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 Perhaps
the greatest strength that patio landscaping offer lies in the fact that it can
be done anywhere in a yard. Patios are used to provide hard
surface areas for gatherings. They also connect areas of activity to
softscape elements to cause those in attendance to feel the warmth and vibrancy
of life.
In many cases, a
landscape element that would otherwise clash with the foliage of the landscape
is harmonized with its energy by skillful patio landscaping designs that link
the inorganic to the organic.
While
many people think of a patio as merely a flat, hard surface to sit or stand on
outdoors, our hardscapes are much more custom in nature. Each
patio is designed with a purpose in mind and is characterized by sensitivity to
other landscape elements. It is very important that it aesthetically
blends with trees, gardens, and lawn grasses. It is also important that
any nearby architecture be complimented by the patterns that characterize its
form.
Patio
landscaping often begins adjacent to the outer wall
of the house. This helps to immediately establish a link
between the house and the landscape that supports it. It can also create a
very subtle impression that one is stepping into an outdoor world of luxury
living every bit as sophisticated as the one left behind indoors.
Patios are also vital to the success of swimming
pool design. With very few exceptions, pools always look
better when surrounded by a custom patio that compliments the home, the pool
itself, and the natural beauty of the yard, all in equal measure. The
importance of a pool patio, as a matter of fact, increases in direct proportion
to the sophistication of your pool’s design.

This is because luxury features such as spas, fountains, waterfalls, water
jets, and pool lights that make your pool the star attraction of the
neighborhood can also make your yard look too artificial if they are not
surrounded by a patio that transitions their aesthetic into the organic elements
beyond the water’s edge.
Patio
landscaping with cut stone can provide the perfect link between luxury and
natural beauty. Stone and vegetation occur everywhere
together in nature, so it is not too far of a stretch to refine the appearance
of the stone to support the manmade. The more you polish it, the more
opulent its appearance becomes, and the more it will support any high-end pool
design you wish.
However, at the
same time, stone is stone. It will never be anything other than a
fundamentally natural element foundational to the very earth itself. As
such, no matter what we do with it, it will always blend with vegetation and
serve as a link capable of marrying the organic with the inorganic.
It
also goes without saying that landscape
architecture depends greatly on the patio work in outdoor rooms.
Anything from a simple outdoor dining room, to an entry garden, to
a luxury outdoor kitchen, is going to require highly customized patio
landscaping as the literal foundation of its design.
With the right
choice of material, and the right use of supporting softscape elements in and
around the patio, even the most ornate structure can be made to look at home
under your trees.
Patio
landscaping is always done on a case-by-case basis and is determined by what
best works for you. The specifics always boil down to what
best supports your home, what best compliments your softscape, and what best
creates useable, comfortable living space in a way that unifies everything
around your home into an amenable outdoor experience that is unique YOU in terms
of expression.
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