Turn Your Pool Area into an Oasis with Landscaping

Turn Your Pool Area into an Oasis with Landscaping

by | Jul 29, 2020 | Hardscaping, Landscape Design, Retaining Walls, Softscaping, Trees, Walkways, Water Features

Enjoy living in your backyard, not just swimming in your pool

When adding a pool to your backyard, the actual installation of the pool is only half the job. The other half is comprised of what goes around the pool to give your backyard oasis polish and make the area more livable.

Enter landscaping. Both softscaping (trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds) and hardscaping (decking, fences, patios, walkways, and retaining walls) can turn your new pool space into a backyard oasis. The key is adding the right elements that will fit your style, lifestyle, and budget.

To streamline your planning process, consider your vision, then how you want the space around your pool to function, and finally of course, your budget.

 

Vision

pool landscaping backyard oasis hardscaping natural rock waterfallThis is your invitation to have a big “blue sky” session. Include others who will also be using the finished space and note all wants and needs. Pinterest is a great tool for curating your vision in a private vision board that you can share with your landscaping professional.

This is not the time to stifle creativity with practical matters. Browse through images of other backyard pool areas and gather inspiration. If something looks too big, too complex, or too fancy, keep in mind that elements that you like can be scaled down, simplified, or otherwise altered to meet your needs and budget during later planning stages.

Right now, just allow yourself to think big and think of possibilities.

 

Function

pool landscaping backyard oasis hardscaping natural rock waterfallThis step incorporates more practicality into your plan. Take some time to think about how you will be using your finished backyard. Talk to other pool owners about the things they love most about their yard and perhaps what they would have done differently if they could do it again.

Consider maintenance required for trees, shrubs, and gardens. Do you need shade? Do you want more colour? Do you want fast-growing plants and trees or would you prefer softscaping whose shape and size is easy to maintain?

Do you want a large patio for lounging with family and friends? Do you want additional privacy? What about lighting for nighttime use? And you’ll likely need storage for pool and patio furniture and accessories. When we meet with clients, we address all of these things, but many people like to conduct their own due diligence beforehand.

 

Budget

backyard plan pool landscaping backyard oasis hardscaping natural rock waterfallFrom modest to unlimited, we work with all kinds of budgets. And we’ll be happy to work within yours while showing you how to maximize the return on your investment without compromising your entire vision.

Like most other landscaping projects, converting your backyard pool installation into a full backyard oasis can be accomplished in phases. So, if your current budget doesn’t allow for everything on your wish list, consider breaking the project into steps, adding your wish list elements over two or more years. We can help you establish priorities based on budget and short- versus long-term needs, and then create a plan accordingly.

A backyard pool project is exciting. However, if you want to spend your summers in your backyard, but not always in your pool, how you landscape and furnish the space around the pool is as important as the pool itself.

We love working with clients to make their backyard dreams a reality and are happy to work with you at your pace to bring your dreams to life. Contact us for assistance at any stage of the process.

 

Increase Curb Appeal of Your Home with Landscaping

Increase Curb Appeal of Your Home with Landscaping

by | Jun 24, 2020 | Fencing, Flowers, Gardening, Hardscaping, Lawn care, Maintenance, Ponds, Retaining Walls, Shrubs, Softscaping, Trees, Walkways, Water Features

Enhance the appearance and enjoyment of your home on any budget

First impressions are lasting impressions. And this is as true of your home’s appearance as it is your personal appearance. Little updates can go a long way. Of course, extensive updates can as well. Regardless of your budget, we’ve compiled some landscaping tips below that will help you put your home’s best foot forward.

Any Budget

Lawn Care
increase curb appeal lawn care edging pruning trimming weeding landscapingIf your home has a grass-dominant greenspace in front, keeping your lawn neat and tidy is a no brainer for improving and maintaining curb appeal. Keep grass cut to a consistent length, but not too short as doing so can cause undue stress and increased exposure to weeds and pests. Edging your lawn along walkways, gardens, and your driveway provide a nice, polished appearance as well.

