Hot landscaping trends in Cincinnati include entertaining outdoors, low-maintenance grasses and flowers, water features, and landscape lighting. All of these can be adapted for your yard whether it’s large or small.
Martha Wassermann, owner of Martha Wassermann Professional Landscape Design and Services in Cincinnati, has seen all the trends in more than 40 years in the business. Her tip: Design with the whole yard and home in mind.
“First, I always design driveways, decks, pools, sports areas, walls, walks, and more,” she says. “Then I lay out the garden beds with a purpose, such as privacy screening or a place for vegetable gardening in mind.”
Entertaining
Entertainment is no longer confined to your living room, finished basement, and kitchen. Homeowners in Cincinnati are extending their living areas outdoors, creating inviting spaces with decks and patios featuring fire pits, fireplaces, and outdoor kitchens.
These outdoor entertainment spaces can be adapted for homes with large and small yards.
For large yards, Wassermann says outdoor kitchens are in. What homeowners are looking for is ways to make the most of their larger outdoor space. And clients want to keep out prying eyes.
Here’s what they’re looking for:
- More room to move around and incorporate more permanent features.
- Larger seating areas.
- Full outdoor kitchens.
- Built-in fireplaces.
- More opportunities for privacy screening with plant material to block out undesirable views.
For small outdoor areas, Wassermann’s clients want greater flexibility to rearrange elements, including:
- Portable fire pits with covers, as opposed to a fixed firepit that could be sunk in the ground or integrated into a wall.
- More compact kitchens that feature a grill, a small refrigerator for beverages, and storage for firewood, rather than a full outdoor kitchen with all the extras.
- Weather-resistant kitchen carts for food preparation, storage, and serving that are easily movable for access both inside and outside the home.
Shade from Trees and Covered Areas
Shade brings comfort in the form of trees in your yard and covered areas like screened-in porches and three-season rooms. Homeowners are landscaping, hardscaping, and modifying their homes to achieve a mix of sun and shade for relaxing with family and friends.
“It’s important to remember that the canopy of a healthy shade tree, correctly chosen to fit the available space, will provide five to seven times the cooling power of a roof of any other kind,” Wassermann says.
Additionally, she mentioned that covered open areas with only ceiling fans often become converted into screened porches or three-season rooms later. Extendable sun shades under a pergola have become popular, too.
Water Features
Water and gardens go hand in hand. Water features, too. There’s something truly soothing about the sound of flowing water; it can rejuvenate even the most lifeless yard.
Whether it’s a grand fountain positioned at the heart of the garden, an urn fountain, or a discreet wall fountain nestled in a cozy corner, the interplay of light on the water, combined with its movement and sound, creates an almost enchanting atmosphere.
Wassermann has collaborated with numerous clients who appreciate the beauty of incorporating water into their garden designs:
- Large fountain: One client went to Australia and fell in love with a formal garden and wanted Wassermann to bring that feeling to her garden centered on a large fountain. (All of the plants in this design are deer-resistant.)
- Water as noise abatement: Clients who moved into the inner city with smaller yards wanted to incorporate water features to drown out the city noise.
- Urn fountains and waterfalls: For clients with smaller areas, she has designed their spaces using urn fountains, wall fountains, and pondless waterfalls which were very effective, and almost no maintenance.
Landscape Lighting
People need landscape lighting outdoors, both for safety and aesthetic reasons. “I like to see the effects of the lighting, not the lighting source itself,” Wasserman says. Fixtures need to be strategically placed to achieve either goal.”
You need knowledge of the plant materials to design lighting, too. That’s where the skills in landscape design fit in with the know-how of a lighting installer. If there is ambient light already in the scene, less will be more.
See Related: Landscape Lighting Ideas
Low-Maintenance Landscapes and Lawns
Many homeowners seek eco-friendly gardens that conserve water and also attract pollinators. One alternative to traditional irrigation systems is low-impact turf, which helps sustain these goals.
Additionally, incorporating native wildflowers can further enhance the garden’s appeal to pollinators.
- Irrigation systems: Wassermann still sees a lot of irrigation system installations. “Daily irrigation is not a sustainable or environmentally friendly practice,” she says. “It encourages shallower roots for lawns and other plants, actually making them less tolerant of heat and drought.”
- Low impact turf: She prefers using low impact turf instead of an irrigation system, where it is practical. It’s a proprietary blend of tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. The turf works best in large rear or side yard areas that won’t be used for sports activities.
- Native wildflowers: She also suggests prairies of native wildflowers for the same reason. These have the added advantage of attracting many flowering pollinators that attract beneficial insects to yards and are very deer-resistant.
See Related:
Low-Maintenance Landscaping in Cincinnati and Surrounding Areas
10 Best Ohio Native Plants
Best Grass Seed for Ohio
Trees and Shrubs
Staying informed about the different types of trees and shrubs available from growers and nurseries is crucial. New varieties that are more disease-resistant and low-maintenance come out all the time, and using native plants is more eco-friendly.
Wassermann explains, “Our industry is focused on keeping up with changing lifestyles, beauty, disease resistance, and low maintenance, so hybrids have become very popular.”
Cincinnati has been using these hybrid/varieties for their upright (columnar) growth habit, such as oaks, maples, and linden, among others, making them ideal for urban settings. Native species are also resilient in challenging conditions.
See Related:
Basic Tree Care Facts for Cincinnati
5 Worst Trees to Plant in Cincinnati
Flowers
Annuals and perennial flowers can provide the vibrant colors you’ve always envisioned for your garden. However, it’s not only the color that matters; the foliage of the plants and their placement in your garden are equally important.
See Related:
Flowering Perennials to Add Color in Gardens
Night-Blooming Flowers for Your Moon Garden
Beautiful Flowering Vines for Your Yard
Best Flowering Ground Cover Plants
Landscaping and Listening
“With all the new construction in Cincinnati — including many tear-downs, new subdivisions, especially condominiums for aging baby boomers, and multifamily dwellings — there is less and less green space,” she says.
Many of her clients want their smaller properties to provide them with outdoor areas that can be used in multiple, flexible ways.
Many of the tear-downs and new housing in previously distressed neighborhoods have given newer homeowners a chance to get a very good value on their purchase. Yet, these properties also come with problems such as the lack of privacy, parking, or enough entertaining space.
The process of designing a trending landscape for clients includes a lot of listening. She tells her clients that all gardens require at least some maintenance.
When to Call a Landscaping Pro
When you’re looking to elevate your landscape and outdoor living area, Lawnstarter’s Cincinnati landscaping pros are just a call or click away. From planting flower beds to selecting trees or ground covers or installing water features, our local pros will get the job done right and on time.
Main Image Credit: Martha Wassermann Professional Landscape Design & Services.
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