How to choose the right materials:
Brick, Concrete Pavers and Wall Stone, Natural Stone.

Brick

Bricks instantly age a garden, invoking the feel of Colonial America. Laid in many patterns and colors, a brick walkway serves as an invitation, beckoning you on to another destination, curving past a plum tree, heading toward a bank of roses...

When you select brick for your garden path and walls, you're choosing a warm material, one that has graced garden design for hundreds of years. Made of clay, then fired in a kiln at 1,900 degrees F, brick is available in shades of red, brown, and yellow. Paving bricks are used to line borders and lay paths, as well as for patios and driveways. Wall bricks are used for a more formal, uniform look.

Brick is best used in sites that get at least some sunlight. If brick is laid in a completely shady spot, it can become moss-covered over time.

Features of Brick

Basketweave Pattern

Herringbone Pattern

Runningbond Pattern

Concrete Pavers and Wall Stone

Concrete Pavers and Wall Stone can be used to create today's estate look. Carefully handcrafted and cut, designer stone declares your property to be something out of the ordinary — a cut above. Its permanence adds value to gardeners and non-gardeners alike, enduring for generations, growing more beautiful over the years.

Stonework should match the materials of your house, and complement its design in style and color. The many colors and styles of designer stone make it perfect for creating a unique look.

Pavers are hardwearing stones that last for years. Made of concrete, they are harder and some styles are less expensive than brick. Pavers come in many sizes and colors, and are most often used for paths, patios, and driveways.

Concrete paving stones are durable and are not slippery when wet. Snowplows can easily remove snow without damaging the pavers. And salt will not harm them. Maintaining a slight slope is important when laying paving stones, allowing water to drain properly from the site. A firm foundation and proper edging keeps your pavers in place for years.

Concrete 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. Landscapes 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.

Features of Concrete Pavers and Wall Stone

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 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.

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.

Types of Stones

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.

Granite is the hardest stone available for landscape use and the most expensive choice. Like all stone, the colors deepen when wet, adding depth and allure to a rainy day in your garden.

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 a edging material or a driveway entrance.

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.

The most informal paths are laid with peastone, and thus, are often used for secondary paths found furthest from the home. Peastone and crushed stone 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.

Although stonedust is used primarily as a base material, it can also be used as a low cost patio finish. Stonedust can be found in gray, red, and green colorations.

Reasons to consider adding stone work

Stonework solves many common garden problems, like slopes subject to erosion, areas where it's difficult to grow a grassy lawn, or sharp changes in elevation.

Stones fill in visual spaces between plants, leading the eye on to the next garden delight.

Stones laid as paths or stepping stones between gardens keep tender plants from being trampled or loose soil from being compressed while the gardener works.

Besides adding the necessary garden structure, stones can be used to create specialized garden settings, like alpine rock gardens or natural woodland gardens, bordered appropriately by wildflowers and moss-covered paths.

Remember to place a garden bench around the corner or beyond the curve, letting the walker meander down the path and arrive at a destination.

Stone creates a feel of natural elegance throughout the garden.

Features of Natural Stone

Bluestone

Granite

Cobblestone

Fieldstone

Peastone

Stonedust