There’s still plenty of time to start another landscape project before the season ends in Calgary. Even a small update can drastically improve your outdoor living space.
As the top choice for landscape supplies in Calgary for over 25 years, Ornamental Stone understands that deciding on a landscape design can be overwhelming. we will help narrow down some ideas that can help elevate your landscaping and make spending time outdoors more enjoyable.
Depth & Elevation
Most areas in Calgary are quite flat which can leave the street looking boring and dull. Creating depth and elevation in your yard can make a huge difference. If you do have a steep grade in the front or backyard, use it to your advantage.
With the proper landscape supplies, there are tons of options to add depth and create elevation changes in your yard. Utilize hardscape products to create defining features such as a staircase or retaining wall. Some strategically placed landscape boulder can help break up a flat space. Bushes, shrubs and trees can help add depth and raised flower beds are a simple way to add elevation changes.
With so many options available, we recommend coming down to visit us at 79 Prairie Place SW Calgary to view all our landscape supplies in person.
Expand Your Living Area
Don’t feel constrained by the space of your deck. The average builder deck in most cases can’t fit everything needed to dine and entertain outside. Maybe you bought a larger barbeque than planned and now you can’t fit that dining table. Expanding your outdoor living area or dining space is a great way to get more use out of your backyard.
The easiest way to get more usable space is to build a patio off your deck. For a high traffic area, we recommend paving stones. These are easier to level than a flagstone patio and less expensive than poured concrete. Ornamental Stone carries a full range of paving stones from Barkman Concrete. Pavers are easy to install and low-maintenance. If done properly with the right landscape supplies such as crushed gravel, sand and paver edging, a paving stone patio will easily outlast your deck.
Draw Visual Interest
There are many ways to create visual interest using landscape supplies available at Ornamental Stone. You want to create contrast and accents which will serve to create a flow to your yard. Simply using decorative rock as a contrast to break up areas can make a huge difference. Crystal White is a great choice to place next to sod to create contrast with green grass.
Landscape boulders can be placed around the yard to create focal points, drawing visual interest into areas you want to stand out. If you really want to make a statement, we can have your address engraved on any of our natural stone. Address rocks are becoming increasingly popular in Calgary. Consider adding a solar lamp to help highlight it in the dark.
Build Garden Beds
Building a garden bed is a relatively simple project that most homeowners can DIY in a weekend or two with the appropriate landscaping supplies. An easy option is a ground level flower bed or shrub garden, edged with large river rock to contain the soil.
Raised garden beds are a popular choice in Calgary. You can opt to create a flower bed for visual appeal or plant a vegetable garden for utility. While most gravitate to wood products such as cedar, there are now precast concrete blocks that are made to mimic the look of wood surfaces. Check out the Bridgewood Retaining Wall from Barkman. Unlike wood, it will never warp, rot or fade and will provide long-term, maintenance free appeal.
When creating a garden bed, you will need quality soil and fertilizer depending on what you are planting. Woodlands Garden Mix is a premium soil mix that provides a balanced blend ready for planting both flowers and vegetables. If you intend to plant shrubs or ornamental grasses, you can opt for our screened loam. Adding a natural mulch, such as wood chips will help manage the soil and will add additional nutrients as it breaks down.
A Serene Escape
We all need a quiet place to enjoy that morning coffee or retreat after a long day at work. Designate a part of your backyard to be a private space and try to use natural elements to keep it rustic and authentic.
A flagstone patio surrounded by some shrubs and bushes is a great starting point, along with a natural stone bench for seating. For all-season use in Calgary, a backyard fire pit in this space could be a be considered, built using natural flagstone or a precast concrete firepit kit. For added affect, consider a water feature like a granite bubbler to drown out the surrounding noises and really elevate the space.
Ornamental Stone carries a range of landscape supplies suitable for this project such as Rundle Stone, which could be used to build the flagstone patio, or even setup as a natural stone bench.
Plant a Tree
Planting trees is a great way to spruce (excuse the pun) up your yard. Trees provide a variety of benefits beyond aesthetics such as privacy, shade, sound dampening and even bearing fruit in some cases. Trees are great for our environment and it’s never too late to plant one. It’s best to plant trees early as possible so you can enjoy their benefits as they mature.
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
― Chinese proverb
When choosing what type of tree to plant it’s important to consider the local climate, the City of Calgary website provides a great resource of the top tree species to plant in Calgary. You will need quality landscape supplies to help to grow strong roots such as premium quality screened loam. Mulching is also important to help regulate soil temperature and retain moisture. Ornamental Stone carries a variety of mulches, cedar mulch is a good choice as it’s acidity will help prevent weed growth.
We hope some of the above ideas have inspired you to start your next landscape project. Ornamental Stone has landscape supplies to complete your project from start to finish. If there is something we don’t have (like trees), we are happy to point you in the right direction based on our experience. Feel free to give the team at Ornamental Stone a call at (403)275-5550 if you have any questions.