Natural Landscape Stone Guide

In a world filling up with man made brick pavers and retaining walls, natural stones are becoming rare and often unique in landscape designs. Natural stones look and feel different from the typical concrete blocks and pavers that are most commonly used. Random shapes and sizes are the hallmark of natural stones, but they also can be cut or milled into a more formal, dimensional product. Used in many different applications such as retaining walls, bed edging, patios, sidewalks, ponds and fountains, accent pieces, steps, and even house facade accents and coynes.

If you are looking for a unique, natural look for your landscape project, then you have come to the right spot. Below are several of the many types of natural stones we offer our clients.

Flagstone

A wonderful and versatile natural stone, Flagstone has become the most popular catch-all or generic name for a myriad of natural stone products. Usually a sedimentary stone created in a quarry from fissable planes of sandstone and quartz, with the different colors come from an infusion of silica, iron oxide, or calcite.

As very attractive paving material, most flagstone used in landscaping are earthy toned colors such as sandstone, pale red, or tan. Used as both a paver for patios in outdoor living, or as retaining walls and steps. Often, natural flagstone is used as a natural stepper pathway embedded in a surround of mulch or stones. Natural flagstone is an irregular shaped stone that comes in a variety of thicknesses and sizes, no two pieces every look alike. The installation of flagstone is a more time consuming process than with pavers or retaining wall blocks due to the jigsaw puzzle type fitting together of pieces.

Bluestone

A rather unique natural stone, bluestone is a similar product to flagstone, yet blue in color. Usually milled for a dimensional shape, bluestone also comes in irregular shapes and sizes. Bluestone is also a great paving choice not only because of its color, but also because of its non-skid texture when wet. Bluestone is slightly more expensive than flagstone and because of that, it is usually not used in retaining walls like flagstone.

Outcropping Stones

Offered in a variety of colors and styles, outcropping stone is usually an accent piece in a landscape that gives the illusion of a natural planting environment or habitat. Outcropping stones vary in size, but are usually from 3" thick to 18" thick or more. As large visual elements in the landscape, outcropping stones are a unique, heavy focal point to any landscape design.

Cobblestone

A very popular aesthetic boulder choice is cobblestone. Available in sizes ranging from 4" to 36", cobblestones offer a wide variety of uses, textures and colors. Some uses for cobblestone are as a bed edging, retaining walls, pond and stream liner, and as a stand alone accent piece. for more commercial or functional use, cobblestones are often used in the turf along streets or drives that lack curbs. These large boulders restrict cars from driving onto the turf in those areas.

Planting Bed Rock

The soil around landscape plantings is referred to as a planting bed. These beds will collect and germinate weed seeds if not covered by some form of weed barrier fabric and bedding material, such as rock/stone or mulch. The benefits of installing rock/stone instead of mulch is that rock/stone is a one-time installation. Rock/stone does not break down and decompose like mulch does, so therefore there is no need to top dress rock/stone every couple of years like there is when installing mulch.

What Does Natural Stone Cost?

With so many options on the natural stone pallet, there is no definitive answer to that question. Overall, some natural stones are more expensive than man made products of cement, such as pavers or retaining wall block. Bedding stones are slightly more expensive than mulch, but there is no every other year top-dressing cost. For an exact pricing of natural stone for your landscape, request a landscape quote from one of our landscape designers.