When you get more plants and they start draping over the wall and in front of it, the look will be fine.

The inspiration photos show flat topped boulders at least 4 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet in size, partly embedded in the ground. Your boulders are much smaller and sitting on top of the ground. In addition, your rocks are a different type than the inspiration photos' rocks because most people prefer to use local rocks that look natural in the setting.

I suggest you call for an in-site consultation with a professional stone mason or a big landscaping firm who can subcontract to a stone mason. A curved wall with mortared-in local stones could be a good look. You could also ask for an estimate with much larger local boulders in a similar style to the inspiration photos' style.

Personally I would put the smaller ones in the higher parts in the garden and get more big ones to make the wall. Then, as others said, I would get plants that will spill over the boulders nicely.

Rocks & boulders look best when they give the illusion of being part of the natural landscape, accomplished by partially burying them & planting among them. I would focus on removing some of the smaller ones, place them throughtout the landscape interspersed with plants & instead of attempting to create a ”wall” concentrate on making them, the larger boulders, a feature along with other plants, if that makes sense.

Beverly’s first photo gives the idea.

Yes you can certainly get bigger boulders but I think onec plants get going what you have can work , I would probably take all the small ones away that you have sitting on top of the larger ones then plant plants that will fill in gaps and this types of landscaping requires time to look good . Fill the gaps with dirt so plants have a place to root and wait .

You are using the smaller stones almost like "nogging," filling in crevices as if you were making a mortared wall. That is not the concept of the 2 inspiration photos. Remove most of the smaller stones. Then the large stones would have to be repositioned to look more like haphazard outcroppings, or exposed from the soil washing out, not as if you set them on the ground to make a fence line.

It is an art form requiring skill, creativity, and being able to visualize rotating the shape of stone in your head to fit the spot.

I think when plants cascade over the rocks, it will look both great and natural.

Burlingame, California · More Info

How tall a wall are you trying to make? In every single one of the examples shown, the wall does not extend to the top of the slope. So what I would suggest doing is:

• get all the little rocks out of there, at least for now
• move the big rock back into the slope. Place them horizontally, and bury almost everything but the faces. This is not going to be physically easy, but doable
• step back and reaccess where you are. It is entirely possible you are done, except for planting.

If you really want to kick A$$ with your yard - have a landscaper finish it off.

I think you’ve done a really nice job with the main part of your wall. The couple of disconnected smaller stones above could just be removed. Plants are the answer from here!

Have you considered using the same material for your front wall as you have shown further back on the right side instead of the rocks? You could still use the rocks in your landscape.

We have landscape boulders partially sunk into the ground in our yard but put in a curved slump block wall in front because thats what was already existing between front and back yards. It unifies the space by not adding in another kind of fence.

Yes, remove the smaller stones and fill in those gaps with soil and plants. You really don’t need a lot of rocks to give the concept of a boulder wall. You could put some of the smaller rocks higher up on the slope and make another smaller outcropping, but I would remove them from the lower section and fill it in with plants. It will look fine.

The big square “thing” in front is out of sync with what you are trying to accomplish..can that be removed?

Another picture from center front of the home ..from the center of the street could also help toward further ideas

Also …more color variations in the plantings could accentuate the plantings more creatively as well as including flowering species….

Lastly …in homes like yours …adding some color variation to the entry..will help draw the eye there and make it more of a focal point

As others have referenced, you want the boulders to feel like “outcroppings” on the slope vs rocks placed on top of the dirt. So, after you placed your bottom row of larger boulders (which look great and I would keep as is), you should have backfilled behind them with dirt (and maybe a gravel underlayer directly behind the boulders for drainage), so that the grade of the slope rises to the top of your boulders and fills the space inbetween them, providing a relatively level surface for the next row of boulders to be placed into.

If possible to bring in a handful of larger boulders that are flatter in nature, you could place these above your existing row of larger boulders. Just remember they although they would be getting some support from the boulders below them, ultimately the second row will be resting as much (if not moreso) on top of the new grade of backfilled slope that should now be level with the top of your first row of boulders.