As a San Antonio homeowner, are you sitting on the fence between greenscaping and hardscaping? Both landscaping forms have advantages and disadvantages, yet choosing either can be an environmentally sound and smart decision.
If the fence hurts your derriere, weighing the following considerations might help you jump down on the side of greenscaping, which involves building a sustainable landscape from the soil up, or hardscaping, which utilizes rock, concrete, wood and other hard materials to reduce a yard’s negative environmental impact.
Cost
If you fall off the fence, hard landing surfaces generally cost more to establish than soft. The materials to create or remodel a hardscape cost more than greenery costs, but hardscape costs you little, if anything, after it’s established. Inversely, greenscapes cost less to start, but your cost carries across years of nurturing, maintaining and replenishing greenery. Fence sitters: Would you rather pay up front or over time?
Maintenance
Maintaining hardscapes involves little work. If you incorporate wood, it might need staining or treating in the future and if you lay gravel or aggregate, it might break down and require laying fresh material on occasion. Greenscapes require such maintenance as pruning, weeding, mowing, planting annuals, composting, mulching and occasional watering. Fence sitters: Do you delight in or detest lawn care and yard work?
Wildlife
As a rule, hardscapes deter critters from making your yard their home, while greenscapes beckon wildlife. This rule doesn’t apply to bugs and insects that make homes where they will, green or not. Additionally, if you go green, you’ll need to welcome bugs and insects: 85% of these small creatures are actually beneficial to sustainable gardening. Fence sitters: Do you consider wildlife pests or pleasures?
Watering
Watering factors into both landscape schemes, albeit differently. A hardscape, unsurprisingly, doesn’t require water, but you might need to incorporate a drainage system to prevent pools of standing water, which become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. If you incorporate plants into your hardscape, they will need watering. In greenscapes, gardeners must/should choose plants that thrive in the San Antonio climate and require little, if any, extra water. Fence sitters: Is watering an issue for you?
Final Product
A hardscape doesn’t lend itself to rough-and-tumble games or kids frolicking in the grass, but it provides the illusion of a larger space and requires much less upkeep. Both landscapes deliver great visual appeal: One offers lush greenery and the other presents simplistic Zen. Fence sitters: What do you want to play on or see?
You can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each of these points to decide between hardscaping and greenscaping. However, you need not jump off the fence onto only one side: You can tear down the fence and enjoy both. The two landscaping methods complement each other and combine beautifully. Contact ABC Home & Commercial Services today and let us help you create the lawn of your dreams.