Desert Landscaping Tips
It’s still possible to have a beautiful landscape if you live in an arid desert region, such as the Southwest. So, instead of being frustrated over the lack of lush lawns, why not check out the desert landscaping tips below. They will keep you on track and help bring your garden to life in alignment with your natural surroundings.
Make the Environment Look Real
In an arid desert region, you’ll do well by making your garden reflect the state of the surrounding natural environment as much as possible. This gives your garden an attractive, natural look. For instance, adding rocks is a simple way to make your garden seem natural. You could also add traditional gravel pathways and walls. You can get some quality material from a good gravel provider, depending on the size of stone you’re looking for. Typically, crushed stone is available in all sorts of sizes, ranging from 0.5 to 4 inches, so your gravel provider can easily help you achieve the look you want.
Skip the Lawn
Sure, you can still have a lush lawn in an arid desert region, but keeping it that way requires a lot of resources and effort. Instead of a lawn that guzzles water, why not opt for desert plants that are more suited to the existing conditions? The good news is, you have many options to choose from, such as yellow-blooming desert marigolds and plenty of cacti. These native plants will help you save money and require little maintenance.
Create a Stage
Creating a stage will make your desert landscape more attractive by adding something that draws the eye. As mentioned earlier, it’s important to make your garden look as natural as possible by having your gravel provider add the right types of rocks. You can also add smaller, native plants that adapt well to the environment.
However, this setup rarely has enough aesthetic appeal to draw the eye. A large shade tree will easily solve this problem, and further grouping other large and striking plants around the shade tree will add a dramatic touch that will be the center of focus for your garden.
As you can see, there are plenty of desert landscaping tips to help you achieve the look you want. One last tip: Be sure to add the right garden elements, such as recirculating water fountains, dry creek beds, accent walls painted in vibrant colors. These will help reflect your personality while adding plenty of visual interest.
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4 Desert Landscaping Trends to Try This Summer
This summer, why not switch things up a little and try some desert landscaping trends. Read on to see some desert landscaping ideas to try around your yard.
Throw in Some Paving Stones
A proper setup with flagstone can greatly improve the aesthetics of your landscaping. Natural flagstone is commonly used for paving. It is a sedimentary rock that is broken up into layers. You can choose to lay pavers within or beside a rock garden. For this, it is best to use large, stately flagstone that won’t appear too busy.
You can also throw in some color to spice things up. However, for a proper desert feel, avoid bright colors. Also, consider going for flagstone with a smooth texture. They are ideal for a timeless and refined effect.
Replace The Lawn With a Rock Garden
This is a good idea if you want to achieve the ultimate desert look. Say goodbye to the grass and embrace a more exotic and uncommon look. Apart from the nice look, exchanging your grass for a rock garden is a good environmental move. Keeping a lawn fresh and green is a water-intensive process. It also requires that you use a lot of chemicals to make sure the grass stays green and grows fast.
When constructing a rock garden, try to use contrasting rock sizes. Most experts recommend small pebbles, but you can create depth by adding larger stones. You can even throw in a few boulders to construct a walkway. They are also good as a border for your greenery.
Choose Airy Furniture
Metals tend to absorb a lot of heat when exposed to too much sunlight. As a result, it’s rare to find desert-type furniture that is made using metals. Instead, go for more natural materials like wood, and airy designs allow for lots of air circulation. This is a perfect way to add furniture to your outdoors and create a desert look.
Decorative Gravel
This is another great idea to give your landscaping a desert-like touch. Decorative gravel is a sustainable alternative to lawns. You can spread it to cover open gaps in sparsely populated desert gardens. In the past, it was used as a low-maintenance solution to prolonged drought.
These are all great ideas to incorporate some dessert landscaping trends around your home.
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The Benefits of Using Gravel for Low-Water Landscaping
Everyone likes to relax in their neatly manicured garden, but they don’t like to spend hours walking behind lawnmowers mowing grass, pulling out weeds, or running up their water bills on watering. The easy solution is to make friends with their local gravel provider and set up gravel instead of grass in the garden. Adding gravel to your landscaping can beautify your property and make your garden a much more cost-effective asset. Your garden will be beautiful all through the year, and you won’t have to spend hours on garden work to keep it pristine. With gravel instead of grass in between your flower beds, hours of mowing will no longer be necessary, and there are also many other advantages:
- Gravel slows or even stops weed growth, ensuring your beautiful flowers and shrubs grow undisturbed.
- Gravel is natural and looks good in all seasons without any upkeep.
- Gravel is durable and will last for many years.
- Gravel comes in different shapes, sizes, and colors to make your garden look attractive and complement your house’s facade.
Gravel Is a Must-Have in Dry Climate Areas
If you live in a dry climate area, gravel may be just the low-water-landscaping solution to drastically reduce the need to water your garden as the water filters through the gravel and lets it seep into the soil plants to use. That means lower water bills for you. Gravel also keeps the underlying soil cooler and reduces the drying out of the topsoil in the hot sun, thereby reducing the water loss through evaporation and keeps your flowers blooming without constant watering. Conserving the water while growing beautiful, blooming plants is very exciting.
