Whether you are gearing your home to attract new owners, styling it to fit your preferences, or you just want to look at something new — there is a multitude of home modifications out there that you are thinking of doing.
But out of repainting, landscaping, or anything else, what should be your choice? If you are looking to beautify your home, increase its value, and make it more comfortable — you should opt for landscaping.
What is landscaping?
Landscaping as a practice has been around for centuries. It was done as early as the Mayans’ time. Back then, the humans that lived thousands of years ahead of us were already making use of available land.
They use it for aesthetic and practical purposes. Not far from what we do today. We and the earlier civilizations have been used to using and adding plans, modifying existing terrain, and constructing new structures to change the look of our surroundings.
The modern-day definition of landscaping involves planning, creating layouts, and constructing gardens that are meant to improve the appearance of the surrounded structure — in this case, a home — and create a space that can be used for activities done outside of the said structure.
What are the two types of landscape design?
1. Hardscaping
Hardscaping is the use of non-living elements in landscaping. The elements are used to design driveways, fire pits, retaining walls, patios, and walkways. The practical purpose of these materials is to simulate a well-defined area of land made for planting.
The elements that can be used are based on the homeowner’s preference. A landscape design and paving company can offer you a big selection of hardscaping materials to fit what you want when it comes to your home’s landscape.
The materials can be wood, concrete, tile, stone, metals, etc. A typical hardscape features fences, retaining walls to convert areas and prevent soil erosion, and walkways to direct visits to an entry or exit.
Hardscaping creates a direction to be followed by the viewer. They may lead to the house, a design, or a part of the property. Hardscaping allows visitors to visually interact with the landscape created.
2. Softscaping
Softscaping involves the use of perennial and annual plants in designing a landscape. This landscape design includes grass, trees, and soil. A softscape with plants that are well-maintained has the ability to create a good balance of living plants within the featured hardscape structures.
In softscaping, seasonal issues are heavily considered. Some plants will not be able to survive some and can thrive in the others. Softscaping requires a good amount of maintenance in order to look good.
To make sure that your softscaping stays presentable, make sure to include plants that can thrive and live during most, if not, all seasons of the year.
The common accent plants used in softscaping are vines, trees, flowering plants, accent plants, trees, and shrubs. Unlike its non-living element-filled counterpart, softscaping requires monthly or even more frequent maintenance.
In maintaining a softscape, you would expect to remove weeds, mow the lawn, plant, trim, water, and fertilize your greens.
However, the amount of work required to maintain this is worth it. They will add color and life to your landscape, make hardscape features look better, and make your outdoors more in tune with nature.
What can you get out of landscaping?
Landscaping will not only improve your home’s overall appearance, but it can also help you achieve the following when it comes to managing your home:
- Increase the value of your home
- Make your home more attractive to house buyers
- Reduce costs when it comes to heating and cooling systems
- Reduce pollution and provide better quality air
- Encourage an active lifestyle
- Fewer chances of flooding incidents
- Creates green zones that help improve the livability of the home and its location
Now that you are aware of the things landscaping can do for you, why not go ahead and plan how you want your home’s landscape to look like? Do you want it to be filled with more plants, more pavement, or a mix of both?
Keep in mind that landscaping is not one of the easiest home maintenance projects you can involve yourself in. You would need the help of professionals in the field in order to achieve your landscaping aspirations.
But that should not make you worry, after all, you are doing this for the sake of making your home look, feel, and sell better. Investing time, money, and energy in such an impactful project will surely be worth all the work.
