Landscaping with rocks instead of mulch is easy and is something you won't have to replace year after year. Learn what we think about mulch vs. rock, the cost of our river rock flower beds and see how we mixed in rock and mulch landscaping in our front yard.
If you are new here, we have just under an acre of land and we have a ton of flower beds. We've lived in this house for ten years now and have learned a thing or two in regards to what works with all the trees that we have and landscaping with rocks and mulch.
With all of our landscaping beds, the biggest takeaway to having a prettier, manicured lawn but with less investment each year is to choose to go with rock flower beds when you can.
I want to share more about the landscaping river rock that we installed along the backyard patio including the cost and process. Our patio has seen a few updates over the course of time we've lived here including the patio spruce-up and projects like the DIY Scrap wood rolling planter. We've wanted to be able to use the space but also, haven't ever invested much into how it looks on the actual concrete pad (maybe someday!).
All of that being said, when the season starts to change and we want to be outside more, we want it to look decent. The mulch flower beds were always showing tons of weeds and always needed more mulch to look nice. But, I forget myself... let's chat about our decision of using rocks instead of mulch and what that entailed.
Mulch or Rocks?
Our Backyard Patio Story
A few years ago, we spruced up the back patio landscaping beds with mulch. Actually, we spruced up all our flower beds with mulch. They all looked great. But, at over $600 in mulch to get all the areas looking nice, it was just too much. It would have been ok if that $600 lasted a few years, but really the mulch in our area needs to be done yearly.
We have tons of trees on our property and on the property all around us. So, between the branches and leaves that constantly fall, we are out there with a leaf blower trying to keep the spaces cleared. Well, the leaf blower not only takes care of the leaves but it also moves the mulch around. So, about six months after we put in all that mulch - it was looking pretty bad.
Luke and I finally came to the realization that we just couldn't keep up with all the flower bed areas and we had to start making some changes. One of the changes we made was to replace all the mulch around the patio with river rocks and, possibly, all the flower beds with rocks instead of mulch. I had seen some river rock flower beds online and thought they looked nice. I knew from experience, in our past house, that landscaping river rock would stay much better than mulch, so we decided to go for it.
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How to Make Rock Flower Beds
- Prepare the flower bed by ripping out all the old plants, if there are some plants you aren't keeping
- Rake off excess old mulch
- Add landscape fabric under rocks. Hammer in landscaping pins (if using) about every 12"
- Place your plants on the landscape fabric to determine placement
- Once you have determined plant placement, cut into fabric and plant
- Dump river rock for landscaping and spread out
My step-brother and I put in the rock flower beds a few years ago and it's been working well for us. I wanted to wait a bit to share because I wanted to give my honest opinion on the mulch vs. rock look. I felt like I really needed to see how the river rock looked over time before reporting back.
How Much Does a Flower Bed Cost?
The landscape area around our patio is pretty large. I think it took about 20 bags of river rock. The total for this project came to around $175.
In hindsight, it would have been cheaper to grab river rock by the truckload instead of the bags. I was just eye-balling the bags and we used way more than I expected to use.
Since doing do this project, we've done front yard river rock landscaping and I thought I'd answer a few questions about both projects.
How to Prepare Rock Rock Landscaping?
Clean out your existing flower bed, lay landscape cloth and add rocks to the flower bed. It's that easy.
Do we prefer landscape with mulch or rock?
Fresh mulch is truly beautiful but it starts to look dingy pretty soon after it's put down. For the ease and longterm aesthetics, I prefer to landscape with rocks BUT will say that I do think when you can incorporate a bit of landscaping with rock and mulch.. that's the sweet spot. I recently did a big post on some ideas for river rock front yard landscaping. I included some that we already have incorporated but also, some that I'd love to incorporate (such as the rock edging between the lawn and the landscaped beds).
Overall, we are definitely glad we chose to landscape with the rocks instead of the mulch around the patio. It has helped the patio stay cleaner and more put together and, in the long-run, it will be much cheaper. If you want to see more of our patio, then make sure to check out our home tour!
Considerations for landscape design with rocks
One consideration when you are thinking about your garden design is to think about using larger rocks as often as possible. The reason for this, especially if you live in a climate that drops leaves in the fall/winter, is that to blow the leaves, you'll end up blowing pea gravel sized rocks as well. The smaller stones are really cute, but I'd try to stick with larger rocks as much as possible.
