Landscaping Using Rocks

3 Simple Tips To Beautify Your Garden With Rocks


Try the new ideas with rocks.
Please read on...and hopefully this way you will be motivated to get more innovative with ideas.

1. Rocks can make a beautiful Landscape

Many may not understand how rocks can be used for landscaping and may laugh at the idea. But if you really think about the way nature has put rocks around certain areas and how good they look, then you will probably understand that rocks can make a statement in landscaping too. For those who go for their morning walk on the beach, you may have noticed the smooth rocks lying around on the beach that enhance the beauty of the sea side, well these same rocks could be used for landscaping too.

2. Start your landscape with rocks at your front yard

Visualize where to put the rocks in your front yard first. These rocks should be fairly large and placed firmly in the ground so that they cannot be dislodged from the ground easily either by weather conditions or by people.


3. Landscaping the front yard or back yard with rocks

You can arrange these rocks around trees to form a border or on the side of the walkway. So if you have a walkway and some trees in your front yard you can use the rocks the same way too. Front yards may differ from one to the other, but you could create effects with rocks so that they blend into a picturesque landscape.

Rocks can be used in the back yard the same way by making borders with them around trees and bushes and at the side of walkways. Rocks can be placed wherever you want in the garden and create an aesthetic effect in the way they are placed.

In a flower garden where you have flower beds with different varieties of flowers, smaller pebbles can be placed in the flower beds in place of mulch. The areas where you have grown different flowers can be separated with these pebbled. Pebbles also stop the growth of weeds just like mulch. The only problem with pebbles is that they move out of place with rain or when people walk on them, unlike large rocks which are stationery. Pebble rocks could be replaced with flagstones is you find them cumbersome.

To get more innovative ideas on the use of pebbles and rocks you can look for books on gardening which will give you a lot of information.

excerpt from: tokyostringquartet.com

Landscaping Driveways - Design Considerations

Components of a Beautiful Yard - Driveways

What are some of the components that make a landscape "pop?"
The driveway entrance is the logical area of the yard for us to begin with. Why? Because the entrance to your driveway is also the entrance to your yard, as a whole. How your driveway entrance is landscaped, especially when a property is bordered by a fence or wall (thereby focusing attention on the entrance) sets the tone for the viewer's perception of the whole yard.

Consequently, the landscaping for your driveway shouldn't be a mere afterthought.
Nor should you underestimate the visual impact of the driveway itself. In terms of square feet (relative to the rest of the yard) and visual prominence, a driveway can be a major component of a landscape.

Landscaping Driveways: An Introduction to Design Considerations By David Beaulieu, About.com

Landscaping driveways can consist of both hardscape and softscape. Hardscape options consist mainly of walls and fences, while your softscape options for landscaping driveways include the following:

• Flower beds
• Ground covers
• Ornamental trees
• Shrubs

The possibilities for landscaping driveways are greatly enhanced if you plan on including walls. Walls (for instance, stone walls) can either parallel the driveway along its whole length, or meet it perpendicularly, at the entrance. The latter scenario, in particular, opens up a number of possibilities for landscaping driveways. For example, some people attach driveway gates to the wall, while others span the opening in the wall with an arch.

Meanwhile, variations on the softscape side of landscaping driveways are practically endless. Again, it often comes down to whether the purpose in landscaping your driveway is to create a grand driveway entrance or run the length of the driveway (of course, some people choose both). Accenting the entrance can certainly be cheaper, which is important if your budget is small and your driveway large!

If budget isn't the primary consideration in narrowing down your choices for landscaping a driveway, then what you need to think about is where you want the viewer's gaze to be drawn, and what features of your property you wish to emphasize. This rationale applies equally to hardscape and softscape.

Planting beds of colorful annuals along the sides of your driveway, for instance, will draw the viewer's gaze into your property, to the final destination of your driveway. If that destination is a rather ordinary-looking garage that is in plain view from the street, then you may not wish to draw attention to it. Likewise, if you find your property is already dominated by straight lines (straight house walls, straight driveway, straight decking, etc.), then you may not wish to emphasize the straightness of the driveway by planting its edges with straight flower beds.

