Landscape Supplies

One way to improve the appearance of a house, building, or property is by working on the landscape. Landscape is a relatively general term, referring to many things. It is used here as the appearance of the property around specific area, including things such as the lawn, hedges, trees, flowers, gardens, statues, and lights. Regardless of the scale of any landscaping venture, there are landscape supplies that will be needed. These supplies can be broken into groups; tools, soil and ground cover materials, watering supplies, plants, surfacing materials, statues and fountains, and lights. Below you will find explanations of landscape supplies, as well as pricing guides.

Landscape tools are important for nearly every aspect of landscape improvement.  Below is a list of the popular tools, and what purpose they serve.

•    Shovel: Allows for materials, such as stone, sand, and dirt, to be moved from place to place.  It is integral to have a shovel for almost any job, from planting a shrub to laying a patio.  There are several different varieties.  The rounded or pointed tip shovel allows for digging and slicing into soil.  A flat shovel is great for scooping things such as rock or gravel.  Small shovels are good for specific tasks, such as planting specifically sized plants.  Price ranges from $10 - $40
•    Rake:  The teeth in a rake provide a perfect surface for moving items around on the surface.  The bow rake is a thick, sturdy rake that is used for moving large debris from surfaces, such as rocks from garden soil, or spreading heavy materials, such as gravel.  A leaf rake has much longer prongs that flex.  These allow light materials like leaves to be pulled along, but do not scratch up the surface under.  There are also landscaping rakes, which vary in style.  They generally are specific to certain tasks, but allow for leveling, smoothing, and moving of materials. Price ranges from $10 - $30
•    Clippers and Pruner: These are used to cut, trim, and clip.  Generally, there are small pruners, longer grass shears, and loppers. Small pruners allow you to cut through tough, but small, material.  Long grass shears have long blades intended on trimming less tough material, such as shrubs and grasses.  Loppers are very powerful, and are used for cutting thick stock material, such as tree limbs. Prices range from $10 -$40.
•    Wheel Barrel and Garden Cart: These allow for heavy and bulky materials to be moved easily.  Wheel barrels balance on one wheel, which makes it easier to maneuver around tricky spaces but harder to balance if heavy.  Garden carts pivot on two wheels to move or are always on four wheels, and are more stable.  They also need more room to maneuver.  Wheel barrel prices range from $40 - $150.  Garden Carts range from $50 - $150.

Soil and ground cover materials are the things that go into or on top of the soil, or the soil itself.

Soil is one of the most important parts of the landscape, allowing things to grow and a place for things to rest on.  You can purchase bags of soil perfect for planting items in, or even buy it by the truckload for large projects.  There are many soil types, some more or less suitable for certain uses. 

Soil prices vary dramatically, but classical sized bags of soil can range from $1.25 for topsoil to $10 for high quality potting soil.

Ground cover materials include items like mulch, straw, and landscape material.  Mulch is shredded wood products, and is a natural way to cover the surface of soil.  Mulch makes an area look professionally maintained, but also keeps moisture in the soil.  It also keeps unwanted plants from growing.  Straw is a very useful material for covering an area to keep unwanted plant growth at bay, and is cheaper than mulch.  It is perfect for areas such as gardens.  Landscape materials are materials made to keep plants from growing.  There are two variations, water permeable and water impermeable.  The water permeable type allows water to flow through, and the water impermeable does not.

Mulch is typically sold in large quantities, like the bed of a truck.  You can buy it in bags, which range from $3 - $10. 

A classic roll of landscape material, about 5 – 8 feet by 12 – 15 feet ranges from $10 - $25.

Watering supplies consist of the items that allow you to provide water to the plants that need it.  Water hoses are very important as they transport water from the water source to the destination of need.  Water hoses come in many different lengths, and in varying levels of quality.  Nozzles attach to the end of a water hose and allow for the water to be directed in a specific fashion, and for the hose to be turned on without water flowing out when it isn’t wanted.  Watering cans allow for water to be transported to its destination when a hose cannot be used.

Water hoses range from $5 - $50
Nozzles range from $5 - $20
Water cans range from $10 - $30

Plants are an integral part of the landscape. The most common types seen are grass, trees, shrubs, bushes, flowers, berry bushes, vegetables, and vines. Grass comes in many different varieties, but the most common use is to cover the lawn area. It is typically kept short by shearing with a lawn mower. Trees provide shade, and in the case of fruit or nut trees, food as well. They can be small and ornamental or huge and powerful. Shrubs are typically small woody plants. Bushes are plants that are relatively wide for their height. Shrubs and Bushes can be small or large, and provide both defining visual points in a landscape and separating between arias. Flowers range in variety greatly, but they always provide color. Vines are a great way to add a interesting look to vertical areas, such as fences, arbors, gates, sides of the house, and lattice work areas. Berry bushes and vegetable plants provide food, and typically are located in a garden area.  You might need tomato cages for large vegetable plants such as for growing tomatoes

Price for plants range dramatically, from $2 for a small vegetable plant, to $3 for a packet of flower seeds, to $200 for a large tree transplant.

Statues and fountains are supplies that can provide non-living visual interest to an area. Statues can range from small replicas of little animals to huge, life-size statues of people. This variation also makes prices vary from $20 for a small one to several thousand dollars for a large one. Fountains are a great way to add motion to a landscape, as water is typically continuously pumped out. These again can range from small birdbath fountains to large, elegant fountains. This also makes prices range from about $20 for a small, tabletop fountain to tens of thousands of dollars for a big one.

While soil covers most of the area in a landscape, there are sections that surfacing materials are used. These include things such as bricks, stone, gravel, rock, and wood. Walkways are frequently made from bricks, stone, gravel and rock slabs. Bricks are often used to make patios. Wood is usually seen in decks and porches.

These items vary dramatically, from $50 a brick, to several hundred dollars for a load of gravel for a long path.

Landscape lights are a supply that can add a lot to a landscape after the sun goes down. These can range from spotlights to path lights, but they all provide light for a purpose. Prices can range from $5 for a small spotlight to $50 for large set of solar path lights.