Stones are generally used to dress up bed areas, and when used with a landscape fabric they also keep down weeds. There are many sizes and colors to choose from, and aside from a few quality and functional issues, stone is usually chosen based on how it will look in your landscape. Stone is deceptively heavy. Most stone weighs between 2700 and 2900 lbs per cubic yard. The 1" - 1 1/2" Riverstone is always a safe choice to use in a landscape.

Decorative stone is only available in bags with the exception of red crater rock. All the landscape stones are available in bulk or bagged.

Decorative Stones

Black Crater Rock	Black Quartz	Coral Crush
Grey Slate	Indian Sunset	Marble Chips
Meramec Pebbles	Red Crater Rock	Red Sundown
Sand Pebbles	Tiffany Pink	Trap Rock

 

Landscape Stone

1" - 1 1/2" Riverstone

Our inch-and-a-half Riverstone is the most common stone that is used in residential landscapes in Southwest Michigan. Riverstone is a higher quality stone than other stone that is readily available in our area. Riverstone, as the name would imply, is dredged from river basins. The movement of the river grinds down the stones till they are mostly round. The other desirable feature of riverstone is that there is no brown clay stone in it. Brown clay stone is undersirable because it breaks apart after a couple of winters, affecting the appearance of the stone mulch. Most stone in our area comes from locations where glacial activity dumped stone and debris. The stone that is sorted out of glacial dumping grounds is not as good as riverstone because some stones are broken and there is also some clay stone in it. Like most other stones that are sourced from our area, the riverstone is multi-colored, but if you stand back it appears to be grey. If you are having a hard time deciding what stone to use you can't go wrong with this one.

1/2" - 1 1/4" Stone

This stone is often used as a drainage stone or as an inexpensive alternative to riverstone when used as a stone mulch. It is not a riverstone but does not have much broken stone in it. It is grey in color.

 

 

 

Crushed Limestone

Crushed limestone comes to Michigan by barge. It averages 5/8" in size and is white in color. It is used as a stone mulch in areas where a white stone is desired. One thing to look out for is that it does leach off some lime into the soil affecting the pH. You might want to check out if your plantings are going to do OK in that type of soil. It is also used in driveways, but beware, a white drive is pretty bold in most cases.

 

 

Crushed Stone

The crushed stone is appoximately 1/2" in size and is sharp edged and predominantly grey. It is most often used as a driveway stone. Only a crushed stone should be used as a stone topping on driveways. Round stones roll away from the high use spots in a driveway exposing the dirt underneath. Crushed stone tends to pack down and make for a longer lasting stone layer. It also works well in pathways. Crushed stone generally is not used as a decorative stone mulch.

 

 

Pea Gravel

Pea Gravel is an inexpensive pea sized stone. It is also multi-colored but from a distance appears to be grey. It is often used in pathways, play areas and for drainage purposes. Some people consider it to be a little too small to use as a stone mulch in bed areas.

 

 

Red Crater Rock

The red crater rock is a volcanic rock which comes out of Colorado. It is shipped by train most of the way and then by truck to distributors. The product we carry is about 1 1/2" in size and, of course, red. The Red Crater Rock is fairly light weighing in at about 1300 lbs. per cubic yard.

Oversized Stone

Oversized stone is roughly a 2 inch to 4 inch stone with occasional larger stones. It is a relatively inexpensive stone with less round stone and more soft stone than the 1 to 1 ½ riverstone.

Stabilized Gravel

Stabilized gravel is a clay and stone mixture which compacts to form a hard impermeable surface for constructing driveways, parking areas and roadways. It is the brownish material under and next to most roadways in southern Michigan. It is used to build new driveways, parking lots and roads and also used to repair existing ones which have not been paved.

When using stabilized gravel remove all topsoil and unstable subsoil before installation. A minimum of 4” should be used to create a good quality stable long-term surface which can handle vehicular traffic. Construction and repairs are best done when the ground has stabilized following the winter freeze thaw cycle.

There are many grades of stabilized gravel. Some of the stabilized has more stone in it which ends up looking a little more surfaced once the material has settled and been rained on a few times. Stabilized gravel with higher sand sized mineral component will not pack as well as a good clay based one.

The Stabilized sample picture is not representative of the material when taking the picture the material is on the hand and the stones took over the picture. It has a much higher clay material content than what appears there.