Thursday, April 14, 2011

Cool DIY Hypertufa Boulders

I love this stuff! Ever heard of Hypertufa (pronounced hyper-toofa)? It's a 3 part mixture of Portland cement, peat moss, and perlite. It looks really cool, and makes long lasting garden plant containers, fake rocks and boulders, stepping stones, wonderfully whimsical garden spheres and all sorts of decorative garden accents. It looks alot like lava rock, the peat moss eventually decomposes and leaves pits, the perlite keeps it light weight. Just smooth it over a form or mold, let it properly cure (dry) and you’ll have a very durable DIY garden art treasure for years to come.
A quick google image search shows many great examples, and there's plenty of instructions already available online (search 'hyperturfa' also) On DIY shows I've seen them mix living green moss and buttermilk in a blender and just 'paint' it on the rocks.


I love these leaves. I could use my giant elephant ear leaves to make an impression.

But really I want to jump right in with a big project like the boulder below.
I have a small pump I would like to disguise and muffle the motor sound. I'm thinking this would be perfect because I could leave it open in the back for air circulation. Plant some flowers around it would look like it's always been there.

We are digging a small pond in the future, these could be used for that too. It would be fun to have a small waterfall feature in it.


I could line the edge with hypertufa rocks made to fit.