Flagstone can be used to create appealing, yet practical patios, magnificent fountains, unique pool environments and interesting paths. Steps created in flag stone offer an enchanting way to enhance the entrance of your home, gazebo, pool house, or a raised garden. Flag stone, with its varied shapes and sizes, can turn pretty much any outdoor surface into a canvas for the creative arrangement of this flat, but personality filled rock.

Because the varied shapes of flag stone offer the opportunity to create curving walk ways and paths, and because of its strength, use the flag stone to accent a large backyard. Do this by weaving a flag stone formation through dense trees areas, gardens, or even around the perimeter of a yard to set it apart from the other in the area. Since they can be easily placed upon any existing concrete, installation can be a smooth process, changing the entire look of a yard with one simple upgrade.

How simple? First, make a plan – draft out a general design on a piece of paper. You can’t get specific because the flagstone will act as a jig saw puzzle. You’ll place each piece into the overall pattern as it best fits. Flag stone is easier to handle than the larger, bulkier types of rock, so as long as you give yourself plenty of time and do your work when the sun is low, the labor end of the job won’t seem all that back breaking. You can get pattern ideas from do-it-yourself-magazines or create something completely original.

Then, all you have to do is prepare the area you will be placing the flag stone in, and fill it with three inches of compacted, crushed gravel. Over the gravel, spread 1 ½ inches of sand and then cover. You are now ready to install flag stone, manipulating the sand and the flag stone as you design your surface so the final product is level.

As for landscaping the areas around flag stone, tall designer grasses and wispy perennials create a natural, earthy look. Roses and similar types of flowers planted in defined, organized rows lend a stately, elegant look to the yard. When used as an element in a rock garden, flag stone is best enhanced with flowers like lavender, primrose, and columbine, with boxwood, firethorn, or Oregon grape shrubbery. Moss can cleverly be added in arrangement that make your flag stone formation seem as though it has always been a part of the land around it.