Now, let me show you the front yard and how we used gardening rocks for added curb appeal.
Front Yard Landscaping Ideas with Rocks and Mulch
It's hard to understand how long and big our driveway is and the the landscaping beds that run along it. It's big, you'll just have to trust me (this photo cuts off about half way down the driveway). We had a retaining wall built with a flagstone patio on top and a river rock bed (with flat rocks which I love) coming out from underneath it. The dry rock creek really changed our front yard landscaping and added a great focal point to the front of our house. I love how easy the rock is to care for. I think this space really shows how landscaping with rocks and mulch works because all-rock would have been too much rock.
Front Yard Flower Bed Ideas
- Adding rock in flower beds around trees (check to make sure drainage is appropriate first!)
- Installing rock around a water fountain or water feature
- Creating a dry creek
- Create a rock garden around large boulders (check out this desert plan for inspiration)
Check out my recent post on stunning river rock landscaping ideas or Pinterest board for more rock landscaping ideas!
Overall, I think when you are considering the whole rock vs mulch situation, just weigh what you personally love, what investment you are willing to put in (time and money) and how you want the space to age.
River Rock: How to Prepare for Rock Landscaping
Landscaping with rocks instead of mulch is easy and is something you won’t have to replace year after year. Learn what we think about mulch vs. rock, the cost of our river rock flower beds and see how we mixed in rock and mulch landscaping in our front yard.
Materials
- River Rock
- Landscaping Cloth
- Landscape Pins
Tools
- Rake
- Shovel
Instructions
- Start the flower bed by ripping out all the old plants if there are some plants you aren't keeping
- Rake off excess old mulch
- Add landscape fabric under rocks. Hammer in landscaping pins (if using) about every 12"
- Place your plants on the landscape fabric to determine placement
- Once you have determined plant placement, cut into fabric and plant
- Dump river rock for landscaping and spread out
Julia@Cuckoo4Design
Looks really good, especially for a patio. We have some too and I like it a lot
Ashley Mayes
Agree! We have been throwing the idea around to do it a bit in the front as well, but haven't settled on anything. Maybe next year.
Tammey Keyes
It is pretty and more natural. I planted a shade garden and have decided to put wet newspaper between plants, followed by rock peppered with (found at the dollar store) fake light pinkish "beach glass" I am planning to start today. Can't wait! So glad I discovered your site!
Ashley Mayes
Thanks Tammey! Glad you like it. Your landscaping plan sounds great!
Barbara Ward
Right now. I have half mulch and half rock. In the front of the house in my landscaping I have burnt red mulch and on the back end of my house I have rocks Both of them needs to be update. Need to add more mulch to the front and need to add rocks to my back. Mulch wears down and the rocks have settled I think that both required maintenance.
Ashley Mayes
Hi Barbara,
We have both still as well. Rock definitely lasts way longer in our climate but I do think both require some maintenance for sure.
Shene
I made a large flower bed that goes across the front of my house and down both sides. We got two trailer fulls of rock that I unloaded one small bathroom waste basket at a time. That was all a 68 year old lady could lift. Now I can just spay weed killer on the occasional weed. I did rock to make maintenance easier for the future. I am now 70 and am still glad I chose
Ashley Mayes
That's great to hear Shene!
Janet
Very true and landscape plastic don’t keep the weeds out!!
Ally Scott
Tammey, that sounds like a great idea! I'd love to see it.
Megan
We have both. We got the rocks for free and they all started out in our now gone cactus/rock garden. Once we got rid of that, we out the rocks in various flowerbeds. We still have a lot of mulch areas. I like both and think there's a good way to mix both to achieve both looks. We bought some rocks for our garden paths by the truck load. And we always buy mulch by the truck load as we have a lot of areas. I do like what you did. It looks nice and will look great once the plants grow.
Ashley Mayes
I do like a mix of both! I definitely think that's the way to go.
Kathy from CT
I think it looks lovely. Agree that once the plants grow a bit then it will look less cold. My husband is always saying "gotta buy more mulch cuz it looks weathered". Now that he has a certain amount of money to use for yard maintenance, he is switching to rocks in some areas like you did. I don't think we will switch over for all areas, but just enough to keep the impact on budget manageable.
