Fast And Easy Landscaping With Fake Rocks

Landscaping rocks play a key role in many front yard landscape areas. But many homeowners shy away from using them because they are super heavy, tough to work with and a real challenge to color match with the specific hues of the nearby homes' siding. Well a new breed of plastic landscaping rocks is changing all of that!

In the past any kind of artificial rock was laughably man-made. Shiny, glossy, and blatantly plastic these stuck out like sore thumbs when placed out in the yard amongst their naturally made brothers and sisters.

Fake rocks that actually look real and won't have you dialing 911 every time you try to move them? Yes indeed! Plus these new rocks can even serve a purpose in life like hiding ugly water wells, septic caps, vents, backflows and utility boxes! What a treat! Now you can trade in that big ugly slab of metal out in the front yard for a super realistic slab of faux granite! It really is easy, and even better is the fact that all you really need to do is measure the object you want to cover and then select a rock large enough to do the job.

Almost every yard has them as accents: rocks and boulders. Not only do they look natural and blend in well with shrubs, bushes and flowers but they can be used in a variety of different ways:

1) They can be used to outline driveways and entry way paths;

2) They can be used as house address markers;

3) They can be used to accent mulched and edged landscaped areas;

4) Some even use them as driveway entrance monuments;

5) Hollow design allows them to cover utilities in the yard;

There's no shortage of ways a homeowner can use landscaping rocks. In fact the main problem has never been one of "How should I use it?" Or "Where Should It Go?", instead the problem is usually "How the heck do I get this heavy slab of granite over to where I want it without renting a Bobcat or End-Loader?"

Practically everyone wants these lawn and garden wonders, but no one really wants to deal with putting them in place or moving them around the yard. Afterall, these things can way a ton, and the last thing we want is a strained back with all the gardening and weeding that needs to be done, right?

Several years ago landscaping companies saw the need for lightweight fake rocks that folks could easily use to decorate their lawns and gardens. Initially they were made of concrete and painted, but the concrete was heavy, and paint only lasts a couple years at most outside before flaking away and fading. Fiberglass versions were also sold, but these proved prone to damage and U.V. degradation, not to mention the wicked slivers handling them can cause. Plastic was next, and it worked well but the problem was appearance. Man plastic models made today are extremely smooth and shiny. They just look fake!

Fortunately for us there's a whole new molding process now that takes recycled plastic, mixes it with pieces of organic material, and molds it into ultra realistic rocks that have a matte finish on the exterior. This way they look great and don't have that cheap, shiny, plastic appearance to them.

The glory of these new models is that they are light weight and easy to move around. If you don't like how one looks in a particular spot, it's easy to pull the anchor stakes and move it to another location. These fake rocks come in a wide variety of different sizes, shapes and colors to fit almost any landscaping ambience. Some models are even hollow so you can flip them over wells, septics, vents and other ugly stuff.

Now keep in mind these are to be used more as accents and not in situations where rocks are needed for a retaining wall or drainage plain retention area. These applications can be under a lot of stress caused from the soil and or water pushing up against the stones. You don't want to go building a levy or a dam using these resin varieties. They will float away and you'll be standing in water looking rather annoyed! These are purely for aesthetic purposes where a little bit of flair is needed to spruce of the landscaping without having to break your back in the process.

OK they aren't all just fluff though. They do have a bit of magic up their sleeves. Being hollow in design there's a nice amount of space underneath them that just begs to be used to hide ugly yard utilities like water wells, septic risers, vents, irrigation backflows, utility boxes and more. You know, all those ugly objects in your yard that you wish would just go away. Well now you can make them go away or at least pretend to go away underneath a plastic rock.

Some manufacturers specifically designed the different models in sizes to best cover a wide variety of yard and garden utilities. Brilliant thinking and very helpful for home and property owners looking to amp up the curb appeal!

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