Garden Maintenance
Eliminate dead foliage as seasons change and cut back or split any overgrown perennials. Pull weeds and apply a thick layer of mulch, which will instantly give your flowerbeds a uniform appearance. Mulch has the added benefit of helping to maintain moisture and keep weed growth down.

Pruning & Trimming
It’s hard for people to get a first impression of your home if they can’t see it. If you have large trees, trim back dead limbs and those that block the view and/or sidewalks. Shrubs against your home and along walkways should be pruned and shaped. And be sure to train any wayward vines on a trellis, pergola, or fence.

Hardscape Repair
We can’t overlook your yard’s stairs, walkways and driveways. If your stone or concrete is in a state of disrepair, it can take away from your home’s otherwise neat appearance. Eliminate weeds popping up in cracks and repair or replace broken stones or pavers. Ensure all hard elements are level and secured in place to ensure the safety of your visitors.

Moderate Budget

With a moderate budget, you can add some architectural interest to your front yard and entrance that will make it look more inviting. Here are a few ways to add warmth to your home’s façade:

Softscaping
improve curb appeal medium moderate budget window boxes stone walkway Fill in flat, exposed areas of your home’s exterior with shrubs, ornamental grasses, and small trees. This will add depth, balance, and visual interest to areas that were previously a blank canvas. Remember not to obstruct windows.

Window boxes
Adding boxes of annuals below windows allows you to add splashes of colour in the warmer months and perhaps some seasonal décor for the holidays. Ensure that box shape and size is balanced with window size and coordinated with the rest of your home’s exterior finishes.

Sitting area
Create or better define an area where you can sit and watch the world go by. A small stone patio or porch not only increases curb appeal but also creates additional outdoor lounging space. Be sure to add appropriately-sized greenery to add visual interest and a bit of privacy.

Small water feature
The appearance and sound of a bubbling rock or small fountain creates an attractive focal point for passersby and enhances your own enjoyment of a front patio or porch. Birds are also more likely to visit feeders when there is a nearby water source.

Upgraded concrete steps or walkway
Consider upgrading your standard concrete sidewalk and/or stairs with natural stone pavers. You can create a traditional or modern look to match the style of your home, and this upgrade can add significant visual impact to your front entrance.

Shade tree
While planting a tree won’t provide instant shade, over time a properly selected and placed tree will provide visual interest as it matures. Some varieties grow faster than others, so if you’re looking for quick results, consider a Birch, Ivory Silk Lilac, Crab Apple, or a smaller Maple variety like the Tartarian Maple.

Larger Budget

If you have a more significant budget for upgrading your front yard and entrance, here are some sure-fire ways to enhance curb appeal and enjoyment while adding value to your home.

Upgraded driveway
Improve curb appeal privacy of front yard retaining wall raised gardens wind screen privacy screen shrubs treesConsider replacing your asphalt driveway with a professionally-installed stamped concrete or natural paver driveway. This area of your front yard is highly visible from the street and sidewalk, so making it visually interesting not only adds curb appeal but also distinguishes your home from others in your neighbourhood.

Privacy or windscreen
Adding a row of small trees, shrubs, or natural grasses can add privacy, cut down on wind exposure, and better define your property. As an alternative, you might consider mixing well-placed fence panels with shrubbery for a balanced and visually-compelling appearance.

Pond or water feature
Many find the sights and sounds of a pond or waterfall both calming and visually appealing. Adding a water feature that is proportionate to the size of your house and yard increases the value and enjoyment of your home. Adding lighting allows you to enjoy your pond or waterfall even after the sun has gone down.

Multi-tiered gardens
If your house is tall and you’re your front yard is sloped, you might consider adding tiered flowerbeds defined and contained by natural stone retaining walls. For colour and interest throughout the year, fill your beds with a mix of shrubs, flowering trees, perennials, and annuals in a balanced mix of shapes and sizes.

