TOP 3 PAVER LANDSCAPING IDEAS
Durable and elegant, natural stone is one of the best materials for the home’s indoor and outdoor spaces. Stone cladding and pavers can be used to create living spaces, highlight existing features and create perimeters and borders in your garden and in its surrounds. From garden borders to patios or desks, these three practical paver landscaping ideas can be used to turn your garden into an exceptional natural living space.
1. Garden borders
A border created from bluestone pavers or any other type of stone pavers or cladding can give garden beds and areas with larger trees a polished and tidy look, creating a strong boundary between turf areas and beds and controlling the spread of weeds across boundary areas.
Borders also serve an important function in preventing erosion from higher and sloping areas, as well as supporting raised garden areas. Natural stone comes in a very wide range of colours and can be chosen to match the materials used for you home and other outdoor spaces. If you’re building a very large border or tall wall, check with your local council’s codes in case permission is needed first.
What to do:
- Have your pavers cut to size.
- Some stack stone and stock stone products may not require adhesive. In that case, you’ll find it easy to simply dry stack the stones.
- Use adhesive to bind the stones where necessary
2. Raised garden beds
From fruits and vegetables to large trees and ornamental plants, there is no limit to the kind of plants that can be grown in raised garden beds. A garden bed built with pavers can be more durable than one built with wooden planks, and will be far more aesthetically pleasing than one made from metal.
Natural stone cladding — such as sandstone, limestone, slate or quartzite — is often used for external walls; in this case, they may also be used to build a low perimeter around a garden bed or a tall border around high garden beds.
What to do:
- If you’re building a low garden bed, stack the stones around the bed on a base of sand or gravel. Have the stack stones cut to size for a better fit where necessary.
- For taller beds, consider whether an adhesive such as paver cement is required.
3. Patio or deck
A patio or deck can be a transitional space between your lawn and garden and your home. Stone pavers are an ideal material for these spaces, being attractive, durable and weather resistant. It’s said that paved surfaces can be more than four times stronger than the average cement surface.
Pavers in contrasting colours can be chosen to create striking geometric designs for a distinctive looking deck area. Alternatively, for a patio that blends into the background, try uniform pavers that harmonise with the earth colours of your garden.
What to do:
- Finalise a design for your paver patio or deck area. Note that there are many different paving patterns and designs to consider.
- Lay a gravel (or other) foundation to help with drainage.
- Choose from dry paving or paving with cement. Dry paving means pavers are set with paving sand, while paving with cement means pavers are set with cement.