Landscaping with Rocks and Rock Placement

Landscaping with rocks accents a yard in many ways:

• Rocks create borders with flower beds
• Rocks provide contrasting colors
• Rocks are accents between plants

In landscaping our front yard and back yard with rocks, we have used river rock from a nearby canyon and some rocks from the beach.

Using different shapes and size rocks and stones is an easy-on-the-budget way to add beauty and character.

Smaller, smooth and round stones about 2 inches to 3 inches in diameter are perfect for lining between a vegetable garden and walkway.

We have placed larger stones about 1 foot to 2 feet in diameter and probably weighing 40 - 60 pounds around two birch trees and a flowering plum tree. The birch trees have a distinctive white bark while the flowering plum has burgundy-colored leaves that hang low to the ground.

Since we only mow our lawn about twice per month, the larger rocks stand out nicely against the green grass and they offer a marker to the end of our rock stream.

In our backyard, where we have landscaped a path behind our garage we used decomposed granite for the pathway itself. In side of it, we used stones that are 1 foot in diameter we purchased from Home Depot for about $ 2.50 each.

Our newly created flower beds run along a side fence and back fence. We have used rocks in the beds and let flowers grow around them. My wife picked up about a dozen rocks and brought them home. Each one was similar to the sizes in our front yard. I insisted they would be plenty. But as we've placed them I can see we can use several more. Our flower beds are about 3 feet wide and stretch for almost 20 feet and then 15 feet.

While many garden centers supply rocks for purchase, I prefer using ones we find when we hike or when we drive to the canyon. They're a one-time use and I like the idea of using my own sweat and muscle to pick them up while keeping my money in my wallet.

While my home and rocks in Pasadena, California are nothing like Robert Frost's farmer's field in his poem Mending Wall, I nevertheless find them a satisfying element to any landscaping design.