Five Cool Hardscaping Elements

People often come to me with a rough idea of what they want but they're not sure how to put it in words. Pictures help a lot; when a customer points to something and says, "Make it look like that" I immediately know what he's talking about. What's harder is when someone wants to change their property, but needs a bit of extra guidance. I've always got plenty of ideas but at the end of the day, customers have to live with it. If I can inspire them they'll get more involved in planning their hardscapes and make them a lot more satisfied with the end product.

One way to get the ball rolling is to talk about particular design elements. If a customer really likes one, it turns into the center of the whole project. If you're looking for a starting point like this, consider the following five hardscaping elements:

Vertical focal points: If you have enough room, consider a vertical hardscape feature. Depending on what you go for these can offer shade, privacy and a way to unify the entire space's composition. People tend to look at vertical elements first, so arranging everything else around it gives you a way to guide a visitor's eyes. Examples include archways, decorative walls and rough stone piles. You can also build around a natural vertical feature like a tree.

Space divisions: Always remember that hardscapes are outdoor living spaces. People want to be able to sit comfortably, without feeling exposed or getting baked by the sun. Even when you want a big open space there should still be a nice little nook suitable for reading. Use screens, raised planters, walls and fences but be careful, because you want a sense of flow and unity with the rest of the area. If you divide the space too strongly it'll look like a stockade.

Grade adjustments: Some slopes are cool. They provide natural support for water features and flagstone stairs and give you a high place from which to enjoy the view. On the other hand, it's no fun to constantly have your stuff roll into a ditch because your backyard is just a big hill. To get the best of both worlds, level off part of the natural slope and support it with an attractive retaining wall. If you've got a serious incline, turn it into several flat levels. You can even add some stairs to go from place to place, or a water feature to unify all sections.

Complementary and contrasting textures:I touched on this a little bit in my last post on stone carving and engraving. The natural environment (which in Washington, can be almost anything) and previous landscaping determine the base texture. As a general rule, trimmed grass, terraces and other heavily landscaped features complement smooth or obviously man-made hardscaping elements like brick, tile and concrete. Natural-looking features go with rough stone. This is a decent guideline, but you can get as much out of breaking it as following it. A rough decorative wall bordering a brick patio or a concrete slab for a sitting space in a wild-looking garden both provide dramatic contrasts. They attract the eye to the distinct elements in each feature.

Color and light: These related concepts are always a big deal. For a cool space, the ideal combination is shade and a light tone. The tone reflects heat but the shade prevents glare. Darker colors work well when it's not as warm and on a cloudy day, they don't take on the dreary quality of the light. It'd be great if we could change a hardscape's color whenever the weather shifted but the reality is that you've got to make a choice. My advice is to pick one and then use all kinds of tricks to minimize the drawbacks when the weather isn't optimal. Use light-toned flowers and patio furniture to take the edge from dark tones in the summer. In cloudy seasons, light colored patios can do with a splash of warm color. Use earth tones from nearby natural stone to heat things up.

Work that Stone!

Out around Spokane we’ve got a lot of different terrain to work with, so we can justify almost any landscaping style as something that’s representative of the region. Truth to tell, we love nature and like big, rough, natural water features that stand out, but still blend in with the environment as it is.

That’s all cool, but there’s something to be said for just dropping the whole “nature” thing! There are times you want to make a bold statement with your landscaping, and times when you just want to add a personal touch. That’s why we also do engraving and stone working. We’ve got a whole other business – Garden Stone Creations – devoted to stone engraving, but we also blend it in with our landscaping efforts.

Here a few cool ways to combine engraved stone with other landscaping features.

Address: The postman’s not going to miss your house if your address is carved in stone at the top of an ornamental cairn you’ve built up at the foot of your driveway. Add your name (“The Johnsons”) or if you’re feeling classy, give your property a name (“Nifty Acres”) and put it on the engraving.

Poetry and Prose: We can carve some verses on one or more stones bordering your water feature or hardscape. Depending on the feeling you want to evoke. This could be a bit of favorite philosophy (“Don’t worry, be happy”) a lyric (again, “Don’t worry, be happy”) or something wacky, (“Don’t worry . . .” okay, you get the picture).

Pictures: We can add silhouettes and other pictures to your stones. These are cool conversation pieces, and another way to make your landscape your own. Every water feature or hardscape is unique, of course, but I admit that the untrained eye might just see a big ol’ pile of rocks and other stuff. Add a bold accent that fits you to a “T:” an animal, a portrait, or even a flag, if you’re feeling patriotic.

Polish: Like I said, we love a natural look, but a bit of polished stone can make your landscape features glow. For instance, if you mix rough and smooth stone around a water feature you’ll catch the sunlight in two different ways: from the water and the surrounding rock. Polished stone is nice to touch and sit on, too. Remember that landscaping is about building livable environments: places your kids will play and where you’ll hang out whenever you’ve got the time. They’re not just for looking at!

