Landscaping Stone
By Kevin Hendrix, Fri Dec 9th
If you have interest in using landscaping stone in your yard,garden, koi pond or walkway, don't limit yourself to thetraditional. Consider finding or shopping for unique stones toadd flair or accent to your plans. Landscaping stone can beversatile, used for simple decoration or as a foundation formuch more.
Some of the uses for landscaping stone include flooring, such asfor a patio, foundations for outbuildings, such as a gazebo, oreven outbuildings completely made of stone. Fireplaces lookgreat in stone (just watch out for river rock; pockets of steamcould heat up and explode in a fire pit or fireplace) as dobases for planters. Entire columns could be made of stone,either as end caps for a stone wall or to support lamps orplanters.
Whatever you eventual use of landscaping stone, seek out theunusual. Below are just two examples of what you might find.
Geodes
Geodes, on the surface, seem like unremarkable, round, fistsized lumps of white or tan rock. They could serve well in aplanter or flowerbed for a little hardscaping, but the real gemabout these rocks lays inside. Some geodes are lined inside withlayered siliceous material of various color or even clear quartzcrystals; the effect is a wavy, smooth, crystalline surface. Youmay not have a diamond-saw handy to slice one open, but youshould be able to find nice specimens in a rock shop. They makegreat bookends for indoors, and can frame