In modern landscape design, you can find a variety of elements, the decorative look of some is sometimes a complete surprise. Such an extraordinary design solution is the use of stone to design a personal plot. Although it is found in landscaping since ancient times.

The use of stones in landscape design

Stones began to decorate the park areas of palaces during the Roman Empire. Creating a landscape using this material is a common occurrence in the territory of eastern countries. In Japan, it is almost impossible to meet the design of a garden or park, wherever stone elements were used in decorative compositions.

This weather-resistant material is characterized by both durability and practicality, as well as functionality and aesthetic appeal. Choosing it for design, you need to make sure that it will be in harmony with other elements of decor and buildings located nearby.

Important! Some stones in the design of the territory act only as a component of the overall composition, others become the central or main part of it, and others may be the only element.

The landscape can be decorated with unprocessed stone with natural cracks, bumps and traces of natural impact, giving the site design a natural look and emphasizing the bright green color of trees and bushes growing nearby. Polished specimens also look spectacular and regular in shape; they make the decorative composition both light and static. With their help, you can recreate any rounded shapes.

They are used for decoration:

• tracks
• alley;
• flower beds;
• entrances to buildings;
• fountains;
• steps;
• fences;
• fencing;
• arbors;
• arched structures;
• alpine slides;
• artificial waterfalls;
• walls of various structures;
• Japanese rock garden.

Where can I get stones

There are many modern companies in all cities of the country where you can buy both natural and decorative material at a wide variety of prices. Here, they will not only sell goods, but also offer a design solution for a specific site. For lack of available funds, suitable material can be sought in the natural environment. Craftsmen can give it a more sophisticated look.

Did you know? Stones, like living beings, experience birth, growth and death. Simply, unlike living organisms, they are able to live for millions of years, remaining unchanged.

Garden Styles Using Stone Decor

There are a number of garden styles in which stone elements are an important compositional element. Each of these styles is used in modern landscape design.

These include:

1. Castle style - originates from the XI century, when the need for the construction of monumental and powerful structures, protected by walls of stone, was caused by frequent wars, unforeseen attacks by enemies. This trend is characterized by the absence of any excesses and additional decoration, the presence of impressive size shapes, large columns, formidable vaults that give a feeling of heaviness - everything is strict and practical. The few elements of the decor could include bas-reliefs, stucco molding with the image of mystical creatures. A business card of a castle style is the presence in the composition of at least one geometric shape in the form of a tower. This style was especially popular with us when decorating country houses and territories around them, when they finish the walls of houses, fences and landscape with decorative and natural stone.
2. Japanese architectural style - This is a whole system of worldview, where the territory of gardens and parks is treated as a place for reflection and contemplation, where there is no baseless craving for a meaningless aesthetics, everything should symbolize something here. The Japanese style ignores rational, straightforward, geometric and symmetrical solutions with a sense of unnaturalness. It is characterized by asymmetry, some stealth, the use of stones of different sizes, stone figures, bowls of water. A distinctive feature of the Japanese garden is that it retains opportunities for reflection and contemplation at any time of the year, its interesting and pleasing human eye is preserved year-round.

   This is facilitated by the use of evergreens, stone benches, Japanese lanterns, plants with winding trunks and roots visible above the surface and distinguished by their bizarre shapes. The paths laid out by flat stones are a symbol of the length of life. And there are many such symbolic attributes in the Japanese style. The color scheme consists of gray, green, white, red, brown, carmine shades that smoothly transition into each other.
3. Minimalism - A style that provides a concise and simplified design. The direction is characterized by the use of relief changes in the area for zoning, placing objects separately from each other, the presence of steps and stairs, straight paths, ponds of the correct form, but the main thing is the feeling of spaciousness. The stone in the design is one of the main minimalist elements. They can cover areas that completely replace lawns. In this style there are flowers, but without special brightness. It is characterized by grayish, silver, white, brownish, beige tones.
4. Rural style It provides simplicity and naturalness in the design, so the use of stones to ennoble chaotically located paths, where green grass is visible in the gaps, creeping plants to decorate fences, elements of rural life, real garden beds, are absolutely characteristic of this style and bring a sense of originality. Exotic plants, magnificent flowers and expensive decorative elements do not fit into the rural style. But sunflowers, mallow, chamomiles and marigolds, growing not on certain flower beds, but on arbitrary lawns near trees, simple furniture made of twigs, swings - exactly what you need.
5. Classicism - the style of landscape design, the main feature of which is the desire to streamline and systematize everything, subordinate nature to serve human needs in the beautiful. It harmoniously combines architectural structures and the plant world. The heyday of the direction falls on the Renaissance. All design solutions in the style of classicism look great and are most often used to design large areas of parks and squares of the city, in the middle of which should be a beautiful building of impressive size. Classicism also helps to further emphasize its beauty and grandeur.

   Did you know? Davasco is a stone weighing several hundred tons, located on the very edge of a cliff in the Argentine city of Tandil and has been slowly swaying from side to side for thousands of years with every gust of wind. A fact that no scientist can explain.

