3 Ways to Refresh Your Worthington and Lewis Center, OH, Landscape Design

Keeping a landscape updated in keeping with your lifestyle means now is a good time to start planning what’s next. A landscape that doesn’t fit your needs won’t get used. With various updated techniques and features available, there are so many options to consider for creating the perfect backyard getaway. Here are three ways to refresh your Worthington and Lewis Center, OH, landscape design.

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A Refined Greenscape

The living additions to your landscape shouldn’t play second fiddle to outdoor living: in fact, the man made spaces and natural spaces should harmonize and create a good atmosphere. The most successful softscapes are composed of a variety of  beautiful plants from various plant families. Simply putting a few roses next to a path won’t change the dynamic of a landscape, but a layered effect will create interest.

Choose native plants for the majority of your living landscape. Native plants typically need very little maintenance or supplemental watering. In fact, their existence is biologically designed to be perfectly in tune with your landscape. There are some truly stunning specimens to choose from - and some may surprise you if you didn’t know they were natives.

The most successful softscapes will use a layering technique of many different plants. Larger anchor plants like evergreen shrubs and trees will typically sit in the layer that’s closest to the perimeter of the property to act as a windbreak and help protect the smaller plants; but scattering a few evergreens throughout the landscape will add vertical dimension and visual weight that can balance a large home, a massive outdoor fireplace, or a broad driveway. 

Ground covers will help keep the soil cool and moist during the hottest days of summer and help to provide a wonderful visual texture. Showy plants like ornamental grasses and flowers enhance the beauty of a landscape, and they attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, which benefit the entire landscape. Deciduous trees could become centerpieces within the landscape (for example, smaller fruit trees can be planted near your entryway for a pop of color).

Upgraded Surfaces

The paved surfaces of your outdoor living space also deserve an update using natural stones arranged in a random fashion, cut natural stone slabs, patio pavers that give you an incredible range of design options, or a mixture of all. Choosing masonry materials for your outdoor living space is a great way to jumpstart your landscape renovation.

An Updated Patio Design

If your patio isn’t meeting your needs - for example, if it’s too crowded or just awkwardly designed, start thinking about how you really want to spend time outdoors and consider creating a series of outdoor “rooms” that fit the needs of each activity. These spaces could share a common patio space and simply be organized in a way that makes for easy traffic flow; or, they could be a series of interconnected mini-patios separated by foliage. If you don’t enjoy lawn care, expanding your patio is a great way to maximize use of the backyard, and if you surround the patio with lush greenery, you won’t feel like you have paved your entire backyard.

A fire pit, fire table, or outdoor fireplace made from gorgeous masonry will provide heat and light to an outdoor living space, and with much more ambience than a gas patio heater. A fire feature will become the hub of outdoor living. As far as your landscaping dollars, no other feature encourages year-round use of the patio (a space you pay for whether you use it or not).

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