10 Materials for an Elegant, Harmonious Landscape

Maybe you've invested a small fortune in garden design books or hired a designer for your garden, or you're a do-it-yourselfer who knows the landscape section of the local big-box store inside and out. Regardless, you know landscaping can get expensive. And with so much money to be made on landscape products these days, everyone and their brother is trying to market and sell materials.

But you want something different — elegance and harmony — and the imported travertine you're offered feels way too discordant with the prevalent style in your area. Don't worry! With hundreds of years' worth of examples of world-class architecture, there are plenty of lessons to draw from that can relate to your site.

Gravel

In many cases finding the magic of the landscape means not competing with or decorating what is already there. The small boulder walls and loose gravel here may have come from the site itself. There's no sterile edging trying to control the gravel, which makes this all the more beautiful.

Of course, the grove of trees is glorious, too. If you invest in trees for your landscape, whatever you do, don't plant them on perfect centers! Go crazy and embrace the perfectly imperfect.


All right, so gravel is really nice for a woodland walk, but you need a more stable material for a patio area, right? Well, if you're like me and basically have 10 kids to feed, you might not have a grand budget. Pea gravel, ⅜-inch angular gravel or decomposed granite can make a nice surface to walk on. What's really important is to site the paved space thoughtfully. This patio is elegantly situated in a garden where one can imagine cocktail parties with beautiful people. I'll bring the Barbancourt!

5 great gravel and stone types for the landscape


Boulders

Maybe you have the perfect boulder sitting in your backyard that you can move into your patio area, or perhaps you have the budget to bring one in. Boulders are great because they won't rust or rot. And if your 4-year-old takes permanent markers to the top of it, so what?

This table is as awesome as anything George Nakashima could have built for you. This mass is sculptural in the garden, and I've wanted one for my home for longer than I've wanted these chairs by Kettel.


I've been following the Colorado designers of this Zen garden for years, so it's worthwhile sharing this beauty while I'm waxing poetic on boulders. If you've spent a lifetime studying these things, you can produce exceptional places like this. If you are new at this, don't look at the latest pond catalog — go take a hike in a creek bed instead. Nature is the greatest classroom in the world.


I dream of having an outdoor shower one day, and I would be very happy if this were outside my bedroom.


Slabs

Cut slabs, both new and antique, can come from quarries, landscape supply houses or architectural salvage yards. These slabs can be fairly simple to install and are a nice way to experience the topography of a landscape.


Salvaged Materials » Stone Curbs

Locating materials can be as fun as installing them. One of my favorite places to visit in Pennsylvania is Harry Bambi Supplies, to find antique granite or flagstone curbs like these. These gems are excellent materials to work with, especially if you are adding older materials to an existing site.


Irregular Stone

This irregular flagstone is gracefully set in a nicely planted garden. Stone is a no-brainer to create harmony when it's executed this well.


Here irregular stone pieces cut into a guest parking area to encourage circulation and connect materials. This may have been what noted American landscape architect Dan Kiley referred to as slippage — an extension beyond the implied boundary; it's something I love to think about and explore.


Patterned Stone

Here patterned flagstone is used on a grid. These 2- by 3-foot pavers set on bond are easier to install than pavers in a mosaic pattern, and they're easier to expand upon in the future. The lower plane is set away from the upper terrace and out into the landscape, where the garden softens the materials.


This designer chose a bond pattern as well, but the pavers are regionally salvaged granite set more loosely than above. The looser joints allow for plantings between the stone, for a more rustic setting.


Here full-color stone and thermal bluestone coping combine in the paving surfaces. I love the stone columns with log beams.


Sandstone

Sandstone walls blend with thermal bluestone counters and footrests to complete this outdoor bar and kitchen. A durable cedar pergola and hand-forged mission-style fixtures make this structure beautiful to look at in the evenings. Make sure you use a sealer with bluestone in an application like this one, since it would otherwise absorb grease from the grill.


Concrete

Not all concrete is created equal. I haven't yet seen stamped concrete I like, but this design team poured sections that appear as large, powerful pavers.

Stained benches and steps warm up the concrete. I always think materials like concrete, glass and steel need wood finishes to bring life to the compositions. I have been really impressed with the use of concrete by Bernard Trainor.


Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate panels create screens that allow for light and privacy here. This is obviously not a natural material, but I love the opportunities these panels provide. With a modernist sensibility, mixing materials like these with materials in an older vernacular can be artfully done. Purists, hold your comments!


Steel

Using weathered steel, or Cor-Ten, eliminates maintenance needs, like painting. This material is used to create walls, bridges, treads and whatever you can imagine. It has even become more common in civic spaces.

How to start picking materials: With so many materials to choose from, I recommend considering walkways first, and then selecting materials based on the future of the project and the experience you want to create.

For inspiration get out of the showroom and take a walking tour of your city with your camera. Today's public spaces are being developed by talented designers and are great places for gleaning ideas on space and material use. Let me know where you find inspiration!

Browse the work of landscape designers near you

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