It seems like you're talking about two different things. The rocks used in Japanese gardens tend to be large boulders. I think igneous rocks are preferred.

Then you mention something that sounds like a dry garden. As a ground cover for "dry gardens," you might try to use turkey grit. I hear you can get it at Agway. It's not likely that you'll find any kind of rock material worth using at HD or Lowes.

I used river rock around my pond, between the edge plantings and my lawn. It looked fabulous at first. However, keeping debris out has been almost impossible. I don't know how many trees and shrubs you've got near the area but I get debris from the neighbor's trees and my own. I used small river rock, could be called gravel although not pea gravel. About an inch in size. Weeds grow in it too. It looks awful now. I tried using the Shop Vac to get the fir needles and catkins out but it kept clogging. My rocks are a source of frustration to me and I only have about twenty feet by one foot of them. You sound like you are going to have a heck of a lot more. Beware of debris. Don't know a solution. Don't mean to be discouraging but wanted you to know there are issues.

DD has the same problem. Cleaning those beds take lots of work and time. They usually just sit there looking messy what with all the stuff creeping up between them and leaves and seedlings falling in them. Previous owners also put them around small koi pond in front yard. And there is no way to plant anything else in there so she is pretty much stuck with what they left there, most likely planted before stones were put in.

Will only be a small area.. and putting down 45 EPDM liner so no grass will grow up.. yeah keeping it clean will be a problem, the weed eater will be my enemy.. grass already gets into my pond.. I have the mexican river rocks already around alot of my trees and stuff and its a pain keeping that clean too..

The best weapon is a rake -- one of the adjustable-fan metal ones is good, because you can slide the "bridge" up to bring the tines closer together for tight areas and to move gravel, or move it down for a wider fan for leaves and twigs.

The neat gravel bed or path is a Great Hoax promoted by home and garden magazines to make the rest of us feel inadequate. They have professional services rake, mow and hand-pick a gravel area before the photographers arrive. Big estates have clean gravel because workers make it so.

The rest of us must do it ourselves.

I keep my peastone reasonably neat by sitting down in it and picking up all the debris within my reach radius, then scooching to the next. But there is a never-ending rain of stuff, from the early maple flowers and birch catkins, to the samaras and seeds, then autumn leaves and winter's broken twigs. If you live in a region with four seasons and you're surrounded by trees and shrubs, plan on four major cleanups a year, plus the daily bend-down to pick up the odd bit that blows or falls onto the bed.

Your cleanup chores will vary with location, climate and proximity of vegetative debris.

Have fun. :)

All Of the above is very true and not much fun, but I have found a couple things that have helped a little. I have tons of bigger "Potato" sized rocks and lots of egg sized ones in the ground around my place. I have had the best luck putting down a THICK mulch of unfolded newspaper sections. (remove the glossy adds first) then I lay down plastic, at least 6 mil, or dont bother. double if its a tough area.then I put down a layer of the bigg rocks, fill in around with the smaller ones, and finish off with a mix of both. after a while the variety of sizes seem to make them sink into each other and look more dense. Then with a spray nozzle on the hose, I can spray off some of the fresh stuff that hasn't sunk down in yet. The key to this sems to be keeping on it. As I walk through with the morning coffee befor work, I snag any big thing befor it has a chance to turn into compost. Plants will not come up through the paper/plastic for a few years if you put it on densly enough, but rotting leeaves can host seeds that can sprout. Care needs to be used, you cant have the water spray into the fish, or run off into it, and you dont want to be a water hog. This works beter for a small section, like a path, than a big space. too much pressure will blast uour rocks out of place. Hope this helps

I got my rock finally and am very happy, you can see it on my pond page links at http://www.kpetitto.com/pond.htm I think its maybe on page 3 or 4..