Stone borders

[Rosyrain]

Was thinking that it would be neat to go somewhere to collect stones to use as borders for my flower gardens at some point, but what stones are the best and will not break apart from plant roots? I am trying to do something other than traditional brink and cinder blocks .

 

[Trellum]

My dad liked to collect stones from the river, those were really good and resistant rocks. We used them for the garden mostly, plus other interesting projects of my dad. Some of them looked very pretty too.

 

[Pat]

How large a border are you thinking of making? River rocks are a nice border but not very large, if you care crafty you can create your own type of concrete looking border, at least I have seen them do it on tv.

 

[LIcenter]

Was thinking that it would be neat to go somewhere to collect stones to use as borders for my flower gardens at some point, but what stones are the best and will not break apart from plant roots? I am trying to do something other than traditional brink and cinder blocks .

I personally like when the rocks break up a little. It just adds to the flavor that nature intended. But to answer your question, I would stay away from any type of shale, as they will break down with roots getting in the grain, and then the freeze-thaw will help to split them completely.

1. Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable.

 

[IcyBC]

I used to collect rocks from beaches and rivers that I visited and used them as a circular circles for my front garden. They looked really nice, but that house isn't mine anymore. I saw that they kept my designed border with those rocks.

 

[claudine]

Building stone borders is a lovely idea. I often collect rocks while traveling They make a nice souvenir. I wish they weren't so heavy!
What I like the most are white rocks, but they're very rare in my area.

 

[Rosyrain]

I think river rocks are a fantastic idea. The funnest part about a project like this is that I can take the family out for a day trip to collect the rocks and make it a fun adventure. You never know what kind of beautiful rock you will stumble across.

 

[Cereus]

Out of river rocks that you collect, you might want to aim for granite. It's incredibly hard and fares weathering quite well.

 

[Rosyrain]

Is there any laws regarding picking rocks from river beds? I know you are not allowed to do it in federally protected lands?

 

[Cereus]

State/Federal no, private parks you're allowed to take stuff. There's lots of privately owned and managed parks that aren't bound by law to prevent people from taking back things. Or if you're on the side of the highway, ect there aren't any specific laws against that either. Living in WA there were certain stretches of highway that had fossils from blasted boulders so I'd stop and pick some out now and then. Beach combing is a bit different and generally the rules for that are lax. I've found petrified wood, quartz, sea glass and other stuff while beach combing.

 

[Rosyrain]

Thanks Ceres that is good to know. I used to do a lot of beach combing when I was younger, but then life seems to get in the way and I haven't been able to go and do it in a while. I am going to try to get out and do more enjoyable things like that this summer.