30 Year Anniversary
Serving the Naperville Community
Serving the Naperville Community
 As you revitalize your outdoor living spaces, you’ll be paying special attention to your patio and its surroundings. The patio is the cornerstone of any outdoor living space and that’s where you want the bulk of your budget and efforts to go. A well-designed patio will help you and your loved ones enjoy the outdoors more and more and lead to some amazing memories. Are you looking to revamp your Hinsdale, IL patio? Consider these landscape design trends.
Related: Choosing the Right Look for a Retaining Wall That Will Be Part of Your Brick Patio Design in Hinsdale, IL Upgrade to Patio Pavers Every great outdoor living space starts with a practical and beautiful ground surface. Some homeowners go for the cheaper option and put poured concrete for their patio. No matter what kind of amenities you have on top of poured concrete, it still won’t bring a patio to its full potential. Instead, upgrade to patio pavers to give your outdoor lifestyle an aesthetic, durable, and practical foundation for your outdoor lifestyle. Pavers let you express your personality, enjoy a low-maintenance surface that lasts, and create an elegant space to relax with friends and family. Pavers can mimic the look of natural stone; they are a durable alternative to clay brick (and available in many more colors); and some are purely modern and embrace the stark industrial look of concrete. Whatever your style, there’s a paver that will work. Consider using permeable paver technology on your patio to keep the space drier after heavy rains or after it snows. Permeable pavers allow water to seep between the pavers instead of collecting on the surface. This also helps to prevent patio damage from freeze and thaw cycles, as well as eliminating standing water or water flooding onto the landscape. Permeable pavers also help replenish groundwater in your landscape. Define Space Usage and Create Activity Zones In renovating your patio, be sure to identify your top intentions for your patio to help define spaces and optimize the design. Start with the basics, like an outdoor kitchen and fire feature; and then depending on your needs, add perks like a hot tub, water feature, or pergola. Give each of these features their own space and define the spaces to create activity zones. Why? Because there’s nothing worse than a constant flow of people through an area meant for relaxation. The best approach is often to centrally locate an outdoor kitchen for convenience, and then place lower-activity areas on the perimeter. Give Your Patio Some Green Life Applying plants to your patio will always have great benefits to the feeling of the outdoor space. A verdant space simply makes people happy. Fill in any empty spaces around your patio with gorgeous plantings instead of transitioning directly to the lawn. Consider building raised masonry planters around your patio not only to raise your garden up to a convenient level, but to provide overflow seating for bigger gatherings. Light It Up The right landscape lighting will make your patio feel welcoming after dark without ruining the magical feel of the night. Take the same zoned approach with lighting as with your activity zones. Embed landscape lighting into masonry features to minimize clutter. Be sure to gently illuminate the landscape as well, to prevent an overly stark contrast between the well-lit patio and the landscape beyond. A soft layered effect - achievable by illuminating just a few features “out there” - will yield amazing results. Related: Renovating Your Patio? Here are 6 Reasons to Include a Fire Pit in Naperville, IL
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 As summer winds down and the first chill of fall makes you reach for your favorite sweater, you may be wondering which landscaping projects you can still squeeze in before the ground freezes. Luckily, there are many plants available at your local plant nursery and garden center that will give your landscape a dazzling array of color through the fall season. Here’s a guide to adding beauty to your landscaping: plantings that will add the finishing touch to your landscape design in Naperville, IL.
