One of Bill Lowe’s birdbaths
When a colleague bragged several years ago about the four-ton rock he bought for his wife, I knew I wasn’t alone.
Tim Price gave Erika a boulder for their first wedding anniversary. She wanted a big rock — “the largest they had” — and not for her finger, he says.
Most romantic gift ever, I thought.
A sundial created from natural stone by Bill Lowe
Rocks rock! They don’t rust, rot or freeze. They add a forest glade ambiance to any landscape and they can hold treasured memories, like Tim’s gift. But here in Florida, a good rock can be hard to find; most of mine were hauled 
home in suitcases. Which is why I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered Bill Lowe, proprietor of On the Rocks in Winter Garden, north of Orlando.
Bill transforms river rocks, fieldstone, granite and other non-natives into birdbaths and dog bowls, sundials and steppingstones. I haven’t found anyone doing exactly the same thing at an affordable price, and I’ve searched. A lot!
You won’t find Bill on the internet; he’s more obessed craftsman than salesman. And he’s got a day job. He has a degree in plant and soil science and works for Bright View Landscape Service. While he devotes hours to creating, he sells at just one plant festival a year: Spring Fever in the Garden, the Bloom and Grow Garden Society’s annual April extravaganza in Winter Garden. Which is where I found him nearly two years ago.
Bill brings his smaller creations to the show, and a large photo of one of his birdbaths, because they’re too heavy to haul back and forth. I admired everything I saw at his booth in 2018, but that birdbath! It looked like it had sprouted fully formed straight from the earth.
I don’t do $200 impulse buys, so I waited, and a couple weeks later, when I couldn’t get it out of my head, I searched through the business cards I’d collected at Spring Fever. I couldn’t find Bill’s.
I contacted Bloom and Grow, which advised me it doesn’t share vendor names. (Browsers beware!) I searched the internet night after night and asked on Facebook gardening pages but found no Bill or anything like what he makes at a price I could afford.
Here’s the birdbath I chose. It stands about a foot tall, with another 1 to 2 inches embedded in quick-set concrete. The angled base has rebar “feet,” but this style needs concrete for stabilization when the basin is mounted.
In spring 2019 I again found Bill at Spring Fever, and I finally visited his home in November to satisfy my birdbath lust — and my curiousity!
It all started in 2010, he says, when he and his wife, Sharon, bought a home on a gorgeous wooded acre in rural Orange County.
“I didn’t want concrete birdbaths and a lot of fake stuff, so I thought I could make my own,” he says. “I made one, and then another and another.”
Sharon loved his creations, and Bill branched out. He created water bowls for their dachshunds, Nathan and Lois. The couple quickly realized all of their animals always go to their stone bowls first.
“I don’t know — is there something in the stones that gives the water a better flavor?” Sharon wonders.
Soon, they had stone art everywhere they looked, inside and out — and they couldn’t bear to let a single piece go. “Now we’re crazy,’‘ Sharon admonished, and On the Rocks was born.
Bill buys his rocks from Smokey Valley Stone Co. in Clermont and Pebble Junction, Inc., in Sanford. Some announce their destiny immediately; others take awhile.
For birdbaths, he carefully pairs bases and basins, looking for a natural match. Anything with a bowl starts with a 
chalk circle; then he digs in with an angle grinder, popping out chunks. It takes pricey diamond blades to cut most rocks, and he polishes with $20 sanders that wear out after a rock or two.
“I’ve had people ask why they’re so expensive. It’s the equipment,” he says.
Truth is, Bill’s modest. His creations are a bargain. All my online searching turned up mostly faux stone — concrete castings and resin. The natural stone birdbaths I found mostly lacked his artistry and cost hundreds of dollars, plus a couple hundred to ship. 
Today, Bill and Sharon live on a 7-acre homestead with Sharon’s mom, not far from downtown Winter Garden. They help her out with the scenic property, which includes a house, barn, gardens, tilapia-filled pond and, now, a vista of Bill’s stone creations.
He still doesn’t get excited about parting with his creations, but if you promise it a good home, he seems reassured. And if you’re lucky, he may give you a garden tour.
Reach Bill at govols219@gmail.com. He doesn’t ship — you’ll need to pick up larger pieces at his home, which is about 80 miles from downtown Tampa. Find smaller ones at Spring Fever in the Garden plant festival, April 4-5 in Winter Garden.
