14 smart rock landscaping ideas to transform your garden

Even if your landscape has no rising ground, you can use rocks to create paths. Flagstones are a simple and beautiful way to make a rustic walking path.

If you're building an in-ground pool or other big landscaping structure, like the private patio area here, and are already pulling rocks out of the ground, you can simply use them. If you've got a lot of stones you can even build a rustic wall!

We love a good wildflower garden, but if you want to give it some extra wild-looking attraction, add some different rocks to the scene – a pebble path, for instance, or a few larger rocks in a pile.

A burbling water feature – whether it's a little mini brook or a fountain – can take your garden to the next level.

There's nothing more relaxing than the sound of running water. To help it fit more naturally into the landscape, ornament (or even build) it with a variety of rocks and stones.

This little pebble track along a home's wall isn't just keeping the grass from abutting the house. It's also keeping water from seeping in. It's a French drain—a perforated pipe covered in pebbles that collects rain water and directs it away from the house, so it doesn't seep through into the basement. Beautiful and useful!

Mulching around your favorite garden plants has multiple benefits. It keeps water from evaporating on hot days, prevents weeds from sprouting up, and protects soil from erosion.

Assorted pebbles make a great mulch, too. And they look much nicer (and are longer-lasting) than wood chips or black plastic sheeting.

A low stone rock wall, a few bags of dirt and some mulch can take an otherwise dead space in your yard (such as a corner by the privacy fence) and turn it into a lovely place to put shade-loving perennials.

Whether you've already got a large boulder on your property, you've dug one up from a different project, or you're interested in buying a landscape boulder for your yard, one of the best things you can do with it, is to simply give it room to be on display.

A statement piece like a boulder will draw interest naturally, and doesn't need a lot of other ornamentation to make it look impressive.

If a vegetable garden is part of your plans, consider building an herb spiral out of stone. The idea behind this striking display is practical as well as pretty.

By creating a variety of spaces and heights, you can maximize growing space and drainage differences, allowing herbs that need less water (like rosemary) to coexist with ones that need more, like mint or even watercress.

Rocks are a durable, natural-looking and low-maintenance way to define garden beds. They are also available in every size, colour, and shape you can imagine, so you can have real freedom with your garden edging plans.

Either keep them low if you want your plants to shine or stack them up for statement borders.

Want to install a small pond in your backyard? Rocks and stones can help anchor (and hide) the pond liners as well as make it look like part of the natural landscape. They're also great for giving wildlife a place to perch.

We love a good backyard fire pit, but admittedly they can be hard on a garden. Placed directly over the lawn, you're likely to end up with a decimated circle where the heat has destroyed the grass, which will then need to be reseeded. And that's to say nothing of the dangers of sparks lighting on dry grass.

Save yourself the worry and build a little fire pit spot. A few bags of stone or gravel raked over an area gives you an attractive spot for watching the fire on cool nights while enjoying the company of friends and neighbours.