Related: Brighten Up Your Landscaping With These 5 Landscape Design Ideas in Wheaton, IL Coral Bells Gorgeous coral bells are wonderful perennial additions to an Illinois landscape. Their wide leaves not only show beautiful color but a vivacious visual texture for any garden. Coral bells come in a variety of different colors: purple, green, and orange to name a few. Despite the look of the plants, they won’t lose their leaves in the winter and will continue to offer gorgeous visuals throughout the cold season when others go dormant. Hostas For the shadiest part of your garden, hostas make a great choice. The leaves are lined with a white border while the centers typically show a dark green. The interesting visual texture of Hosta leaves will ensure a varied garden in combination with other great Illinois perennials. Since this plant is so adapted to shady areas, let it fill in the spaces between larger shrubs and trees. Hibiscus Though the hibiscus doesn’t show itself much during the winter, the plant grows quickly throughout the spring and incredible pink flowers bloom in the early summer. While it’s not a native plant, the incredible color will add a great quality to your sunny garden. In the late summer, trim the flower bulbs off the stem and let them dry in the sun. The resulting dried leaves make an incredible tea that can last for years in its dried form. Dwarf Lythrum Another great plant that produces a fantastic visual texture is the Dwarf Lythrum, which grows in tall stalks covered with small pink flowers. Be careful, since a species in this plant family is invasive in Illinois. Make sure to buy the variety of this plant that doesn’t seed from a plant nursery and garden center. Meanwhile, this is a fantastic plant to attract pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds. Daylilies For a stunning flowering plant, daylilies allow for the type of versatility in your garden that you’re looking for. The flowers grow large and colorful, ranging from red to pink to orange to yellow. The size of the blooms will demand attention in your garden. Luckily, these plants are perfect for growing in a variety of topographies owing to their roots, which naturally grow quite deep and hold them in place. Aster Many plants will bloom throughout the spring and summer, but the Aster naturally blooms in the fall. The plant produces a high amount of flowers that end up creating a canopy of beautiful magentas and fuchsias. Aster grows about two feet tall and grows outward. The blooming time of this plant will make it the focus of the fall while others lie dormant. Russian Sage For a bit less striking color and a more subtle beauty, look for Russian Sage. This plant also grows in tall stalks and flowers in a gentle lavender color. The scent of the many flowers will attract pollinators and also make a gorgeous display for your garden. Related: Take a Fresh Look at Your Patio Options With These 4 Landscaping Ideas in Wheaton, IL  Most homeowners consider the driveway to be purely utilitarian, but it’s actually an opportunity for creative expression. Day or night, you can brighten up your driveway with these 5 landscape design trends in Wheaton, IL and make it not only a functional place to park your vehicles, but an eye-catching focal point that will boost your home’s curb appeal.
Related: Options for Outdoor Lighting to Improve Safety and Beauty Along Your Wheaton, IL, Driveway Pavers Asphalt and poured concrete just don’t have the curb appeal or the durability of pavers. With pavers, you have many design choices that complement your home and landscaping. Your driveway could become an important focal point. With so many style, color, texture, and finish choices you’re sure to find a paver that’s just perfect for your design theme. As well, the driveway surface could be made permeable to allow surface water to seep into the ground instead of running off onto the landscaping after a heavy rain. While pavers are a bigger upfront investment, you’ll get a much more satisfactory return on your investment over the years: when poured concrete and asphalt have begun crumbling and are showing their age, pavers still look great and perform just like they did on the day they were installed. You can express your personality with a paver driveway. Borders, inlays, and decorative features such as contrasting aprons at the end of the driveway ensure that your driveway is completely unique. Worried about snowplows or deicing salts ruining your pavers and landscaping? Pavers are compatible with driveway heating systems, which can almost completely eliminate the need to plow, shovel, or use deicers. Layers Many suburban homes feature a large expanse of lawn and some foundation plantings. As the driveway typically goes through the lawn area, it’s a relatively featureless space. Make it more interesting with a layered effect. Instead of landscaping the entire length of the driveway, you could create a series of “planting pockets” that contain a variety of trees, shrubs, and other plants. Be sure to consider the mature size of the plants you choose along your driveway, so plants don’t impede traffic once they’re fully grown. This adds dimension and interest to your driveway. A few landscape lights could be “randomly” positioned throughout these planting pockets to add dimension and depth to the landscape at night. A Retaining Wall Even on a perfectly flat property, a low wall along the driveway adds a touch of elegance. It’s also an opportunity to house solar-powered or hard-wired LED light fixtures to bring soft illumination to the entire driveway, not just the space at the garage. A Series of Pots Place large containers that are easy to see along the length of the driveway. Fill them with colorful seasonal flowers in summer and a variety of holiday decorations later in the year. You can even place solar light fixtures into each container to add ambient light and interest. Consider Overflow Parking If you entertain frequently and don’t want your guests to park on the street, consider overflow parking along the driveway on one side. This area could range from a section of lawn, a gravel area, or you could opt for a wider paver driveway large enough to house several additional vehicles. Add Symmetry If your home and landscape are formal, you could consider and elegant symmetrical landscape design along the driveway such as a matching pair of entry pillars with welcoming lights. Related: Light Up Your Driveway with These Outdoor Lighting Ideas in Naperville, IL |
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