The term 

soft landscape is used by practitioners of landscape

design, landscape architecture, and garden design; and gardeners to
describe the vegetative materials which are used to improve a landscape
by design. The corresponding term hard landscape is used to describe
construction materials. The range of soft landscape materials includes
each layer of the ecological sequence: aquatic plants, semi-aquatic
plants, field layer plants (including grasses and herbaceous plants)
shrubs and trees.
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Hard & Soft Landscaping...  

Envirascape offer a complete design and build service for both hard and soft,
domestic and commercial landscaping;

Hard Landscaping:
Elements include; paths, driveways, garden walls, patios and hard
landscape maintenence.
 
Soft Landscaping:
Elements include; Earth moving and soil amelioration, planting, shrubs,
semi mature trees etc, seeding and turfing, mulching and soft landscape
maintenence.

All about hard and soft landscaping

While hard landscaping covers all civil works such as pavements, retaining walls, screen walls and pergolas,
soft landscaping deals with all that is green.

 
ART OF LANDSCAPING: It is necessary to relieve the monotony of endless stretches of green. -
PHOTO: BIJOY GHOSH
Any landscape proposal generally comprises of hard and soft elements. Hard landscaping and soft
complement each other and cannot be seen independent of each other. While hard landscaping covers all
civil work such as pavements, retaining walls, screen walls, pergolas and the like, soft landscaping deals
with all that is green... be it trees, shrubs or grass. Of course other related aspects deal with irrigation,
garden lighting and such other items on the landscaping agenda.

Another important feature of a landscaped area is water. Here we are not talking about the water needed to
grow and maintain the greenery, but water as an element in design.

Importance of water

In campuses water, whether it is flowing in the form of an artificial stream or a fountain, the main reason for
its existence is to relieve the monotony of endless stretches of green, especially those spaces that
immediately enclose a large building. But for an architect, an equally important reason to have flowing or
churning water as part of the plan is to better the immediate micro-climate. The presence of a water body of
reasonable size has an effect of cooling down the immediate environs and when it takes the form of
fountain, the droplets that are thrown into the air as part of the nozzle action add to the cooling process.

When we talk about loss of water in fountains, a large part of it is due to evaporation loss even if the
fountain happens to be in the shade and also because a considerable part of it is lost when the nozzles
throw up a jet — the thumb rule being, the higher the jet the greater the loss of water due to spray. A good
idea would be to tone down the nozzle apertures when not on display. This, however, is possible in
residences where one can plan and spruce up the fountain and the garden lighting in time for a guest's
arrival.

K. RAGHURAMAN

landscape design 
             from green
solutions landscaping
The Art and Science of
Gardening
Landscaping is the art - and science - of designing
features for an outside space so as to enhance and
improve the entire property, both aesthetically and
practically.  From the initial stages of choosing which
areas are best suited to particular activities and
requirements, to the choice and placing of individual
plants for impact and luxuriant growth.

Landscape design involves knowledge and skill in

several interwoven areas: design, construction,
horticulture and maintenance. There are two main stages and aspects in all garden
design - hard landscaping and soft landscaping.

Hard Landscaping 

Hard Landscaping forms the bones of an outdoor space and sets the tone for the style
of the garden.It includes all the non-living elements in a garden:

 walls, retaining walls and fences;

 paving, patios and paths;
 gazebos, pots, water features and even the garden gnome!

With hard landscaping you need to think about style and scale. Many elements can
look completely out of place in the wrong setting. If a feature is too large or too small for
your space it can ruin the effect.  This is where the experience of Green Solutions can
help you save time and money.  Well chosen and well placed hard landscaping will add
to the practicality and beauty of the outdoor area. Contact Green Solutions Landscaping
for more advice on the design of your garden .

Soft Landscaping

Soft Landscaping includes all the living things in your

garden.  Green Solutions will choose the plants suitable for
your particular site and requirements.  Plants have very basic
needs - sun, soil and water but the specific requirements for
each vary tremendously.  We take the guesswork out of
gardening, grouping plants with similar needs together. This
is not only more ecologically sound, but saves you time. 
Plus our horticultural knowledge allows us to create a garden
with year-round appeal that is tailored to your needs - Do you
want a dog or child friendly garden? Do you want to attract
birds to your garden? What kind of irrigation system will
best suit your garden?

Take the guesswork out of gardening and contact Green

Solutions Landscaping for a professional analysis of your
hard and soft landscaping requirements.

