Where can I find these rocks for my landscape?

[sporkandbeans]

These are so hard to locate in my area (Southeast, North Georgia). I'm looking to replace all this black mulch with round creek rocks to cut down on yearly maintenance around the pool. Water washes the mulch away every time it rains, kitty cat uses it as her personal toilet, it begins to mildew/rot in humid conditions, it has to be spread out every spring.. etc. I'm done with it.

I really want some gray creek rocks to replace it, but i can't find it anywhere. Someone told me these were sometimes known as Mexican beach pebbles. Am I going to have to have a flatbed truck haul a load of these to my place from south of the border?

Are these more common, perhaps in the USA somewhere? I'd almost go with some dark gray granite rocks, as long as it didn't look like the quartz-streaked granite that comes from this area. A gravel driveway is not the look I'm going for..

I need a LOT.. enough to cover 800 square foot
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[needmore]

They're VERY expensive. I've seen them sold only by the bag in these parts, but I think that the SW US has them more readily available. For me they were way out of my budget so I instead went with the largest size of native river gravel. It ran around $300 per 20 ton delivery. Think uber-large pea gravel, I think it was sized at 1.5 - 2 inches. It is multi-colored - quartz, glacier delivered Canadian granite, etc. I wanted the black such as your photo but quickly grew to like this stuff and plan to use it as my future mulch.

[ghmerrill]

Brad,

did you put down any sort of underlayment to keep the gavel from sinking into the dirt? I have several spots where I have gravel that I put on bare dirt, and after a couple of years, its getting hard to tell there was gravel there!

Gene

[sporkandbeans]

I don't know if it really matters what it costs me because the area around my pool is where i spend every summer day. I found a place that sells 75 pound bags of this rock at $25 a bag. I may go get a bag and calculate what it would cost to cover the entire area.

[sporkandbeans]

maybe we can pat some gray clay into little flat stones. It seems like the easier way to obtain my zen garden after driving around looking for it.

or maybe i can mix up some concrete with a dash of color. heck, i could make a big 'stone mold' and turn out a few dozen at a time. it's gotta be cheaper than hiring a dump truck to bring me 7 tons of stone.

[rfgpitt]

sporkandbeans,
Three of the worst landscaping jobs I did while a professional dealt with river rock (1 adding rock / 2 removing). It is not fun to move it in place depending on where the bed is, but it is really a pain to remove - especially if it has sunk in a bit. Also, judging by your railroad-tie wall, you'll be battling moss & mildew after a year or two. One of the jobs I worked on in removing rock was because the people loved the look of the stone, but not when it was half green. Being around a pool or having other plants might make it hard to use chemicals to keep the green stuff in check. The dark gray stone you like would retain heat better and not show the green as much as lighter stone. Just a couple of thoughts before you shell out a bunch of money......

Wish I was dealing with your dilemma - that area will look great with just about anything!

[needmore]

I put the river stone completely around the perimeter of the house and made a couple of dry river bed spurs for effect. Previously we were unable to walk around the house as it is always muddy, wet, thick, slick clay our house is about 2/3rd up a ridge and the ridge drains right towards the house, this particular area just never dries out. I put down the stone 4-6 inches deep and after 4-5 years it still is on the surface and no problems whatsoever with the 'green', even on the north side of the house where the 'sun don't shine' no problems at all. It has proved to be one of the better landscaping things I've done as we now can keep our feet dry and it is interesting to look at.

No pictures that really show it, (covered with an inch of ice right now) one of them Bissetii photos on my site provides a brief glimpse. I moved 40 tons in a wheel barrow - uphill slightly - over a couple of weeks, it is hard work but what isn't? I really like it and plan on mulching circles around some of my bamboo groves this summer to define their allowed growing area, plus bamboo looks great coming up out of an ornamental stone bed.

[sporkandbeans]

after getting a $550/ton quote for mexican beach pebbles, i went to a place that sold these gray slate chips for $60/ton. I can have 8 tons of this cool rock delivered to my yard for about the cost of 1 ton of the beach pebbles.

I'm not as worried about the rocks 'greening' like the cross ties. The original owners had white creek stone around the pump and it didn't show the green. Still, thanks. I hadn't given the rocks greening any thought. Those ties are proudly showing off nearly 30 years of rampart fungi.

I've already got black fabric under the mulch, so that can be carefully raked out and reused. That patchwork of landscape fabric should keep it from sinking very much.

This stuff is pretty neat. Very light and gives an almost satin gray shine. I hope it doesn't reflect too much heat and kill my banana trees.
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[needmore]

I don't think that Rick's experience with the 'greening' was related to the stones, rather likely it was local conditions and there may have been some excess nitrogen in the area. Maybe I'm wrong, I've just never seen it with any of mine and they are damp & shaded so yours in the open should be good.

[sporkandbeans]

Here's how it turned out. We're VERY happy with the outcome. It seems to help retain moisture better than the black mulch we used for 4 years.

[rfgpitt]

Looks great - although with some of the hottest temps of the year - I think I'm more envious of the pool!

[ghmerrill]

that looks awsome! any problems with the plants pushing up and through the rock?

[GrowingHabit]

Gorgeous results, Jeremy. That stuff hurts to step on, but mostly, that doesn't appear to be a problem in your pictures. Except around those chairs!
Ouch.

[sporkandbeans]

Thanks for the kind words.

rfgpitt: yeah, and to think I made a solar pool heater to keep the water temperature up this summer..

ghmerrill: My amaryllis leaves were very splotchy and discolored after pushing through the rock. I kept the coverage to a minimum over them and the monkey grass. The cannas used to push through the landscape fabric every summer, so they don't care what's up there.

GrowingHabit: I thought they'd be tough to walk on, but they're not as sharp as they may appear to be. They 'give' and shift around when walking on it.

[shuboo]

WOW!!! That looks really good. Nice choice.