Before & After: Rockscapes Edition Part 1

Recently, Donna and the landscaping crew have been installing some beautiful rockscapes in clients’ gardens that both serve a purpose—for example, as drainage or a splash guard—and add to the flow, beauty, and design of the property as well.

Here are just a few. (We’ll have more in Part 2!)

In the example above, Donna is redirecting water away from the building foundation. The lawn slopes down and the crew built the garden bed up, and where they meet in a “V,” Donna created a dry stream bed that is wide enough to prevent erosion (displacement of the garden mulch, etc.) AND to direct the flow of water around the barn.

Riverstone and decorative rock also can provide an attractive and practical solution beneath the drip edge of rooflines and downspouts. It minimizes rain and mud splatter against siding and foundations during heavy storms, and it allows water to filter efficiently into the ground while preventing muddy areas from developing.

In addition to preventing a muddy mess, a rockscape is a lovely design choice under wide overhangs (where plants can struggle to grow.)

BEFORE

This property had a pre-existing stretch of river rock next to the driveway, along the retaining wall that is an important part of their drainage system.

There Donna added boulders from the property to that section, so the stones look intentional—adding beauty to the utility.

DURING

BEFORE

There were also these sections of the terraced yard outside of the fence, next to the driveway that were hard/impossible to access with a mower and added time and hassle to the lawn maintenance.

Turning that section into a garden adds texture, makes it a richer and more interesting spot for your eyes to land, and adding rockscape there incorporates the river rock and boulders as a design element, visually tying the sections together—separate tiers, but relating to each other and becoming ONE garden.

DURING

At Victoria Gardens we never want to split a design half-and-half. The rule of three is a more balanced and natural design philosophy, so Donna used the stones in 2/3rds of the middle tier (you can see in the picture above where she marked the ground with landscaping paint to show the crew where the mulch and stone would meet.)

AFTER

The top/driveway is all stone, the middle tier introduces the mulch and plants, and the full garden expands in the bottom tier.

As the garden cascades down into the lower tier, Donna has the stone “waterfall” off the wall and into a dry stream bed in the bottom tier, creating another through line, another a relationship between the spaces.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Beyond their functional benefits, river stone and pea gravel create defined landscape edges, separate garden beds from lawns, and add texture, color, and year-round visual interest. Their timeless appearance complements a variety of landscape styles, making them an ideal choice for homeowners seeking a low-maintenance, durable, and beautiful way to enhance outdoor spaces.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Before & After: Rockscapes Edition!

(And we’ll also do a Before & After Feature for the pool area inside the fence.)