A beautiful garden is not soil and plants alone. When viewing the picturesque natural settings we may wish to emulate in our own gardens, we see soil contours dotted with boulders, natural swales emptying seasonal rains into streams, and large walls of rock shoring up an otherwise unstable hillside.

In our efforts to bring nature closer to our homes, we mustn’t neglect the other natural elements that make a landscape feel “natural” and help give our plantings a sense of place and belonging. Likewise, hardscaping the garden also gives us the opportunity to impart our human influence for practical and aesthetic uses in the forms of decks, arbors, fences and garden art.

Natural Elements
In our efforts to bring nature closer to our homes, we mustn’t neglect the other natural elements that make a landscape feel “natural” and help give our plantings a sense of place and belonging.