Part 3: Hard landscaping

3. Types of surfaces

When you design a garden you must choose a surface for every area of the garden, it could be lawn, water, planting or a hard landscaping surface for paths or seating areas. Hard landscaped, or ‘built surfaces’ include un-bonded surfaces, sealed surfaces and unit surfaces.

Un-bonded surface example:

A garden path winding through lawns and flower beds.

Stone chip or gravel
Pixabay / Licence

Sealed surface example:

Workmen in orange protective gear carefully laying concrete path.

Concrete or tarmac
Pixabay / Licence

Resin bonded surfaces are an alternative which offer a softer surface with many colour options as any colour of material can be fixed into the resin.

Unit surface examples:

wrought iron table and chairs sitting on small paved patio.

Paving
Pixabay / Licence

Cobbled path with moss growing within.

Setts
Pixabay / Licence

Path created from red bricks laid out in a herringbone design.

Bricks
Pixabay / Licence

Sunloungers on wooden decking next to a pool with sea view.

Timber decking
Pixabay / Licence

Activity

Do an internet image search (for example Google Images or on Pinterest) for the following styles of garden:

  • Cottage garden
  • Modern garden
  • Japanese garden
  • Water garden
  • Wildlife garden

Note down which hard landscaping materials are being used in each style.

You will see that some materials have a particular style and are used repeatedly in this style of garden, for example, gravel and natural stone are very common in Japanese gardens.