Warmer weather just about demands that we find a new venue for family time outdoors. Whether it’s on a patio, a porch or somewhere in the backyard, we try to find spaces that bring us closer together, with a sense of intimacy and privacy. Whether you’re planning a backyard wedding, a barbecue, or just want to be prepared for when a game of football breaks out, here are a few landscaping ideas to help you get the most out of your land.
Enclose Your Porch
Typically, making a porch enclosed means adding walls, screens, and doors and making it feel like an “outside room.” With landscaping, though, you can make it feel like you’ve brought nature right up to your porch, by adding bushes, shrubs, and decorative flowers to add a sense of enclosure that also doesn’t feel stifling or limiting, like wood or other hard materials might. Adding aromatics like herbs and certain flowers will also enhance your new enclosure.
Add a Gravel Area
Sometimes adding to the space can mean taking a little away, as well. If you want a patio that doesn’t feel as hard or stressful on the feet as pouring cement, using gravel to create a dedicated lounging space is a great alternative. Gravel is also neutral in color, meaning you can add pops of greenery, succulents or other colorful, low-maintenance plants to the area to slightly enclose or demarcate the space. Any time you can create a standalone area within your already relaxing yard, you’ve got a good start.
Use Trelliswork for Natural Privacy
While you can add retaining walls to demarcate space and prevent erosion, the hardness of poured materials can be a bit of a bummer if you’re trying to feel cozy. Using trelliswork as your “walls” allows you the opportunity to feel as though you’re in a dedicated space that also retains the beauty of surrounding nature and, if done right, enhances it. It’s spaces allow for you to make a collage of greenery and other plants, to bring color, oxygen, scents and privacy at as high or low of a height as you prefer.
Dedicated Game Space
We’re all afraid of the football soaring over and hitting us while we enjoy a drink. Creating a dedicated game space, demarcated by gravel or succulents or plants surrounding it, can create a sense of boundaries without feeling limiting. Using colorful plants you can also indicate two sides of a court or field, as well, allowing your landscape to participate in the overall feel.
Summary
Use of space is always the key when landscaping, and hiring an expert is a great way to make sure you get the best use of your space. Making something look nice is obviously a factor, too, but directing not just the eye, but people’s minds through a space is integral to a feeling of comfort and security. Finding a way to change the space with plants, retaining walls, trees or other elements is the best way to change the feel of a space without having to change the overall space itself.
