Updating your landscape is always exciting. The sheer pride you feel in realizing the potential of your property is a fantastic feeling—and of course, your enjoyment of the space will increase too. There are many options for updating landscapes. While trends come and go, the biggest focus of landscaping is to create a space that reflects your tastes and needs. Here are four landscape architecture projects to consider for your backyard in the Oyster Bay, NY, area.
Separate Spaces of Use
When you think of a backyard patio, you’re probably imagining a wide open surface that hugs the back of the house and contains all of the trappings of outdoor comfort: a dining table, comfortable seating, an outdoor kitchen, a fire pit, and a pergola. This can be exactly what you need.
However, if you find that your space has to accommodate a lot of diverse activities at once such as the kids playing and parents wanting to relax, the latest and most interesting trend in landscaping is to create separate spaces of use. This strategy assigns one main activity to each space, making the entire area feel much more organized and intentional. Even if you don’t have a large family, separate spaces can make your backyard infinitely more interesting. A series of outdoor “rooms” surrounded by vegetation brings you closer to nature, reduces the size of the lawn in favor of usable and more beautiful spaces, and gives you the opportunity to use a much greater variety of materials than you could in a single paver or natural stone patio.
A Smaller Lawn, and More Native Pollinator Gardens
Lawns make up some incredible backyards. They provide a place to play as well as a gorgeous vibrancy to a landscape. However, they aren’t much more useful than that and they are disproportionately high-maintenance. Many landscape designers have recommended downsizing the lawn as a way to conserve water, reduce the use of harmful chemicals, and better utilize the space. Mini-patios and xeriscaping can create a much more dynamic space that you’ll love to spend time in.
Many flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants are imported and require lots of resources to grow. Native pollinators, on the other hand, have evolved to be perfectly in sync with native plants. Adding native pollinator-friendly plants to your backyard will add vibrant colors, stunning textures, and delicious aromas to your backyard. And it will improve the ecology of your area.
The Allure of Water Features
There are few landscape features that have as big of an impact as water features such as reflecting pools, waterfalls, and fountains. Water features of any size can completely change the atmosphere of an outdoor space. Water brings a level of beauty and peace to your landscape while the sounds of moving water wash away the sounds of the outside world.
A Variety of Materials
We touched on the opportunity to use a variety of materials when you break up a large outdoor living space into smaller interconnected spaces. Each patio can have its own flavor: one could be natural stone; another could be a deck set one or two steps higher than the landscape; another could be pavers. Landscape contractors are constantly experimenting with styles and innovating previous ideas to come up with some truly fantastic combinations. Many of these materials are even reclaimed from previous uses, both reducing waste and pollution as well as giving the materials a second life.
Whether you’re looking to add a single landscape feature or renovating your entire landscape, talk to your landscape contractor about how you can combine various new and reclaimed materials to create a one-of-a-kind landscape.
Related: 7 SPECIAL WATER FEATURES TO ADD TO A SWIMMING POOL IN SETAUKET AND MANHASSET, NY AREAS