How to Optimize the Use of Gravel in Your Garden
Gravel can be used for setting up foot pathways between the flower beds to protect your flowerings or shrubs from getting trodden, or it can be installed on the plant beds themselves to protect against water loss. Many sizes and pebble roughness are available for you to choose from. There is even a type of gravel, the “pea gravel,” which has soft edges and is gentle on pet and human feet. A good gravel provider will advise you on the type of gravel suitable for your garden and ensure that the type you choose will meet your needs and preferences. Flatbeds are generally able to haul up to 25 tons of product, so call your local gravel provider today to find out how you can have gravel delivered to your property.
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5 Fabulous Ways to Use Flagstone
Landscaping services are vital as they give your yard the look it deserves. Landscaping is about decorating and beautifying your space with lights, different species of plants and flowers, and a creative arrangement of stones with different colors. Flagstones are among the commonly used stones in landscaping. They are preferred as they bring out the best results when creativity is applied. Flagstones are natural sedimentary rocks. When broken down, they come in different sizes, shapes, and colors used for landscaping and creating unique and beautiful hardscapes. Below are the fabulous ways flagstones can be used in landscaping.
Create Walkways In and Around Your Garden
When you consider creating flagstone walkways, you beautify your yard and avoid the destruction of flowers and other plants in your garden. When the walkways and footpaths wind around your garden and home, they create an impressive view for your family and guests. You can use the walkways to direct your visitors to different areas of your home and yard. The flagstone pathways can also be used for light evening or morning jogging and exercises.
Use Flagstones to Edge your Garden
Creating a garden in your yard means having visible boundaries with definitive instructions. Your children need to know the limit of their playing ground. When you use flagstone for edging, having a productive garden in your yard becomes possible. The flagstones can also be used to subdivide the garden into sections allowing for different crops and vegetables to be grown.
Create a Unique Home Patio
Every home deserves a patio. This is where you can relax, meditate on the positives of life and have alone time. When you consider using flagstone to design and create a patio, the surface can get a lovely aesthetic. For an effective living space outdoors, consider building a flagstone patio and add value to your home.
Decorate and Upgrade Your Swimming Pool
Using flagstone to upgrade your swimming pool is beneficial because they are slip-resistant. This means your family and friends can have fun in and around your pool without the fear of accidents caused by slipping. Flagstones are also permeable, making them the best material for upgrading your swimming pool.
Use as Coasters and Placemats in Outdoor Dining Area
The small pieces of flagstones can be designed to fit your outdoor dining area as placemats. This mosaic design, when applied with creativity, makes the area unique and comfortable in many ways.
The relevance of creative landscaping in a residential or commercial space cannot be understated. With landscaping, you create comfort and increase the value of the home or business premises. The use of flagstone in creative landscaping comes with several benefits, mainly when the above ideas are applied.
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7 Factors to Consider When Choosing Landscaping Materials
A well-maintained landscape is an excellent way to increase aesthetic beauty and the overall value of your home. Experts believe that you can increase up to 14% of your home’s resale value.
More homeowners and landscapers are turning towards alternative landscaping materials besides the traditional green turf to spruce up their spaces. Decorative rock, wood mulches, beach sand, and paver stones provide new approaches to landscaping. This may present a headache for homeowners who may be unsure what’s best for their gardens and yards.
Here are seven factors to keep in mind when selecting alternative landscaping materials.
1. Aesthetics
Properly done residential landscaping creates an impression of care around the home. You may need to factor in the beauty that the landscaping rocks will add to your space. Find landscaping materials that accentuate nearby elements, including the house. Determine if the flagstone will withstand the test of time, aesthetically.
2. Functionality
Another key consideration is the intended purpose of the landscaping material. You may need to assess your end goals with the landscaping projects. Find decorative landscaping materials that will serve multiple functions within the garden space. For example, your stone pavers can act as walkways as well as assist in the drainage of rainwater to the subsoil. Landscaping experts can help you pick the material best suited for your home.
3. Durability
Crushed stone is available in sizes ranging from 0.5 to 4 inches. The landscaping project materials that you pick ought to stand up for use over time. Being outdoors, the rocks and pavers remain exposed to the extremities of nature’s elements. You may need to ensure that they will not lose their beauty or functionality too quickly.
4. Maintenance
Additionally, you may have to factor in the costs and level of maintenance required to keep the landscaping materials in top shape. Edging, trimming, and cleaning are activities that you may have to carry out over time. Can the material resist decay and moss growth without chemicals? Find out if the decorative rock will require less attention over time.
5. Health And Safety
You may need to consider whether the landscaping design supports the use of less toxic materials and chemicals in your yard. Do the pavers and rocks reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents? You may also have to factor in accessibility using wheelchairs and other mobility-assisting devices.
6. Ecological Benefits
You may have to think through the effects of the landscaping materials on the overall natural environment within your garden. Choose a material that can conserve water and support your drainage systems. Find out from the sand and gravel company if the rocks are free from toxins that may leach into the soil or underground water.
7. Costs
Pricing is another vital factor as you plan your landscaping design. The availability of landscaping materials may affect the final cost as exotic and rare items attract a higher price tag. Determine how much you are willing to spend on your landscape decoration. Request multiple quotes from local suppliers and compare their pricing.
Buy from the Best
Alternative landscaping materials are quickly gaining popularity over the traditional green turf, providing new ways to spruce up gardens and backyards. These seven factors guide you in finding the best rocks, stone, sand, or gravel for your home. Contact Arizona Trucking and Materials for your Tucson decorative and landscaping rocks.
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