Usa a Faux Rock to Perk Up Your Landscape

The white boulder in the photo above is very real and very heavy. Living in Maine, I have all the rocks and boulders I want for my landscape. However, they're usually in the wrong spot. Have you ever tried to move a boulder? It is not easy or cheap. Luckily my brothers live in the area and a couple have backhoes. So when I want to move a large boulder one of them comes over and spends a couple hours helping me. I bake a lot of cupcakes and birthday cakes in return!

If you live in an area without lots of rocks and boulders or don't have the luxury of a free backhoe, don't despair! Faux rocks can give you the same landscape and garden features at a fraction of the cost. They are unbelievably light and are often designed to cover a multitude of unsightly utility features.

The color of the faux rock is really important. You either need to plant your garden and then find a faux rock to match or pick out the faux rock and then coordinate your planting. In my case I had planted the shade garden, which is beside our driveway and parking area. Then I looked across the yard and saw the perfectly shaped boulder in just the right color. See how it goes well with the white bush to the back?

In this case the boulder doesn't hide anything, it defines the space. At some point in the future I get out my lettering stencils and paint brush and add the Adams name to it. I like organic landscaping features. For now, it has become a favorite spot for one of my black cats to sit and welcome guests. It gets just enough sun to keep them warm and happy!

I'm a New England Yankee through and through. I don't spend money when I don't have to and I use everything I can that comes for free. Frugality is my middle name. When my husband and I first moved into our fixer-upper farmhouse, he was in charge of the house and I was in charge of the yard and garden clean-up. Oh the rocks I moved in my yard cart! (Let's just say I can now do guy push-ups with ease.)

I placed them in shady areas mostly. What you see to the right are two of my rock garden areas after the summer plants have died and Fall clean-up has been completed. During our long and cold Maine winters, these rocks and our evergreen trees and shrubs will dominate our yard. The grey and white stones great after it snows. During the summer the space between the rocks will be filled with low-growing Alpine Columbine and African Pinks, as well as some Basket of Gold.

Faux rocks come in a variety of styles, so that you too can have a faux rock garden. You can even easily move a faux rock or two, when you want to change up your landscape features. Mine, they aren't going anywhere soon.

You can find a faux rock or bolder to replicate any type of landscaping that you want. I admit that they look a little weird in the pictures, because there aren't many shrubs and flowers surrounding them. Believe me real rocks look just as out of place when they are in the wrong part of the yard. If the faux rock isn't covering a utility post, you can even bury it a little to give it a more realistic setting.

If you're using it to cover a septic cover, you can't just put a rock over it and call it a day. A rock sticking out of the yard or garden that isn't blended will look just as bad as what it's covering. If you can't plant stuff, because you don't want root interference, then consider a creative grouping of containers and other features like a birdbath or even a bench.

I even have a tiny faux rock, where I keep an extra set of house keys. Now don't put this in a pot of flowers on the porch. Every thief knows that trick! Tuck it way in a rock garden and they'll never be able to find it. Heck, sometimes I have trouble and I know what I'm looking for!

Start slowly with any new landscaping technique. Get a single faux rock and incorporate it in a spot. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the way it makes your flowers, plants and shrubs pop.