For many homeowners, one of the more difficult parts of custom landscaping is knowing how to choose the best stones for the various aspects of your design. And when you search landscaping stone near me, you are looking to find great quality and expert help.
The Beauty of Landscaping with Real Rock
Landscaping stone is a great way to enhance and improve not only the style of your property but also its functionality and relaxation for you and your family. It is one of the necessary elements when designing and planning out your landscaping. A certain sense of uniqueness is created for your property – the kind that only real landscape rock can provide.
There can be a world of difference between using rock you’ve picked up or dug up from your yard versus those purchased at a well-inventoried landscape supply store. There is an amazing array of virtually any color, shape, size, and texture of stone available to you. Some of these will bring a particular warmth and beauty to your unique design. However, one important rule is making sure your choice suits the style of your project, rather than simply following the latest trends.
Five Tips for Choosing the Right Landscaping Stone
Here are some landscaping stone ideas that are sure to enhance the beauty of your yard and be pleasing to the eye.
- Choose the right stone for your home’s style.
- Choose the best stone proportions.
- Consider what traffic will be on or near the stones.
- Mix and match your stone choices.
- Mix and match landscaping stone with other materials.
1. Choose the right stone for your home’s style.
However, one important rule is making sure your choice suits the style of your project, rather than simply following the latest trends. For many, this means they choose stone colors that complement their home and any existing outdoor living spaces. Likewise, the type of stone matters.
For example, tidy square porcelain or stone tiles present a very clean and modern type of image and look. Whereas, if one prefers a more rustic motif, that can be accomplished with a choice of flagstone with natural, uneven edges.
Another easy example where we see this is in the choice of decorative gravel. You can create important color themes, as seen in the difference between red lava rock, black lava rock, clean white gravel, and rainbow gravels (see picture below). Other distinctive styles can be attained with smooth pebbles vs. trap rock or crushed rock, or say, porous holey limestone boulders vs. smooth Huron boulders.
2. Choose the best stone proportions.
Another stone characteristic is the proportion of the landscaping rock to your project. If you are creating a flower bed in a small space up next to your house, you probably don’t want a large boulder there! By the same token, when creating a barrier or boundary between a parking area and a deck or yard (see top picture), a large boulder can offer the perfect stone choice.
Boulders are great for focal points and features in a large yard or near tallgrass, where smaller rocks can look insignificant or even be obscured.
3. Consider what traffic will be on or near the stones.
Whether there will be foot traffic on or around the stones can be a determining factor in the stone you choose. If you are going to have small children playing or running in the area, you may want to choose a rubber mulch or pea gravel as opposed to crushed gravel or rugged boulders.
Similarly, if you’re designing a path, you may opt for stepping stones or a nice bluestone walkway instead of gravel edged by larger rocks. Will the foot traffic be moving up and down a hill? If so, pavers would probably be better than loose rock. When there is a steep hill, many opt for natural stone steps to build a beautiful stairway, typically with decorative gravel as ground cover around it.
4. Mix and match your stone choices.
Perhaps rock color uniformity is important to you, or maybe you’d like to mix stones of similar colors that complement each other well. And sometimes, contrast is just what you need to really make your design pop.
Be sure to remember that one size does not fit all in nature, so be sure to combine a variety of sizes and shapes for a more balanced design.
Also, it’s important to consider the context of adjacent structures when you make your stone choices. Compare the patio stone that will be seen up against that retaining wall, or the garden edging rocks that will be next to that walkway or path. Think about what the rocks or paving stones will be near and how they will look when viewed together.
5.Mix and match landscaping stone with other materials.
Landscape Gravel and Flowers
There’s something intriguing about the combination of hardscape and softscape together which makes me want to have more landscaping stone near me! Gravels can fulfill the same functions as mulch, and they don’t have to be purchased and refreshed from season to season or year after year. Just be sure to use weed fabric beneath the gravel.
Helpful hint: Use an online gravel calculator when planning your project!
Wood Mulch & Rock Boulders
Another type of landscaping stone idea is to create an area of interest by incorporating natural wood mulch and/or large rocks and boulders. This combination of wood mulch and boulders can create exciting focal points for your patio, gardens, or pathways.
Some of the best combinations include using different boulders arranged in varying heights and sizes while maintaining the same color scheme, texture, and height.
Helpful hint #2: Use an online mulch calculator when preparing to mulch a large area!
Natural Stone Patio and a Pergola or Gazebo
In addition to providing some shade from the sun, the look of wood and stone together works extremely well together. Beneath the Gazebo, you can place seating or create an outdoor living room. This works especially well when you build a patio and pergola up next to the house, giving you one solid wall to work with.
Stone Walls with Climbing Plants & Shrubs
Not only are natural stone walls great for sound reflection if you need a noise barrier, but they also look sophisticated, too. And particularly so, when they have some nice climbing ivy or aromatic honeysuckle growing on them.
In addition, a stone wall makes a fabulous backdrop for small decorative shrubs, ornamental trees, or tallgrass surrounded by mulch or gravel. Also, they are perfect for landscaping a property entrance by a driveway.
Rock walls also work especially well in the corners of a back yard, or for creating an amazing privacy fence alongside a swimming pool or hot tub.
Landscaping Stone Near Me
When I conduct a simple voice search to find landscaping stone near me, Southwest Stone Supply is the number one result. There’s a reason for that. It’s because they are unequivocally the best landscape supply yard at Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Furthermore, they sell and ship to clients, landscape companies, and other stone supply stores throughout the entire lower 48 states.
Their expertise is unrivaled, and their customer service is first-class.
With all the possibilities, it is best to talk to the experts at Southwest Stone Supply about which stone is right for your project—and within your budget!
Created by Mother Nature, their stone comes directly from the quarry to you!
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