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Spring is upon us, a time of renewal and rejuvenation. Get your garden ready for another year of outdoor living.
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Living Outside the Box: Outdoor Living Rooms
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 No commentsPatio Possibilities
Turning your backyard into an outdoor living room is a growing trend. It offers an extension of your indoor living space and additional areas for entertaining and relaxation. There are countless ways you can liven up your yard to create a perfect outdoor living area for you and your family to enjoy. Thinking of the backyard as an outdoor room allows you to design and decorate a whole new area of your home.
A small backyard can be an inviting, intimate retreat.
Before you can effectively plan your patio, you should think about all of the possibilities to achieve the outdoor environment of your dreams. These spaces can range from understated to imaginative, and with careful planning, the simple backyard patio can become a deserved retreat with beautiful plantings, bird and butterfly sanctuaries, water features and nooks with fireplaces or fire pits, kitchen and dining areas with seating for guests, or a luxurious spa complete with a hot tub and pergola.
Today’s patios can be more than just backyard grilling stations. They can become a part of our lifestyle– extending our family rooms into the outdoors to take advantage of nature, sun and fresh air. They are transitional spaces that blend the best of indoor and outdoor life. More than ever, patios are where we entertain guests, spend time with families, or just get away from it all.
Planning Your Patio
The size and style of your patio depends on how you plan to use it. It should be a comfortable, well-planned solution to your family’s needs. If you entertain often, you’ll want an area large enough for guests to comfortably converse, mingle and dine. If the patio is used for occasional family barbecues or for relaxing and reading, it can be fairly small. A well-designed patio features different areas that fulfill a variety of expectations. There can be cooking centers, meditative retreats, and outdoor entertaining areas. Often patios are combined with additional elements such as complimenting plantings, water features and low-voltage lighting. Adding one or more of these elements will add another dimension of pleasure to your yard. Listing your primary goals is the first step toward effective planning.
A large backyard can be multi-functional.
Once you have created your ‘wish list,’ you can work to create a truly unique and enjoyable outdoor living space. Not only can you take advantage of usable square footage to add to your home environment, but you can also enjoy nature at her very best throughout the season.
Nature’s Perspective Landscaping, Inc. is celebrating its 30th year of design and installing beautiful and sustainable landscapes in Chicago and Chicago’s North Shore. For more information, please call us at 847-475-7917 or visit us at naturesperspective.com.
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Bird-Friendly Gardens
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 No commentsGardens provide pleasure in so many ways. Flowering trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals adorn our gardens with a constantly changing palette of colors. Many plants provide texture, interest and splashes of subtle colors through their intriguing foliage. There’s always something new to attract our interest and admiration of nature’s handiwork.
In addition to the beauty of the plants themselves, a nicely planned garden can be a fascinating place to watch the great variety of birds that inhabit the Chicago area. If your garden provides shelter, food, and water, you can be assured that birds will frequently visit and, perhaps, make their home in your yard.
During the fall and spring, you man see some very unusual birds as they migrate through our area. Your winter garden will be far more interesting if the birds that stay behind decide to make your place a favorite hangout. Of course, summertime means a large number of birds will be residents here and will add their songs to the beauty of your garden.
A female and male Cardinal.
The Illinois state bird, the Cardinal, lives here all year round. The male is brilliantly red and the female is usually a slightly rosy gray. You can easily learn to indentify the Cardinal’s distinctive song and then, in a moment, you’ll locate the birds themselves (they’re usually in pairs). Identifying the Cardinal and its song should be part of everyone’s nature education in this area.
What can you do to insure that your garden is an oasis for an attractive array of birds? Think in terms of the basics. Birds want shelter in order to have a safe place to nest, protection from weather and protection from predators. Trees provide the shelter that birds desire. Dense conifers or evergreens such as Falsecypress, Spruce, Yew, Juniper and Arborvitae provide wonderful hiding places and great safety for birds. Large shade trees (Maple, Elm, Oak, Linden, Hackberry, Birch, etc.) provide safe perches were birds can survey the area for predators before concentrating on feeding. Birds are also always looking for sources of food. Ornamental trees and shrubs that produce seeds, berries, nuts or fruit will insure that your garden is an avian feasting place. Consider a Crabapple, Amelanchier, Hawthorn, Cotoneaster, Viburnum, Holly, Birch and/or Dogwood. Some perennial flowers produce lots of edible seeds, such as Monarda, Purple Coneflower, and Aster. A few annual flowers also produce bird-attractant seeds such as Cosmos and Cleome and, of course, Sunflowers which are great seed producers that will attract the brilliant yellow Goldfinches.
An American Goldfinch.
Hanging a feeder, particularly during the winter, will concentrate bird activity where you can easily see them. You may want to use a mixed seed feeder for most birds and a thistle seed feeder (with tiny holes) for finches. Ideally, there should be a branch or perch within ten feet so that birds can pause and look for dangers before feeding.
The final basic, providing water for birds, can be easily done with an attractive birdbath, a simple bubbling rock, or for an even more year round source, a garden pond which also provides a tranquil oasis for homeowners.
All of the plants that are mentioned above are attractive in their own right and are hardy in our area. Not only will they enhance your garden, providing you with privacy and colorful beauty but, they will provide a safe and happy haven for so many birds during the year. Many a time during spring, summer, fall and winter the beauty and activity of the birds in our yard have fascinated us and made us glad that we thought to provide for them. You will too!
What’s New!
Nature’s Perspective Landscaping has been awarded the prestigious 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5% of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service and health providers.
Plant of The Month
Forest Pansy Redbud
Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'
Following vibrant pink spring flowers, the foliage on this understory tree emerges an intense red-purple that fades with the heat of summer. 15-20' tall. Full sun-part shade.
Perennial Plant of The Year- 2013
Variegated Solomon's Seal
Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’
A gorgeous perennial for the shade garden, with single stalks of glossy green leaves edged white. Fragrant white bell-shaped blooms appear in May. 18-24"h. Full-part shade.