10 Ways to Enhance Your Home Outdoor Space with River Stones

It was a sunny morning. Spring was at its peak, and the blooming colorful flowers enticed us to come out and soak in some soft sun rays from our garden patio. Vanessa, my daughter, was examining the colorful river stones that had arrived as samples to help us decide whether we liked them or not.

In fact, we were waiting for Jenny Peterson, an avid landscape designer who was to expertly enhance the aesthetics of our outdoors, that matched the glory of the blooming spring. The moment Jenny arrived, the first question Vanessa excitedly asked the expert was- “What makes the river stone look so beautiful and natural?”

“It is the gushing flow of water in the rivers that have smoothened the surfaces of natural rocks found in riverbeds, seashores, or streambeds,” Jenny replied softly. “This is why we call them River Stones, because it is nature that gives them different shapes, what we call pebbles, boulders, or gravels,” she added.

After this fun little chat, I now got down to business, showed around the different areas of our outdoor garden, and asked Jenny if she would be willing to share her inputs on how I could enhance my home outdoor spaces with these beautiful River Stones.

In the long but fruitful discussion with her, she suggested these 10 Ways to Decorate Your Landscape with Natural Pebble Stone to improve landscape designs surrounding the home.

There’s a simple breakdown of these 10 outdoor home décor ideas:

Tip #1 – Fill River Stone between Stepping Stones

Laying a stepping stone using natural stones doesn’t mean you always lay stones amidst the lustrous lawn. You can be creative a little bit and shape the stepping stone’s path by additional components such as edge restraints, green hedge with plants, and fill river stones of the same sizes or different sizes between natural stone stepping stones.

You have the freedom to play with different colors and textures of river stones and create various themes including color sync or contrast.

Recently, a free-form walkway with stepping stones and gravel or pebbles is a new trend in landscape or garden design. As its name implies, flagstones are laid somewhat randomly in a wide path amongst the river stones as the background fillers.

Jenny draws a rough sketch for our landscape design and points out where we can create free-form walkways & how we can grab immense river stone benefits in landscaping.

Tip #2 – River Stones as Rock Edge between Stone Path & Grass Ground

The next move Jenny was drawing a sketch of walking paths and driveways in our landscape. she said, “when you design a path made of natural stones, don’t forget to make arrangements for proper drainage.” Surprisingly, instead of drawing a drainage pit along the border of the walkway/driveway, she placed a mix of different types of pebbles in between the edge of the path and ground grass.

She explained, “we will dig the drainage pit as per recommendations by experts, but we will fill it up with river stone to enhance the aesthetics of the entire design.” Indeed, black and gray pavers of the path and greyish tone of river stones juxtaposed with the green grass look robust.

I have praised Jenny’s vision to amalgamate utility with beauty.

Tip #3 – Use River Stone to Cover the Ground

Now Jenny has paid attention to the backyard. Black slate stones were her choice for patio and stepping stone paths. She preferred large slabs in square and rectangular shapes as stepping stones with symmetrical gaps in between two adjacent stones.

The rests of areas like open ground and shadows beneath the symmetrically trimmed green trees were filled with bright white river stones. She has an eye on beauty in design and another on a low-maintenance lawn.

I practically know how laborious and time-consuming tasks of running lawnmowers regularly are.

Tip #4 – River Stones in between Colorful Plantation

My daughter Vernessa is found on colorful plantations, particularly in spring. To satisfy her thirst, Jenny was given an idea to lay mid to large size river stones in between green and colorful plantations. She suggested pure white color or rustic tones with brown sandstone pebbles.

Yes, you can get colorful pebbles from any World of Stones USA distributor in your vicinity who keeps such inventory.

Tip #5 –River Stones to Create A Perfect Xeriscape

Now, I expressed my desire to have a corner allocated for xeriscape with succulents. Jenny had displayed a photo to us from her portfolio. There were a lot of xerophytes in different shades and tones.

The entire ground was covered with colorful river gravel. Scattered river boulders & tree trunks across the landscape seemed fabulous in that xeriscape.

Tip #6 – An Island of Beautiful & Colorful River Stones in Landscape Design

Now, it was time to face a big challenge for a designer when I demanded a meeting point for different walkways and driveway approaching the main entrance. After some brainstorming, we reached an agreement.

We’ve decided to create an island between parallel ways made of stones. The border of the stone was of black stone setts so, we preferred to lay pure white and shining river stones along the path border in the landscape island.

We want to fill large boulders of river stones in the middle portion and with a color other than white. So, we have chosen the same color of pavers taken for path paving. When we finished it, the appearance was stunningly beautiful and eye-catchy.

Tip #7 –River Stone Mulch Around the Tree

We have some apple trees surrounded by dense grassland. Jenny suggested covering the ground under the tree with a combination of gray, brown, and white river stones.

By following that advice, we found enhancement in appearance and the best mulching material that can prevent excessive water evaporation and retention of organic & inorganic ingredients of a compost.

Tip #8 – River Stone Pebbles in the Water Feature

Jenny asked us to show a suitable area to create a water feature-a fall and flowing stream. Her choice was Mexican black pebbles to lay just beneath the fall and across the water stream.

She was absolutely right in her choice, as Mexican pebbles are of a smooth shape and shining surfaces that reflect the light beautifully when wetted with water.

Tip #9 – Use River Stones as Ascent Feature

Jenny asked us, “What do you think if you have a garden patio made of pea gravel? What if your seats are made of gabions made from large river stones or boulders?” However, imagination was difficult for us. So, she pulled a photo from her portfolio.

It was amazing and interesting too. The retaining wall surrounding the pea gravel patio is made from large rounded boulders of white to gray and tan shades. Wall seats also from the same way and covered the top with wooden logs polished and colored with red to grab the immediate attention of the onlookers.

Gravels and pebbles as pavers seem perfect and low in maintenance. The outskirts of the patio were covered with plants, shrubs, and trees with enough shadow to enjoy outdoor life in a naturally cooled milieu.

Tip #10 – Fill River Stones in Plant Beds

Jenny’s affinity towards river stones reached a peak when she showed us her garden design project with a plant bed made of natural stones and filled with natural river stones of different colors and sizes.

The color choice was peculiar and gave a solid impression of contrast. The main large plant bed was contrasting with a nested small plant bed, and all with greenery and plants within it.

Finally, she prescribed us to buy river stone and natural stone paving stuff from World of Stones USA like a dependable online shop. Indeed, we were pleased with her honest and transparent consultancy.