How the Latest Landscaping Trends Could Match a Historical Landscape Design in Grandview Heights OH
Historical landscape designs can be important because they provide context to the buildings and homes that grace them, but what happens when you want to update your Grandview Heights, OH, property with some fresh trends? Matching the history with the new can be a tricky task, but a skilled landscape service can help.
Related: 4 Landscape Design Ideas to Enhance Outdoor Living in Bexley and Lewis Center OH
Historical Landscape Design
Landscape design that focuses on a historical perspective can take many forms, but here are some of the guiding principles. First, there can be a focus on geometric concepts such as straight lines, flat planes, perfect circles, and orderliness. While nature supplies the plants and trees, the landscaper decides the pattern.
Second, after the concentration on order and symmetry, the cottage garden became popular with its profusion of flowers and the feelings that they evoked of happiness and color. Lastly, a historical landscape can reflect an appreciation of nature and the natural surroundings by using the native plants that are found in the region.
The question can be, “How do you make what you have in your historic landscape look fresh and current?” and this is where your landscape service can be invaluable.
Introducing the Current Trends
Expanding the Hardscape: One of the trends for 2021 is less grass in the landscape, and one way to do this can be to expand your hardscape features. Have your landscaper enlarge your patio, especially if it is small and does not support your outdoor activities. Many historic homes only have a small patio that pays lip service to an outdoor feature, but a landscape service can bring a full patio to life.
With a durable and carefully selected stone floor, a patio that is easily accessed out of the back door can expand your living space. When you add low-level lighting to the perimeter and a complementary low retaining wall around the edge, you can enjoy your outdoor space long into the night with extra seating from the retaining wall to accommodate more guests.
Use Walls: If your historic landscape has a natural stone wall as many do, have your landscaper tie a new retaining wall into the existing wall to bring more definition to your landscape. Not only can retaining walls help to define a property, but they can also increase the usable space by eliminating a slope that has frustrated your efforts to enjoy time outdoors only to be met with not enough available areas for entertaining.
Add Pathways: To connect the different parts of your landscape, have your landscaper install wide pathways of square or rectangular stepping stones that are flanked by small pea gravel or herbs for a nod at the geometry that forefathers loved in a landscape. These pathways can help your property feel like a proper whole while respecting the historical nature of the terrain and materials.
Choose Native: When you select native plants and trees for the landscape, there will be less care required because they are naturally suited to the terrain and climate. Using a native plant such as a boxwood to form hedges can be a way to increase privacy with a shrub that is easy to maintain with a good trim by your landscaper. Native plants and flowers can bring the colors that you want without excessive watering.
About the Author:
In 2001, Shawn Rine decided he would like to earn a little pocket change. With a used mower and lots of hard work, he got his neighbors' yards into shape in no time. Nearly two decades later, Rine Landscape Group has a few more mowers – not to mention a staff of certified landscape specialists and an extensive portfolio of innovative, functional landscape projects in neighborhoods all over the Greater Columbus Metro Area.