David Beaulieu
You have probably heard landscape designers speak of “hardscape,” but the term, “softscape” is used less frequently. Intuitively, you may guess that being the opposite of hardscape, it must refer to everything in the landscape that is soft, but that would not be quite right. So, let me furnish you with the precise definition.
Meaning of “Softscape”
Softscape comprises the animate (living), horticultural elements of landscape design. More simply put, it refers to the plants. Softscape elements are complemented by hardscape elements, such as wooden pergolas, stone walls, tile patios, and brick walkways.
Why is it incorrect to say that softscape simply means all the elements in one’s landscaping that are soft? A tree is considered part of the softscape, but if you are playing catch with the kids in the yard and accidentally run full-steam into a tree’s trunk, will it feel soft to you? Hardly, because you will most likely come away with a bruise.
To qualify as softscape, an object has to be a plant. It does not have to be soft to the touch, although this will sometimes be the case. For example, velvety lamb’s ear plants are as soft to the touch as possible.
Examples of Softscape
Remember, since “softscape” describes plant life, even a lawn grass or common lawn weed, depending on your point of view such as tall fescue grass counts. It is not just the showy plants that qualify. While a landscape designer would not normally include weedy plants under this heading, trying to exclude any class of plants is tricky because homeowners’ tastes vary greatly. The philosopher, Emerson famously challenged our perception of what constitutes a “weed.” Some gardeners go out of their way to grow beneficial weeds. But in offering examples of softscape below, we will stick to more conventional choices.
Most gardeners, even if they are just beginners, are familiar with annual plants. These are the plants displayed so prominently at garden centres in late spring, including the following red-white-and-blue trio popular when there is a Royal occasion to celebrate:
The number of different kinds of perennials and biennials is mind-boggling. They grow in all sorts of different ways, inject great variety into the way your softscape looks, and serve all kinds of purposes.
For example, spring bulb plants, such as the Ambassador allium in my picture, spring to life the next year from an underground bulb. Some perennials are quite tall. They are the kind of softscape you would grow up against a fence or wall in order to soften its appearance. Examples that come to mind are:
At the opposite end of the spectrum, some perennials are very short. The ones that spread furnish you with softscape potentially useful as a ground cover. Here are some ground covers of note:
As showy as flower borders of annuals and perennials can be, trees, shrubs (bushes), and vines make perhaps the biggest softscape statements as individual plants:
How to Use Softscape
Many a reader interested in DIY landscape design has asked, how do you soften the straight edge of a patio? That is because, when given a choice, most people prefer a rounded edge on a hardscape feature, as opposed to a sharp, straight edge. A curve “flows” better and takes some of the “hard” out of hardscape (it is softer on the eyes).
There is a potential problem, though. Most people also prefer to make their lives easier rather than harder when undertaking a project. And building a brick patio with rounded edges is more difficult than building one with straight edges because you are working with a material (brick) that is rectangular. So, you may have to make a choice between what looks better and what is easier to build.
Softscape to the Rescue
In this article on building a brick patio, the emphasis was placed on keeping the project as easy for beginners as possible. By using the basket weave brick pattern, we avoided having to cut bricks.
The drawback? You will end up with a square or rectangular patio—in other words, one with straight edges. If you do not mind making your life a little more difficult, though, you can cut pavers and give your patio rounded edges, as long as you have the right equipment.
Is it possible to have your cake and eat it, too? It means complementing your hardscape with softscape. Specifically, what is referred to here as bringing in softscape is the use of container gardens along the straight edges of your patio to soften them.
For practical purposes, this method for softening sharp edges probably works best for small patios. A bigger patio means a longer edge, and a longer edge means that more container gardens will be required to achieve the softening effect. How much money are you willing to spend on softscape and containers?
Only you can answer that question, which is why we cannot put a number on it when, in that article, the statement is made that building bigger patios will require a different approach. While one can’t quantify “bigger,” the fact is that, after a patio reaches a certain size, the cost of having to soften the edges with softscape becomes prohibitive. In such cases, it is probably best to use a curved hardscape design if you want to avoid straight edges.
By David Beaulieu