Tips From a Landscape Designer for a Beautiful Winterscape in Green and Sparta, NJ, Areas
It’s the season of packing up patio furniture and preparing for winter, but it can also be the time that you enjoy your landscape from the window in a new way—and even get some extended use of it. Here are helpful tips from a landscape designer for a beautiful winterscape in the Green and Sparta, NJ, areas.
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Consider a Fire Pit or Other Fire Feature
An outdoor fire feature can compel you to go outside to enjoy your landscape even on frosty days. Fire features made with natural stone look like they have always belonged in the landscape. They transform your outdoor living spaces into open-air living rooms that can be enjoyed virtually year-round.
Wrapping yourself in a fleece blanket, sipping hot cocoa and roasting marshmallows by a crackling fire… who can resist? A fire pit constructed using natural stone will bring back memories of family camping trips. A naturalistic look will greatly enhance your winter landscape, whether you intend to spend ample time outside in the cooler months or you prefer to admire it from the warmth of your house.
Take a fire pit to a more elegant level by using cut stone blocks that can tie in with other vertical elements such as an outdoor kitchen, and also provide a sturdy place to sit or warm your feet by the fire.
Fire pits are designed to be sat around on all sides, allowing everyone to adjust their position for optimal comfort. A spacious flagstone patio around the fire pit will ensure that those who want to sit farther back from the fire can do so.
Give your fire pit area a cozy feel by surrounding the space with boulders, and carry the look of boulders into the landscape. This will give your fire pit area an integrated look as though the fire pit is part of a rock garden.
An outdoor fireplace can be the ultimate solution for a more elegant-yet-rustic outdoor space. A fireplace can be modest or large depending on the space available, and the size and density of other landscape features.
Using locally sourced stone gives your fireplace a lived-in feeling, as though the fireplace has been there for centuries. For extra appeal, a substantial hearth lets you sit close to the fire, and can echo the heft of nearby stone steps and walkways.
Opt for a Layered Landscape
Creating visual interest in winter involves paying attention to textures, shapes, and colors to create a layered look. While a winter landscape won’t be as colorful as the spring’s, often it’s the subtle contrasts of color, and a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures, that can make your landscape endlessly fascinating.
A rock garden that features moss- and lichen-covered stone, mixed with evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs with reddish bark, and a variety of ground covers, will contribute to a beautiful look even when the sky takes on a February gloom.
Rocks and plants help create a layered landscape, which is far more interesting than a typical suburban landscape with its harsh transition between a flat lawn and a backdrop of dense evergreens.
In a layered landscape, everywhere you look, there’s something worthwhile to view. A natural landscape with plenty of hiding spaces (under rocks, in trees and shrubs, etc.) invites local wildlife to make their homes alongside yours. And when the snow falls, a layered landscape creates a fascinating scene that highlights some features while completely obliterating others.