How to Naturalize a Landscape Design in Worthington and Powell OH Areas
More and more homeowners are getting away from the 50’s-inspired trend of a home surrounded by foundation plantings and a vast expanse of lawn. Instead, they are embracing eco-friendly landscapes that are just as beautiful as they are functional. In part, this is due to the low-maintenance nature of natural landscaping. If that appeals to you, here’s how to naturalize a landscape design in Worthington and Powell, OH, areas.
Related: CREATE A FAIRYTALE BACKYARD WITH THESE LANDSCAPE DESIGN IDEAS IN POWELL AND DUBLIN OH
1. Less Lawn
Unless you have kids and pets who need a lot of lawn to burn off energy, do yourself a favor and reduce the size of your lawn. While beautiful, lawns are actually terrible for the environment. Not only do they use a lot of water and chemicals (most of which are toxic and end up in our waterways) and require a ton of maintenance, lawns are also food deserts for local wildlife.
You can create a more natural-looking landscape by replacing some or most of your lawn with a variety of native plants, trees, and grasses, and by expanding the size of your outdoor living space. This way, you’ll have more space to actually live outdoors, less maintenance, and more natural habitat and food for local wildlife and pollinators.
Don’t worry… replacing part of your lawn with natives does not equal an overgrown, messy landscape! Many native plants are showy and make wonderful landscape plants.
Native plants are perfectly suited to the location and aren’t nearly as labor-intensive as exotics. There are plenty of gorgeous options that work for the Ohio climate. Flowers include white trillium, goldenrod, trout lily, wild geranium, butterfly weed, and black-eyed Susan. Native shrubs include red or black chokecherry, witch hazel, wild hydrangea, elderberry, northern arrowwood, and ninebark. Native trees include river birch, eastern redbud, eastern white pine, silver maple, and Paw Paw.
2. A Space for Pollinators
Pollinator gardens are a hot trend. Again, they don’t have to be messy or look like a weed patch. You can easily contain them in a corner of the backyard by defining them with a low picket fence or masonry seat wall. Again, stick with native flowers that local pollinators are familiar with, and be proud that you’re giving bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators a much-needed boost!
3. Artful Bouldering
Introducing a few landscape boulders into your backyard adds a wonderful vertical dimension. Just be mindful of the placement of landscape boulders. Avoid the “where did this come from, did it drop from the sky?” look by placing several boulders in close proximity, partially burying some of them (so they look like they belong, instead of looking like they were artificially placed there), and surrounding the boulders with native vegetation.
4. Think Dimensionally
A lawn is essentially a flat plane, which is pretty boring especially if all of the vertical landscape elements are pushed to the perimeter of the backyard. To create a dimensional space, you could create “islands” of vertical interest. Even if you want to keep some lawn, you could place a few trees in the grassy area to create a park-like atmosphere. In plant beds, vary the height of annuals, perennials, and shrubs; and don’t forget about the beauty of ground covers.
5. Backyard Lighting
Outside of landscape elements, consider the impact of lighting on your backyard. Old-school landscape lighting creates an artificially bright environment directly in the beam of the light, with starkly contrasting dark areas. This looks unwelcoming and unnatural. Invest in a modern landscape lighting system that positions unobtrusive low-voltage fixtures in the landscape to highlight special features, and provide softer yet effective lighting to keep your backyard safe and welcoming at night.