10 creative ways to use pebbles for landscaping

Pebbles are a great way to add visual and textural interest to your garden or outdoor area. By incorporating pebbles into your landscape design, you can make your garden or outdoor space appear stylish and luxurious. You can use pebbles to fill an empty area and give it character, as well as bring a natural feel to the place.

Pebbles come in varying shapes, sizes, and colours, and can therefore complement any type of landscape design. Here are 10 amazing ways you can use pebbles for your landscaping project.

1 . Ground cover

Whether you have a neglected and uneven corner, an eroding pathway, or an unkempt and unwanted lawn, pebbles offer good even coverage and add a great colour feature to these areas. Pebbles can also be placed over a weed mat for an instant facelift. It’s best to use 20-30mm pebbles with 50-70mm depth of coverage if there will be foot traffic.

2. Drainage

Pebbles are a great way to decorate drains or grates whilst retaining drainage. You can cover grates on a spillover or strip drains in paved areas to add contrast and texture without affecting drainage and water-flow.

3 . Garden mulch

Pebbles can also be used as mulch in garden beds, where they can protect the soil from erosion, sunlight and weeds. What’s more, pebble mulch can last a lifetime! Pebble mulch is generally best suited for native and arid gardens where composted organics aren’t as high in demand.

4 . Zen rock garden

A Zen rock garden usually contains moss islands, an evocative boulder or two, and raked pebbles. You can create dimension and visual interest by utilising darker colours, such as having a lower border of flat rectangular stones set around smooth pebbles. The garden can be protected from children or pets with a raised terrace.

5. Tree base

If you have a tree in your yard or garden, you can use pebbles to make the base more visually appealing. Use the pebbles to even out the ground around the tree, surround the tree with bricks or large rocks, and then fill the space up to the tree trunk with pebbles.

6. Aquascaping

Pebbles are a great way to create an underwater landscape, you can use different sizes to create ground cover, hills and boulders. Using different colours can also add interest or define spaces to highlight plants or features.

7. Pot plants

Decorative Pebbles are the perfect finishing touch for pots, jars or troughs. You can use pebbles to cover soil on the surface of pot plants to add texture and colour. As a bonus they also stop inquisitive household pets from digging up soil.

8. Outdoor living space

You can also use pebbles to create an outdoor living space by creating a ground cover using pebbles and pairing with benches, tables and lounges. This can be a good way to achieve desired hard/soft ratios if paving is non-compliant.

9. Yard art

Create an eye-catching, magical landscape by forming patterns or shapes in an area of your lawn and outlining them with pebbles. You can make a chequerboard effect, a miniature maze, or big circles on the grass by using pebbles to define or fill them. You can also make footprints or flowers using pebbles of different shapes, sizes and colours and the kids will have a great time helping out.

10. Multi-textured walkway or pathway

Pebbles can be used to fill in and define a walkway or pathway and are great for use with stepping stones. Choose a pebble that compliments your steppers for continuity or a colour that contrasts with the walkway or pathway in order to highlight the area. Pebbles can also be mixed with other stones along the path to create more texture and movement.