1. Natural diving boards: Your beautiful backyard pool might not be so enchanting once that steel diving board gets rusty and discolored. Natural stone diving boards enhance a pool’s beauty, blend in with surrounding plants, and give the kids a fun new platform for performing their award-winning cannonballs, says designer Jeffrey L. Inch, Inch’s Landscaping, York (www.inchslandscaping.com). In some regions, natural swimming pools and ponds are growing increasingly popular.
2. Easy-start fire pits: There’s nothing better than relaxing around a fire with family and friends. Fire pits turn your summertime retreat into a year-round getaway, but getting a fire going cuts into time that busy families don’t have. Gas or propane ignition starters can light real wood in an instant, letting you “enjoy the smells and sound of a real fire in just minutes,” says Inch. For contemporary sparkle in your outdoor fire pit, install gas ignition with colored glass, says Dave Sprow of Black Landscape, Mechanicsburg (www.blacklandscape.com).
3. Sheltering spaces: Move away from the house and build a freestanding pergola, pavilion, or gazebo for “a little added shelter from the elements,” says Bobby Kenyon, estimator/marketing for C.E. Pontz Sons, Lancaster (www.cepontzsons.com). They’re well suited to outdoor TVs and sound systems, and, as Sprow notes, they create intimate areas that extend living spaces into the yard. Think about hiring a designer to help you craft outdoor spaces that “reflect your taste and style,” says David Gustafson, president, Red Rock Landscape, Mechanicsburg (www.redrocklandscapeinc.com).
4. Color and Comfort: Weather-beaten fabrics make a space look shabby, not chic, but today’s weather-resistant fabrics for curtains, umbrellas, sail shades, and retractable awnings provide shade and durable style, says Barbara Tabak, interior decorator with Decorating Den Interiors (barbaratabak.decoratingden.com). And it’s time to embrace cushions for the patio and pergola, because today’s foams for outdoor living are made to release water.
5. Customized kitchens: Outdoor kitchens can be built to suit any lifestyle, with grills, range tops, smokers, sinks, fridges, and beer dispensers, says Kenyon. For those who don’t see a full-blown outdoor kitchen in their futures, the built-in grill is popular, says Sprow. They buy a lifetime grill and have it built into an island, or they get custom block work done to accommodate a new standard grill every few years. “People are finding ways around doing the really expensive outdoor kitchen,” says Sprow.
6. Low-voltage LED lighting: “Lighting used to be an afterthought for most projects, but it is de rigueur anymore,” says Ted Ventre, Hively Landscapes, Dover (www.hivelylandscapes.com). LED lighting fixtures are expanding the possibilities of durable, flexible, low-voltage systems, empowering homeowners to vary the mood in different areas. It can all be done with one power transformer and control unit. The right lighting enhances safety and security, too, says Gustafson.
7. Natural stone: Today’s homeowners want outdoor spaces that flow smoothly from the home, and natural stone helps create that continuity. Natural stone can be the basis for pleasing patios, walkways, decorative walls, fireplaces, and water features, says Ventre. Slate, blue stone, and flag stone are replacing brick, manufactured paver stones, and concrete. And, notes Inch, an attractive stone staircase “can be installed in a fraction of the time as a masonry staircase and is much more economical.”
8. Mother Nature as decorator: Nature is coming directly to your living spaces, with arrays of living plants, floral baskets, and containers. Vary the colors, sizes, and shapes, and position them at different levels, says Tabak. Display artwork made from twigs or branches. Corral pillows in wicker baskets. “Augment the natural theme of the outdoors with a sisal rug,” Tabak suggests.
9. Landscape curbing: Need an easy, affordable way to give some definition to your trees, flowerbeds, or pool fence? A continuous stamped concrete border, available in your choice of colors and patterns, is “a durable and attractive edging solution that defines landscape beds,” says Gustafson. Most projects can be done in one day with minimal disturbance to the existing landscape.
10. Holistic design: Just like your home, your landscape should be “incredibly inviting and purposeful,” says Inch. Holistic design evaluates the entire property and its intended use, accounting for scale, materials, physical flow, natural lighting, and relationship to the surrounding environment. Sprow suggests developing a master plan and phasing in sections over several years, to ensure the right fit in the right space. Younger couples, especially, want “the least amount of maintenance for their buck,” and often design the landscape into different areas that can be easily installed and kept up. For those who just can’t envision the landscaper’s ideas, digital landscape design is “an excellent way for homeowners to visualize a potential project,” says Gustafson. Many landscapers have software that allows them to design directly onto a photo of the existing landscape.
11. Horticulturally correct pruning: Sure, there is still a place for formal boxwood hedges, but “more consumers are realizing the value that a properly maintained landscape brings to the entire property,” says Ventre. Design for the property and then allow plants “to fulfill their natural growth habit,” he advises. “It takes patience and the knowledge of a skilled technician, but the return in natural beauty and longevity is the reward.”
12. Environmental awareness: More and more homeowners are “thinking about runoff,” says Sprow. They’re installing rain gardens and reclaiming roof water, to prevent runoff onto neighboring properties and keep downpours from clogging outmatched storm drains. Permeable pavers in driveways, larger patios, and parking areas send water through a stone base that filters it and slows the amount running into storm water systems, says Gustafson. Even water features such as ever-popular fountains and pondless waterfalls can include rainwater-harvesting systems to capture rooftop runoff for other uses in the landscape, says Kenyon.
