What Is Hardscape?

Enjoy a beautiful outdoor space full of decorative stone features, seating, and water features that add elegance and depth to your property. A hardscape with natural elements like rocks, footpaths, and water features can give you a low-maintenance naturespace that enhances your home’s curb appeal.

At Evergreen Landscaping Pools & Spa, we specialize in creating landscapes, hardscapes, and blended outdoor spaces so you can relax and enjoy the outdoors. Learn more about what a hardscape is, the benefits of hardscapes, and popular hardscaping ideas that can beautify your New Jersey home.

What Is the Difference Between Hardscape and Landscape?

Hardscaping and landscaping are two different ways of transforming your lawn and backyard into an outdoor oasis. Rather than choosing one or the other, beautiful home landscapes often feature both landscaping—grass, shrubs and plantings, and trees—and hardscaping elements built from rock, wood, and stone.

What is hardscape? Hardscape elements are non-living features that beautify the space, add more functionality, and even provide structural support. Popular hardscaping ideas include:

• Pergolas and gazebos
• Fountains, koi ponds, and other water features
• Retaining and seating walls
• Patios, footpaths, and driveways
• Outdoor kitchens

These features can complement original landscaping or updated landscaping around your home. Picture elegant benches under your favorite tree, footpaths along your garden beds, and an expansive patio overlooking your grassy backyard or flowering plants.

Materials Used in Hardscape Construction

Hardscaping can be just as unique and varied as your landscaping installations. Similar to how you can choose between hundreds of native and exotic plantings, different hardscape elements can feature a wide range of materials, textures, and styles. Some of the hardscaping materials we frequently work with include:

• Paver stones: Enjoy richly patterned and durable walking paths or patios with neutral stones that can last through cold winters and years of sunlight exposure without cracking or shifting.
• Concrete: Relax on a seamless concrete patio built for eating, chatting, and soaking up the sun. Concrete can be covered with an overlay, stamped with decorative textures, and stained to a rich hue that matches your home’s style.
• Slate and natural stone: Give your home unique curb appeal with beautiful installations of natural materials like slate, limestone, flagstones, and bluestone to give the space more texture and personality.
• Wood: Warm up your outdoor oasis with a wood or engineered wood deck and wood pergola. Properly sealed hardwood installations can last decades with minimal maintenance beyond cleaning and resealing cycles.

At Evergreen Landscaping Pools & Spa, every hardscaping project starts with an in-depth design phase. Explore luxury outdoor hardscaping materials and combine different color palettes and options to create your picture-perfect oasis.

We source our materials from trusted vendors so the beauty endures season after season of curb appeal and outdoor relaxation.

Adding Value to Your Home

Outdoor living spaces and hardscaping ideas can immediately beautify your home and transform your lawn and garden into a relaxing or playful space. But they also add long-term value and sellability to your home. Features like fire pits, chimneys, and outdoor kitchens carry a significant ROI that can improve your home’s sales price if you decide to sell it in the future. Options like water features, footpaths, and benches add layers of unique depth to the space, giving it more appeal and memorability.

Some hardscaping features can even protect your home, such as retaining walls that curb soil erosion and make your home sturdier.

What to Look For in a Hardscaping Company

You need more than a landscaping company when you want to enhance your outdoor spaces with hardscaping ideas. Look for:

• Years of experience in your neighborhood: Local hardscapers understand the climate, soil, materials, and regional trends to build you a better space.
• Certifications: Choose ICPI-certified hardscapes, who will go the extra mile to digitally design and verify every detail of your new space.
• Companies that use high-quality materials: Choose hardscapers that provide long-lasting, proven materials like TechoBloc, EPHenry, and Cambridge pavers

Evergreen Landscaping Pools & Spas is here to help. We can answer all of your questions, from “What is hardscape?” to specific questions about your property’s layout and design considerations.

Reach out today to get started.