Hardscaping vs Landscaping Archives

Your landscaper may use terms you are unfamiliar with, like hardscaping vs landscaping, when discussing plans for your outdoor living area. These terms can get threw around and interchanged in your talks. Understanding the meaning behind the wording is going to help you create a better idea of your home’s landscape.

Landscaping and hardscaping are closely linked; however, they refer to two diverse methods and design factors. Your landscaper uses both methods to create practical and aesthetic aspects of your house’s geography. When used with one another effectively, hardscaping and landscaping can considerably enhance your home’s street appeal.

What is Hardscaping?

The term hardscape is in reference to the inorganic aspects of a home’s landscape design, providing the practical features of your outdoor area. The hardscaping method addresses rocks, pavers, wood, bricks, stones, concrete and other comparable materials. Additionally, contractors utilize patio covers, decks, pergolas, and other comparable structures for hardscaping.

Hardscape aspects can also add accessibility to your outdoor area. For example, an outdoor pool is going to require pool decking, whereas patios work well with walkways and driveways. These aspects also prevent soft, muddy soil, which could degrade your lawn. In addition, hardscaped features produce protective boundaries that secure the structural stability of your yard.

instances of hardscape elements comprise the following:

Fountains
Birdhouses
Fences
Gazebos
Retaining walls
Driveways
Patios
Walkways
Statues
Outdoor kitchens
Trellises
Pools
Playgrounds
Pagodas
Gravel
Benches

What is Landscaping?

Landscaping is also referred to as soft scaping, which involves designing the organic in your home’s outdoor living area. Using this method, your landscaper is going to utilize trees, flowers, shrubs, plants, and grass to modify your lawn. Landscaping provides the foliage for your home, which can create inner calm, decrease stress and better your mood.

Instances of soft scaping elements comprise the following:

Vegetable plants
Ornamental plants
Trees
Soil and Sod
Shrubs
Vines
Grass
Foliage
Flowers
Bushes

A landscaping professional can combine aesthetic and practical features like lining your driveway with a canopy of trees offering natural shade. Nevertheless, there are a multitude of design considerations you should bear in mind when devising your yard.

Essential Hardscaping vs Landscaping Considerations

Hardscaping offers several benefits apart from improving your yard’s look. Hardscape aspects impact the appearance, efficiency and flow of your outdoor area, which are essential factors of landscaping services. They also improve particular factors of your home’s outdoor areas:

Swimming pools, playgrounds, outdoor fire features, kitchens and patios add to your home’s square footage and produce functional areas for you to appreciate.
Hardscape areas are usually somewhat low in maintenance.
Concrete and other comparable materials are intended to last a long time.
Landscape features in your yard, such as pergolas, become natural extensions of your living area in which people can gather and enjoy each other’s company.
Hardscape features can decrease overall maintenance expenses. For example, when adding pathways to your yard, you are decreasing the area that requires landscaping maintenance because there is less lawn and other foliage on pathways.
You create separate areas within your property when adding different hard-scape features. These features create structure and improve flow to your home’s outdoor areas.

Essential Landscape vs Hardscaping Considerations

There are important features you should think about concerning landscape design. Plants, trees and other living factors in your yard are going to require more maintenance and focus. You should also focus on to how softscape attributes blend with hardscaped factors. Man-made structures in your yard are set, whereas foliage and flowers can grow surrounding them and change the general appearance of your home’s exterior.

The following are some of the landscape factors you should focus on:

Landscaping factors are going to soften the appearance of solid features like decking, driveways, pathways and courtyards.
foliage, shrubbery and flowers are seasonal, so you should select the ones that match the season of the year and your locations present climate. For example, the addition of Spanish moss could be a welcome sight in some communities with a lot of precipitation; however low-moisture succulents are the better choice in dryer climates.
Speak with your landscaping service company to help you select the best plants and shrubbery for creating the desired aesthetics – combining the incorrect plants can ruin the appearance and appeal of your yard.
Soft-scaping factors grow and change as the seasons come and go. Making your home’s outdoor area more dynamic. You are going to need to replace the foliage and flowers that dry out and go out-of-season.
When softscape attributes of your yard blend well with inorganic structures, they produce a perfect extension of your living area.

Integrating Hardscaping in Your Landscape Design

Working with an experienced landscaper is going to help create a comfortable and pleasing setting. The objective is to create unity between your home’s hardscaping vs landscaping features.

Your landscaping contractor may suggest various techniques for integrating architecture with natural elements. With professional assistance, every bench, table, fire feature and pergolas are going to be accounted for, and this can create focal points with supporting design elements.

Incorporating Practicality and Style for Your Home’s Landscape

Each home is different; subject to your space, certain aspects are required to be considered in your landscape design. Your landscaper is also going to consider the available workspace, your budget and the localized climate.

Landscaping Materials Phoenix by A&A Materials, Inc.

A & A Materials, Inc., located in Scottsdale, Arizona, offers Landscaping Materials for your landscaping needs. Call us at 480-990-0557 for more information.