Selecting & Placing Boulders and Rocks:

Natural stone is among the most long lasting and beautiful additions to a landscape. It's also the most unpredictable. No matter how well your designer delineates boulders on the plan, the actual rock used may not resemble that shape at all. That's because every boulder is unique, which dictates their final selection and placement be done in the field. Drawings are only a suggestion. The real talent for fine rock work can only be done by a designer or contractor with a lot of field experience.

Boulder Shapes:

Tall vertical - This stone is taller than it is wide. It's usually used on the taller half of a waterfall or as the central stone in a composition. Consider this the hinge of any composition upon which many other stones turn.

Low vertical- This stone is wider than it is tall. It is similar to tall vertical but is much wider relative to the height. This is a massive stone often used as a companion for tall vertical stones so they don't stand like a monolith.

Arching - This oddly shaped stone overhangs on right or left. It can also be known as a thrusting stone. It is slightly lower than the low vertical stone. It is used to give strength and stability to vital points of the garden such as the corner of a stone bridge. To achieve this a stone can be planted at an angle to make a moderate arch more prominent.

Reclining - This boulder will resemble the shape of a reclining animal with the head on one end higher and narrower than the hips on the opposite end. It's often referred to as an ox stone due to the strength it infers. Masters use this diagonal top line to draw the eye to another element close by in the garden, almost as though it is a pointer.

Flat - This easy to identify stone is less than a foot tall, but it may be unlimited in length and width. Above all it must have a flat top surface. These are used in front of a composition of boulders, at water's edge, as a bridge and as walks and stepping stones.