Designing With Nature: Incorporating Plantings for Stunning Outdoor Spaces in the Westlake and Bay Village, OH Areas
Plantings are a crucial part of creating stunning and visually compelling outdoor spaces for charming Westlake landscapes and Bay Village, OH properties, making them stand out in the neighborhood. Designing with an eye to nature by balancing all the colors, textures, and sizes it holds is an essential part of a successful landscape. Achieve the right elements with the expertise of a landscape professional.
Planting Bed Placement is Key
Ensuring your plantings are in the right location causes them to grow and thrive. Shade-loving plants that end up in sunny spots can become susceptible to pests, diseases, and drying out while plants that love full sun can wilt away in the shade.
Soil conditions, including the soil type, drainage level, and compaction, are particular to certain plants. Too much water is a problem for plants that like less moisture while too little water causes many plants to fail so placement in the sun, shade, or partial sun matters.
Plants for Sunny Spaces
Most trees need ample sun to grow healthy and tall, resisting pests and problems that can slow their growth. Classic trees like dogwoods with their springtime flowers, maple trees that put on a fall show, and red oak trees that grow to majestic heights are great selections to add shade and beauty to a front or back yard.
Shrubs for Sun
Sun-loving hydrangeas bring bold green leaves and colorful flowers to outdoor spaces from spring through late fall and hardy azaleas add a tropical flair to the landscape design with their prolific flowers. Rhododendrons and spirea increase the colors and textures, with each shrub variety ideally suited to the climate and topography.
Shrubs for Shade
Shade-loving shrubs also produce showy flowers to deliver a dramatic impact to areas beneath trees, within wooded areas, and on the sides of your house where shade prevails. Many evergreen shrubs love shade and keep their leaves year-round which can be especially pleasing in the barren winter months. Some hydrangea, rhododendron, and camellia varieties flourish in shady conditions, producing blooms that pop with color in the spring and summer.
Flowers and Groundcovers
Some flowers and most groundcovers return year after year for beauty in many areas of the landscape but others must be planted each season. Adding flowers and groundcovers to planting beds creates lush, bold visual interest while filling in areas that can look sparse. The balance of green leaves, spikey branches, and vibrant flowers is pleasing to the eyes and stimulates the senses.
Planting Beds and Layering
Landscape professionals manage planting beds for scale, style, and texture to boost the appeal. They are adept at a technique called layering which creates depth and interest throughout the outdoor spaces by positioning tall plantings at the back of the bed, with gradually smaller planting sizes toward the front. Relying on their knowledge, landscape professionals generate amazing appeal that ends up looking like land art.
Echoing the same color combinations in various parts of the landscape creates unity and harmony in the planting beds, which is particularly pleasing to the eyes. While some plantings take center stage, others form the background designs that wow friends and neighbors but taken as a whole, the aesthetic cannot be missed.
A transformation of your landscape begins with an idea of creating a restful or activity-filled spot in the backyard—and the result will be a gorgeous outdoor living space where you will want to spend the majority of your time. To create such an outdoor oasis, our design and construction experts can plan out a beautiful paver patio, fire features, outdoor kitchen, stairs and walkways, water features, and more.
About the Author
With over 20 years in business and more than a decade as a Unilock Authorized Contractor, 1st Impressions exceeds expectations with every outdoor living space we create—and we stand by our work with an exclusive 10-year warranty on our paver installations. Our attention to detail, knowledgeable team of experts, and dedication to excellent service ensure that you will be able to enjoy your transformed landscape for a long time.
