Custom Boulder & Stone Work
Creating an Effortless, Natural Landscape
We pride ourselves on custom landscape designs that draw on natural beauty. A truly natural landscape isn’t just a flat, well-manicured lawn with a few flowers here and there. Take a walk on any Minnesota trail and you’ll see why we love working with natural stone in so many of our projects.
Boulders and rocks are such an easy way to add visual interest to property. It’s like plug-and-play for your custom outdoor spaces. But don’t worry; plug and play doesn’t mean your property will look pre-packaged. Customization is the heart of our business, and by choosing the right stones and placing them strategically, your property will appear as unique, charming and natural as if Mother Nature herself designed it.
Larger stones and boulders perfectly replicate a realistic appearance when added to water features and garden beds. They are especially important in larger garden beds, as large spaces with nothing but plant material can look too busy, too sparse or just plain unnatural. Custom stone and rock work breaks up a space in interesting ways by creating focal points in your landscape.
If you’ve ever strolled through the woods or walked along a creek bed in northern Minnesota you know that rock outcroppings are peeking out from vegetation everywhere. We use boulders and other natural stone of varying sizes, shapes and types in our endeavor to create differences in height, texture and material that makes up the charm of that same natural look. Often we use stones just as we find them, but depending on the purpose, we can also cut stones to create just the right look and function.
Even better, adding boulders, stones and other natural rock in a landscape design adds a natural look that requires no maintenance. When our stone work is mortared on true footings (a solid base foundation for walls and other structures), you can be sure it will stand unchanged against the test of time and the worst of Minnesota weather.
We Use Stone and Rock Work in a Number of Ways
As Accents
We use our stone and rock work to add natural touches, much like you would see in an outcropping of rock on a river bank. They make for powerful visual enhancements for planted areas and garden beds, both small and large. We also like to use boulders and large rocks as standalone accents to create focal points on your property, giving it a multifaceted and interesting layout.As Features
When combined with other options and services we offer at ALD, custom rock work can move out of the realm of accent work and into the spotlight. Combined with water, we can create a number of water features, including bubbling boulders, ponds, and waterfalls. Whether it’s a curved stone bridge for your garden, stream or creek, or a one-of-a-kind piece of art lit up at night by a custom lighting scheme, we can use stone to shape or build just about anything you can imagine (and we like a challenge!). Using boulders to create dramatic signage for commercial property or driveway markers for residential property also leaves a lasting impression.As Functional Spaces
The versatility of stone and rock work is what makes it one of our favorite materials to work with when creating functional areas for outdoor livings. We can create flat hardscapes such as patios, walkways, and stairs, as well as natural seating and low sitting walls. From custom design stone furniture to full blown outdoor kitchens, pizza ovens and custom-crafted fire pits or outdoor fireplaces, we can create rock work to give you all the comforts and luxuries of a big dollar vacation spot. We also create custom stone furniture in-house to meet the needs of our clients’ outdoor living spaces.
As Design Solutions
When it comes to the less than glamorous parts of landscaping, the best solutions to design and drainage problems are the ones that work themselves into the background. Strategically used, rocks, boulders and stones can provide solutions for various landscape issues. If your property is flat, we can use stone and rock work to make berms in order to create areas of elevation. From dry creek beds and other drainage solutions for handling water runoff, to retention walls for soil retention in tiered gardens and lawns, we can incorporate stone and rocks to attractively solve problems without taking away from the natural look you want.Our Capacity, Experience, and Abilities Make Us a Diamond in the Rough
Custom-crafted stone and rock work as a part of landscaping design is becoming a lost art that ALD is committed to preserving. Unlike many of our competitors, ALD has the equipment, ability, personnel, and expertise to handle stone and boulder work in-house. Our capacity and experience for stone and rock work make us a rarity in the landscaping industry. Subcontracting stone and boulder work costs extra time, money and the added headache of orchestrating proper communication and installation. That’s why we are so proud to be able to offer this quality service to our clients.
Our masonry crews are experienced in working with a vast variety of rock, including basalt. We keep and maintain all the equipment necessary for safely moving, securely placing, and artistically cutting stone as needed. Our creative talents demand perfection, so we also hand-select every rock, stone and boulder we use in our custom landscape designs from local quarries.
Elevate Your Outdoor Spaces With Natural Stone
Pardon the pun, but we think our work with natural stone can take a usual landscape and make it “rock.” Stone and boulder work is versatile and can add an aesthetic appeal that can’t be matched. Take a look at some of the examples of past work we’ve done for our clients in our Photo Gallery and you’ll see what we mean. We’d love to talk with you about what stone and rock work can do for your property as well.