Like the Flintstones, homeowners are using rocks for nearly every purpose, including seating, tables, birdbaths, waterfalls, pools and simply as focal points to draw viewers' attention to the garden. Although everyone wants rocks to look natural, they don't have to be natural. Mr. Macaire of Environmental Aesthetics started out as a retail nurseryman more than 30 years ago but now spends nearly all of his time building enormous fake-rock monuments for wealthy clients. Mr. Macaire starts by making latex molds of real rock. Using them as a guide, he creates steel supports, which he fills and covers with concrete tinted to match the real stone.
Artisans then carve and stain the wet concrete to create realistic fissures and flaw lines.
Purists like Mr. Gauder, the Berkeley landscape designer, point out that even the most skillfully made fake rocks chip, fade and look tacky over time. Real ones develop an attractive weathered patina, he says. Once a fake rock breaks or chips, everyone knows what it is. But fakes have an advantage. They can be partially hollowed to conceal pool or irrigation gear.