I've had troubles with stones in general. It doesn't seem to matter how thick of a layer I put down, the weeds always find a way up! In my experience, the best way to prevent all weeds/plants from growing through is to lay either heavy-duty cardboard or thick plastic sheeting underneath the stone.

If you can't do that, then I would reccommend you just use a weed killer whenever they pop up. Good luck.

A lot of weed seeds need light to germinate so larger stones might actually end up with more weeds because the bigger spaces between them might allow more light deeper into the stones. No matter what you use, you'll probably always get some weeds or garden plants seeding into it. If you keep it under control by walking the paths regularly and pulling anything you see, it shouldn't get out of control. Going over the paths in spring with one of those water-filled rollers to pack the material down tightly may help too. That's what we do here - roll the paths in spring and then make sure you stroll around all the paths in the garden at least once a week (particularly in late spring and early summer when things are germinating and growing quickly), pulling anything we see growing in the paths. Nothing has a chance to get out of control if you do that.

I use cardboard and wood shavings from a nearby place that makes log homes. The shavings are there for the taking. Last time I did this was 5 years ago, and this summer decided to do it again since it is so maintenance free for a few years, and since the weeds really decided to take over after everything had turned into great soil. Here's some photos...

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The path is actually behind the garden of the first rock wall in the following photo, and just before the second rock/brick wall. Makes the garden easy to access and work two levels.

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The cardboard is laid down and then I place up to 6 inches of wood shavings. It's easy and doesn't cost a dime. If you have a wood mill in your area they are usually more than willing to let you haul away as much as you can. Not sure if you have such a place but it's worthwhile looking into.

I agree with indy's observation. I'm sure we've all encountered the dandelion growing in the middle of aspalt. over time organic matter will fall over that path and so weeds would eventually develop. The best way to maintain this is to disturb the path with a dutch hoe every spring.

My husband & I installed a patio with a lime screened layer, topped with black weed cloth and topped with pea sized stones. If you thought weeds couldn't possibly grow in this area - you thought wrong.

So the point is.. just do the best you can to deal with weeds.

Here's my experience with stone.

I used crushed stone around some planter "vignettes" and what happens is the sharp stone edges cut through the landscape cloth, especially if you have to walk on the gravel area. On some I used hardware cloth (flexible screen) under the gravel. Same problem-- rocks cut through it and the bindweed / dandelions / plantain manage to find the little escape hatches.

The most success was with the area that I covered with two overlapping layers of corrugated cardboard, then two layers of landscape cloth, then the gravel. By the time the cardboard had rotted, the weeds had been deprived of light for long enough to kill them.

In the future I will use smooth "beach" pebbles with fewer sharp edges to cut the underlay.

I do use the Dutch hoe to clean up the paths, but they don't stay clean long.

I also use wood mulch paths and they have almost no weeds. The problem is I use 30 - 50 yards of mulch a year (mostly in the gardens) and I'd rather put it on the plants and use something more perinent on the paths.

I don't use a weed barrier. It would not help since the seedlings I am seeing are from seeds falling from above.

I also made a dry river bed using what ever rocks I was digging up, but mostly baseball golfball size. No weed barrier. It has no weeds.