Popular Hardscape Ideas for this Spring

Don’t give your wife flowers for Valentine’s Day, give her a garden. A well-designed landscape is dynamic, changing with the seasons over time. Good hardscape design is the foundation of a successful garden. Our landscape design process requires a few client interviews and site visits to thoroughly analyze existing site conditions before the drafting table sees pencil and paper. Traditional gardens evolve over time, following society’s changing rules. As gardeners and their descendants move from place to place and their fortunes change, the rules evolve. Modern gardens differ in scale and their designer’s professional resume.

We understand that gardens are very personal and should reflect your wife’s style and personality. Combining site analysis with her needs and desires, NJ Pro Services create a landscape design that complements your property. Our passion for creativity and quality, and our involvement from design to installation, ensure complete customer satisfaction. Professional design and installation ensure a landscape that increases in beauty and value, now and in the future.

The rolling hills, forests, fields, and meadows of New Jersey contribute to what is special about the area. The diverse assortment of environments in New Jersey are composed of natural and historical landscapes that can be borrowed and used in a residential setting. Borrowing the natural and historical features of an area and incorporating these elements into a design provides for a hardscape that never goes out of style.

While the natural features of an area provide inspiration in hardscape design, there are many other landscape styles within which we create designs: English Cottage gardens, Contemporary gardens, Japanese gardens, Tuscan-Style gardens, and Southwestern gardens. Whatever your preference, we can help you achieve your goals with a landscape design that works with your wife’s home and personality.

English Cottage Gardens

In America, colonists practiced the ethic of the cottage garden, but 19th century robber barons and middle-class suburbanites alike copied formal English gardens. Two-thirds of the population of medieval Europe fell to the bubonic plague, creating a demand for labor and a sudden availability of land. Events empowered serfs, allowing them to buy their own cottages and start their own gardens. The first cottage gardens contained vegetables with a few medicinal herbs and fragrant perennials to compensate for the lack of bathing facilities in the home. From this beginning, the cottage garden evolved over centuries into a mixed collection of English annuals and perennials, dotted with herbs, greens, and a fruit tree or two. All arranged within a low wall that defined the limits of the little property. Cottage garden hardscapes have the square footage to contain large-scale sculptures, pergolas, walls and follies, and small buildings for meditation or just decoration alone.

Contemporary Gardens

A contemporary garden is characterized by a sleek, streamlined and sophisticated style. Generally, a modern garden places more focus on the architecture and materials than on the plants and greenery. Geometric shapes and repeating patterns are often employed in contemporary outdoor spaces. The main idea is to create a hardscape that has a controlled and organized appearance. Avoid planting in grids and lines when going for a modern look. Plant a naturalistic modern garden by using architectural plants, textural and spreading plants, or container plantings. Designs for contemporary gardens are rarely haphazard and should be carefully thought-out so all the elements will work together in harmony.

The three main characteristics of a typical modern paving design, including the use of oversized grid patterns, straight lines and geometric patterns. Various fence and wall options that will add to the style of a modern garden, such as metal screens, wood fences with horizontal slats, and gabion walls made with metal baskets filled with stone. Choose modern patio furniture that will create a sleek, refined look. Use modern patio covers that emphasize geometric patterns and an industrial appearance. Incorporate a fountain into your modern garden that gives it a sophisticated look and creates balance. The best contemporary garden designs are distinguished by refined hardscape forms, pure materials and the achievement of balance.

Japanese Gardens

Three of the essential elements used to create a Japanese garden are stone, which form the structure of the landscape; water, representing life-giving force; and plants, which provide the color and changes throughout the seasons. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors and bridges. Japanese gardens are very carefully designed and patiently pruned according to aesthetic principals to create a work of natural art that inspires calm, renewal, discovery and an invigorated soul. Though most Japanese garden materials are not unusual, the way that all these basic elements are brought together and the emotions that they provoke is what makes a Japanese garden unique.

The Japanese dry garden or Japanese rock garden, often called a Zen Garden, is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. A moon bridge, also known as sori-bashi in Japanese, or as a drum bridge, is a highly arched pedestrian bridge. The moon bridge originated in China and was later introduced to Japan, where it became synonymous with Japanese landscape architecture. In Japan, placing rocks within a landscape is considered to be a spiritual and artistic process. Rocks should be of naturally occurring shapes and vary in size. Generally, dark granite rocks should be used. When creating a Japanese garden, the first thing to do is place the rocks.

Tuscan-Style Gardens

Tuscan landscaping is considered some of the most beautiful and distinctive in the world. This style combines formal garden design elements with a rustic sensibility and warm Mediterranean aesthetic. The Tuscan style of landscape mixes iconic plantings like lavender, rosemary, and Italian cypress with the warm colors of terra cotta urns, natural stone and bold flowers that stand out against the bright sunshine. While grand formal gardens are seen throughout Europe, Italian gardens are unique for their emphasis on fruits and herbs integrated into the plantings, whether in pots, beds or along stone walls, or, famously, in grape arbors, a staple in Italian garden design. Herb gardens and dwarf fruit trees are required design elements.

The sunny temperate climate of Tuscany means perfect weather for growing grapes, citrus fruits and many nuts and berries, all of which are often seen in gardens large and small. Italian wines and cuisine rely upon local crops and some Italian wineries have been in operation for centuries. Tuscan gardens were often built around stone structures such as walls, walkways, fountains and labyrinths, and time-tested methods of design, quarrying, stone cutting, and building have ensured their longevity. Statues and sculptures as well as unique furniture for built in seating, are also commonly found in Tuscan gardens.

Southwest Gardens

The Southwest Garden represents the dry arid regions of the west. However, you don’t have to live in those regions to admirer and implement their beauty into your own yard. The southwest style is known for its Native American and Spanish details that contribute to the overall simple, functional and low maintenance landscape. The southwest design includes native plants, and incorporates bright, colorful building materials.

When it comes to hardscaping materials, stick with colors like orange, yellow, red and brown that are often seen in the sunset or natural landscapes of the southwest. Use similar buildings materials in areas like driveways, walkways, and walls to keep a consistent flow throughout the design. Decomposed granite is available in many desert color options and is a great material choice for walkways. Using unique brightly colored décor and plantings will make the landscape pop in areas and add character to your yard.

The Southwest design style adds comfort to your home by extending your outdoor living space with a spacious covered patio, decorated in hanging and potted plants, wall decorations and colorful accessories. If you do decide to use water in your design, use it sparingly; southwest landscapes use minimal water to make a big impact. Elements like birdbaths or water fountains are the perfect option to incorporate water as an element within your design. With limited natural resources, this landscaping style has increased in popularity within residential landscapes because it conserves water, while having a unique rustic appeal. Dry creek bed is a great way to represent water within your southwest landscape. River rock can be laid intermixed with different sized stones and boulders with native, drought tolerant plantings surrounding the edges.