 
The Value of Landscaping

Spending money on your garden is not a frivolous

expense. Apart from the pleasure of a beautiful
garden, you are making a worthwhile investment
and increasing the value of your asset:
  Professional landscaping will add value to your property.  In a study conducted in the
US, homes with good or excellent landscaping had a 14 to 17 percent higher selling
price compared to those houses with poor or average landscaping.
 Estate agents estimate that 95% of buyers will not even get out of their cars if the house
isn't appealing from the outside and that has a lot to do with the garden surrounding it!
 Landscaping shows a 100 to 200% return on your investment, as opposed to kitchen
and bathroom renovation, which both come in at between 75 to 100%.  Contact Green
Solutions today and turn your garden into an investment that you can enjoy.

If you have a small garden let Green Solutions Landscaping do the design, and you can
have fun doing the gardening. Look at our new e-Landscaping Design solutions.
Professional advice at a fraction of the price!

ne of my main aims when asked to design a garden around a new house, is to soften the impact that new
building has within what was once a green field site.
In essence, I aim to create a situation where the opposites of hard and soft, sharp and smooth, are living
in harmony within the site. A prime example of the achievement of this hard/soft harmony is to be found
within the rock garden, the rocks and gravel represent the hard textures, with the soft textures being filled
by the lush alpine planting.

Building a rockery is a project that many of you out there may happily undertake this coming summer, so
over a few articles, I shall give you some insight into rockery layout, creation and planting. 

Keep it natural.
A simple traditional rockery should be designed to resemble a natural rock out-crop, with plants
positioned to reflect mother natures irregular seed sowing pattern. This area should use only one type of
rock e.g. limestone, granite or whatever stone is local, try also to select some character-filled rock with
cracks and fissures. It goes without saying that concrete blocks, bricks or pavers should not be used to
make up the numbers within your alpine construction. Unfortunately, all to often, this combination of
incorrect rock selection, straight planting lines and symmetrical plant placement immediately exposes a
poorly built rockery as man-made and contrived. An obvious crock of a rock(ery).

Locations.
There are certain areas of your garden that may lend themselves very well to a rockery placement. For
example, a bank of sloping ground that grows grass well enough, but proves un-mowable due to its
steepness, this could actually be a blessing in disguise. If this situation exists within your garden, lucky
you, utilise it, as rockeries often look their best when built into sloping ground or banked against a wall
even. Also, seek out sunny locations, constructing your rockery or rocky out-crop in a sun trap will benefit
the growth and blooming of the particular types of alpine plants which look most at home amongst the
rocks. Do not position the rockery near trees due partly to the shade factor; another problem with trees is
the fact that water falling from the leaves outer edge (drip-line) onto alpine plants can quickly reduce them
to soggy rotten specimens.
It would also be ideal if the rockery had some shelter from harsh winds, enabling the plants to retain fresh
new growth and flowers for as long as possible.
thee main purpose for the creation of a rockery area within your garden is to provide a backdrop and
growing site for the planting of alpines.
Alpines or alpine plants are usually low growing specimens, which have the uncanny ability to thrive in
tough surroundings, comparable to their origins atop the Alps, Himalayas and Andes. An alpine is the
common name given to any plant found on the slopes of mountains such as these, at a height above
which trees fail to grow. As water can be limited where they grow in the wild, quite a few alpines have
taken on a low cushion form, while others have fleshy or hairy leaves to prevent excessive water loss,
leading to the plant drying out. Most alpines can also withstand low temperatures and cold winds, but
have a strong dislike of excessive rain. 

Sunny mountain flowers.

Many alpines produce brightly coloured flowers because in alpine areas pollinating insects can be scarce;
the strikingly bright alpine flowers are one sure way of attracting these winged pollinators from miles
around. To my eye, a massed bedding display or a host of naturalised bulbs are the only equals to the
colours displayed by an alpine filled rockery. To enable brilliant alpine blooming, the industrious gardener
should do his/her best to offer the plants a free draining growing position. We are aiming as best we can
to recreate the situation where alpines occur in the wild, a sunny mountain slope with a gritty free draining
soil.

How to create your drainage layer.

The advance creation of a drainage layer beneath the rockery will provide free drainage for the many
alpine plants that require such conditions. A typical fast drainage layer beneath an alpine garden requires
you to excavate down to a depth of 20 cm. Back fill the area with a 10 cm layer of rubble or large broken
stone, followed by a 5 cm layer of rough gravel or chip. This gravel need not be the fancy decorative sort,
as it will be buried out of sight, so something like the chip that is used by road workers to fill potholes will
suffice. Then, cover this gravel with a layer of weed prevention fabric such “Plantex” or “Mypex” to prevent
soil washing down and filling (blocking) the drainage cavities. Finally, spread another 5 cm layer of rough
gravel or chip on top, this sandwich’s the fabric and fills the 20 cm excavation right to the top. 
This advance creation of drainage beneath the rockery is a very important step in its construction
especially if your local soil is on the sticky side.