Ashley Mayes
Thanks Kathy. I totally agree with you. Once the plants grow in a bit, it will look much better. It's all about that budget and the rocks are definitely a cheaper option. Thanks so much for your comment.
Ann
Your yard is looking great! I have areas of mulch and gravel paths in our yard as we get rid of our lawn. We were very lucky to score vintage railroad ties for our yard when the local middle school changed their landscaping. The combo of the timbers, rock and mulch are right up my alley.
Ashley Mayes
Thanks Ann. We have more railroad ties in the front but we had to buy ours. You got lucky! =)
Vicki
What you've done looks really nice. However, I will tell you from experience that we "wasted" our money by buying that landscape fabric as weeds still grew up through it - especially bermuda grass, so i will never waste my money doing that again. I have found that weeds & grass & little trees will still grow in your rocks as the wind blows seeds, birds drop seeds, etc and they just need the tiniest bit of soil to take root, so we still are pulling weeds out of the rocks. So most of mine have been replaced through the years by placing down a heavy mulch of wet newspapers & cardboard (i wet it as i lay it down) which chokes out the weeds & turns to compost through the years - then i plant my plants (actually plant them first & then lay the newspaper) and a have layer (3-4") of mulch. To refresh the mulch, i use a leaf rake & I always use the cypress mulch. I do not like the looks of the "red" cedar mulch & I LOVE the black mulch (which makes it look like well manicured dirt from far away) but i HATED the fact that black mulch shows every little seed pod, lint, anything that happens to blow into it (much like lint shows up on a dark carpet) & it made my flower beds look "messy" so i ripped the black mulch out & went back to my old standby cypress mulch - its the best. I'm a master gardener in Kansas & we have a lot of trees as well - but each year I have to "weed" my flowerbeds once in the spring, refresh the mulch by raking the top with a leaf rake & then if needed, i add more mulch & i have good looking flower beds. Short of having a lawn service come & take care of my big yard (almost 1 acre) it will never be perfect, but it looks pretty good. I said all that to say - don't be surprised if you still have to "weed" your rock border. It won't fade like mulch, but you will find that leaves, etc will still get caught in your rocks as well so you will still be "cleaning" your flower beds to keep them looking top notch. But you've done a good job & it looks good - once your pants fill in, you will like it more - its just not "maintenance free" like i was hoping mine would be after using the landscape fabric & rock. Keep growing - a garden is ever evolving!!!
Vicky
I have the red pumice rock and it is about 4" deep, I also have a weed barrier that is a grey color. Not a problem with weeds. I also have a crabgrass front yard and do have to trim along the edge so it does not creep into the rock. I love the pumice rock and have not had a problem with it growing weeds or anything in it. I have never tried the river round rock so I can't comment on it. I do love the red pumice rock.
Ashley Mayes
You laid your rock deeper than we did. I think that's a key point. I think ours sits about 2.5". That's definitely something to remember for next time. Thanks Vicky.
Ashley Mayes
Thanks Vicki. Newspaper is such a great idea. I don't think the landscape fabric is quite a waste but I don't think it's foolproof either. Thanks so much for the encouragement. You are totally right, it's always evolving. Hope you enjoy your space this year.
Cynthia Bliss
As the years go by dirt will creep into the rocks and weeds will start to grow ( I know because my backyard is all rocks here in Orlando). So eventually you will have to spray weed killer to get rid of them.
Ashley Mayes
I'm sure you are right. I'm hoping the landscape barrier will help but I definitely don't think it's a miracle product. Thanks so much for your comment.
Gregory Willard
I have always loved the look of a good rock garden. I really like that you cut out holes in the weed barrier for the plants, and then covered it with rocks. I may have to steal this idea for our patio. Thanks for the ideas.
Ashley Mayes
Of course, thanks!
Erin
We have a combination of wood mulch and stone- the stones are primarily along one side and beneath our deck. I think that over the years the stones have started to migrate down the hill on the side- do you have any tips for re-distributing them back up the hill? It’s sort-of a large area to spread by hand. Thanks!
Ashley Mayes
That's tough! I wonder if you could just rent a skid steer to move them or hire someone to do it for you?
