Hardscape Vs. Softscape

Our world lives on balance. Dark and light. Sadness and happiness. Winter and summer. This also applies to your landscaping. It won’t be truly complete if it doesn’t have these two crucial elements – hardscape and softscape.

Charleston homeowners who want their properties to look their best should incorporate both into their landscaping. But what exactly is the difference between softscape and hardscape?

Hardscaping

Hardscaping includes everything that’s hard like gazebos, fountains, decks, outdoor kitchens, walkways, driveways, patios, garden walls, retaining walls, flagstone, brickpavers, gravel, and stone.

These are unchanging and unmovable aspects of your yards. It is where a landscaping company like Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC will start once they layout the property’s shape.

It’s because hardscaping is generally added right to the ground, typically changing the landscaping, whether it involves removing soil to build a swimming pool or taking out the dirt to create a retaining wall.

Softscaping

When the hardscaping work is done, it is time to add softscaping, which you could consider as the living aspect of your landscaping. Some areas of it may be temporary like vegetables and flowers, while others like shrubs, soil, trees, and grass, are far more permanent.

They are always evolving and changing. Shrubs and trees always grow, flowers will bloom and then wither. That is one of the joys when it comes to softscaping. You can make changes to it so it’ll fit the season or so that it would fulfil your vision of exactly how you would like your house to look like.

Softscaping will also serve a purpose that is more practical. Hardscaping aspects do not absorb rainwater that could result into drainage problems. If you add softscaping such as grass as well as other plants, you could balance the low absorption that is caused by the hardscapes.

Why do you need hardscaping and softscaping?

You may have seen houses with excessive hardscape. You will find landscaping in Charleston whose owners added too much hardscaping, which leads to a house that looks way too impersonal. It doesn’t look like a home anymore but a commercial properties.

Aside from that, adding excessive softscaping to your house will make your home look too chaotic and wild. It would look like nobody has done yardwork for several weeks.

Your property requires softscaping to feel welcoming and warm while hardscaping helps prevent things from becoming too unruly. The climate will also affect the balance. In the parts of the country where it is dry, you don’t want to water too much so you should lean more on having more hardscape. If you are located in areas with wetter climate then softscaping can take care of the run off from the landscaping. If not, then your property needs more drainage.

Are your Charleston softscape and hardscape out of balance? Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC is here to help. We are an experienced, reliable, and trustworthy company that has spent years working with homeowners to enhance their property.

Call Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC now and learn how our team can help your softscaping and landscaping work together.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/