There could be nothing more gorgeous than looking out your window and enjoying the sight of a profusion of flowers in your Wheaton, IL, yard. Contain them with a masonry planter box, and you’ve multiplied your viewing pleasure while also minimizing the need for constant weeding. For your next landscape design project, consider these three ideas for beautiful masonry planter boxes.

Brick

Brick is a classic stone that goes with most any architectural style and color scheme. You have many choices, from classic red toned brick to black toned and very light toned bricks. A brick masonry planter box can be freestanding in your yard as a focal point of the landscape design. Or it can simply act as the vehicle for you to showcase your growing skills.

Brick planters work perfectly on two or more sides of an existing patio. Not only does this arrangement bring an intimate feel to the patio area, but you can change out the plantings to reflect the seasons. If there is an existing privacy fence, dress up the appearance with long brick planters built to complement it. You can add trellises to encourage flowering vines to grow to the top of the fence, making it feel more like a living feature of your landscape. Plant annual and perennial flowers at the base, and you’ll have an eye-catching addition for year-round allure. 

Stone

Paving stones come in almost any color and size, making them a natural choice for masonry planter boxes. Added to a patio or built as a freestanding feature, a planter with a focal tree accented with low growing groundcover that spills dainty flowers over the edges in the masonry box can upgrade your landscape. Low stone planter boxes along the front of a long stretch on the front of your home enable you to punch up the curb appeal of the house. Multi-colored flowers always catch the eye of onlookers! 

Related: 3 Stunning Features to Incorporate into your Retaining Wall in Downers Grove, IL

Or, if you love a clean, modern look, a long stone planter with native grasses and pebbles could be the accent you need for your yard. Stone masonry planter boxes can be built to different levels for added visual interest. Tall plantings could make a home in the highest planter, with smaller plants and bushes in the lower sections. Multilevel stone planters at the entry to the driveway could benefit from overhanging lanterns that bring glow and beauty to your entranceway at night. 

Planter Box Extras

Consider adding an automatic watering system to a masonry planter to eliminate the need to remember a watering schedule for your flowers and plants to look their best. Spotlights for the evening can really make your planters pop, especially if one is built around an unusual tree. Low level lighting can bring a glow to the entire planter box and give a romantic look to your yard. 

Masonry planter boxes for your Wheaton, IL, landscape can be built in most any shape—circular, rectangular, curving—so you are limited only by your imagination. A professional landscaping company can go over the many options as your contemplate incorporating gorgeous planters in your yard.   

Passing by homes and businesses at night around Hinsdale, IL, can bring a whole new appreciation for thoughtful landscape lighting. Outdoor lighting not only allows visitors to navigate your landscape safely, but it also creates illuminated bliss. Highlighting trees and plants with outdoor lighting can set your home apart from the rest.

Spotlight Your Favorite Landscape Features

Adding outdoor lighting to your favorite yard features can make them pop at night. Do you love a huge, older tree in the landscape? Spotlights can illuminate that one tree directly, allowing everyone passing by to enjoy its majestic height. Perhaps you have a trellis of vines climbing one exterior wall and you want to draw attention to the interlocking stems and colorful blooms. Low lighting aimed from the base can create an ambient glow that will make your trellis look otherworldly. Highlighting landscape features with outdoor lighting draws the eye upward to bring pleasure in viewing those features from a different perspective. 

Related: 4 Tips for Lighting your Outdoor Kitchen and Dining Area in Lisle, IL

Spotlight Architectural Elements

Does your home have impressive columns in the portico or on the front porch? A column can be an ideal feature to light as it can make your home look distinguished at night. Or, if you have a fountain, incorporating nighttime lighting can make it a gorgeous focal point of your home and driveway. Looking out onto a backyard water feature that has low level illumination certainly brings drama to that part of the yard. Even a stone wall can become something completely magical at night with the right lighting. 

Increase Your Outdoor Use

Thoughtful outdoor lighting can increase the amount of time you have to savor your home and landscape. Strategic lights on a patio trees can bring more time to relax with your family as you dine outside together. Or, if you have a fireplace or firepit, the light from the fire is nice on its own, but additional lighting would really bring sparkle to your overall landscape. 

Consider incorporating lighting in surrounding shrubbery that can help you to de-stress in the later evenings while you nestle in comfortable chairs or couches. For those who love to have parties, having both brighter lights and string lights in the trees can let guests mingle without worry of tripping over something that is hard to see. 

Increase Safety in Your Landscape

Outdoor lighting can remedy a concern about nighttime safety. Not just for making your landscape pretty at night, lighting can help you feel secure as you arrive home. Outdoor lights can illuminate a shadowy area that makes you feel uneasy when it is dark, and it can provide a clear pathway to doors and gates. Recessed lights in the walkway provide just the right amount of luminosity to the bushes and flowers that line the walkway so that you don’t accidentally walk into them. 

When it gets dark outside, the natural tendency is to go inside, but well-placed lighting can bring beauty to your landscape and extend the usability of your outdoor space. Outdoor lighting that showcases portions of your Hinsdale, IL, landscape can truly make your home stand out. A professional landscape contractor has the expertise for extending your curb appeal into the nighttime by customizing a lighting design that brings your ideas to life. 

