Landscaping is one of the best aesthetic factors in your property, it looks beautiful, can enhance the beauty of your house, and improve its value. Once you decide to create a landscape for your property it is important to learn to balance the main elements such as soft and hard landscaping, both are necessary to make your landscape functional and beautiful. In this article, you will learn how to differentiate between hardscaping and soft landscaping and learn how to balance both to create a stunning final result.
What is Hardscaping?
Hardscaping is known as all the non-living elements in your landscape. They are aesthetically pleasing but also serve a practical purpose. They give structure to your home and help create an organized look. These are some of the main benefits of using hardscape elements in your landscape:
- Maximize your living space: If you want to create a living area in your outdoor space where you can sit to enjoy nature or gather family and friends reunions then hardscaping elements will benefit you. You can add a deck, an outdoor kitchen, and patios.
- Long-Lasting: Hardscaping elements are made with strong and durable materials that can withstand extreme weather conditions and don’t require high maintenance.
- Functional elements: Apart from making your landscape look better, hardscape elements expand your living space and have other functions, for example, retaining walls can prevent soil erosion and help divert water.
Hardscaping helps you define the use of space, stone walkaways can show your visitors the garden paths. Wooden arbors or gazebos can provide shade, pergolas can connect the indoor and outdoor spaces, fences give your property security and privacy, whatever elements you choose to add, they will complement the natural features of your landscape and require little to no maintenance from you.
What Is Sof Landscaping?
Soft landscaping is the exact opposite of hardscaping, it involves all those living elements that are part of your landscape and they change constantly because they adapt to the current weather conditions. When you are designing your landscape you need to avoid adding too many soft landscaping elements that your property looks like a jungle, they need the hardscape features to balance it and also to thrive, hardscape elements can prevent soil erosion, divert water, and provide a container for their growth.
When you are designing your soft landscaping you need to take into consideration several factors regarding the type of soil, the current weather conditions, the amount of natural sunlight it receives, the type of land, and the style of hardscape you wish to achieve because this type of landscaping requires more maintenance. Some of the most popular soft landscaping elements are:
Trees: They are permanents soft landscaping elements, they are a great feature that provides shade and oxygen.
Flower beds: They add a touch of color and beauty to your outdoor space.
Shrubs and ground covers: They are a natural way to show your visitors the way through your garden. Garden Fish Pond: This element is environmentally friendly and promotes local wildfire and creates a calm space. Fish pond installers will help you design a system that helps you save water and money.
