Art in the garden -- adding a statue here, a wall plaque there -- is usually decoration, not function. Even a fountain is an adornment, unless it doubles as a birdbath. But in Jeffrey Bale's garden ...

Age has a way of changing things. For example, for years, the stone mosaic and flagstone-surrounded firepit patio in our back yard was a focal point for family entertaining. Then the kids grew older ...

MOSAICS ARE all about the materials, explains Jeffrey Bale, who spends a third of his time on any project sorting through piles of pebbles for just the right ones. The Portland native was recently ...