I'm pretty sure you'd be breaking some kind of law by collecting on public property. You might try to get permission from a private land owner or the owner of property that is about to be "developed".

You can purchase molds and concrete to create your own "rocks", or do like me and scour demolished homesights for old bricks for use in sidewalks, patios, borders and raised beds (with the owners' permission). There are lots of options available for these types of projects that use materials which would otherwise be headed for landfills.

I'd have serious ethical questions about taking them from a river- or streambed where they are necessary for regulating water flow and the anchoring of plants, which in turn offer breeding grounds and protection to aquatic life.

Good luck with your project!

Nelson

I totally understand your fascination with ROCKS. When I first arrived in Massachusetts (a totally TEMPORARY CONDITION, believe me--I'm headed SOUTH AGAIN SOON) I could not believe all the ROCKS. I was smitten with ROCK ENVY.
My new hubby laughed at me as we drove into New Hampshire, AKA "THE GRANITE STATE".....because I wanted to bring home some quite lovely boulders.

And then I began dealing with HIS yard, composed of what he lovingly calls "glacial junk", what was left over after the glaciers receded. Unlike Mobile, you put a shovel or a trowel into the soil, and you hit ROCK. All the rock walls terracing his back yard and lining both sides of his driveway were dug from this property. Yeah, hard to believe. I was scheming how to ferry SUV loads of big rocks back to Alabama. In our garden in Mobile, I don't run across gravel and I prepare flower beds by applying decaying leaves and let the compost worms dig the ground for me.

When we go back to Mobile in a couple of months, my husband is looking forward to creating a raised bed garden so he can enjoy gardening all winter long. He plans to use 2x12s, not rocks. Various designs of raised beds can look attractive, and I think that Sunset magazine publishes some examples of those designs.

In the interest of simplicity and maybe economy too, I'd try an alternative to the rocks. The last 100 pound rock I TRIED to lift snapped my rotator cuff and popped my hip two inches out of line. So I gave up rock envy.

I am like Nelson - i scour property looking for old bricks - i actually got about 1000 from a couple in Mtgy by posting an add in our local "trader" magazine - got them free - 150 or so at the time (in the back of my SUV) - didn't want to sway too bad lol!