Whether you’re getting your house ready to put on the market or just keeping up with the Jones down the street, there are big and small things you can do to improve your home’s appearance and value. Of course, if you’re not up to the task, we are here to help. Just contact us to get started.

 

Creating a Low-Maintenance Garden

Creating a Low-Maintenance Garden

by | Jul 18, 2019 | Hardscaping, Landscape Design, Lawn care, Maintenance, Native Plants, Walkways

What to expect with low-maintenance landscaping

When we’re consulting with clients about their goals for new landscaping projects, by far the most requested characteristic is “low-maintenance”. But keep in mind that “low-maintenance” doesn’t mean “no maintenance”, so there’s still some work involved in keeping your lawn and garden looking great all season long.

If you’re looking to minimize the amount of work your lawn and flowerbeds need, we’ve got some tips that will allow you to spend more time enjoying your outdoor living spaces and less time maintaining them.

The Low-Maintenance Lawn

It may surprise you to learn that your lawn generally requires a lot more time to maintain that gardens do. Weeding, feeding, seeding, sodding, cutting, trimming, and watering all repeatedly require time, effort, and resources.

As such, the first thing we recommend doing is considering how much lawn you need for your lifestyle. While grass-covered turf does offer certain environmental benefits like absorbing toxins and carbon dioxide, other landscaping options can be just as beneficial. Chances are you can drastically reduce the amount of grass in your yard and replace those areas with other, much lower-maintenance elements.

One sure-fire way to reduce high-maintenance grass is to add some hardscaping to your yard. In addition to your driveway, porch, and deck, you might consider expanding your living space with a stone patio, fire pit area, and/or walkways. Adding crushed stone and pavers to high-traffic areas can significantly reduce maintenance while improving draining and weed control.

Low-maintenance garden and armour stone retaining wall and patio

Trees

Large trees may require some maintenance in the form of trimming and/or raking leaves, but they offer many aesthetic and environmental benefits.

If you plan to add trees, give them a wide skirt of exposed earth (out to the drip line) and mulch well. This not only looks good, but furthers the reduction of grass that would otherwise need to be maintained.

Plant Selection

We’re fortunate to have myriad options when it comes to plants, flowers, and shrubs. However, if your goal is low-maintenance landscaping, you’ll want to be selective.

First and foremost, you can ensure the lowest maintenance gardens by choosing plants that are native to your region. These plants thrive in your region’s climate and soils, and historically have grown in the wild with no one but Mother Nature maintaining them. So you can bet they’ll thrive in your garden without too much attention.

Favour perennials over annuals. While the latter tend to be showier, they require more maintenance (deadheading and watering) and need to be replaced every year, adding both time and expense to your gardening requirements. To add pops of colour to your porch and patio but keep maintenance manageable, plant annuals in large containers.

Native plants are naturally low-maintenance

It’s important to consider sun exposure when selecting plants – both annuals and perennials – for gardens and planters. Shade-loving plants will become scorched in anything other than morning sunlight. Sun-lovers planted in the shade will not reach their full potential and will get “leggy” reaching for the sun.

While it’s visually appealing to choose a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures, be sure to select plants for your garden that have similar needs. This will help you avoid having to care for plants individually, permitting you instead to apply what maintenance is required to all plants in your garden.

Beautiful plants come from healthy soil. Soils that are rich in nutrients with good drainage and low competition from weeds will foster healthy plants without much assistance.

Good quality compost adds a wide range of nutrients and healthy bacteria to soil, and can also ensure appropriate drainage. Peat moss can also improve drainage but has an acidic pH. Raised beds also drain better than those dug down into the ground. Finally, a thick layer of mulch will help reduce watering requirements and minimize weed growth. Topped up every spring, mulch also feeds the soil and adds a polished look to flower beds and gardens.

