Beautiful landscapes are filled with lush plants, leafy trees and blooming flowers. But even the most gorgeous landscape is improved with strategic hardscaping. Hardscapes consist of any man-made or altered features in the landscape, aside from the plants. These features can be structures (decks, gazebos, playhouses and sheds), retaining walls, ponds, fences, pathways, statues and a wide variety of other items. All landscapes, even the most natural and informal, include some type of hardscape.
Landscape styles usually are defined more by their hardscaping features than they are by the plant material. A rose bush can be part of a formal garden if it is growing in a sharply defined bed with pea gravel and paver paths that form symmetrical lines. Take the same rose bush and place it in a meandering bed bordered by a white picket fence, and you have a cottage garden.
Although it’s not a landscaping rule, hardscapes and landscapes should be in harmony with the style of the home and its surroundings. A very informal landscape with rustic features may look strange right up against a formal home of brick and wrought iron.
Form and function
Often, hardscaping has a functional use. Retaining walls may be needed to prevent erosion or to accommodate sharp changes in grade. Dry streambeds may be necessary to collect and channel runoff in a heavy downpour to prevent damage to the landscape or home. While functional hardscaping should be engineered and built according to approved building standards, there’s no reason it should not be constructed of attractive materials, or at the very least, have an attractive facade added later.
From start to finish
If you are building a new home or have purchased a home that is not yet completed, don’t become so focused on picking out the color of the carpet and the light fixtures that you forget about the landscape.
Builders are required to have a minimum amount of landscaping completed before a certificate of occupancy can be issued. Adding hardscaping only after the plant material has been installed can be compared to putting the cart before the horse. Consider working with a landscape architect or designer during construction to have any needed or wanted hardscaping installed prior to planting.
The same is true for an existing landscape that is in the process of being renovated. Attempting to install hardscaping after the plantings may require the plant material to be removed and temporarily set aside, which is harmful to the plants. If you attempt to install hardscaping around existing plants, extensive and irreversible damage may kill them.
Hardscaping features can be made to blend with their surroundings based on the materials from which they are constructed, along with their colors and shapes. Formal hardscaping features tend to consist of stucco, concrete and brick. An informal atmosphere can be created using wood (finished or raw) and other types of natural materials or plastics. Certain materials such as stone and wrought iron are very versatile, so they can be at home in both formal and informal settings. In fact, a landscape without some type of stone hardscaping may look incomplete, no matter how full it appears.
Features no landscape should be without
Although the colors used in various hardscapes can be applied to both formal and informal settings, the use of white hardscaping often is associated with an informal or cottage setting. When it comes to the shape of hardscaping features, straight or crisply defined lines often are seen in formal settings, while curves and soft edges are more informal characteristics.
Whether you have a wild woodland garden completely in the shade, a formal tea garden in full sun, a meadow or a cottage, there are some hardscaping features that no landscape should be without.
Entrance
Just like every house, a landscape needs an entrance. Entrances can be columns of brick or stone, a formal or casual gate with or without a fence, an arbor or simply the start of a pathway where surface materials meet.
Pathways
You can’t stroll through a landscape or access it for maintenance if you don’t have a pathway. The pathway should be wide enough for at least two people to walk side by side. It also should have some type of edging, not only to keep people from wandering, but also to contain the material used for the pathway. Paths made of straight or sharply defined lines tend to appear more formal, as do extremely wide paths, which can lend the feel of a promenade.
Sitting areas
A sitting area can be as simplistic as a bench along the pathway or as complex as a completely contained structure, such as a pergola or gazebo. The type of sitting area is a matter of choice based upon the style and size of the landscape.
Water features
Even the tiniest and simplest of landscapes can have water features. It can be a free-standing formal fountain of brick or concrete, a wall-mounted fountain of resin, a pond comprised of natural stone or any other number of possibilities.
Statuary or accessories
Statuary does not necessarily mean monstrous statues of David or 5-foot cherubs, unless that’s what you are looking for. Small or whimsical statues can enhance any type of landscape. Simplistic accessories such as birdbaths, sundials, birdhouses, water jars or millstones also can be added. Try to use these in moderation, or you run the risk of bordering on tacky.
Two trends in the past few years that really have elevated the beauty of hardscapes while helping to keep costs down are the new concrete pavers and pondless waterfalls. Huge advances have been made in the manufacturing of concrete pavers that can now be made to resemble everything from brick to any shade of natural-looking stone. Pondless waterfalls, which allow homeowners to have cascading falls without the maintenance of a pond, also are becoming increasingly popular.
Even for those who consider themselves plant nuts, the incorporation of well-designed hardscaping into a lush collection of trees, shrubs, lawns and flowers is what creates a truly memorable landscape. |
