Examples of soft landscapes include flowers, plants, soil, mulch, grass, and trees. Examples of hardscapes include lighting, pavers, swimming pools, entrances, irrigation systems, and water fountains. The materials of soft landscapes live and change, while the materials of hard landscapes are not alive and are constructed. Softscape comprises the animated (living) horticultural elements of landscape design.
In a nutshell, it refers to plants. Soft landscape elements are complemented by hard landscape elements, such as wooden pergolas, stone walls, tiled patios and brick walkways. The term soft landscape refers to the living and growing elements of your landscaping. These include trees, shrubs, flowers, grass and all other horticultural components.
In other words, anything that is soft to the touch and constantly growing is considered a soft landscape. A gentle landscape consists of all the living elements of a landscape: trees, flowers, grass, shrubs and other plants. It also refers to other aspects that are included in gardening, such as weed management, the use of mulch and other tasks such as cutting, trimming, sorting and planting. A hard landscape encompasses all the inanimate elements of a landscape, including cobblestones, bricks and concrete.
