Getting the most from your permanent garden structures (hardscapes)

July 4, 10:15 AMBackyard Living ExaminerJane Gates

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Make hardscapes both functional and decorative (Photo by Jane Gates)

The best way to get the most out of your permanent garden structures (hardscaping) is to make them both functional and attractive.  And if you can get multiple practical uses, that’s even better. So it’s a good idea to think out just how each area or item in you garden will fit into the total picture. It is easy to jump into buying your favorite hardscape or decorative items first and then to find yourself at a loss as to where to put them in your garden. And if you don’t think it through, you may end up putting them where they will not be seen or used. For small decor, this is not great problem, but for the big stuff, like hardscapes (patios, walls, hot tubs, and the like), errors can be very costly.

Always sketch out your ideas for the permanent structures (hardscapes) in your garden garden area first. And consider both aesthetic and practical implications. Once the area is laid out, consider the most essential and useful elements first, starting with the biggest and most expensive items – patios, swimming pools, sport/animal enclosures, additional buildings for work or storage, paved walkways, etc. Then decide where items like built-in barbecues, shade areas, tall trees and the like will not only look good, but will offer the best advantages. Remember to keep in mind your goal is to make your permanent structures (hardscapes) decorative, too.

Once you’ve done a basic layout of where you want specific areas and structures to take place, how do you make them flow together? Hopefully, you have a good eye for design because that helps. You can use paths, roads, hedges or connecting structures to make the movement from one part of your yard blend into another. If you have a long or an odd-shaped piece of property, dividing it into sections may be a good solution. This way you can tease the eye into inviting ‘rooms’. Those ‘rooms’ can be practical or simply comfortable. Certain features should always be placed close to the home. Swimming pools should be close enough that children swimming can be watched from windows. Hot tubs need to be comfortably convenient to warm shelter. Cooking areas need to be situated near to kitchen access. The same for vegetable and herb gardens. If these features are difficult to access, you probably won’t use them as much as you’d like. But play or sports areas for older children or adults can be hidden away in a farther space from the house. Peaceful or meditation areas are excellent candidates to tuck farther away, too.

All these areas can have different boundary treatments. You can make them into separate spaces by building fences or hedges. You can create treatments to be low enough for demarcation yet allow open viewing. Or you can make them private with taller constructs. You can section areas off with gates or invite access with archways. Long pergolas can conduct wanderers from one space to another. Bridges can span gullies or water features.  Posts or poles made out of wood or more creative materials can suggest fencing without the reality. If you have hillsides, you can use a retaining wall as a bench for seating (double practical duty) or construct a low seating-wall that marks off different sections of the garden, like a division between a pool area and, say, a rose garden. Speaking of pools, in order to build to code, you need to fence off the area of the pool for safety. But that doesn’t mean you have to destroy the pool view. You can incorporate fences by growing shrubs along them or by twining flowering vines through the bars and by blending construction design and materials with the look of the swimming pool.

Make sure the materials you use are in harmony with your house. Many houses built today have a somewhat generic Mediterranean stucco style. They can be adapted to a number of looks, but may need some work to adapt to themed gardens like old western, nautical or English period, for example. Old fashioned white picket fences look great with a clapboard exterior while rough-hewn wood harmonizes well with a country-styled home. You can even co-ordinate your flower colors to blend or contrast with your house paint. When you build special features, again, consider the house style and even the surrounding area. Rocks can be used as décor. If there are a lot of rocks in your neighborhood, not only will your landscape flow with the surrounding terrain, but you can probably pick up décor for free by browsing the surrounding land. Please avoid spacing rocks and boulders evenly if you do use them: it makes them look unnatural and stodgy. If you choose a lattice look for enclosing a particular space, you can follow through the theme on trellis work along the house. You don’t have to have the exact same style in your garden as you have in your architecture, but try not to create a serious conflict, like designing a frilly garden with a minimalistic contemporary house. On the other hand, if you don’t love the style of your house, you can use your garden to soften the look and blend it into something that is more to your taste.

When shopping for structural material for your landscape, you will want to keep in mind color, cost, and durability. Metals can be shiny, tarnished or downright rusted. If you are planning on supporting weight with any of these materials, make sure any wear is only superficial and materials are sound. Cement can be finished in so many ways these days. You can make cement finishes look like wood, tile, brick, block, metal or stone. Shiny finishes can be stained or textured into any color, finish or effect. And cement, if poured properly, will last for a long time as well as support considerable weight. Make sure you have the proper footings and bases for poured concrete so it doesn’t crack or dislodge over time. And hire good masons. Saving money on an inexpensive building job is likely to create not only an inferior-looking final product, but possibly a cracking, disintegrating or structurally dangerous disaster in the near future. The cost of demolition and haul-away is not cheap and even when you clear away a poorly built job, you’ll still be faced with doing it all over again right. If you want a structure that is currently too expensive to build properly, you might consider constructing a temporary stop-gap until you can afford to build what you want the right way.

When you build useful areas in your landscape, once again, they will become more of an asset if you make them decorative. Paths can have decorative edgings and trellises or be made into pergolas – like a series of trellises that lead you from one area to the next. Even dull fencing like chain-link can be dressed up with colorful climbing vines. With a little imagination practical areas like pet enclosures can take on the guise of fairytale areas or old western facades can change them into theme structures. Many practical structures like pools and hot tubs can be creatively built to be intrinsically beautiful focal points. By making practical structures decorative and decorative areas functional, you can get double the benefits. You can get the most from your permanent structures (hardscapes) by making them useful and decorative. All it takes is a little forethought, a bit of artistic creativity and some imagination!

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