By contrast, if your driveway curves around a focal point and gracefully disappears out in back of your house, then flower beds paralleling the driveway will draw the viewer's gaze conveniently to the water feature. Examples of such focal points are the following:

• Water gardens
• Landscape bridges
• Garden arbors
• Wishing wells

From an aesthetic standpoint, there's little reason not to draw the viewer's gaze to the driveway's entrance either with hardscape, softscape or both. However, practical considerations may dissuade you from employing softscape in the way that you'd like to, ideally. Theft and vandalism are two liabilities for landscaping driveways at the entrance, close to the street. Depending on your neighborhood, children passing by may traipse carelessly through a roadside flower bed in which you take a lot of pride, a bed built with your labor and your dollars. Worse yet, shrubs planted too close to the side of the road have been known to disappear overnight, a gaping hole left behind in their absence.

In the North, the challenge presented by the severity of the winters is also a consideration in landscaping driveways at the entrance to a property. Not all shrubs and perennial flowers stand up well to the menace of road salt. Shrubs can also be damaged by plow drivers who stray just a bit either to the left or right when entering your driveway. Consequently, landscaping driveways with plants so as to accent the entrance is best left to annual flowers. Annuals are inexpensive, a fact that offers some solace, should they be damaged or stolen; and they have to be replanted every spring, anyhow, so winter damage is not an issue.

Why Bother Landscaping Driveways?

The entrance to your driveway is also the entrance to your yard, as a whole. How your driveway entrance is landscaped, especially when a property is bordered by a fence or wall (thereby focusing attention on the entrance) sets the tone for the viewer's perception of the whole yard.

Moreover, in terms of square feet (relative to the rest of the yard) and visual prominence, a driveway can be a major component of a yard. Under the right circumstances (see above), that's a good reason for landscaping a driveway along its entire length. Passing up the opportunity to do so relegates the driveway to the status of a long scar running up and down your yard, a scar you're just trying to forget about.

Landscaping driveways with attention and creativity is a cornerstone of successful curb appeal.

English Ivy

Fact about English Ivy Plants By David Beaulieu

English Ivy Plants in History:

In the Christmas carol, "The Holly and The Ivy," we see a symbolism with these two evergreen plants that derives from pagan times. While the druids thought of holly as masculine and suggestive of a male deity, English ivy plants for them represented female divinity.

Uses for English Ivy Plants in Landscape Design:

Their ability to grow in shade has made English ivy plants a traditional groundcover for problematic areas under trees, where most grasses do not grow well. Their vigorous, dense grow habit makes them an effective groundcover where the object is to crowd out weeds. On slopes, they can be used for erosion control. Some take advantage of the climbing ability of these vines to use them to cover a wall, while others grow them in hanging baskets, letting them cascade over the sides.

Characteristics of English Ivy Plants:

English ivy plants can act as groundcovers, spreading horizontally and reaching 8" in height. But they are also climbers, due to their aerial rootlets, which allow them to climb to heights of 50' or more. They will eventually bear insignificant greenish flowers but are grown primarily for their evergreen foliage.

Care for English Ivy Plants:

Trim them in the spring, to keep them manageable and discourage bacterial leaf spot. Spray with insecticidal soap and horticultural oil as necessary to control mites.

Sun and Soil Requirements for English Ivy Plants:

Grow in a well-drained soil in part shade to full shade.

Using rocks to decorate a landscape

Classy Rocks' landscaping

Decorative Landscaping Rocks By Jake Gorney
One of the best ways to add a special touch to your yard and flower beds is by using decorative landscaping rocks. Using these rocks you can achieve a classy look that does not have to cost much. The uses of landscaping rocks are almost endless. You can use them to make borders or rings around trees. The latter can be a great way to keep both animals and people away from tree trunks to prevent damage. Rocks can also be used to make paths in your yard. This way you will not have to walk through the mud when the weather gets rainy. Steps can also be made using rocks as can walls, railings and even seats and tables.

One way to use landscaping rocks is by stacking them around the edges of places where you don't want people to walk. This is not only effective, it also looks great. You can use large stones for this and put them in the ground when the earth is slightly wet. Smaller stones can also be used. These should be stacked on top of each other. You will find that when stacking you will have to dig down into the ground a bit to anchor the bottom stones into the ground.

Doing landscaping with rocks can be quite a bit of work and you should also be careful as it is easy to injure yourself when working with them. Before beginning your work it might be a good idea to do some research online on how to safely handle rocks and how to protect your hands and toes while working. If you will be using very large rocks you will probably need to rent equipment to move them around. This is why it is very important to plan ahead when using big rocks. Once they are in place you will not be able to move them easily.