Sunday 14 June 2015

How to Choose Landscaping Materials and Supplies

It’s not easy to choose the products that will flank your home’s exterior. Some homeowners do a good job, and others just don’t seem to get it. Here are some tips that, if followed, will help you choose the best accents for your home’s landscaping.

If you are beginning a residential landscaping project, you’ll want to start with design and landscaping materials and supplies that will complement the style of your home. Flowers and plants aren’t the only part to landscaping. Depending on the architecture of your home, you can transform your garden or yard into anything that money can buy.

The landscape design supplies that you select will be based on the style that you are trying to create. Do you want an Asian-inspired, ultra-contemporary, or traditional look? Will it be natural or tropical? Are you trying to incorporate an existing deck, patio, or gazebo? If yes is the answer, materials that complement the look and feel of existing hardscapes will probably be your best bet.

If you like neat lawns with precise borders, you’ll want to select edging products like aluminum or plastic strips that keep unwanted grass or weeds from spreading into unwanted places. Brick pavers and rocks are also great border makers.

Concrete works well when adding a small pad. It also works to anchor posts for permanent fencing or for pergolas or arbors. Stone and tile can easily be installed on top of existing concrete. Tiles can safely be laid along a path and will withstand moisture from the soil. However, to avoid breakage, they need to be installed on a surface that is flat.

Flagstone makes great steppingstones or is beautiful on a patio. Gravel comes in many colors and sizes and works great for rock gardens and ground cover.

Railroad ties are great options for both the natural and traditional landscape designs for residences. The wood needs to be treated with a chemical that’s not harmful to the surrounding plant life or to humans.

Keep the color combination of the materials simple and classic. One can be a solid and the other a pattern. It is not always necessary to introduce a third color. A solid stone and a patterned brick can go well together.

For the best curb appeal, look to your home for inspiration. Please feel free to visit our website for more ideas and information. Designing your home’s exterior can likely be a complicated process, and we’d love to help make it easier.

For more information on landscaping materials in San Jose, visit this website.

Two Sure Steps to Cultured Garden Spaces

Planning your walkable garden area need not be difficult or time consuming. Blending the stability and easy maintenance of sod lawns with the precise installation of stepping stones, you can create romantic pathways, safe wildlife zones, and attractive settings without an enormous investment of time, money, or even space.

1.   Select Your Stones to Design Your Path

The benefits of stepping stones are numerous, but among the most notable are ease of application, use, and design. Available in carefully structured, uniform styles and in more organic styles, stepping stones may be placed to follow already established walking paths or in entirely new ways to open up a yard.  Depending on the type of walkway you choose to construct and the way you decide to direct your steps, your path may be very subtle or extremely stylized.

2.   Create a Lush Landscape with Sod   

The very best reasons for blending stone pathways with sod lawns are ease of maintenance and the ability to create a perfect, green landscape. While there are many types of attractive grasses, none is more easily shaped, grown, or maintained that a well-made sod. The easy-to-install, easy to cut and shape factors make sod ideal for use around flagstones, concrete blocks, and a wide assortment of garden structures or patios.

Stepping stones and sod come together easily for stunning effects. For more information on sod and stepping stones in Morgan Hill, visit this website.

Monday 8 June 2015

Landscape Architecture Magazine

June’s issue of LAM looks at the tough choices that landscape architecture firms, such as Sasaki Associates and OLIN, must face when updating for.....read more

Garden Shaped Like a Peacock

Yellow and lavender flowers have been groomed into the shape of a peacock's feathers. Coupled with a blue sculpture of the peacock's head, they create a beautiful and unique garden.

Step into Your Garden Dream

With natural settings and solitude increasingly hard to come by, more and more people are choosing to create dreamscapes rather than yards for their entertaining, play, and rest activities. Creating a scene that unifies you and immerses you in the things of which your dreams are made is easier than it sounds. 