Mark
For the looks I would say combination of these two. You can make great combinations of shapes and colors with rocks and mulch. But I agree with you that rocks are way easier to maintain.
Ashley Mayes
I totally agree with you! Thanks for stopping by!
Tomas Killington
My sister recently moved into a home that has a large yard. She wants to beautify the area while keeping it low maintenance. I didn't realize using river rock in landscaping can be quite affordable because it can be purchased by the truckload. I'll be sure to share this information with my sister.
Carol Cummings
We landscaped with rocks around our big front porch and love it.we chose a light orange colored rock to match the bricks in our house and it's lovely.
Hazel Owens
My husband and I were going through this same debate about our backyard. We wanted to decorate it but we wanted to use less- expensive materials. We were amazed at how much cheaper river rock was than the other things that we have been looking at. It also adds such a clean feature and makes everything look more organized. Thanks for sharing!
Jiwon Kapkin
We have the similar problem with our backyard patio area. The mulch around the patio is making a lot of mess especially with our puppy running around all the time. I’ve suggested using the rocks to cover the area to my husband sometime ago and after seeing what you’ve done, we’ll definitely go for the idea.
Ashley Mayes
Yes! We really love having the rocks... so much easier to maintain!
Linda Neighbors
Do you really have to put down a weed barrier if you use rock?
Ashley Mayes
You probably don't but we didn't in a different area and have had more issues with weeds there.
marissa gorena
I have 4 huge oak trees in my back yard. We take at least 60 bags of leaves yearly. The leave blower definitely blows away mulch. Relandscaping after that Texas freeze. Definitely going with River rock this time. It’s only 17 cents a pound. I thinking will be worth it. Need 6 tons. I will hire someone to do the job. I’m 67!
Ashley Mayes
That's a ton! I feel your pain. The river rock is definitely helpful because it doesn't blow out like mulch does.
Amy Field
I’m just starting on a landscaping project against our stone wall. The weeds are never ending and the mulch is a losing battle. So we are going to dig it all out lay down a heavy landscape fabric and then use river rock on top. My question is where do you find the large quantities of river rock? We live in Rhode Island. I do not want to purchase at one bag at a time at the local store.
Ashley Mayes
Hi,
Buy from a stone yard!! There should be mulch and rock companies that will deliver by the truckload (or you can pick up). We have multiple of those around here. You can search "bulk rock or bulk mulch" to get started!! We've had rock brought in this way and it's cheaper when you are doing a larger amount.
Zachary Tomlinson
It's amazing how creativity and nature could help you turn your dull backyard into an amazing garden. I never knew that rocks and shrubs, along with other greenery, are all you need to achieve it! I should relay this idea to my aunt, who wants to surprise her visitors with an amazing garden when they visit.
Marissa
My concern with rocks is that they may get too hot for the flowers I plant (in the state I live in it’s hot almost all year round). Mulch keeps the moisture in the ground. However, Rocks look so pretty and don’t get blown away as mulch does when it’s windy. I’m undecided between stone vs. mulch.
Ashley Mayes
Those sound like valid concerns for sure! I have two friends that live in states that are hot and they mostly use rocks but they also use succulents in their yards. Maybe it just depends on what type of flowers/shrubs you want to plant!
Jeanne
I am trying to make a dry river bed but I have big, unequal sized rocks that were given to me. I have a flat, level base but wondering how I should stack the big rocks (preferably 3 stacks high) so they don't shift.
Ashley Mayes
You mortar in between your stacks!
Trey
Hello,
Hope all is well. I am looking to replace my much with gravel and was hoping to ask you some questions regarding pricing stuff (quantity and whatnot). I would really appreciate talking with you over email or zoom if possible. Thanks for your time.
Best,
Trey
Maryann
My son moved into a large house where all the beds around the house have rocks….the weeds are next to impossible to get out and are extreme. There is fabric down deep as I have moved many rocks to try and get to weeds
Any suggestions?
Cassie
You are going to regret that dry bed with all those trees around take it from someone who knows. I have a rock bank and it looks good when it first finished then all the leaves dirt pine needles gets in it and it never looks clean again no matter how much you blow leaves.
Ashley Mayes
We've had it now for about 4 years (just updated the blog post) and it's not as fresh for sure but I LOVE It.