I despise rocks of any kind masquerading as mulch. Spent 2 years digging out a rock filled bed so I could plant day lilies. Looks like you may be due for a larger landscape overhaul, so I hope you get some good ideas here. Personally, I would prefer a natural mulch, not a dyed one.

Yes, but I wouldn't. Just plant your shrubs in a row ... such as alongside the driveway or property line or road frontage -- so you can mow alongside them easily.

I agree with decoenthusiaste. Rocks in a garden can add visual interest, but they are not a panacea. And, your landscape does look like it needs an overhaul. Bear with me for a bit while I critique your yard.

1) Why is there a low hedge directly in front of the entry? Was it added to keep people from crossing the lawn to the front door? 2) The red-twig dogwood is stunning, but it's also in front of the entry. The focal point of the front yard is the front door. Nothing should block the view from the front door to the street. 3) The broad, low conifer looks healthy except for having been hacked away to expose bare branches. Always pay attention to the expected mature size of plants before placing them. Don't put a plant expected to grow 5 feet wide closer than 30 inches to a wall, fence or path. Don't put a tall growing shrub in front of a window.

As to the pea gravel. Yes, you can just dump larger gravel over the pea gravel. But, why? Rock increases the air and soil temperature stressing nearby plants. Alkaline rocks can raise soil pH over time as they degrade, but they don't generally provide any nutritive benefit.

Please do not dismiss plants as too much trouble. There are lots of miniature conifers and broad-leaf evergreens such as compact wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei). HERE is one article. I suggest you replace or move the plants blocking the front door with truly low evergreens that will cover the area with color and texture.

I agree with what mindshift said.

And why are you walking in the rocks so that they get caught in your shoes? Do you need more sidewalk and less flowerbed?

Our last house we used river rock about the size of large grapefruit in our perennial gardens. It was wonderful. No more weeds!. Low maintenance and looked nice. In the fall we would just blow the leaves out. The rocks weren't moving anywhere, and certainty did not get in shoes or the lawn. We put weed block under ours, but the pea gravel should be no problem. Sorry this is the best picture I have. You can see the rocks peaking out of the hedge. There was rock in the garden on the right also.

Ok, this is an older picture to show the size of the rock bed. When I moved in the junipers were overgrown and went all the way to the driveway the whole area was extremely neglected and overgrown. I removed several to open up the area and have since moved the blocks in closer to the red twig bush. The junipers have since grown in and the hard wood is no longer showing. We are working on redoing the area to make it more appealing. I was truely just looking to an answer as to if I could put a different rock over the pea without having to remove it. for me, it is to large of an area to put mulch since that has to be refreshed to often. I have 3 other very large mulched gardens to tend to and am wanting to make this a less maintenance area. *note - I like privacy and shade the large bush provides for the other plants I have.

We just did pea gravel all over in our yard I love it I kept my perennials and a few shrubs but virtually eliminated the weeds and what a nice summer I had with not weeding for hours . I then just added huge planters in the spaces where I wanted color it is perfect . As for your situation you need more stuff planted along the edge to keep the gravel controlled and some stuff planted to fill that bare spot you could even do a nice big planter there filled with seasonal plants . I will add I hate grass IMO it wastes water needs way to much chemical intereference to do well and all the mowing is just more than I want to do. We have another area of our lot that is a hill with a pond and I have that area all thyme for a ground cover mixed with perennials it basically looks after it self just needs watering from time to time.

Yes, you can do that but before you do you might want to change some of the landscaping. Rocks & boulders can be used in a landscape very successfully if integrated with other landscape features. Also, they’re almost essential in drought prone areas.

Gardengal48 thank you for your resopnse. This has been alot changed since the photo, perhaps I shoudl have taken an updated photo to not get so many negative comments. it truely was to give an idea how large the area is and to show peagravel. Bushes have been removed, landscape border rock has been moved and and reshaped, different plandts have been added, just hate the pea gravel as I need to walk in the area to get to the water supply and water plants. I am looking to make this a tidy fairly maintence free area since I have over 2 acres to tend to with many other gardens and such with mulch and plants.

perhaps I shoudl have taken an updated photo to not get so many negative comments.

yes, unfortunately this is what Houzz is like.

I think technically, you could put larger rocks over the pea gravel, but first check the weed barrier underneath. if it's starting to look old / holey, then now is the time to replace it. if you just add the large rocks now and then weeds start poking up in a year, it will be so much harder to redo!