Choosing Hardscape Materials

Material choice is, perhaps, the most fun step in a landscape design.  Material can (and will!) determine the direction a project takes.  It can determine the paving pattern, whether the design in curvy or posses straight lines, and the formality of the space.  Do you want a modern feeling space?  Do you want to have a monolithic wall or have it broken up with smaller stone?  Would you like natural stone or an interlocking concrete paving system?  These are all choices you need to make when thinking about a hardscape.  

PA Irregular Flagstone with a reclaimed brick border.

Quarter Ton Brown Boulders are great features in planting beds or dry creek beds.

Materials also determine the character of the space.  Whether you are going for an extremely modern space or want your patio to look like it is a hundred years old, material choice is very important.  Colors, architectural elements, and paving materials all need to work together to create a cohesive space.  At LawnScapes, we like to take our clients to a supplier’s yard to show them the wide range of natural materials and the options to be had.  Nothing is more fun that a shopping trip!  I tend to advise clients to take the time to choose the boulders, colors, and materials in person so that they know exactly what the materials look like. 

The rustic character of this space is accentuated by the stacked stone wall, broken flagstone cap and the stepping stones.

This entry courtyard is meant to be very formal.  The Rectilinear design, double sailor course of brick, and the range pattern flagstone really adds to the gravitas of the space.

Visit Delaware Hardscape Supply’s Website, CST Pavers, and EP Henry to pick out some of your favorite materials.  As always, please do not hesitate to visit our website at www.lawn-scapes.net to give us feedback! 

-Matt Bradley

How to Protect Your Landscaping from Salt Damage

Happy New Year!  I hope you are as excited about this New Year as we are at LawnScapes.  Winter is the perfect time to get into contact with us for Designs and spring work.  This blog is about the ways to protect your plants from de-icing salt.  Fortunately, due to the rather mild winter there is still time to implement some of these strategies.  We all know that the winters and the resulting salt spreading can potentially harm any plants you have, so I have researched some strategies to help overcome this.  Salt harms plants by burning their foliage (evergreens will turn brown and the buds on deciduous plants will dry up and die), leaching water from their leaves or roots, and creating a salt ‘crust’ on the soil.  Any water will move from an area of lower salinity to higher salinity thus causing the plant to dry and wilt.  Sometimes this cannot be seen until the spring.  If you do have high salinity in your soil leach and dilute the salts by watering heavily in the early spring. 

There are many salts and chemicals used to deice sidewalks and roadways.  Some of the most   common are:

-Sodium Chloride:  least expensive and most common; usually has anti-clumping compounds mixed in to keep the salt in granular form

-Calcium Chloride: less damaging to plants but much more damaging to concrete

-Potassium Chloride: even more damaging to plants than Sodium Chloride

-Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA): Non-corrosive to concrete surfaces and not damaging to plants at all.  The down side to this product is that it is more expensive than other deicers.

The first and most obvious strategy is to use salt tolerant plants along roads, driveways, and walks that will have deicing salt spread on them.  There are several varieties that work and I will provide a list to start with at the end of the blog.  If you already have plantings that are not salt tolerant then the following tips should help you out.  The first:  in the fall or early winter, spread gypsum to beds bordering any paved areas at a rate of 50 lbs per 1000 square feet.  This works because the calcium in the gypsum displaces any salt in the soil.  One of the most important things to keep in mind is to use the deicer as efficiently as possible.  This will not only save you money but help you protect your plants.  Clear snow first and use the deicer to provide grip and help clear up any residue.  Mix salt and sand (or clean kitty litter) in a 50/50 mix to clear walks and drives; this will reduce the amount of each that you use and the sand will help filter some of the salt out of the water as the ice melts.  Salt spray and slush splashing onto your shrubs can cause real problems.  Wrapping your plants in burlap or breathable plastics can certainly help prevent this.  If you do use a deicing product before you shovel distribute the salty snow in an area with no vegetation.  Placing it all in one spot, either on your grass or on a tree’s roots, can kill or harm them very easily.

I hope that you find this blog useful and as always, if you have any questions please give us a call here at LawnScapes: 610.869.4046 or shoot me an email at mbradley@lawn-scapes.net.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to visit our website at www.lawn-scapes.net.

-Matt Bradley, BLA, PCH

Salt Tolerant Plants

Shrubs

• Winged euonymus
• Mock orange
• Pfitzer juniper
• Winterberry

Trees

• Birch
• Cherry
• Gingko
• Oak
• Yew

Turfgrasses

• Perennial ryegrass
• Tall fescue