Hardscape Buying Guide

There are many ways to create a comfortable outdoor living-space or decorative yard with well-planned landscaping. It requires striking a balance between the planted greenery and the stone and other features that help emphasize the unique character of your home.

A key component of landscaping is to use and maximize the various hardscape types to shape the space to fit your design. This could include stonework, rocks, and even raised flower beds or retaining walls, depending on how the yard will be used. Read on to discover how to hardscape backyard spaces and more.

What Is Hardscape?

When designing your home’s landscape, there are two types of yard features you will have to choose from: The more natural greenery and vegetation, called softscape, or the human-made hardscape of stone and other constructed materials.

Hardscaping indicates areas of the yard that include permanent or semi-permanent, human-constructed features that will not be easily changed or moved around. Hardscape landscape design can mean including a variety of yard features, such as pathways paved in stone or concrete edging, or adding a formal patio or gazebo. If it is not green and growing, it is a hardscape feature, whether it is an oversized boulder or a garden shed.

Hardscape design creates a built-environment amid the landscape that can help shape the style and direct the eye toward a design focal point as well as keep the yard safer and easier to navigate for family and guests. It is particularly useful when planning drought-tolerant landscaping. The hardscape features keep the yard aesthetics enjoyable without requiring excessive watering, and can also help protect more water-sensitive softscapes, such as cacti and succulents. 

Paver stone walkways and fillers like river rock or gravel are an enduring hardscaping trend, and retaining walls or seat walls around fire pits are other mainstays in residential landscape design. Cement edging between a lawn and an area reserved for gardening, the addition of stone or wood steps, or raised flower beds are other examples of outdoor hardscape design.

Hardscape Types

The choice in hardscapes depends on your preference, the demands of the landscaping location and scope, and on finding sufficient product availability for the entire project. Some materials are better suited to certain types of projects or even specific climates. For instance, textured hardscape pavers and stones with filler rock may be the ideal option for hardscape pathways in areas with heavy rainfall, to allow effective drainage and a little extra traction when the stones are wet, to help prevent slipping.

Stone hardscape materials offer colorful edging in a natural form to help balance the look of a built environment with the greener softscape. Individual variations are expected with hardscape materials, but look for similar or complementary shades between the colors. 

There are various types of hardscape stone to help find the best color, texture, and size for your project. It is important to buy more than you may need for the project before you begin installation. If you buy too little, the same color or style lot may not be available when you return to replace it. 

Some of the most popular types of hardscape stone include:

• Limestone
• Marble
• Porcelain
• Quartzite
• Travertine

All of these can be used as decorative filler base, paver stones, bricks, or even as a building veneer to complement the styles used in the surrounding landscape.

Other hardscape types include wood beams and planks, such as used in decks or fences, and even upcycled materials such as large chunks of concrete. Hardscape landscaping creates a solid, permanent, immoveable feature in the yard, from a low-maintenance ground cover, to gazebos and pergolas, or even slat-fence dividers that help break up a space and add depth.

The most appropriate materials are those that fit the look of the project and are strong enough to handle the demands of the environment, from the foot traffic to seasonal snowfall. The different stone types like marble hardscapes can serve as wall tile or trim along a retaining wall. Water features such as ponds, pools, or fountains can be created as part of the home landscape by giving them hardscape foundations or borders.

How to Hardscape Backyard Spaces

A key factor in determining what is hardscape in landscaping is the permanence of the material. Whether it is a retaining wall or an enclosed patio, the hardscape features will not be easily rearranged or changed over time. That requires careful consideration at the design stage to plan out an overall yard layout that you like, as well as effective installation to ensure that the landscaping stays in place without damage. 

How to Plan Your Hardscape Layout

When planning to incorporate hardscape into your yard, don’t skip the details. Plan and design everything out ahead, and make sure to measure the yard and larger features completely. Here are a few more tips on how to plan your hardscape layout.

Create Maps 

Once you have the measurements of the yard, draw the space out. Include the measurements and try to keep specific features to scale. The maps don’t have to be fancy or expertly drawn, but they should give an accurate indication of the size of the project, and whether or not the design will fit in the space. 

For clarity of design, different information can be included on different maps. For instance, one map can show the planned placement of retaining walls, pathways, and planted trees or shrubs, while another map could show the placement of the electrical wires required for placing landscape lighting or the water lines for the sprinkler system.

Plan Comprehensively

Start by considering the whole yard at once. It can be easily divided into visual sections utilizing hardscape or plant life, but always start planning with one whole piece to ensure the look remains consistent as it transitions across the property. Adding dividing walls, decks, pathways, or other design features can help create a focal point in the area, and can be done in sections or layers to help prevent the yard from looking cluttered.

Plan for the Landscaping Must-Haves

Because hardscaping is a permanent feature, it can be difficult to make adjustments once it is installed. Things like running water lines for a fountain, pond, or sprinkler system, or adding landscape lighting becomes more difficult to work around fixed hardscape features. It is best to have an idea of the locations where trees, plants, and other greenery will be planted, and of the kind of watering system that will be required to keep them green, so the watering system can be put in place before hardscape can interfere with the installation.

Plan for Drainage

Without softscape elements to absorb the water, hardscape areas can be prone to standing water, slippery moss, or mold and mildew issues. These can be health hazards and present plenty of opportunity for injury due to slips and falls if the hardscape is not properly leveled and planned to allow the moisture to escape. 

An important step in the process of how to install hardscape pavers is to make sure there is a level ground and sufficient filler stone or other material, such as sand, to help pull the water away from walkways. Other techniques involve installing channels and drains, as well as making sure the patio or pathway is graded to keep the water runoff from collecting near the house or other structures.

Hardscape Design Tips

The ultimate look of your backyard should be the result of choosing and building a design you like. There are a few tips to keep in mind that can help the end result look it’s best, whether you design it yourself or hire a professional.

Hardscape Textures

Pay attention to the textures used in the hardscape materials. One or two different types of texture patterns can complement each other and the softscape around them, offering a variety of surfaces and colors without clutter. Too much texture variety can be overwhelming and should be avoided. 

Hardscape Shapes

Keep the shapes in the design simple. Stick with geometric layouts for hardscape areas that can integrate well with the shape of the house or other nearby outbuildings and structures. Almost any look can be achieved by sticking to the basic lines of circles, squares, and rectangles, and it will still balance against the natural lines of flowers and trees in the softscape. Allow transition spaces between hardscape and softscape by using the appropriate scale and curved lines to blend the two and avoid drastic, unnatural shapes.

Focal Point

Find and create a focal point for the yard early on. This could be a natural focal point formed by the shape of the yard in relation to the patio, or something meant to be enjoyed like a garden or a fountain, or a gathering place for a fire pit. Start designing around this area first and then work outward from it across the whole yard. This will help the property look consistent and whole, rather than disjointed, even if there are dividing features like shrubs or privacy walls added later.

Hardscape Lighting

Don’t forget the lighting. Landscape lighting is a good way to get the most use out of your outdoor spaces and can boost the curb appeal of the property. Some outdoor lighting options can be built into the hardscape features of your yard, such as lighting up the edges of retaining walls or steps. Plan the lighting into your yard’s hardscape layout to prevent having to dismantle the hardscape to add deck or step lighting later.