How to Decorate with Pebble Pond Edging

Grade the soil away from the pond edges to a 10 to 20 percent grade. A 10 percent grade descends one foot for every 10 feet away from the pond's edge, while a 20 percent grade descends one foot for every five feet. This keeps water draining away from the pond and prevents pebbles from falling into the pond. You must lift up the overlapping pond liner edges to access the soil. Rake the soil smooth, using both sides of a bow rake, and lay the pond liner back down around the pond edge.

Dig a trench about four inches deep and four inches wide where you want the pond edging to end. If you want the edging to measure 10 feet wide, dig the trench 10 feet out from the pond's edge. Lay garden hoses to create irregular shapes with gentle curves for a more natural look than perfectly straight or circular edges.

Lay some medium-sized stones directly along the pond edge to help conceal the liner along the top of the waterline, hold the liner edges in place, and prevent pebbles from being pushed or kicked into the pond. If you use a preformed pond liner with a raised lip around the edges, set the stones on the lip to conceal it; pack some sand under each stone to help support the weight so the rocks don't crush the liner.

Cut the liner edges about six inches outside of the medium-sized rocks, using a sharp razor knife.

Lay permeable landscaping fabric on the ground around the pond wherever you wish to add edging or plants to decorate the pond edge. The landscaping edging should overlap the pond liner edge, butting up against the medium-sized rock border.

Lay the landscaping fabric edges in the trench and cut any excess fabric. Fill in the trench with medium-sized rocks, creating a slightly raised edge to keep the pebbles from washing outside the edging perimeter.

Place a variety of large boulders and medium to large rocks on the landscaping fabric around the pond, if desired. While you can use only pond pebbles for the pond edging, a variety of rock sizes helps achieve a more natural look such as would be found around a river, stream or natural pond.

Cut holes through the landscaping fabric and pond liner for groundcovers or other plants, if desired. Plants are not essential to pebble pond edging, but they add color to break up the monotony of stone color, and foliage helps soften the hard appearance of stone. Use a razor knife to cut an "X" and cut away the triangle-shaped flaps created by the "X" to reveal a square hole in the fabric and liner.

Plant your choice of plants through the holes in the liner and fabric; set the top of the root balls even with the surrounding soil grade. Choose drought- and heat-tolerant plants, because the pebble pond edging gets hotter than soil. Try a plant such as cheddar pinks (Dianthus "Bath's Pink," U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9), which has fine-textured foliage and soft pink flowers that sprawl across the rocks as they grow. If you prefer the formal look of evergreen plants, try blue rug juniper (Juniperus horizontalis "Wiltonii," USDA zones 3 through 9).

Spread pebbles around the edge in a 3-inch layer to completely conceal the landscaping fabric and pond liner. Fill in the spaces between groups of rocks, if applicable. Keep a few inches out from the plant stems free of rocks to allow room to grow. Use pond pebbles with smooth sides such as pea gravel or small cobbles. Pond pebbles usually measure between one and three inches in diameter.