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Belden Plank Series Clay Pavers. Stul site furniture from Landscape Forms' Air Collection. J U N E 2 0 2 3 | 51 Landscape Products P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y L A N DS C A P E FO R M S; T H E B EL D EN B R I C K CO M PA N Y Innovative landscape products thrive despite inflation challenges by ROBIN BRUNET T he landscaping sector was famously busy during the lock- downs due to property owners with lots of spare time and sav- ings; and it is equally busy in 2023 despite inflation threatening to take its toll on demand overall. Kristie Fitzgerald, marketing manager at Ohio- based The Belden Brick Company, says, "Business has been constant this year, and with the expansion of products in our Belden Clay Pavers' series and a steady stream of innovative clay brick products, we are uniquely capable of providing the right products for the right project." She adds that her company's commercial and residential solutions are as popular in Canada as in the U.S. Aside from delivering the highest-quality brick products, Belden brick is bestselling because of its versatility. "To take just one example, our Belcrest and Antique Colonial face brick can transition- ally be used for segmental paving," Fitzgerald says. "Architects and designers tend to get creative with our offerings, and we encourage that creativity in our manufacturing of distinctive colours, adaptable sizes, and exclusive textures." This is evident in Belden's new Utopian Series extruded clay pavers, which feature triadic colour schemes of aesthetically pleasing colours and one- of-a-kind imagined textures (the extrusion method exhibits a swirl texture unique to the industry, and adding to this aesthetic is the fact that The Belden Brick Company is the only company that continues to reel-cut its coarse-grind pavers). Belden has also rethought traditional clay pav- ers with its Plank Series Pavers, a long linear contemporary look and feel suited for the most demanding commercial applications. As with all Belden Clay Pavers, the benefits include a through- the-body colour (over 35 to choose from) that will not fade over time, including after cleaning. The Plank Pavers can be laid flat or edge set to construct running bond, stack bond, herringbone, and bas- ket-weave patterns or combined with the company's Standard and Standard eight-by-eight paver sizes to create random pattern possibilities. The Belden Brick Company's new tumbling process gives its tumbled pavers an appealing, time- worn appearance and is an excellent alternative to the company's sand-molded pavers when a more robust solution is needed. Emulating design cues of quarried stone, Belden Tumbled Series Pavers were sold in standard paver size until the standard and jumbo plank paver sizes were introduced to increase the range of patterning possibilities. Rock Your Outdoor Space

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