Sunset Landscaping with Stone: Natural-Looking Paths, Steps, Walls, Water Features, and Rock Gardens

Review “Landscaping with Stone” “Landscaping with Stone” is a another excellent Sunset Book. There is information on stone paths, stone walls, stone patios, stone steps, stone with water features, stone circle gardens, boulder placement and rock gardens. Each concept is well described, well pictured and has good diagrams to show how it could be done. The pictures are well done, depicting and augmenting the text. The diagrams are clear and simple. The text is well and simply written making the ideas seem simple and achievable. The book is motivational inspiring the reader to go out and decorate with stone. My only problem with the book is that it does not emphasize cost. Each individual had best plan far ahead and consider how much the ideas are going to cost to actually build, both in money and in time.

I bought this book because I was interested in starting a rock garden for my husband. Since our yard is very flat, I decided that the suggestions in the book were beautiful, but not something I could manage. BUT at the end of the book (almost as an afterthought!) I found chapters on using stone to enhance my garden. First I found a partially sunny, mostly place was a perfect setting for a stone wall and this book was a big help in how to begin and suggestions on how to use it. It also covers patios and retaining walls in the earlier parts of the book. So if you want something grandiose this book has a lot of Ideas, but it also has a lot for those of us who want something more simple, but still want to enhance their yards and gardens without having to hire a landscaper or spend a lot of money. It's also a beautiful book to look at.

Sunset does a good job here of providing basic information on using stones in landscaping, including a very nice part on pebble mosaics. This book is better than the Taunton book on the same topic. Taunton suffers from sloppy editing, e.g., too much duplication on garden paths, and insufficient explanation for the DIYer. The main criticism here that I have is 1) lack of modernism. There is almost no coverage for modernist applications of stonework in architectural landscaping. 2) An adversion to including significant "commercial" installations. For example, the garden at the Getty Center, or any similiar garden, could have been included for inspiration and ideas. Overall though, its worth the money, and better than the Tauton competition.

I enjoyed all the suggestions, helpful tips, and what to plant along the walk ways, and the water section. I really want to do a rock garden with a stream. Directions were pretty easy to follow.

I purchased this book as a toll for my backyard landscaping projects. The pictures look very nice and the instructions are clear to understand for DIY projects. Hope those instructions will be useful and work well for Texas clay.

Book is ok ,its helps to create or to improve our expectations ,but to get a nice back yard will take time ,patience,love ,creativity and of course money. All of these worth it. Absolutely this book helps !

This is an excellent resource for landscape design. I am a professional landscaper, and the photos in this book are a knock out, depicting many different uses for stone, especially in pathways. If you are on a spiritual path, this is the book for you ... It shows you how to build one !

Beautiful books, very useful for giving you ideas to create your own desings with the stones you have. Full of photos and explanations. It includes even ideas for japanesse gardens. I will check it a lot!

I love the simplicity but fabulous ideas on using stone in your landscape. If you are wanting to get rid of water hungry grass and create a more natural landscape you will find this book helpful. I enjoy gardening books but find many are jammed packed with great photographs but the designs are not really viable for the average person. This book won't be collecting dust on my bookshelf and feel I made a great purchase.

I bought this book to help me lay some paths around the land. It has many great ideas and I cant wait to start. There are many pictures and drawings showing what is possible with many different types of natural materials. I have one or two other Sunset books and they are all detailed and well presented.

good read