Garden Boulders – Feature Landscape Design for Garden

If you are a person with artistic instincts who are deeply into creating functional and colorful landscapes for your garden spaces, it’s time you should say goodbye to the ordinary landscaping design! The placement of landscape boulders has become the new trend for almost all landscapers to enhance the curb appeal of their garden design due to its beautiful appearance.

With landscape boulders, a rock is not just rock! That landscape boulders offer an amazing range of large shapes and different colors have explained this trend of using large landscape rocks which create the wondrous effect to your landscapes with the low-maintenance requirements. When choosing large landscape rocks for the yard, the diverse inspiration of various sizes, textures, and colors from these large rocks helps breathe natural beauty into the outdoor space.

Moreover, the large landscape rock contributes to nature’s beautiful green to the lawn without requiring many green plants. Whether you are in a DIY project or landscaping contractors choosing the right rock of landscape boulders, we are here to help. We’ve collected and now suggest to you how to corporate big stones into the yard, water features, or flagstone. Let’s get started!

Contact Green Arbor Landscaping for professional results!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LANDSCAPE BOULDERS

What Is A Boulder?

boulder

In general, a boulder is defined as any rock larger than 12 inches in diameter and comes under any shape, texture, the color of rocks. Although it comes with any shape, there are two common types of boulders: round and angular.

Round boulders are granite and sandstone which the surface of the stone is worn over by water and their edges and curves are smooth.

In contrast to round ones, angular boulders got flat surfaces and jagged edges. They might be composed of granite, sandstone, crushed stone, and basalt, but not just only these.

Common Large Landscape Rocks Used for Landscaping

The rock type of landscape boulders might be less important than the appearance of each rock. However, you should also choose the rock type which is relevant to your existing style of landscaping design and consider your budget when investing in these landscape boulders. When landscaping with boulders, the right color of stones means a lot to the landscape project.

In the landscaping industry, there are all sorts of common boulders which come with every color from natural as green, blue, brown, to unique like gray, gold, pink, etc. Depending on which regions you live in, choose the right rock while still laying the true authentic colors.

Sierra Brown Rock

This is a list of common large landscape rocks you can take a glare:

  • Black Basalt Column
  • Black Granite
  • Black Crystal Basalt
  • California Gold Rock
  • Copper Rose Rock
  • Sierra Brown Rock
  • Desert Gold
  • Desert Marbled
  • Golden Queen
  • Grey Granite
  • Vista Cloud Rock
  • Santa Barbara Sandstone

HOW TO LANDSCAPE WITH BOULDERS

A landscaping garden is your own property, so getting to know thoroughly how to landscape with boulders when dealing with a DIY project is essential than ever. In case you’re afraid of doing it all alone and do not want to risk allowing bad things to happen, you should contact professionals for help. Now, let’s get started on this project!

Start with A Plan

With the boulders project, you should go advance with planning where to move these large landscape rocks. As you all know, the weight of boulders makes them difficult to move, even causes harm unless provided safely enough. If you plan to haul in the front yard, it’s quite much easier than placing to the back yard. Figure out where you want to position boulders ahead of installing time to avoid unwanted heavy replacement afterward.

boulder weight

And then you’ll want to design the position of boulders so as to become natural points of your landscaping elements and fit the garden design around these boulders. Besides, you should also set at least a few inches of boulders settling in the ground to protect boulders from shifting and cracking. This design will provide a safe place for your children to play around without slipping and falling.

Placing boulders on the concrete or gravel base is also a good idea because of its hardness.

Choose the Right Color of Boulders for A Natural Look

The hardest part is coming! Most homeowners don’t know exactly how many colors of the rock are available for the landscaping boulder project. The surprisingly wide dozens of boulders’ colors guarantee to attract your guests and bring wonderful effect to your landscape. Moreover, the color of the boulder will not only enhance both your landscaping and neighborhood but also affect your mood with its range of eye-catching beauties.

Try to imagine: the landscaping design could come with striking boulders of black, to peaceful off-white, or elegant pink, from mellow gray to red hues, or with the greens from boulders with moss/plants, or even orange. You can combine these different colors and shapes with each other to create tons of landscaping moods. Hence, you should be confused about which will be “the right color” of landscaping boulders that you need.

black boulders

white boulders

Plan the colors and shapes of rocks that suit your needs with your existing landscape to look as natural as possible. You will want to pick the color of large boulders to match your property design. These colors might also the wonderful stone options for water features, pavers, or retaining walls.

Don’t hesitate to ask us to plan all the things required! – (206) 265-2940

Get Boulder Into Yard

When you plan all the things required, delivery and placement are the two next things. You should take the weight of boulders into consideration because the more it weighs, the harder it takes you to move or place the boulder into your yard. With the 2-feet-diameter boulders, you just need a truck and a wheelbarrow to move these large landscape rocks into the yard. For larger boulders, you will need a large truck, usually a flatbed along with the help of professionals.

large truck

Then load the stones onto the truck with a forklift or a backhoe. Depending on the boulders’ weight, strap them onto pallets and transport them with the right equipment, shipping, and placement not to harm people.

TIPS TO LANDSCAPE BOULDERS

Landscape Boulder Size

The important factor is the size of landscape boulders. Some people find their purchased rock look insignificant in relation to other features and overall of the landscape. If you choose a rock that is too small, it might become dwarfed by surrounding plants once they get mature. Don’t be afraid to set your boulders larger to fit into the context of a larger landscape.

large landscape rocks

If the rock is too big, it could be buried underground that you don’t need to concern about it. Let’s go big with it!

Place Single-Large Boulders On the Ground

You can select and arrange a single-large boulder in the middle of the garden ground with gravel randomly placed around and typically should have the boulders buried at least a part of the stone.

Or you can place each different-single type of grouping boulders together to bring variety in texture and color to accent the visual of the flower bed.

single-type boulders

Group Boulders Into Clusters (Like Rock Wall)

You can try to gather the landscape boulders into groups instead of single ones. A single rock might bring simplicity to your natural design but clusters of more than three rocks are more eye-catching and impress guests with a more natural look. The boulder clusters could be found in the rock wall or a pool.

clusters of boulder

In nature, rocks are not generally found in a single form that a cluster definitely brings a more natural feel.

Use Unique Textures to Create Features for Garden

Your creativity will be promoted due to the variety of textures existing in different kinds of boulders. You can design your own needs to create unique textures based on smooth-and-round or rough-and-angular stone. This unique design will add grand centerpieces and focal points than real boulders.

textures of boulders

Form Retaining Walls

Boulder is a durable material that is really suitable to install for retaining walls. Strong winds might blow down the fence, however, a boulder wall is more attractive and solid than that.

boulder wall

When you decide to find a residential company to help you with this project, Green Arbor Landscaping is here to answer all of your concerns which all tasks would be guaranteed from the beginning. With over 35 years of landscaping, we have been providing the Bothell area with a full range of landscaping service which meets all of your outdoor living needs.

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