The design of the area around your home has to look attractive if you want your home to have good curb appeal. Great design is also essential for your comfort and enjoyment. Most people think landscaping is the only thing that needs to be done to achieve that. But you need to consider something called hardscaping, too. Knowing what hardscaping and landscaping cover will help you as you plan your dream garden and yard.
What Do These Terms Really Mean?
While many use the term “landscaping” to mean anything surrounding the house that’s on the property, the entire design process is more detailed than that. What can make it really confusing is that some people have differing definitions for what landscaping includes.
First, hardscaping: This includes the design and installation of the hard surfaces in your yard, like patios, walkways, steppingstones, benches, fire pits, outdoor kitchens, driveways, steps and so on. Basically, if the material you’re using is hard and isn’t plants, soil or something similar, it falls under the hardscaping category. Hardscaping’s main costs come during the design and installation stages, with maintenance costs being much lower. That’s because maintenance doesn’t involve much more than cleaning and the occasional repair.
Next, landscaping: One definition of landscaping is the design, installation and care of the greenery portion of your property. A landscaper would decide what trees, grass and other plants to use, plant them and then care for them over the months and years. Using this definition, layout designing, planting, tree trimming, lawn mowing and leaf mulching would all be part of landscaping.
Other people, however, use a slightly different definition. For them, all the design, use and care of plants is called softscaping while landscaping is the overall design and care of the exterior portion of your property and covers both softscaping and hardscaping.
Why You Always Want to Include Hardscaping
Because landscaping is the more commonly used term for just about anything to do with land design, most property owners know they need some form of landscaping. But they, and you, need to keep hardscaping in mind, too. Hardscaping gives you places to walk, sit and park your car without having to trudge into mud on rainy days. It provides safe and level pathways in gardens and yards for people who are mobility-impaired. Plus, hardscaping looks nice. A yard with no hardscaping looks unfinished.
What You Have to Do to Maintain Landscaping/Softscaping
Once your landscaping/softscaping and hardscaping are in place, you need to take care of them. For hardscaping, this usually involves just cleaning them as mentioned previously. For plants, though, you’ll have some DIY tasks like weeding, watering, adding annual plants, mowing the lawn and deadheading spent flowers. Other tasks are better left to landscaping companies, such as repairing damaged patches of sod in the lawn, trimming tree branches, treating pest and pathogen issues in plants and large-scale removal and replanting of annuals. Of course, if you like, the landscaping company can handle all that for you.
If you’re ready to transform that plain yard into a lovely landscape with beautiful hardscaping in Pottstown, PA, contact Beyond the Leaf. The sooner you have us start, the sooner you’ll have a beautiful outdoor space that lets you relax.
