A Guide to the Best of Southern California : SHOPTALK : Rocks R Us

FRED FLINTSTONE never had it so good. At Armstrong’s rock supermarket, the Home and Garden Place, you pick it, they weigh it (a two- to three-foot boulder weighs in at 200 to 400 pounds), and they deliver it. (Delivery costs are extra and vary according to your cave’s ZIP code and whether you want it dumped or set down with a forklift).

Road warriors tend to double-take at this West L.A. rockscape, just a stone’s throw from Sawtelle Boulevard. There bask 350 tons of decorative rock and stone, from which you can choose from 15 types of boulders at pre-Neolithic prices (most varieties sell for five to 14 cents a pound). The most popular landscape rocks are Malibu (tan, of course); the lightweight, dark-gray feather rock; river rock granite in salt and pepper; rainbow in pink and peach with white veins, and flagstone. Popular for terrariums and aquariums is the rough-creviced, dark imagination rock.

Planning a Zen meditation garden? Trying to re-create your vacation in Baja? The Home and Garden Place stocks Mexican La Paz beach pebbles in mixed and black $13.95), sunburst desert pebbles hand-picked in Arizona (16 cents per pound) and white, puffy, popcorn-shaped Japanese stones (80-pound sack, $34.95). Rakes are available at the indoor-gardening department.

Armstrong’s The Home and Garden Place, 11321 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles; (213) 477-8023.