This class on Saturday is a little spendy ($90, including lunch), but I've always wanted to build a stone wall across the front yard. Haven't you? A talk on the ancient art of dry stack stone ...

For those homeowners who feel au naturel is the way to go, real stone affords a beautiful, substantial and timeless garden or retaining wall or even a flower bed border.

On this breezy day, Mr. Patterson works on restoring a dry stack wall in a history-rich suburb of Nashville. "It's a craft that's been going on throughout the world for hundreds of years, really.

Call it natural minimalism – the über site-appropriate design is realized in large part through the dry stacked stone walls which tame the landscape and provide a natural façade. The exterior ...