selecting
In one form or another, almost every landscape project uses stone. Whether it's ledger, rubble, pebbles or flagstone - on its own or woven into other hardscape materials - when it comes to shaping exterior environments, stone is one of the most versatile of all materials at your disposal. In my experience as a stone supplier, however, few landshapers understand enough about the properties and characteristics of available stone products to use them as effectively as possible. This is true despite the fact that inappropriate stone usage creates liabilities for both the installer and the client and that the need for eventual replacement incurs great cost down the line. Simply knowing which types of stone are dense and which are soft, for example, is enough to prevent many problems with installations and will make landscapes more successful. While placing beautiful slate on an exterior deck may seem a great idea visually, for instance, it will eventually disintegrate as a result of exposure to the elements, nobody involved will be happy - and everybody will recognize that it would have been better to
In one form or another, almost every landscape project uses stone. Whether it's ledger, rubble, pebbles or flagstone - on its own or woven into other hardscape materials - when it comes to shaping exterior environments, stone is one of the most versatile of all materials at your disposal. In my experience as a stone supplier, however, few landshapers understand enough about the properties and characteristics of available stone products to use them as effectively as possible. This is true despite the fact that inappropriate stone usage creates liabilities for both the installer and the client and that the need for eventual replacement incurs great cost down the line. Simply knowing which types of stone are dense and which are soft, for example, is enough to prevent many problems with installations and will make landscapes more successful. While placing beautiful slate on an exterior deck may seem a great idea visually, for instance, it will eventually disintegrate as a result of exposure to the elements, nobody involved will be happy - and everybody will recognize that it would have been better to
On just about any site, we run into hidden obstacles - everything from underground pipes or leftover debris from other construction to myriad other surprises - and many of them are easily dealt with either by removing the barriers or redirecting things around them. But what happens when the obstacle is alive and growing and you can't remove it or escape from it? In these situations, you have to do your research, get creative and, above all, take the matter seriously. Case in point is a garden I'm designing for a project with David Tisherman - the one discussed previously where I'm developing a white
On just about any site, we run into hidden obstacles - everything from underground pipes or leftover debris from other construction to myriad other surprises - and many of them are easily dealt with either by removing the barriers or redirecting things around them. But what happens when the obstacle is alive and growing and you can't remove it or escape from it? In these situations, you have to do your research, get creative and, above all, take the matter seriously. Case in point is a garden I'm designing for a project with David Tisherman - the one discussed previously where I'm developing a white
To me, setting natural stone has always seemed something like assembling a very large jigsaw puzzle: All the pieces have to fit together, and there's definitely a right way and a wrong way to make it happen. I start the process systematically by laying stones out in an adequately large area and then just looking at them. As I go, I visualize how each will work as part of the overall composition and identify stones with either convex or concave contours that might fit together in some visual way. I'm constantly asking myself, "If I put this stone here and this other one right next to it, how will it work? Should I pick another stone and use a different combination?" Nature helps me in coming up with the answers, because
