The Secret to Creating a Beautiful Outdoor Space

The Secret to Creating a Beautiful Outdoor Space

By Jill Bleher, Landscape Designer. Originally published in Living Lavishly VOLUME 14 Spring/Summer 2022.

As humans we seek habitats in which to dwell. This can be seen inside our homes as well as in our gardens. There are probably special things in your house that you cherish and enjoy. Maybe it is the family heirloom china displayed in a cabinet or the flat-screen TV that you use daily. These features help create an inviting space with their beauty, placement, and functionality. The approach is similar for designing an outdoor dwelling space. Have you ever visited a beautiful garden and wondered why it is so inviting? The answer is good design involving landscape features.

Landscape features are generally items that draw the eye, such as colorful pottery, a striking sculpture, or a beautiful tree. Features can also engage other senses, such as the sound of a fountain or the warmth of a firepit. Whether you have a small or a large yard, there are plenty of options for features to enhance your landscape experience. Here is an exploration of how to integrate features into your landscape retreat for the greatest effect.

Art as a Focal Point

One way to personalize and add dimension to a garden is to add artistic features. Artful focal points can be as simple as a beautiful ceramic pot or as complex as a large-scale wind sculpture. Good placement for an art feature is at the divergence of pathways, in a nook to the side of a patio, or in a space viewed from above. Uplight your art feature so you can appreciate it after dark.

When selecting art features, consider the theme of the setting. Pick a modern art piece for a contemporary landscape, place vibrant Talavera pottery in a cactus garden, or choose a stone lantern for your traditional Japanese garden. Additionally, art focal points may have sentimental value, such as a souvenir plaque from a trip or a garden statue that belonged to a family member. Ultimately, the purpose of garden art is to add meaning and beauty to the landscape.

Water and Fire Elements

Ambiance is a fundamental part of the garden setting. A well-designed landscape invites the visitor to linger and appreciate the space. Two elements that are especially good at adding ambiance to any garden are water and fire features. Consider the welcoming glow of a fire or the peaceful sound of water. It’s no wonder that both are common aspects of an inviting landscape sanctuary.

Deciding where to place a fire or water feature in the landscape is significant. Locate a fireplace or fire pit in a space where people can gather. If designing a new space, consider building a fireplace wall to partially enclose and warm a seating area. Moveable fire tables can be added to existing patios for an inviting element. Whether for roasting marshmallows or just adding light and warmth, fire features are ideal for inviting people to gather.

Since water features are sought out mainly for their sound, they can be tucked against walls or into nooks. Alternatively, they can be placed out in the center of a large space as a focal point. With so many options to choose from, it is best to match the style of your landscape. Select a steel water wall for a modern look, choose a core-drilled boulder fountain for a natural setting, or pick a tiered fountain for an Italian garden. Whatever the style, a well-placed water or fire feature will add dimension to the garden space.

Plant Selections that Pop

Perhaps the most obvious garden feature is plants. However, by their very nature plants are dynamic and not as easy to highlight as a static fountain or statue – they grow and change throughout the seasons. For this reason, picking the right plants to showcase can take some thought.

Trees and large shrubs make excellent features due to their size and often interesting forms. Some of the best trees to draw attention to are olives and oaks as they have beautiful branch structures and grow more majestic with age. A favorite large shrub to feature is the Western Redbud which bursts into bright pink blooms in early spring. Large Manzanitas or Arbutus trees are also excellent selections to choose with their red bark and gnarled forms. Accent trees at night with either uplights or hanging moonlights.

If you don’t have space for large trees, consider plants with striking architectural form such as Agaves or grasses to feature against a wall or along a pathway. Perennial blooming plants will delight seasonally. Try interplanting bulbs between other plants to add extra pops of color in spring!

Borrowed Views

One powerful tool for creating a beautiful landscape is to incorporate views. A “borrowed view” is when a distant landscape is included in the garden design. For instance, build an arbor to frame a view of neighboring vineyards or leave space between trees to view the mountains beyond. It might be years before your newly planted oak trees can be considered features, but you can highlight the view of a magnificent oak tree in the field beyond your property.

