How big are the rocks? To include rocks in a planting area, they need to be large rocks....what are commonly referred to as landscape boulders. Smaller rocks just don't work the same way and provide the same substantial appearance....they just look like you have a rocky garden :-))

If rocks are on the smaller side, have you considered incorporating a dry stream bed into your garden plan?

I did exactly what you are talking about. My last house was built of natural limestone, and its existing flower beds were edged with more limestone. What. a. pain. in. the. keister. Grass, weeds, dirt, flowers, everything worked its way to the wrong side of the limestone borders. And I had to hand-trim every time I mowed.

At my present house, I continued using stone edging because that's what I was used to. After a year, I wised up. Why the heck was I doing so much work? I disposed of most of the stones cause they weren't really big enough to use as accent pieces, and I use a half-moon edger and cut a clean edge/trench. I clean the edge/trench each spring, and sometimes a bit extra once or twice during the year. To clean it, I use a triangle hoe. Easy peasy. And it looks great.

Edging a bed with stones is asking for a lot of work. Everything wants to grow between the rocks and they don't stop anything from growing on the other side of them. Besides, they look contrived and artificial. The better professional designers and landscapers seldom, if ever, use rocks as edging. If you're using them to hold back the topsoil just lower the level of the soil next to the lawn. I use that soil to make the berm higher. Occasionally edging the lawn with an edger is easier than dealing with the rocks used for edging. I fill the small ditch with woodchips and use appropriate groundcovers.

I had forgotten about this post. At the end of August, I lost my job. I had the rock from my front border piled in a bare spot by some pine trees and posted it on a FB page for giveaway. I had over 30 people respond, so once the pile was gone, I let them start taking the other front border. Once that was gone, I started around the house. Once those were gone, I started around the large garden in the back. It was a 3-day project, and thousands of pounds of rock that made a good distraction from the job loss. They are all gone now, except for a few favorites I kept.

I bought myself a half moon edger, although I haven't finished with that project yet. It's so funny. I LOVED the rock borders when I bought the house. According to the neighbor, the previous owner had them hauled in about 20 years ago...the only way to get rid of the weeds would have been to take all the border apart and place fabric or something underneath, then rebuild. My eyes finally feel rested from the unsightliness of rocks and weeds. It was literally getting stressful to look at, because it always looked messy, no matter how much I pulled or sprayed or trimmed. There also seems to be an excess of snakes around my house and the neighbors place. I do not mind seeing the occasional snake, but last fall, I was finding them in my garage just about every day, and this spring I was seeing up to 10 a day around the property. Guess what? Haven't seen a single snake this fall. Hoping the rock removal eliminates my home as their permanent habitat!!!!

Thanks for coming back with an update. Snakes like rocks. I don't like snakes. No rocks = no snakes. Yay!

Digging in the dirt is good therapy, isn't it?

Just because you got rid of the rocks doesn't mean you got rid of the snakes. There is no connection except snakes like the warmth of the rocks when the sun is shining on them and the air is cooler. I welcome the sight of a snake or lizard in my garden.

LOL!! Mike, one can hardly call that giant crocodillian topiary a "lizard" :-))

I call it a Crocagator. Sounds meaner than a Allidile.

Well, I certainly cut down on their favorite hiding spots. A pest guy who came to seal up my basement foundation (I see I didn't mention that I found bout 12 snakes in my basement between October 2016 - June 2017) found 3 snake dens. One behind my front steps...we were finding a lot of snakes at the front of the house, many of them tiny babies hiding between the rocks. Another was under my sinking garage floor, but I had the concrete redone last summer, and another under a large rock on the northeast corner of the house. Where I saw multiple snakes almost on a daily basis in fall 2016 and spring 2017, I saw 2 total outside this last fall. One got into my basement in October, but the pest guy will keep coming until I stop finding them indoors. I found the first of the year in mid-March last year, so I'm starting to dread my trips down to the basement again...which is where I start my seeds. I have no problem with the occasional snake in my garden, but finding them in my garage on a weekly basis and getting them caught in my rake when I clean out my flower beds is entirely too much!