IT TAKES A long time to create a good garden. Put and Marion Blodgett know this from experience – though the row they had to hoe was a bit more rocky than most. In 1992 the Blodgetts built a house on top of ledge near the end of Pout Pond Lane in Lyme, NH. They had to blast the ledge to get a basement – enough to supply a rock quarry for a few years, from the looks of the old photos. They used that stone, and what they have today is truly marvelous.

From the house and the wraparound decks one can see gardens in every direction. These are rock gardens: huge slabs of moss-covered rock and smaller flat stones creating stairs and pathways. Rock is everywhere, and Put and Marion Blodgett used the techniques of the Egyptians to get much of it in place: inclined planes, levers, rollers – along with jacks and a come-along. I would estimate that some of the stones weigh in at many hundred pounds, yet they were placed so carefully they look as if Mother Nature had planted them.

Marcy & Sophia Sevi help plant a garden plot near the library in Roxbury. Photo by Sue Nevins, The Northfield News Unlike most rock gardens, these rock gardens are full of many plants favored in an English cottage garden – peonies, iris, bachelor buttons and low-growing evergreen shrubs and rhododendrons. This was made possible by two things: first, the boulders were arranged so that deep pockets of rich soil could be created. Secondly, there is a high canopy of oaks and maples that provide some shade but allow sun to reach the plants.

A rock garden in full sun on a steep south-facing hillside like theirs would bake most garden plants. But these mature trees provide some relief – they’ve been limbed up to a height of 30 feet or more (their lower branches removed) creating the feel of a cathedral. It is a cool spot with dappled sunshine.

Blodgett Rock Garden Put Blodgett would be the first to admit that he is a curmudgeon though all who know and love him agree. He started out using chemical fertilizers in the gardens but has, with a harrumph and a grumble, been converted to organic fertilizers and compost – largely at the prompting of Sandy Price, Marion’s grown daughter. Sandy is a local landscaper (www.silverferngardendesign. com) who has guided and advised Put and Marion in the design and plant selection.

Although he will be 79 this summer, Put carries two pickup truck loads of compost down the steep slopes of the main garden every year – in 5 gallon buckets, as the grade is much too steep for wheelbarrows. He top dresses the plants each spring or fall to keep the soil rich and biologically active.

Put Blodgett is a perfectionist, and the gardens reflect this – that and the fact that he and Marion love to work in the gardens. Peonies, one of the most wonderful kinds of plants to grow, are often plagued by weak stems that flop over in the rain, particularly the double peonies that are full of petals. To avoid that they ordered their peonies from a supplier in Michigan, Reath’s Nursery (www.reathsnursery. com or 906-563-9777) that has, since 1961 specialized in breeding peonies with stems strong enough that one does not have to stake or ring them. So their peonies have no supports, but stand up proud, even on rainy days.

Another impressive plant in the rock garden is the gas plant (Dictamnus alba), one of the most fragrant flowers I know. The plant comes in white or pinky lavender and has a strong citrus odor. If you squeeze one of the blossoms on the two-foot tall stems in the evening, it emits a gas (hence the name) that can be ignited with a match or lighter. It is a slow growing plant but once established is very hardy.

I’m not a fan of spirea (Spiraea spp.), which I consider an Industrial Shrub best suited for post office parking lots. But the Blodgetts have one I loved, ‘Mellow Yellow’, which just glowed on the dark rainy morning of my visit. It’s on my “to get” list now.

One of Marion’s favorite plants is a perennial, Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla), called ‘Jack Frost’. This plant has large white-speckled leaves and true blue flowers (a rare color in flowers) in spring. It generally thrives in part sun or morning sun, but is just as happy as the peonies and iris that demand full sun. Go figure.

Salvias come in many colors and varieties, both annual and perennial. One that the Blodgetts grow well is a perennial, a variety called ‘Purple Rain’ (Salvia verticcillata ‘Purple Rain’). This can be an untidy, floppy plant, but in early June the foliage looked great and they said it performs well for them. From what I’ve read, this Zone 4 plant blooms and re-blooms ferociously, but needs extra water its first year to get established, and, like asparagus, it should not be cut the first year – the dried flowers will signal the plant to stop blooming and produce roots.

When I asked Put Blodgett what advice to give gardeners who have access to rock and want a nice rock garden he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “Don’t”. Then he added, “People need to realize they’re going to lug a lot compost and topsoil to make it productive.” And he suggested visiting good rock gardens such as those at the Fells in Newbury, NH(www.thefells/.org).

I hope I have the energy of Put Blodgett when I’m 79. Heck, I’d like to have it now!

Henry Homeyer is the author of 3 gardening books. Contact him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or visit his Web site, www.Gardening Guy.com with your comments.