Ultimately, borrowed views are a great way to make your immediate yard feel larger and grander. It’s similar to adding a mirror on the wall in an interior room. Even a small yard will feel less enclosed if there is a view of the world beyond. Don’t lose sight of the greater landscape!

This exploration of landscape features and their applications applies to every person and every garden setting. Include one or many elements in your yard, but do it purposefully and make it personal! Seek out art features that catch your eye, add a fire or water feature to create ambiance, select plants to delight the senses, and borrow views when possible. In the end, don’t hurry the journey but enjoy the process. In so doing, turn your landscape into a dwelling space that is an expression of yourself.  After all, genuinely superb gardens are dwellings that evolve with the time and ponderous consideration of a magnificent tree.

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Jill Bleher is a landscape designer and Cal Poly Landscape Architecture alumnus. She is passionate about designing unique landscape sanctuaries for others. When not designing yards for other people, she can most often be found in her own garden or inside creating crafts. For more information, visit Madrone Landscape or call (805) 466-6263.

Partner Profile: Rojas Enterprise

Partner Profile: Rojas Enterprise

Robert Rojas, the owner of Rojas Enterprise, is a licensed contractor with over 20 years of experience. Primarily offering concrete and masonry services, Rojas assists Madrone Landscape with hardscaping. He and his team can be relied upon to enhance projects with everything from decorative patios and walkways to custom project features, outdoor fireplaces, and sound structural retaining walls. By incorporating stains, polishes, and decorative stamps, Rojas’ work is much more than just concrete and masonry.

The Rojas team has been working with Madrone Landscape for over 15 years, where they have completed over 200 projects together. The longevity of the partnership can be mainly attributed to both companies’ dedication to client satisfaction and integrity of their workmanship. “The most important thing to me is making sure the client is happy with the final product,” explained Rojas. He also credited the long working relationship to Madrone’s professionalism. “The team at Madrone is easy to work with, not only because they are good people, but because they provide clear direction with their procedures and schedules.”

Out of all of the projects that the Rojas/Madrone teams have collaborated on, Rojas is particularly proud of a project where they created a stamped, circular pad for a fireplace. Its compass feature was skillfully cut into the concrete and stained to enhance the features.

How to Create the Perfect Outdoor Gathering Space

How to Create the Perfect Outdoor Gathering Space

Top Tips for Outdoor Spaces, from Intimate to Crowd-Pleasing

Imagine RELAXING! Finally… after a week that took few prisoners. Here on the Central Coast, we like to turn to our outdoor gathering spaces to enjoy our time and recharge our batteries. It may be at home, or it may be at a winery, restaurant or bar. So, if you’re planning to improve your hospitality business or your home, here are some tips for patio landscaping:

Form Follows Function – Your outdoor gathering space needs to be beautiful AND It needs to serve its purpose. Whether used for cooking, eating, drinking, entertainment, or warming by the firepit, make sure it works; and then make sure it feels good to be there.

It’s a Material(s) World – When considering patio hardscape design, the materials need to be appropriate to complement the space, as well as fitting your style, priorities, and budget. Materials choices also determine the cost of energy over time. Obviously, these energy costs can and should be kept as low as possible. Energy savings can be greatly affected by good Site Design, careful planning of machinery use, and wise choices of the landscape materials themselves, and their embodied energy (including manufacture, extraction, shipping and life-cycle energy costing).

So Imagine Relaxing… leaning back in a comfortable patio chair, warming next to the fire pit, feet up, a glass of wine close by, enjoying the last rays of the sunset. It’s hard to beat the feeling of enjoying your outdoor environment when it suits your needs and lifestyle.

Or….visit a winery or outdoor event that has captured the essence of what makes THAT place so special. Successful patio hardscape design can do a lot to add to your relaxation and recharging, contentment and inspiration.

If we can help, let us know: 805-466-6263. MadroneLandscapes.com

 

 Oh, wait – That’s the Getty. Never mind!