6 - Hard Landscaping Flashcards
What is hard landscaping?
All non-living features in a garden or landscape.
Name some horizontal hard landscaping elements.
- Paths
- Patios
- Steps
- Decking.
Name some vertical hard landscaping elements.
- Walls
- Fences
- Screens
- Pergolas
- Furniture
- Statuary.
What are the benefits and limitations of tarmac as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Hardwearing and functional
- Requires little maintenance
Disadv
- Some find it aesthetically unpleasing
- Can cause excessive runoff in wet weather as not porous.
What are the benefits and limitations of concrete as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Hardwearing
- Low maintenance
- Coloured, it can be used to give the impression of stone or brick.
Disadv
- Visually uninteresting
- Uses a lot of energy to manufacture, not environmentally sustainable.
What are the benefits and limitations of concrete slabs, or reconstituted slabs, as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Wide variety of shapes, colours, sizes available
- Can make geometric patterns, or even crazy paving
- Relatively inexpensive
- Uniform size and thickness, good for ease of laying.
Disadv
- Concrete environmentally unsustainable
- Don’t necessarily age/weather attractively.
What are the benefits and limitations of bricks and blocks as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Durable
- Standard sizes
- Many colours available
- Can be used to create patterns
- Ages well
Disadv
- Can be expensive.
What are the benefits and limitations of natural stone as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Granite extremely hardwearing
- York stone is softly coloured and mellows with age
- Generally weathers/ages attractively
- Can match existing materials (local stone)
Disadv
- Expensive
- Heavy
- Slabs are of unequal thickness, making them tricky to lay.
What are the benefits and limitations of gravel and stone chippings as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Available in a variety of grades/sizes/colours, etc
- Relatively easy to transport and lay
- Cheaper than many other materials
- You can grow plants through it
Disadv
- Weeds can grow through, so need a semi-permeable membrane underneath
- Not a solid surface so not wheelchair or buggy-friendly.
What are the benefits and limitations of wood as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
Adv
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Renewable if sourced correctly
- Hardwood is long lasting if treated
Disadv
- Can become slippery if not cleaned
- Softwood can rot quickly and requires a lot of maintenance.
What are the benefits and limitations of bark chippings as a horizontal hard landscaping material?
What are the benefits and limitations of timber fencing as a material for vertical elements in a garden?
Adv
- Relatively easy and cheap to construct
- Can be designed to suit many different garden styles (from pre-fab panels to picket fences to post-and-rail)
- Lattice designs filter the wind.
Disadv
- Need regular painting or treating with preservative.
What are the benefits and limitations of brick as a material for vertical elements in a garden?
Adv
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What are the benefits and limitations of dry stone as a material for vertical elements in a garden?
Adv
- No mortar is needed
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Very suitable for various types of garden design, from formal to informal, traditional to contemporary, depending how it is finished/used
Disdv
- Successful construction is time-consuming
- Can be unstable if not constructed properly
- Needs a skilled practitioner to build successfully.
What are the benefits and limitations of stone walls as a material for vertical elements in a garden?
Adv
- Can be built from dressed stone or reconstituted stone blocks, which are uniform in size
- Long-lasting
- Using local stone (cotswold stone, flint) fits into the local environment well, adding to sense of place
- Weathers/ages well
Disadv
- materials are expensive
- Construction is expensive.