Here in Southwestern Ontario, our outdoor living season is short, so maximize enjoyment by minimizing your work. Consider where you spend the bulk of your time and effort outside and determine ways to reduce or eliminate it so you can spend more time basking in our summer weather, while it lasts.

Retaining Walls, Pathways, and Patios – Oh My!

Retaining Walls, Pathways, and Patios – Oh My!

by | Jun 23, 2019 | Fencing, Hardscaping, Landscape Design, Ponds, Retaining Walls, Walkways, Water Features

Enhance the comfort and beauty of your yard with hardscaping

Hardscaping is probably not a term you use very often, but it’s actually a common facet of landscaping. In fact, you probably have some hardscaping elements in your yard.

The “hard” in hardscaping refers to the non-living or inanimate elements in a yard’s layout. In contrast, “softscaping” includes all living matter including plants and flowers, trees and shrubs, plus soil, mulch, and of course grass.

Natural stone, wood, gravel, concrete (precast and pour-in-place), interlocking brick, and composite are the most common hard materials used in the creation of fencing, retaining walls, waterfalls, ponds, patios, pathways, and more.

Standard inclusions in virtually any property are walkways, a driveway, decking, and fencing. However, many home owners opt to upgrade at some point, either to add new features to their existing landscape or simply to update outdated elements.

So how do you decide what features to add or change and which materials to use? When we consult with our clients, we consider several variables including specific goals, personal style, the style of the home and surroundings, and budget.

One of the primary goals that hardscaping can help address is added privacy. You can achieve this by adding a fence line or panels, a wall(s) or even just creating a privacy screen on one or both sides of your deck or patio. To soften the overall appearance, consider combining hardscaping elements with tall shrubs or ornamental grasses that can also enhance privacy.

Another common goal is expanding outdoor living space. Options here are dependent on available space and budget, and can range from a small deck to a multi-tiered patio with an entertainment area, bar, built-in kitchen, pool, pond, waterfall, and/or fire table with seating.

Natural stone retaining walls are a great solution for adding depth and visual interest, or dealing with a steeply graded yard or uneven grading around the perimeter. Armour stone is a popular choice for creating retaining walls as they are large, but natural and create visual impact.

Pathways to and around your home can add visual appeal and can also create visual separation and definition of gardens. Although poured concrete is the standard for walkways between the driveway and front entrance, explore other options like flagstone, interlocking brick, decorative pavers, or even materials generally relegated to the backyard like wood or composite.

If there are areas around your home where grass doesn’t thrive due to inadequate drainage or poor sun exposure, adding gravel and stepping stones can improve the appearance while also making navigation around those areas easier.

A couple caveats before you get started

  1. Even if you plan to add hardscaping in phases – say, the patio first, and then a pond and retaining walls over the next couple years – it’s best to create the whole plan at the outset so that you can be sure everything will work together when the entire project is completed. Short-term oversights can lead to long-term headaches.
  2. Think about drainage and environmental issues when adding immovable objects like a patio or a wall. Consider incorporating a means of collecting runoff water for use around your yard.
  3. Balance is best. You can create contrast with various sizes and shapes. Use two to three different complementary materials in your project. And most importantly, don’t overdo it with hard elements in your yard. Mix hardscaping with softscaping for best results.
  4. Ensure your design is appropriate for your lifestyle. If you have young children, maintaining an open, grassy area is probably a good idea. If you’re older and want a low-maintenance yard, you might opt for more hardscaping and drought-tolerant plants.
  5. Choose the right materials for your style. Whether your taste is modern, traditional, or somewhere in between, some materials are going to suit your style better than others, so choose carefully.

Hardscaping can add so much beauty to your yard and enjoyment to your outdoor living space. Just be sure to plan ahead for best results. Of course, sometimes it’s all just too daunting. A Touch of Dutch Landscaping and Garden Services can consult with you to create and implement a plan and design that meets your needs and fits your budget. Contact us to get started.