There are many uses for a masonry material like landscape stone in the front and back yards of your home. It makes lovely limestone or brick paths, which can march directly from your patio or driveway to your door or this type of stone can also create paths that meander lazily around your garden. In its smaller, chip form landscape stone can replace mulch in plant beds and as edging in walkways. It can also be used to make terraced yards in the form of stone retaining walls. These yards are especially stunning in small city residential green spaces and yards where beds of lush, hanging plants are fronted by natural looking stone which instantly raises the curb appeal of a home. Landscape stone retaining walls are also useful in sloped backyards where they can create more outdoor living space.

Another attractive option for landscape stone is to bring it into your side yard and create a type of rock garden with a few plant accents. This works especially well in smaller side yards where space constraints limit the size of your outdoor living projects. The first thing to do when building this type of garden is to consider the shape of the bed in the middle of it. You can choose a square, a rectangle, a circle or other shapes. Ultimately, in a small yard a rectangular centerpiece is the best choice because it is easy to shape and fill around. Once you have a shape in mind, think about how you can use landscape stone within that center feature. Edge with large stones and then plant flowers, shrubs, or even small trees within this center bed. Fill the areas around the plants with small chips of landscape stone (like small gray or blue limestone pieces or even chips of red bricks and other stones). Then, it is time to consider what you can do with the space around the center. With a rectangular centerpiece, you can build out several stone borders and paths. Using bricks, limestone, clay pavers, and other types of landscape stone will help create texture and a visually interesting space. Feel free to plant flowers and other plants through these rows of stone, but be sure to contain those plants in discrete, small beds with edging so you do not encourage weeds to sprout up throughout your rock garden. Also, if you want more of a Zen rock garden type space, do away with the plant aspect all together and just focus on using landscape stone in different combinations and colors.

Once you have most of the side yard rock garden built, you can think about bringing in outdoor living accessories like a small bistro table and chairs, garden benches, and statues. Whatever your style or inspiration beautifying your side yard with Landscape Stone is easy. With the right masonry materials, and perhaps a little Zen, your side yard can be transformed from an unremarkable place to a place of beauty and tranquility with almost no grass to mow!

Author Bio: Mr. Masonry built a rock garden in his side yard using Landscape stone from General Shale Brick.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: Landscape Stone