What's the Difference Between Hardscaping and Landscaping?

When it comes to designing an outdoor living space, it's important to understand the difference between hardscaping and landscaping. Hardscaping refers to the non-living elements of a landscape design, such as concrete, rocks, bricks, cobblestones, stone and wood. These elements are often used to create boundaries, overall shape and artistic design of a garden. On the other hand, landscaping is more about adding plants or other elements to a space that creates an attractive exterior.

This includes trees, shrubs, and flowers. A good landscape design will unite the components of your hard and soft landscape to create a balanced look for your garden. Hardscaping is often used to gain more living space in your patio and to accentuate all of its natural features. This includes items such as intertwined walkways and patios, retaining walls, pool patios, stone waterfalls and fountains, asphalt, lighting, and pool features. The biggest disadvantage of landscaping compared to hardscaping is that most of your work won't last long. Starting by adding hardscape elements to your design and then impregnating the landscape with plants and flowers to create patterns and color combinations can help create more balance and cohesion throughout your outdoor living space.

It is crucial to hire a professional landscape designer who can ensure that the cohesion between the landscape and the hardscape is achieved properly. When you meet with a landscaping company, you might also start to hear the terms landscaping and soft landscaping. Some of the best gardening features to implement in outdoor design and increase your home's ROI are patios and terraces, outdoor kitchens, and masonry. A front yard with a lot of hard scenery could have a circular paved road, similar to a hotel. It is frequently used on hills and slopes to separate soil found at two different elevations, which can help prevent soil erosion and create a focal point in the landscape. If you're looking for an outdoor summer project in Minnesota that you can tackle yourself, landscapes may be easier to improve than hardscapes.

Learn the difference between landscaping, landscaping and gentle landscaping so you know what your landscape experts are talking about when you meet with them to plan your outdoor living space.