gabions in the garden. Gabions are wire cages filled with rocks and other materials to create retaining walls. I ordered online fifteen three-foot high, eighteen-inch deep cages. Next, we had to excavate the hill and create a flat spot for a landing. As we leveled the landing, we found more rocks that we sorted by size. The cages were then assembled and placed in a seventeen-foot diameter ring with an entrance on one side. Finally, the rocks were used to fill the cages with the best looking rocks on the outside and broken concrete and other objects hidden on the inside. The project then sat untouched through the long hot summer we had that year.

View from the hotel parking lot behind our house just before replacing the fence in 2016

Landing at the bottom of the Garden

After putting our garden project on hold for the  summer, we renewed our efforts during a cool period in August and began creating a mosaic floor for the landing. I knew I would use roof tile left over from a neighbor's recent roof repairs, plus colored bottles, colored decomposed granite, colored rocks from Southwestern Boulder & Stone, and many of the rocks from our property.

Rocks gathered at the bottom of the chainlink fence and relocated into a loose circle

I estimated we moved about 7 tons of rocks one bucket at a time

Rocks put in the gabions arranged in a circle 

Laying out the center

Adding colored rocks and bottles

Early progress

Figuring out how to create the "petals" of the landing

Adding landscape fabric to block oxalis

Laying out more of the design

Test of filing in one petal

More progress

Adding colored decomposed granite

There was no formal plan for the mosaic, but I envisioned a design something like a large Mexican Talavera tile. We drove a piece of rebar in the center of the circle and tied a string for measuring to keep the emerging design centered on the middle of the landing. As it took shape, there was a center circle of stone surrounded by six large petals, each with many curves and curlicues and highlighted with blue and green bottles. I photographed the progress, reviewed the pictures in the evenings, and made slight changes to the overall design the next day.

Slowly, the design emerged. An outer ring outlined by more roof tile and filled with rust-colored chipped rock and more blue bottles completed the landing. After looking at it for several days, I had my garden assistant, Kathy, make a few slight changes, fix some problem areas, and finally spray it with decomposed granite (DG) stabilizer—a water-based product that looks like thin Elmer's Glue that hardens to hold the DG in place.

Adding caps to top of the gabions and blue bottles and rocks to the uphill side

Custom pavers were ordered to create a hard seating surface on top of the gabions. Unfortunately, I chose a color that was too pink, so we stained the pavers a darker brown and then sealed them.

Hillside steps and stairs

Next up was creating a mosaic pathway leading to the landing and a new set of steps to lead down into it. Many of the remaining large rocks were upended to outline the pathway and steps. Small rocks set on their side and aligned in rows were used to fill the gaps between the steps. The pathway was also laid with mosaics using more rocks and the remaining red tile. A series of floral designs were created linked by one large 'vine' of blue rocks and another 'vine' of larger rocks. At one end, where several pathways joined a medallion, a pattern similar to the large mosaic landing was built.

Laying out star medallion where several paths join 

Laying out landing with twining rocks

After decomposed granite was added

Complete walkway

Building steps into the landing

Steps leading to the new large landing

Finally, a new set of over seventy winding steps were built that go up the hillside that join with the landing by the shredder higher up on the hill. There is also a landing midway up the new steps with a built-in seat to stop, catch your breath, and enjoy the garden. These steps are also filled with rows of rocks and small floral designs. These steps, along with another set that was constructed the previous winter on the other side of the property, create a large looped pathway for viewing the native garden and terminate at the new large mosaic landing.

Installing steps to the bottom

View looking uphill at new steps

The mosaics on the steps turned out so well that we are now re-laying some of the previously-existing steps with rock mosaics. The dirt that was dug out for the large mosaic landing was used to create a semi-circular berm on the downhill side of the landing. It has been planted with protea and banksia that hopefully, someday, will create a floral backdrop. Countless low water plantings of aloes, cacti, Euphorbia, agaves, and African and Australian plants are currently being added to surround the landing with plants.

Garden assistant, Kathy, has taken over laying out mosaics on steps and landings in the garden

Another of Kathy's creations

We are very happy with the way mosaics have enhanced our garden, and we enjoy sharing them, and our garden, with others.

Hillside covered with California poppies in spring 2019 superbloom

An Aloe 'Hercules' was added to the center of the circle in August 2019

In 2019 a gabion on the far side of the circle was removed to connect to pathways in the lower garden

The gabion removed from the large circular landing was used to create a seat part way up the hillside

The hillside in December 2019 as viewed from above the aloe garden