I’m not even sure if this is the right section to post this but here goes.
How can I achieve something like this in Blender?
Specifically the pebbles, what would be the best approach to create realistic pebble garden decorations?
Specifically the pebbles, what would be the best approach to create realistic pebble garden decorations?
I would go with Geoscatter and some biomes.
Have a look here: Geo-Scatter - 5.4 Update: Time for Scatter Groups!
You don’t really need a special add-on for that.
Here’s one way:
Model a 2x2 m tilable square of pebbles. I recommend using rigid body physics to drop a bunch of pebbles into a 2X2 box mesh, so they would rest naturally. If you hand placed them, they might not look as natural.
Array all these tiles into a big grid, then boolean them into the shape you want.
You can also fake this model using adaptive subdivision and a displacement texture. This will take less resources and will render a lot faster, but this might not be as realistic.
To further improve it, You can also scatter some random pebbles on top with geonodes to break the visible repeats.
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The best way depends ( as always 
) about the realism you want to archieve… or if it “just” has to look like so… especially if this is seen in a close up or “just” background…
…so you can use anything like a simple rock generator (Addon Extra-Objects. .)…
or simple low poly:
or any scanned stone asset (using millions of polygons) to make whatever you want
…or using even rigid body simulation to make them only touch but not interfere each other…
…or even use microdisplacement…
…so what’s best ??
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And, this is yet another case where “if you’re looking for something else to fix, it’s probably finished.” An ordinary viewer is not going to pay the slightest bit of attention to the details of “a pile of pebbles.”
Except… this is for an advertisement about some pebbles manufacturer…