Five Basic Water Features

One cool thing about running a landscaping company near Spokane is the different kinds of terrain we get to work with. As you can see from our water features portfolio, we've landscaped sloped, rocky terrain, rolling Washington Palouse and everything in between. It's pretty much impossible to think of a location that couldn't be improved by a suitable water feature.

This is because water features have so much potential variation. The features below are basic elements a good landscaping company (i.e. us!) can combine and customize to fit the surrounding terrain.

Cascades: We like them so much, we named our whole company after them! Seriously, though, the main difference between a cascade and waterfall is that a cascade's job is to direct water more horizontally than vertically, without taking the smooth course of a stream. Water staircases are an example of a more artificial looking cascade. We find that a lot of jobs call for a more naturalistic "rapids" style.

Fountains: Fountains add dramatic punch to your landscape by providing a "tower" of flowing water and in most cases, a basin that reflects the light back to the feature. Fountains usually immediately turn into the dominant feature in your garden. We've found they provide a great counterbalance to major nearby natural features like steep slopes and large stands of trees. If you're using a mix of water features, the fountain can usually serve as the source of pump output.

Pools: Well, you've got to let all that water go somewhere. Pools can come in so many different shapes and sizes that they're probably the most flexible water feature. They can be the endpoint for a stream, the basin for a waterfall or just stand by themselves. They'll brighten a shady area or with the addition of some plants, add an accent to a clearing.

Streams: Streams add a dividing line or a border to your landscape, allowing you to give it the shape you want. A big enough stream also adds a great excuse for an ornamental bridge. They're an excellent way to make an open area look a little more intimate.

Waterfalls: Waterfalls are a favorite feature, and for good reason. They add some soothing noise to an area, cool down the air around them and easily complement terraces or other inclines. We've created some great natural-looking waterfalls, but you can make them as subtle or dramatic as you like. These days, waterfalls are easier to maintain than they used to be, because you can precisely control the water feed and pumping speed. You can even turn them off and let them sit as a dry feature when the mood strikes you.

What the Heck are Hardscapes?

Yes, that is the question. I mean, we're a hardscaping company, so I guess we should tell you what they are. You never know -- you just in might need one on your property!

Hardscapes are permanent landscape features made of stone, brick or concrete (and other stuff -- hard stuff -- thus, "hardscape") that cover the natural earth. A hardscape could be a path of paving stones, a sidewalk or a ground level brick patio. Anybody can throw a bunch of rocks on the ground and call it a path, but turning it into a proper hardscape is a bit more complex.

Drainage is probably the most important consideration. Hardscapes block the natural earth, so you need to make sure that runoff flows the right way. Do it wrong, and your pretty patio will turn the yard next to it into a small, muddy pond. (We know water features are popular, but that's just cheating. Call us to get it done the right way!) Placement and materials are the two main considerations.

In terms of placement, we make sure that hardscape surfaces are pitched to carry runoff away from your home and other spots where you don't want to see a lot of water build up. On the other hand, you can't direct the water on an extreme slope without risking over-fast building and nearby soil erosion. The key is to consider the entire landscape and work with it (or change it!), adding additional features (like retaining walls) when they're called for.

Materials matter according to their ability to absorb water. Absorbent porous or "pervious" materials either let water soak through into the ground or hold onto it to prevent rapid surface runoff. If your hardscape exists to divert water away from a spot, you obviously want to avoid these, but if you want to control rapid runoff, pervious materials are the way to go.

Those are the basics any good hardscaping company will take into account. Want a nice, tough path or patio? Give us a shout!

Water features

Many customers have asked me “how do you make a water feature”.

One of the hardest ideas I try to convey to my customers is the fact that I don’t make water features, they actually make themselves. Of course there are the basics like pond liner, pump, containment, rocks and gravel. You can explain that you dig a hole and you put in the pond liner, place the pump at the bottom, place rocks and the different physical aspects of building a puddle.

If you have been making water features long enough you will know that the water feature makes itself. You never know what you are going to get for materials. You can request from your vendors that you want some flat rocks for the falls and some tall rocks for the verticals, but really what you get is the luck of the draw. That is where making a water feature becomes an art. Each piece of art is different, just as in nature no two waterfalls are the same. So is true in trying to duplicate nature. When I get a customer to commit to a water feature as a part of a hardscaping package what I really am selling is trust. They will need to trust that water will be falling and that it will be beautiful. That is about all I can promise.

Don’t get me wrong I can take a picture and photo shop in some rocks and some water and give an overall rendering. But when it really comes down to the process it will generally not look at all like the rendering. The placement of one rock can change the dynamics of the entire project. I am not making this up. I have spent as much as two hours placing a 100 lb rock to get just the right look, or to change the flow of the stream altogether. It is such a wonderful process, and one I take so much pride in that process that I limit the number of water features I do each season so that I can pay attention to detail and be proud of the finished product. When someone asks me how I make a water feature I simply say “I don’t, they make themselves”.