how to pick a color to match the brick

[mixer]

Can anyone tell me if there is a way , or a rule of thumb of how to pick a color of stone to use instead of mulch, that looks best with the color of your brick?

[Ozark Moon]

One thing you might do is to drive around with an eye to landscaping in your neighborhood. If you see a color combination that you like, imitate it. ;)

[LisainVA]

Mixer, a couple of questions. What zone do you live in? What type of plants are you planning on having there if any?

The reason I ask is some plants do much better with mulch then rocks/stone. The rocks can get very hot. Example: my in-laws live in Tucson, AZ and their whole front yard, back yard and side yards is all rock. They don't have grass there except on golf courses, etc. But they have plants that are native to that desert environment.

Also, IMPO, I don't really think there is a rule of thumb so much as finding what you like. There are so many rocks and stones available on the market today. Some can get quite costly but they are beautiful looking.

There are many garden magazines out in the bookstores. Also, Garden Web which is on the internet has a lot of helpful message boards. You can read them but I believe if you want to participate, you have to pay a yearly fee.

Good luck and keep us posted! :)

[mixer]

That's a good idea and we did do that,however either we didn't like what we saw or they only had mulch.

We live in Mich. We've been here 2 yrs. now. We do have trees and hedges and plants, hydrangeas, daylillies, purple leaf sandcherry, rhododendrons, things like that. I want it to be really rich looking. From the things that I've seen, I don't care for all one color. I think I like the two or three different colors mixed. Thanks for the info on the garden web. The color of our home is shrewberry,which is a deeper red.

[LisainVA]

Thats sounds like a very pretty color brick. I like the look of different color rocks together also. Why not a combination of two or three of light color like an off white (ivory), tan and such to really standout from the house and not pick a dark color stone so as it would blend in too much with the color of the home. Then with the flowers, plants and trees it would propably look really classy!

I'm not sure of the exact color of stones. I'll ask my in-laws how they went about selecting the rocks they have in their yard. Their's is also not one color stone. They just had their house repainted a couple of months ago to a darker tone and it is amazing how good it looks with the rocks now and how different and more vibrant it made the shrubs and trees stand out against the house.

[mixer]

lisainva, thank you so much. I'm open for any input.