 Why is Hardscaping & Landscaping Important?

In our experience at Mountain Paradise, landscaping and hardscaping shows your style to those that see and visit your home. It sets first impressions to people coming to your home and increases your property value. What’s more important is that creating a quality landscape allows you to enjoy your yard and relax with family and friends. We suggest you brining the breadth of New Mexico nature that you enjoy into your backyard so you can enjoy it every day. Where do you enjoy time spent throughout New Mexico? Bring your experience of the mountains, springs, rivers, and plant life back home. Need ideas about how this can be done? David at Mountain Paradise has a passion about helping his customers enjoy their time by brining nature into their backyard.

 Irrigation and Sprinkler Ideas

Irrigation is always recommended for a lower-maintenance yard. Selecting zoning and types of drip and spray systems are important to reduce maintenance and keep your landscaping plants alive. Many variations exist that we can cover during your landscape design. There can be complexities in irrigation design. For instance, never place drip and spray on the same zone due to the timing differences.

Landscaping Ideas

Landscaping typically includes living plants, grass, synthetic turf, trees, water features, and gravel. This page provides some ideas of what to consider in Landscaping. You can also find more visual landscaping content in our Image Gallery and Video Gallery. On the other hand, Hardscaping are those larger structural elements of your yard that endure without water and maintenance associated with living plants, trees, fish, etc. Examples include patios, shade structures, fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, driveways, sidewalks, boulders, fencing, and many other elements. See our Hardscaping Ideas Page for more information.

 What should be considered in Hardscaping & Landscaping?

We suggest you look at your outdoor areas like another living space - with rooms and regions that interact themselves and also interact with various parts of your indoor home. Consider these areas from inside to outside in order to make the outdoors an extension of your home and help draw you to the outdoors. When we visit with you, we’ll help you consider these options if they are important. Considering how you will maintaining landscaping is critical. Consider maintenance before you install flowers, trees, plants. Each owner may have different interest in maintaining their yard. If you can’t take care of your landscaping by picking up leaves, fertilizing, weeding, and tending to, then you’ll have to pay for maintenance. Low maintenance options with evergreens and other plants may help. Buried or hidden infrastructure is also important to consider. Irrigation is always suggested to lower maintenance. You may wish to install electrical power, lighting, and low voltage services such as phone, security, and Internet. Of course, the particular elements of hardscaping and landscaping should be considered in terms of function and artistry. Look at the ideas below for some options.

 Artificial Turf, Syntetic Lawn, & Putting Green Ideas

Synthetic lawn is becoming more popular because it is low maintenance and reduces water use. It is also useful in remote areas where you need the convenience of turf but don’t want to use irrigation. Installation of this product requires appropriate preparation of soil including grading, putting down the right types of top soil, and tamping.  Artificial Turf, Synthetic Lawn Ideas A variety of turf qualities and lengths exist from short blades on a putting green to very durable Dog turf or Canine Turf. Cost for turf will depend on length and quality of the turf. There may be minimum purchase lengths of artificial turf, so talk with Mountain Paradise about your objectives and design ideas. Lawns can be any size; however, consider that the size of synthetic grass rolls is 15 feet wide. Wider areas will require seams and connecting sections together.  Putting Green Ideas Putting Greens provide a great relaxing entertainment area in your backyard, ,especially for the golf enthusiast. They are typically constructed with short turf in the middle for the green and longer turf on the edge to represent the rough for both visual appeal and function. They can be any size; however, consider that the size of synthetic grass rolls is 15 feet wide. Because they include the short “green” and longer “rough” sections, costs for these areas is higher due to increased  Canine Turf A very durable variety of synthetic lawn or artificial turf is known as Dog turf or Canine Turf. It provides a surface for pets that is durable and provides for their enjoyment and relatively easy clean-up from their waste. Mountain Paradise has installed large areas of this turf to cover entire backyards or smaller sections that might go into dog runs.

 Xeriscaping Ideas

Xeriscaping is a popular term and approach in landscaping that closely considers the sustainability of our environment and low water usage. It does not mean “ZeroScaping” with no plants or water. Good Xeriscaping design includes a zoned approach where plants with higher demand are separate from areas of medium water demand, low demand, and no watering. Quite a bit has been written about Xeriscaping. We suggest you consider the wide number of plant varieties and approaches listed in our Resources Page for more information.

 Grass, Sod, and Lawn Ideas

Sod is a fairly common and easy installation in yards. Appropriate soil leveling, and preparation with conditioners is critical to a healthy lawn. Options for the type of grass are very personal choices based upon your need and enjoyment. Mountain Paradise can advise on the best type for you. Common options for grass include bluegrass, fescue, and park blend. Installation options are using sod and seed. Bluegrass is softer and more visually appealing. It is good for children but uses more water. Fescue is a thicker blade grass, but pokes you a bit. It uses less water and is drought tolerant. Park blend is a combination of three types of grass but generally drought tolerant.

 Plants, Trees, and Shrub Ideas

At Mountain Paradise, we consider plants, trees, and shrubs in your overall design with existing and new hardscaping. There are a large variety of options in plant selection. We advise that you consider native plants of New Mexico first and then other types based upon your need for coverage, color, shade, and design elements in your landscaping. This selection will also influence your irrigation design. Another consideration for selection of shrubs, plants, and trees is production of pollen and allergies. Consider investigating use of plants that do not provoke allergies.

 Water Features, Fountains, Waterfall, and Pond Ideas

Well-designed water features add elegance and a sense of nature in your backyard. New Mexico has many mountain streams and springs that can be represented in your backyard. They produce visual appeal, soothing sound, potentially a place for water plants and fish, and an occasional cool breeze. Water features can range from large displays to small fountains, so they can fit in any backyard. • See our Water Features, Ponds, Fountains page for details.

 Bridge Ideas

Bridges connect two backyard spaces and often traverse a water feature or dry riverbed. They’re placed to to entice people to walk across them and enjoy the landscaping nearby or beyond. They’re particularly useful as a pathway for children to explore, or for the child within the adult. Bridge construction can be of wood or masonry, blocks, and other materials.