2 Landscape Design Ideas to Spice Up Your Landscaping in 2021 in New Albany OH
If you spent too much time in an uninspiring backyard last summer, you’re probably wondering what you could to make it a truly great place to be this year. This year’s trends include eco-friendly design, sophisticated outdoor living spaces, and smart technology. Here are two landscape design ideas to spice up your landscaping in 2021 in New Albany, OH.
Related: 5 LANDSCAPING IDEAS FOR SMALL BACKYARDS IN 2021 IN WESTERVILLE AND LEWIS CENTER OH AREAS
1. More Sophisticated Outdoor Living Spaces
More people are making the decision to reduce the size of their thirsty and labor-intensive lawns in favor of more spacious and better-organized outdoor living spaces. A larger patio won’t mean that your backyard will become a paver desert. It just means that you prioritize giving each activity some elbow room and creating activity zones, which results in a more usable space that you’ll be thrilled to be in.
To encourage you and your family to cook, dine, entertain, play, and relax outdoors more often, your outdoor living spaces have to be as usable and comfortable as your indoor spaces with amenities that transform it into a private oasis. These can include pergolas, outdoor kitchens designed with your cooking style in mind, wood-fired pizza ovens, hot tubs, fire pits or outdoor fireplaces, and dramatic water features are key elements of this outdoor living transformation.
Outdoor entertainment is taking center stage. Today’s sophisticated outdoor entertainment systems are designed around the zone concept, where sound volume can vary greatly. More weather-resistant entertainment equipment means you can enjoy music and even TV outdoors.
Landscape lighting, too, has become more sophisticated. It is also often designed around activity zones, and modern LED light fixtures can be artfully placed throughout the landscape to give just the right amount of illumination for each distinct zone as well as the more natural parts of the landscape. From romantic ambiance lighting around the fire pit to elegant walkway lighting to dramatic lighting of a water feature or task lighting for a grill station, you’ll enjoy an authentic nighttime experience but with enough attractive lighting for atmosphere and safety.
2. Native, Eco-Friendly Landscaping
Native landscaping can be as stunning and elegant as any landscape filled with exotic plants: and a lot less work. If you want a wilder look, go for it. If you want a more manicured look, consider replacing exotics with native alternatives and you’ll enjoy a landscape that’s water-wise and perfectly suited to the climate.
Part of this trend involves reducing the size of your lawn in favor of inherently more interesting flowers, ornamental grasses, ground covers, shrubs, and trees. This way, even if you decide that you never use your lawn and you’re going to expand your patio, there will still be plenty of greenery to keep things interesting and give you the true outdoors experience.
Even native plants need some supplemental water. Installing a smart irrigation system can significantly decrease your water bill and your workload through the watering season. Smart technology can sense natural rainfall and will automatically adjust watering times, duration, and amounts. Irrigation systems also deliver the right amount of water where it’s needed to ensure a healthy landscape.
While we’re on the subject of reducing lawns, many homeowners are devoting parts of their landscape to habitats for local pollinator species and wildlife. Large and wild or small and contained, these wildlife- and pollinator-friendly areas are just what our environment needs (not to mention the entertainment value and reduced workload for you).