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Choosing the right materials for your project involves both practical and aesthetic considerations. You may be concerned about reducing maintenance, evoking a particular feeling, or disability access and ADA-compliance.
Simplicity is the key to success. Limit your choice of hardscaping materials to two, or at most, three different types. Use those materials over and over again in your design. Take cues from materials already present on the property, such as a stone foundation, brick steps, or granite ledge.
GRANITE COBBLE & PEA STONE
Classic New England look for driveways and informal paths. Cobbles reclaimed from historic buildings are a sustainable choice. Pea Stone imparts excellent permeability.
NATURAL CLEFT BLUESTONE
Versatile and elegant material for walkways, patios, steps and landings. Bluestone caps on walls or pillars can unify vertical and horizontal design elements.
CLAY BRICK
Earthy reds warm the landscape and give a historic feel. Add interest with patterns such as herringbone, basket weave, running bond, and a variety of borders.
INTERLOCKING CONCRETE PAVERS
High performance paving matches a range of architectural styles. Next-generation pavers mimic the look and texture of natural stone, wood, and brick.
Brick
Bricks instantly age a garden, invoking the romance of the Mediterranean or the grandeur of Colonial America. Paving bricks are used to line borders and lay paths, as well as for patios and driveways.
Wall or face-Brick is used to construct formal, uniform walls, steps, pillars, and landings. Because wall brick is mortared in place, correct mortar mix and installation are essential to withstand Massachusetts ‘harsh winters without cracking. Proper foundation preparation can also add cost. Brick is best used in sites that get a shady spot, it can become moss-covered over time.
CONCRETE PAVERS, PERMEABLE PAVERS, AND WALL STONE
INTERLOCKING CONCRETE PAVERS
Concrete paving stones are durable and are not slippery when wet. Snowplows can easily remove snow without damaging the pavers. Advanced coating and coloring technologies protect premium pavers from weathering, but even classic paver styles can look like new with proper maintenance, cleaning, and sealing.
PERMEABLE PAVERS
Permeable concrete pavers have all of the benefits of a standard pover, plus the environment benefit of preventing run-off. Small offsets on the sides of the paving units create openings where water can reenter the ground. Set on a deep bed of gravel, a property installed permeable paving system actually treats stormwater runoff before it enters aquifers, protecting water supplies from pollution. Combined with a rainwater harvesting system, permeable pavers create more resilient landscapes and can earn
points in 5 LED green categories.
SEGMENTAL CONCRETE WALL STONE
Segmental Wall Stone is made of dense concrete but made to look like natural stone. Wall stone comes in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, and is most often used for retaining walls, raised planting beds, and steps.
Steps, terraces, and retaining walls created from designer wall stone and pavers are beautiful elements of garden design. Landscape are rarely level, and accenting the change in elevation makes the garden more interesting. Steps can make a slope more navigable, and should be wide enough that two people can walk side by side, usually four to five feet. Less used paths can be narrower, and impart a more secluded, secret feel to the garden.
NATURAL STONE (INCLUDES BLUESTONE, GRANITE, FIELDSTONE ,AND COBBLESTONE)
Natural stonework gives the feeling that nature created your garden layout. The use of stone adds color, texture, and drama to the garden design, while providing a permanent structure for your paths, walls, and driveway.
Stonework also adds winter interest, a very desirable element in our cold climate. When the trees are bare and flowering plants have withered, the majesty of stonework stands as a testament to the year-round garden, forming beautiful sculptures in ice and snow.
Natural stones can be used on a grassy lawn as stepping stones or can be laid into gravel or peastone to make walking easier. Contrasting rocks and boulders add interest and entice the walker to travel a little farther down the garden path.
Types of Stone
Bluestone provides garden elegance with a distinctive blue-gray color. Bluestone creates a striking statement when laid as a patio, walk, or walls, and complements the colors of bricks and other stonework when used in combination. “Full-color” bluestone shows the material’s full variation, and may include tan, rust, and even lilac tones. “True blue” bluestone must be hand-selected, and is priced accordingly. Similar stones: sandstone, limestone, brownstone.
Granite is the hardest stone available for landscape use and the most expensive choice. Many landscape elements can incorporate granite, including walls , steps, benches, bed edging, and decorative accent boulders. While many people imagine salt and pepper granite, the color can vary widely, allowing creative patterns and designs. Similar stones: Quartzite.
Cobblestone describes roughly cut stone blocks, once widely used for street paving. Cobbles are rustic in nature, evoking an earlier time in history, and are perfectly suited to cottage style gardens and colonial homes, where they are often used as an edging material or a driveway apron.
Fieldstone generally has an older, less formal look. Obtained from nearby quarries, fieldstone is the quintessential New England look, used for centuries to border farmland and create rough stone walls. Large pieces of fieldstone make a lovely, natural looking path. Regional variations in fieldstone produce a variety of colors from gray to tans, with occasional accents of rose and yellow.
Peastone and crushed stone are informal paving choices that provide a wonderful, crunchy texture underfoot, adding sound to the pleasure of walking a garden path. Peastone is also frequently used in gravel rock gardens, or as natural edging around water features and garden sculptures, or as decorative accents.
Stonedust or decomposed granite is used primarily as a base material, but it can also be used as a low cost patio finish. Stonedust can be found in gray, red, and green colorations. Polymeric binders can be added to create a more durable and ADA-compliant surface.
Why Our Customers Return to Us
Year After Year
Mary
From Lexington
“We’ve had complete strangers stop their cars and tell us how much they like our new yard. In the past year we’ve had extensive work done on our house with an army of workers, none have been as conscientious, considerate and hard working as your crew.”
Phyllis
From Newton
“On Saturday I was in the vegetable garden planting… I looked up through the pergola into the side garden and it was absolutely perfect. It looked like something out of a magazine.”
Amy and Tim
From Cambridge
“Thank you for creating a wonderful outdoor space for our family. We admire the work you do as well as the way to do it with intelligence, joy and respect for one another and those of us you encounter on the way.”