   Increasingly, this direction was also used to design gardens and plots near private houses and summer cottages. Plants and various design elements must have the correct geometric (round, rectangular, square, symmetrical) shape. Tracks must also be arranged in the correct geometric order, usually they lead to some central object, for example, to a fountain. This style prefers tiles or bricks more than stone or pebbles for the improvement of design elements. Superfluous for classicism are a variety of cute figures, alpine slides, flower beds from wild plants.
6. Antique style - This is an opportunity for a harmonious and holistic perception of the landscape of both large-scale territories and small personal plots. This trend brings to the design a sense of chic, inner delight from contemplation, and with it cosiness and sunlight.

   Important! Black, grayish, brown shades are not allowed in the antique style.

   All elements (arbors, tables, chairs, benches) look elegant. The flowerbeds here are replaced by areas paved with mosaics, gravel, stone, limestone. The color scheme is white, sand, beige tones with the addition of delicate shades of yellow, blue, orange.

What types of stones are suitable

In modern landscape design, different types of stones are used, but the main ones are natural and artificial materials. The stones can have a natural shape, rounded, flat, their surface is polished if necessary.

Did you know? Crocodiles specially swallow stones for deeper immersion in water and improve digestion.

For design purposes, different-sized stones are suitable:

• blocks - very large natural formations with sharply defined edges, often serving as central elements of the composition, emphasizing strength and natural splendor;
• boulders - large specimens of a rounded shape;
• cobblestones - medium-sized streamlined stones with a diameter of up to 30 cm, used to design decorative zones;
• crushed stone - the material obtained by crushing large specimens of natural stone, the fraction is from 1.5 to 15 cm;
• river pebbles - flat rounded pebbles up to 10 cm in size, obtained as a result of prolonged exposure to water on ordinary stones, most often used to decorate those decor elements where water is present;
• stone crumb - the smallest fraction obtained by mechanical crushing of rock (marble, quartz, jasper) rocks is most popular among landscape designers due to the ability to decorate the most unpredictable shapes and surfaces, as well as strength, reliability, accessibility and the presence of various shades.

Natural

Among natural stones are known:

1. Granite - durable, weather-resistant natural stone. It is characterized by fading, muffled colors, the shades of which are dominated by gray and greenish tones interspersed with pink, red, blue, orange. It consists of natural mica, quartz and spar. This affordable and outwardly very attractive material is popular among those who decided to build a house and arrange the territory around it. But with all the advantages, it has some drawbacks: each instance is heavy, it is also difficult to process.
2. Gneiss - a rock with metamorphic properties, which includes quartz, spars, non-ferrous minerals. This material has a granular shale structure. Very similar to granite, which has a granular structure.
3. Basalt - the material obtained from the lava of the volcano has a porous structure. May have gray, muted green and ashy shades. As durable as granite. Often used to decorate alpine slides.
4. Sandstone - sedimentary rock, consisting of quartzite, carbonate and iron ore, which gives the material strength. It is characterized by the presence of white, reddish, beige, green, brownish shades.
5. Slate - material whose stones have a very beautiful color: gray, graphite, burgundy, bluish, yellow, reddish. All shades, intertwined, create unusual patterns. May be of metamorphic and sedimentary origin.
6. Limestone - Attractive natural material, characterized by fragility, has a sedimentary origin. Inclined to crumbling. It is characterized by the presence of a golden or yellow hue, which looks attractive in combination with green spaces.
7. Marble - a material having a crystalline nature. It is characterized by strength, but slightly less than granite and gneiss. This is a noble stone that is easy to process and get the desired shape, it also has the brightness of the color.
8. Porphyry - a material with a high level of strength, so it is not easy to process and crush it. But the reddish tint and physical properties make it popular to use.
9. Tuff - porous, light and seemingly soft material. Its distinctive feature is the ability to absorb moisture, which is sometimes very valuable when creating a site design.

Artificial

The materials obtained by artificial means include:

1. Bricks - clay products, the colors of which are diverse. In use and further operation, they exhibit excellent properties - strength, resistance to destructive effects, which makes them very popular.
2. Concrete - one of the most durable artificial materials. The ability to independently make special additives and get the expected color scheme makes this material indispensable in the design of personal plots.
3. Acrylic stone - a composite material consisting of acrylic resins, aluminum hydroxide, mineral additives and coloring components, which is resistant to mechanical stress and does not allow moisture to pass through.
4. Glowing stones - An innovative artificial material, inside which LEDs or catalysts are embedded, these stones also include specimens coated with paints based on luminescent particles.Of particular interest to modern designers is precisely the luminous stones obtained as a result of the developed technological innovations. The use of such material allows you to admire the created masterpiece not only during the day, but also at night, reproducing an almost magical atmosphere.

DIY stone making

Those wishing to decorate their garden with stones can be confused by the high cost of this material, problems with its delivery, as well as the significant weight of each instance. The way out of this situation is to make material for the decoration of the territory yourself.

To do this, any drawers, boxes into which relatively inexpensive silicone should be poured, and using a suitable model (stone, piece of wood) to shape, let it solidify, are suitable as formwork. After hardening, the molds are ready for pouring the prepared cement-based mortar into which coloring pigments can be added for every taste. A little patience, and the pebbles created with your own hands will originally decorate the site near your home.

Important! To create decorative elements with their own hands they also use polymer materials, for example, acrylic.

Stones unexpectedly became the material that is able to realize all at first glance unrealistic and bold ideas for designing your own personal plot. Their use provides many opportunities to truly decorate any garden, park, flowerbed, lawn and at the same time be sure of the durability and originality of the created composition.