How to Create a Stone Flowerbed Border

Flowerbeds can add style, beauty and texture to your landscaping. To separate your flowerbeds from the rest of your yard, or to protect your delicate plants and flowers from yard traffic like kids and pets, then you need to add a flowerbed border. The following steps will show you how to create a stone flowerbed border that will be functional and fashionable.

Gravel, slab stone or other stone products

Plastic sheathing and plastic garden border dividers

Figure out the purpose of the stone flowerbed border. The purpose of the boarder is going to influence what type of stones you use. For example if you need the border to act as a retaining wall then you will need larger stones that fit tightly together.

Learn about your stone options. There is a good selection of rocks and rock products that you can use to create your stone flowerbed border. There are slab rocks, cut rocks, river rocks, colored stones and river stones. To get the best results, you will want to select a rock that will meet your flowerbed's functional needs and its aesthetic needs.

Determine what materials you will need to create your stone flowerbed border. Some of the items that you may need to buy include: plastic border dividers, plastic sheathing, garden stakes, spray paint and rocks.

Measure your flowerbed's dimensions to figure out how much sheathing, plastic border dividers and rock you will need.

Buy your supplies. Local home improvement stores and rock haulers can be great places to find rocks of all shapes and sizes, as well as the other materials that you will need to build your border.

Mark the outline of your stone flowerbed border with spray paint.

Clear out the area behind the spray marks. Remove grass, native stones, weeds and other debris. If you will be placing large slab stones to build a retaining wall then you will also want to level the ground. Do this by scraping the dirt or by filling in depressions with sand or loose soil. Lay down plastic sheathing to prevent weeds from growing up between your rocks.

Install the plastic garden divider border along the spray mark. This will separate your grass from the flower bed. You will want to work the plastic into the ground. The easiest way to do this is to dig down into the dirt, place the plastic border and then secure it with dirt. You will also want to add a plastic garden border between the stone border and the actual flower garden (only if you are using loose gravel). This will keep the rocks from spreading into your flower area.

Place your stones. If you are using loose gravel to create your border all you have to do is dump the rocks between your two borders and spread them out to create an even layer. If you are building a stone retaining wall then you will want to start by placing a single row of slab stones on the leveled dirt. Make sure that the stones are fitted tightly together. The second layer of stones needs to be staggered slightly to help hold the retaining wall together. If you want, you can complete a third row; however, two rows are generally enough.

Fill the flowerbed with dirt to hold up the stone retaining wall flowerbed border and plant with the flowers of your choice.

If you will be creating a curved border then you can use string to figure out the dimensions of your flowerbed. Simply run the string along the intended flowerbed border line and mark on the string the beginning and end of the flowerbed border. Then stretch the string so that it is straight and measure the string with a tape measure.