A while ago, my sisters and I were given a couple of Magic Rocks kits. My sisters mostly followed the directions, but I decided to crush the little pellets into powder and put them in all at once, instead of in two batches like I was supposed to. 

And the result was beautiful. The very bottom of the jar was layered and swirled and dotted with about a third of an inch of sky blue and aquamarine and purple and white and lime green. The top of that was a carpet of dark green, a grass base that extended upwards in some places to beautiful branching plants that verged on pure yellow as they neared their tips, which were adorned with delicate white flowers. A vine climbed one side of the jar, becoming paler as it drew towards the lid, and deep green flecks like tiny bits of moss grew on other parts of the glass wall. 

The water became tinted green too. I put the jar in my window and it colored the sunlight that splashed my wall delicate shades of emerald and chartreuse. 

Now, several months later, I have taken a close look at the jar again. 

The plants have become thinner and fuzzy around the edges, with less defined variations of color. The water is slightly clearer, and a yellower green. In some places the fuzz is like a dandelion, in some places like algae floating through the water, in others like cobwebs linking one plant to another. The garden is alive. Only below the grass has nothing changed. 

I will definitely be growing more rock gardens in the future.