When it comes to a keeping a well-maintained home, landscaping holds an important place in the hearts of many Americans.

In 2016, the U.S. Lawn Care industry saw $77 billion worth of revenue and retail sales of lawn care supplies are projected to reach $6.6 billion in 2019. Those numbers alone indicate that Americans are more than willing to spend big on landscape materials, especially from aggregate suppliers.

Eighty million households in the United States have private lawns and 83% of Americans think having a yard is important. What’s more, 90% of those surveyed think it’s important to have a yard that’s well-maintained. In fact, the average American spends an average of four hours per week taking care of their lawn. That’s more than 200 hours per year that the average person spends making their lawn look its best.

To make your yard sparkle and shine, here are some landscaping tips you can use:

• Add a walkway: If you’ve got a patio in one spot, a hot tub in another and a barbeque pit in a another area, consider adding a walkway. This eliminates having to trample your lawn and some stepping stones can add another dynamic to your backyard.
• Add a Water Feature: A small, self-contained water feature surrounded by some natural stones can added a natural feel to a backyard and can make for some great eye-candy, especially in nicer weather.
• Add a Wood Stove: Commercial wood burning stoves are great for indoor use, but they can be just as great outdoors too. Installing wood burning stoves outside can help to heat patios and greenhouses. It also removes the smell of burning wood from a house, but can still be useful outdoors.
  Wood burning stoves can also be very cost efficient. Outdoor furnaces are a cost-effective source of heating energy. Owners who cut their own wood or can obtain fire food as fuel can entirely eliminate their heating bills.
• Add seating: Putting in a patio with plenty of seating gives homeowners and their guests a chance to sit back and enjoy the view.
• Add Plants: Nothing draws the eye to a yard faster than lush green grass or lots of colorful flowers. There are dozens of options to choose from and you can choose to plant certain flowers that bloom at specific times of the year to keep your yard looking colorful all year.
  If you’re going to planting, mulch is essential and aggregate suppliers can supply you with as much as you need. Mulch is any sort of debris you collect while doing everyday yard work. That debris is ground up and put into a compost pile for at least a year. Heat is generated and the debris breaks down.
  Three benefits of mulch are:
  • It looks good
  • Composted products like mulch are good for soil
  • It’s eco-friendly since plant matter is being recycled.

  When applying mulch, either organic or inorganic, a layer of three inches is recommended for covering, but you can also use a mulch calculator. Depending on the size of the landscaped area, finding an online mulch calculator can be beneficial. An online mulch calculator can tell you how many cubic yards of mulch you’ll need as well as the number of cubic bags you’ll need. For example, an area of 50 square feet that’s three inches deep requires about six two-cubic foot bags and about four three-cubic foot bags.

• Plan For the Year: Planting in the spring and summer during nicer periods of weather is fun, but certain types of flowers bloom at different times of the year. That means there’s potential for you to plant flowers for most of the year and keep your yard looking vibrant. Plants like evergreen shrubs retain their leaves and needles over an entire year, so even in winter you can have color in your yard.

Whether you’re adding seating, a wood stove or flora and fauna, there’s no shortage of things you can do when it comes to landscaping your yard. Aggregate suppliers can supply all you need for landscaping, whether you’re looking for landscape mulch, crushed shell, stones, bricks, filldirt or topsoil. So if you’re looking to do a landscaping project, find aggregate suppliers for all your needs.