---
title: Pros & Cons of Hardscaping | Emerald Lawns
description: Explore the pros and cons of hardscaping for Texas lawns. Learn about its benefits, costs, and maintenance tips for a successful transformation.
---

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# [Pros & Cons of Hardscaping | Emerald Lawns](https://emeraldlawns.com/blog/pros-cons-of-hardscaping)

 Written by [Emerald Lawns](https://emeraldlawns.com/blog/author/emerald-lawns) | Jul 12, 2023

Pros & Cons of Hardscaping

 

Many Texans are seeking **alternative landscape options** for lawn areas with excessive shade, high foot traffic, or poor drainage.

But, there’s a lot to consider when making a change like this to your little piece of Texas.

 

Before we dive into the pros & cons, let’s answer the question on lots of folk’s minds, “What is hardscaping?”

**Hardscaping is the “non-living” design features that adorn your outdoor space** (stone walkways, patios, gravel, & more).

While similar to xeriscaping (sometimes pronounced as “zeroscaping”), because both significantly reduce water usage on a property, **xeriscaping includes the installation of native plants** and hardscaping does not.

 

# Hardscaping Pros

# Embrace Excessive Shade

We love Oak trees, Mountain Laurels, and Magnolia trees. Heck, we love all trees. While we cherish sipping drinks in the shade, **a tree canopy could result in trouble spots on your grass** or worse, turf death in certain areas.

- **Grass needs sunlight for photosynthesis**…which converts light energy into carbohydrates that feed the plant
- Trees also create a tug-of-war with turf for the nutrients in the soil
- If you’ve been troubleshooting this for long, you may have tried **pruning the trees back, keeping turf height taller, and/or adding additional [fertilization to the soil](https://emeraldlawns.com/services/austin-tree-fertilization/)** for both plants to thrive
- We began to wonder…rather than fight the ongoing battle of turf vs shade, why not **concede to the trees and adjust your landscape** for a beautiful win-win?
- Sideyards often fit right into this category as well, with the turf nearest to the house lacking the proper sunlight to thrive. And, **unhealthy turf in those areas can actually foster [weeds](https://emeraldlawns.com/services/lawn-fertilization-services-austin/)** that spread to healthier areas of the lawn

# Find Better Footing    

High-trafficked areas across lawns, around the patio, to/from the car, driveway, etc. are also perfect candidates for hardscaping.  

**Pavers provide the steady ground** needed to access all of your favorite (or most frequented) places on your lawn

 

# Less Aqua, Less Moolah

We’re not sure which benefit we prefer more here…both have an impact on our home and community.

- **Watering a lawn can cost a few hundred dollars a year**
- Texas dances in and out of drought most years, meaning the shared water source can run low, causing many local municipalities to restrict usage, and sometimes **increase the costs of water** in the summer
- The EPA shares, “In dry climates such as the Southwest, a **household’s outdoor water use can be as high as 60 percent**… as much as 50 percent of water used for irrigation is wasted due to evaporation, wind, or runoff.”
- Hardscaping replaces the need for extra watering to establish new sod or grass seed

 

# Cons of Hardscaping

# Higher Initial Investment

If you’ve gotten any quotes on installing rock or hardscaping, you know that it’s **initially more expensive.**

 

The projects we typically work on average around 500 sq ft. For a space of that size, the average cost to install sod in our area is $650.

 

It takes around** two years to establish healthy turf** out of new sod, meaning increased watering/frequency – *without any guarantee *that the excessive shade, slope, etc will be solved.

 

With the average cost of a rock installation of that size being around $1,000 for labor and materials, folks have found that replacing rock in those trouble areas is a **much hardier, long-term solution**.

# Rock Bed Maintenance

Maintaining rock beds requires a different routine than the rest of your yard.

Although, mowing & replacing sod can be even more time-consuming & taxing!

Here’s what to expect with rock bed upkeep:

- Use a broom or rake to **remove debris & leaves**
- Alternatively, use a** leaf blower or shop vac **to clear out beds (so long as the rocks aren’t too small)
- Hose rocks to rinse off dirt
- [Bed weed control](https://emeraldlawns.com/services/bed-weed-control/)

[Learn About Our Bed Weed Control Service](https://emeraldlawns.com/services/bed-weed-control/)

# Plant Drainage

If you have plants incorporated into your rock bed design, drainage might be an issue. Depending on the rock size and bed depth, **water can collect and drain improperly** which impacts plant health. Poor drainage can lead to root rot and other complications if beds aren’t supervised or planned correctly. We’ve got a plan for that though…

- Design the area with plants that are tolerant to these conditions, or **avoid using plants** in beds completely
- **Combine mulch in your design** for desirable plants that won’t survive in a rock-only environment
- Use **plant protector rings** around the base of plants to provide space from surrounding rocks

 

Rock beds can replace areas of your lawn and become a creative and elegant way to **reduce water waste and spending.**

Trying to balance the aesthetics of your front lawn with your pocketbook can be a bit of a challenge. We hope this helped you with your decision.

 

# Emerald Lawns Hardscaping

Here at Emerald Lawns, we began to offer hardscaping to **help our customers with too much shade**…and subsequently saw the many benefits of incorporating rock and pavers into a lawn design. We’d love to come out for a no-obligation design evaluation.

- We’ll assess your outdoor space for ideal hardscaping areas
- Share the various [**rock types** ](https://emeraldlawns.com/services/bed-mulching/#xeriscaping)we offer
- Dream up a plan together

 

[View full post](https://emeraldlawns.com/blog/pros-cons-of-hardscaping)

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