Let's get something straight between the two of us. This isn't Home and Garden TV and I am not Martha Stewart, and don't try to call me Marty Stewart either. We are a company that specializes in making your plans come alive in a fashion you can afford to live with and with products that you can enjoy for as long as you own your home. So don't expect any ideas on what you can do with pie tins and milk jugs, but only on ways to make your house and yard come alive! Speaking of which, I want to talk, er, write about something that I touched on lightly last week, and this is on the purpose of your landscaping.
The Oriental philosophy behind their gardens is that they should be a place where a person could reflect on their life and beliefs. Therefore, they built a garden where it was quiet and peaceful, but the eye was never bored because of the use of angles and curves, along with a variety of stone that was selected and placed to help create a mood. Now the European gardens were attempts to be a work of art in a living format. The Roman and Greek gardens were precise and formal with straight lines, right angles and semicircles dominating the design and layout. During the renaissance period and later, garden areas imposed a sense of harmony and order and proportion with the use of plants, pathways and pools. Understand that each garden was designed with a purpose behind it. Whether it was to seek solitude and peace, or just to have fun in, the garden was designed with a specific goal in mind. And for you to better enjoy your garden area as well as to better plan the types of plants and hardscaping materials to go into it, you should have a specific purpose behind the design. So, first of all, what do you want to do wth your garden area? And after deciding and planning it out, how do you get it to that point?
Well, lucky you... you've got Cascade Block, "Your Natural Resource" for hardscaping materials. Let's start in the central patio area, the place where most of your activities will take place, and to begin, let us also assume that you want it to be formal in appearance.
Formality usually calls for strong lines and simple geometric patterns. I think that brick pavers would go really well here, so try the Mutual Patio Paver, or the Pioneer Paver. They are 4"x8" and 2 1/2" thick, and red in color. The first has a new look, and the second has a slightly tumbled look, with round edges or stress marks. (That means that they look old and used.) You can lay this brick down on sand without a lot of work, yet it has a very professional look because you don't have to mortar them in. Also you can lay them down in a variety of patterns to give you formal to elegant looks.
Possibly you might want something bland (for lack of a better word), so that people won't look at the patio but at plants or other visual impact areas. Here you might want to try concrete or exposed aggregate.
"Oh," you say, "I really want something rustic instead, like in a forest setting." Good thought! Why not try our Rocky Mountain Quartzite. It's a natural slate that will come in varying thicknesses and shapes, and also comes in silver, gold and even a lime-green color. And you can even get one of the slabs and make it into a rustic table.
What about stepping stones? I'm glad you asked! With standard 12" square stepping stones you can create a fun area. Assuming that we have a large square area, why not run a 2' border of red stepping stones, and then fill the inside area with a patchwork of brown or gray colored stepping stones.The pathway that you will normally walk on uses the 12" Cobblestone. You can always change the appearance by changing the colors and shapes. The key here is to have fun.
Well, it's that time again to sign off, so we'll finish this next week. At least I hope so, because with fall coming on, there are all kinds of other projects we need to get done before the cold and rain hit.
Originally published in the Daily Courier September 16, 1999