If you are considering a retaining wall for your Downers Grove, IL, yard, but are hesitant because you don’t want to disrupt the aesthetic harmony of your landscape, you don’t have to settle for an ordinary wall.  There are characteristics you can add to make a wall stand out. Here are three stunning features to incorporate into your retaining wall in Downers Grove, IL:

Banding and custom accents

A retaining wall does not have to be composed of just one type of rock or wall unit.  Choosing a much darker or lighter wall unit for contrasting banding can add visual interest. Banding with a contrasting texture to the rest of the wall can produce a unique appearance, as well.

If your home is more contemporary, the light/dark contrast of banding can be a perfect complement to your modern landscape.  You can also choose a different size of stone for the banding to highlight the contrast. Accents don’t have to only consist of wall blocks.  Think about adding imprints of your children or grandchildren’s hands to the wall to create a personal memory.  If you love to travel, consider adding a band of tiles from your favorite country to reflect your love of that place and the great memories that you made there.  Even mismatched tiles from your travels interspersed and mounted onto the wall can make your wall interesting.

Wide Top Surface

A wide ledge for your retaining wall can add more functionality.  Look at choosing coping for the top of the wall that not only adds usefulness, but visual interest as well.  A thinner or a lighter coping can add a new dimension to your retaining wall.  And with a wide ledge, you have a spot for some eye-catching flower pots and trailing vines, or a secure place to set up drinks for your guests. If the retaining wall is low, it can even be used for additional seating for a party or family gathering.

Related: Common Retaining Wall Problems and How to Prevent Them in Naperville, IL

Thoughtful Extras

Lighting, both low level and spotlight, can elevate the appearance of a retaining wall.  A lighted wall at night is a focal point for your landscape, and a spotlight can illuminate an unusual tree or other yard feature.  

Consider a fire or water feature for your Downers Grove, IL, retaining wall.  Both can be built directly into the wall.  A fire feature can add, not only warmth on a chilly evening, but drama to your yard, too.  A soothing water feature adds the element of sound to your landscape, and with lighting, can also up the visual interest. Heading out to your yard after a busy day to the warmth of a fire, or the calming sounds of water, can be something to look forward to.

A retaining wall is built primarily for function, to add usable space to a sloped yard or to correct erosion problems, but that does not mean it can’t also be pleasing to look at. Montano’s Landscaping Inc. can discuss your vision and customize a design specifically for your needs.  With an eye for detail and quality craftsmanship, Montano’s is your go-to landscape expert.

There are several materials to choose from for your Geneva, IL, outdoor fireplace. Materials  considered for a fireplace need to be durable and heat resistant, while still looking great. The professionals at Montano’s Landscaping understand these criteria and have selected these top options to help you perfect your outdoor fireplace design: 

Natural Stone Veneer

Natural stone veneer is an excellent choice for your fireplace for various reasons. Natural stone veneer is fire resistant and durable. Stone veneer is also lightweight and less expensive than constructing the entire structure out of natural stone. 

Related: Style Your Outdoor Fireplace with a Beautiful Stacked Stone Look in Burr Ridge, IL

Sandstone, specifically is a great stone when looking for a brighter color palette. This stone comes in a range of different colors, primarily in shades of sandy beige, but can also come in light greys and browns. This makes it versatile for seamlessly matching to the rest of your outdoor living area. 

Other natural stone veneer options include, but are not limited to limestone, quartzite, fieldstone and flagstone.
Limestone is another great option when considering natural stone veneer for your outdoor fireplace. Limestone is a fine grained stone and is excellent if you are looking for a neutral color palette. Limestone features various shades of light grey and dark charcoal. 

Flagstone veneer is a good option for creating visual interest, as it is available in irregular shapes and sizes that can be arranged to form an intricate mosaic. A similar effect can be achieved with fieldstone. 
Quartzite is a hardy stone that can serve as a visual asset for a modern design theme. Quartzite receives its name due to its high quartzite content and, as such, offers a characteristic sparkle that is exquisite by the light of a fire. 

Concrete Wall Units for a Weathered Look

Concrete wall units are extremely durable and versatile, and are available in an extensive range of styles. Concrete wall units can be used as a convincing substitute for natural stone, and can achieve the appearance of stacked slabs or quarried stone blocks. Concrete wall units also present a number of different finishes, including weathered, tumbled, antique or ledge rock. In addition to natural stone appearances, concrete wall units that emulate the appearance of weathered brick are also available. You can choose concrete wall units from a wide range of colors to ensure that your fireplace suits your landscape to a T.

Related: 5 Tips for Updating Your Outdoor Fireplace in Wheaton, IL

Concrete Wall Units for a Sleek Modern Look

When it comes to concrete wall units, there are as many advantages as there are types for you to choose from. If the appearance of natural stone isn’t really your style, then concrete wall units offer the opportunity to inject sleek modern sophistication into your outdoor fireplace design.  For example, elongated, plank-like wall units can be used to give your fireplace the horizontal emphasis, clean lines, and crisp edges that are so characteristic of modern design. A smooth finish or the contemporary appearance of honed granite are also possible with concrete wall units. The versatility of concrete wall units also allows for a more precise construction, which in turn reflects modern design sensibilities, even if a unit with a more textured finish is selected.