1.       Take time to visualize perfection.  

The really perfect thing about Nature is that every element is different and changes. Perfection happens on the design level. Commit yourself to having exactly what you want. 

2.       Carefully design structures, views, planting zones, play areas, and pathways. 

Beginning with a concept and then choosing to have exactly what you want and need to make that concept a reality helps to eliminate the danger of losing the original balance. 

3.       Slowly install and implement your elements. 

Many people choose the weekend warrior approach to landscaping, but dreamscapes never come to fruition this way. Slow installation and implementation gives you the room to make educated changes along the way. 

4.       Prepare yourself and your garden for slow growth.

Don’t expect Nature to speed up on your account. Plant hedges, flowers, trees, and grasses appropriate at distances and heights to allow for astounding changes. 

5.       Enjoy Nature in action. 

Of what are dreams made? You’ll answer this question for your friends and neighbors every time they step into your perfect dreamscape.

Today’s homes have dreamscapes when imaginations are sparked. For more ideas on landscaping materials in San Jose, please visit this website.

Friday 5 June 2015

Native Shrubs to Consider for Ecological Landscapes in the Northeast

Now that spring is here and our migrant songbirds have returned to our yards, gardens, and woodlands it is a time to consider giving something back to these......read more

Ancient Turf Maze

This rare turf maze in the United Kingdom has been in place for hundreds of years. Used to play games, for Christian meditation, and as landscape decoration, this is just one unique use of green turf.


Plants Add Color and Texture to Your Retaining Wall

Functional and often quite focal, retaining walls can make or break a lawn or garden effect.  Structured to maintain great force and weight as soil presses against it, a retaining wall must be durable, strong, and well made, but it can also be beautiful.  Adding color and texture to your retaining wall is very simple if you follow a few key rules.

1.   Know your climate and your grow zone.

Trying to keep alive plants that have not adapted to your climate is time consuming and rarely worth the effort, especially when they will be placed outdoors. Considering the layout, light access, and soil composition of your setting is crucial to cultivating a garden that thrives, even when the garden will be largely place in, on, or around a retaining wall.  Becoming aware of the natural elements of your setting will help you to make excellent plant selections.

2.   Layer textures, colors, and heights.

Many find that blending colors, combining various heights, and adding unexpected textures helps to individualize their garden and create an inviting feast for the senses.

3.   Avoid uniformity, but focus on aesthetic design.

Uniformity might seem the easier mode for quick, easy beautification, but considering the design as a whole, effects and all, will help to create a scene you will enjoy for years to come.

More than functional, retaining walls represent an opportunity to layer beauty. For more information on retaining walls in San Jose, please visit this website.

Thursday 4 June 2015

Ecology + Restoration Roundtable, Part 1

For this post, we unveil our new Ecology + Restoration Roundtable series. We posed a hypothetical question.....read more

3 Benefits of Using Gypsum in a Home’s Interior

Gypsum is a mineral known for its many uses, one of the most notable being its utilization in the interior of a home. In panel form, this material, also known as drywall, can be used to line the walls and ceilings and offers many advantages when used in home construction.

1.  Installation is Simple and Quick

Gypsum panels can be installed in entire a system, which means that a very large quantity can be purchased at a time. Buying a whole sheet of gypsum paneling can eliminate repeated buying and allows installation to be completed with ease and haste.

2. Sturdiness and Versatility

Gypsum board is a major component in structurally sound walls and ceilings that can be decorated and customized without compromising their structural integrity. If it does happen to deteriorate, replacement and repair are simple and the walls can adapt and change to one’s desires.

3. Economical and Available

While it is a useful component of many walls, it is not expensive like many other paneling systems. It is also in constant supply, making it simple to find and install without the hassle of ordering or travelling to purchase it.


For anyone who wants an easy alternative to more expensive boarding systems with all of the benefits of a high quality unit, it is recommended that the installation of a gypsum paneling system be considered. To learn more about roof insulation in Santa Cruz, visit this website.