Designing with rocks and stones
Non-living materials can actually create great gardens. You can accent them with living materials or go totally without any plants at all. Rocks and stones are well adapted to this use. They can be functional or purely decorative and they can take on whatever style you design. Creating non-living gardens on at least a portion of your property will keep maintenance low and water bills even lower. Using stone and gravel creates a permeable surface that keeps water from pooling or running off and eroding channels. Gravel stays clean underfoot so it provides an inexpensive material for foot traffic. It is ideal for pet areas because it is reasonably easy to keep clean and avoids muddy footprints. ¾ inch gravel stays in place better than pea gravel and is easier to clean when it comes to waste material. But for children’s play areas, pea gravel is gentler on the body. Another material that works well for play areas are recycled shredded tires. They come in a selection of colors from the playful to the natural. And another very important attribute of stone and gravel is that it is a nonflammable material. If convenience, beauty, utility and safety are not enough, consider that using rocks, stone and gravel can serve as a very economical material in your landscape design.
There are unlimited materials to choose from, but just sticking to natural and easily available materials, rock, stone and aggregates can offer many ideas. Rocks can make powerful statements as looming boulders. You can use them for focal points, fountains, to frame special features like pools, ponds and entryways. With water features, they can also function as a barrier to accidents. You can use them instead of pilasters along the side of the driveway. If lit at night, they create a beautiful feature while marking out the edges of the roadway. Boulders can be clustered for seating, dropped into water gardens to create islands or set up in play areas for clambering. Medium sized rocks with flat tops can serve as subtle seating or even tables, though I’d keep a table and chairs on hand for comfort and an actual meal elsewhere for a more comfortable picnic. They can form edgings for gardens or driveways. Again, lighting can make them glamorous at night. They can define special areas like sports courts or edge stairways to keep them safe. You can stack them for natural looking walls as well. Flat stone like flagstone can form one style wall while rounded rocks carefully stacked can define another type of wall. Rocks can be spilled into a gully to form a dry riverbed. If it is well designed, a dry riverbed can look downright natural. And if carefully thought out, it can do double-duty by actually converting into the real thing when it rains hard providing a decorative yet safe drainage channel.
A large stone can be painted with your address to help friends locate your house. Marker stones date back to prehistoric times, so I guess they must work pretty well. They certainly can look nice for a natural effect. You can use large stones scattered throughout your landscape to give a rustic or natural look. Stones grouped in odd numbers look the most natural, but if you are going to use a fair number, you can vary the count. Just make sure you don’t put single stones or rocks evenly spaced in rows or dotted – again evenly spaced – around the garden unless you want a very artificial look. Another way to incorporate boulders successfully is to stand one in a grouping on its end to give height. This way you can get the effect of a larger rock without having to move something heavier. With a rounder and flatter boulder to complete the group the set will form a nicely designed statement.
Stones can be found in a wide palette of colors. They can be large, medium or small. Rocks can be smoothly rounded like river rock, flat and layered like flagstone and slate, or free-formed with varied edges. You can use stone all of the same kind to create a contemporary or clean look or you can mix and match to echo a more natural jumble. Using stone of a single color gives a more contemporary or simplistic appearance whereas mixing several colors looks more natural or rustic. Using too many types of stone colors can look too busy or phony. Stones also vary in texture. You can find rough surfaces with volcanic rock -- which usually comes in reds, blacks and grays --, reds, tans, grays and rust colors with crushed or broken bricks, a whole range of colors with chips and gravel and smooth surfaces in many colors with river rocks. For an additional expense you can get tumbled and polished stone in a variety of colors and patterns.
If you want to use colored stone, rock or gravel, there are a few things you may want to keep in mind. Too many colors can look busy and confusing. Unnatural colors work best with a theme: contemporary, cartoon or artistic. Again, limit your palette so there is some continuity. Make sure the color scheme is in harmony with structures, like the house itself. A yellow house might look bizarre with bright red rocks. You can choose colors for special accent, with a contrasting colored boulder taking the role of a focal point or a group of colored rocks placed carefully in an Asian themed garden.
There are also colors available in decomposed granite. They will be more costly than the readily available ‘DG’ that looks just like ordinary soil. But if you want special areas or paths that have the advantages of decomposed granite – soil-like, but less muddy and less expensive than cement or pavers – you can create the illusion of a more expensive coating by using colors. A dark brick color on a path might offer a brick-like informal English garden feel, a terra cotta decomposed granite will accent a Tuscan or Southwestern style nicely. There are blue-grey colors that blend wonderfully with the feel of water or create a unique ultra-modern tone. Use colors that look natural with your surrounding landscape if you want to look native.
If you want to make a bold artistic statement and are not looking for a natural effect, you can paint rocks effectively turning a large rock or a group into your own sculptural creation. You can create masses of stone or rock for effect. Try to avoid piling groups of similar sized rocks that look like a ‘Fido’s dog grave’. Mixed sizes give a natural look and are most effective in freeform shaped areas. Formal looks can mix with natural looking rock or can handle geometric shapes of similar sized rocks.
Flat stone, like shale, flagstone and sandstone can be used in block form or natural pieces. These can be laid out in patios, paths or like stepping stones. You can use them in groups surrounded by gravel, sand or garden areas. Darker colors retain heat and the darkest can get very hot in our summer sun. There are rough textures that do well near water to keep the surface from becoming too slippery. And there are types of stone filled with glittering mica that glisten in the sun.
Cement is now being cast into stone forms that look like boulders. You can also buy blocks that interlock easily to form retaining walls without the complex construction necessary for masonry walls. Concrete can be stamped and surfaced to mimic almost any color or texture of stone. Some of these cast alternatives are labor saving. Most will not save you money. You can lay stone, tile, brick or cast pavers on a sand base that will be permeable to rain creating less wash-off and more flexibility than when cemented in place. If you don’t want the surface to shift and buckle, it is important that such areas are laid properly with a deeply dug foundation of road base and sand. Surface stone can be laid very close together or spaced out. Spaces can then be inter-planted or filled with gravel or sand. These surfaces can be both attractive and practical. And if you end up changing your mind at some future date, you can move the whole area elsewhere without the back-breaking work of chopping cement.
There are so many ways to use brick, block, slabs, rocks, gravel and other stone formations. The structures can be useful, environmental, low-maintenance and beautiful. You can construct walls, fountains, pilasters and more. The applications and uses are limited only by your imagination. Check out books, the internet or call on a professional to augment your ideas. Then build your own landscape -- something that fits your own taste and lifestyle. Design with rocks and stone to make your garden unique!
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