When planning out a yard or garden, landscape designers divide elements of the space into softscaping and hardscaping. Softscaping refers to the trees, shrubs, flowers, and even the soil; in other words, the parts of a landscape that are fluid and change over time. Hardscaping, in contrast, refers to elements that remain stable over time, such as rocks, retaining walls, and paved paths or patios. It can be easy to overlook hardscaping when planning a garden on your own, but at Greenville Pavers, we can help you design hardscaping features for your garden that will really make your greenery pop.
Some hardscaping elements meet practical needs and add utility to your outdoor spaces, such as a path laid between your home and a shed or a patio that offers outdoor seating and dining. These features also add visual interest to your landscape by breaking it up into distinct sections, which makes it easier to notice and appreciate the charms of each part. (Large swaths of unbroken patterns, even pleasing ones, are easy for the brain to “tune out.”)
Having clear markers like this also provides an organizational scheme around which to build the rest of the landscape and subtly prompts you and your guests on how to use the space–a retaining wall might be a structural necessity, but it also makes a nice place to sit and chat. If you feel you’re not getting the best use out of your outdoor spaces, a well-placed hardscaping feature may help with that. Give us a call at Greenville Pavers to learn more about how our hardscaping services can take your yard to the next level.