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Swimming Pools and Spas Require A High Degree of Privacy And Safety

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Pools and spas are a good way to add more enjoyment to your property, but these areas demand privacy as well as safety features.  Fences are a good bet for providing both, and are a requirement in many local ordinances.  Container plants and vines are often used to brighten corners of the angular fence enclosures and softening the lines. Screens and fences allow air circulation. They can be built so they are baffled or louvered to allow or stop air currents from going through. This feature can lengthen the amount of time a pool can be used.

Whether it’s a hot tub, spa, or swimming pool, a water feature has a high demand for privacy. It’s nice to be able to relax and enjoy yourself without feeling that you’re on public display.  However, along with a pool or any kind of water spot comes some special problems or constraints when it comes to landscaping them.

If you are going to have a pool, spa, or hot tub, it is a necessity to plant some “neat” trees and shrubs that won’t contribute debris to the water, because it’s not always practical to cover them when they aren’t in use. You also want to stay away from fruit or berry-producing trees around your tub or pools because they can make pool decks slippery as well as produce stains.   Our landscape designers and architects can help you decide what are the right plantings that will enhance safety and privacy without creating clean-up problems. We can also review the local ordinances and keep you safe. Plus, we are able to design the pool, hot tub, or spa and surrounding areas. Particular care must be taken when choosing plantings next to a water source as the constant evaporation of water raises the moisture content of the surrounding air, and not all species thrive in a moist environment.

Let us help you keep your swimming, hot tub, or spa areas clean, neat, and safe by letting us design the pools, and creating the safety fences and plantings with you. Call us on 952-292-7717 today!

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Take An Inventory of Your Outside Options

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Evaluating your potential outdoor areas will help to giving you a clearer idea of how you want to use your personal spaces. Some of the questions you may ask yourself are: What is your lifestyle? What activities do you like to enjoy now? What would you like to do more of or less of you had more private space? Would it be a vegetable garden, sunbathing, outdoor cooking? They all present different requirements for your space needs and privacy.

Go through a checklist of various ways you might enjoy new spaces:

Entertaining: Do you like to entertain frequently? Do you want to entertain groups of people or just two or three couples?

Recreation: Do you want a basketball court, swimming pool,  or maybe an outdoor living room?  All of these have different needs in terms of the privacy and space.

Relaxation: Do you want sunbathing that needs a sunny spot, or do you want a hot tub or spa? Determining the amount of privacy you need will help determine the placement of these things.

Gardening: Do you want to create garden displays for yourself in your back yard and in your front yard? How much time do you want to spend in your garden?

When you have figured out what you want to do it is a good thing go take a walk around the perimeter of your lot. A complete property review  can help clarify your ideas of what you can and can’t do.

Next you have to take an inventory of what you already have.  Think twice before you decide to eliminate any large plants or groupings of plants. If you want to plan plant trees or shrubs along a boundary you’d better make sure the boundary between you and a neighbor is where it’s supposed to be.

Contact Architectural Landscape Design, serving Minneapolis and St. Paul and surrounding communities at 952-292-7712 today to start on your landscape assessment.

 

 

 

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Well-Designed Decks Transform Slopes to the Water

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Does your home sit on a hill with a slope to the water?  Lake homes or cabins by design are usually built on higher ground due to the water table. A house built on higher ground by a river, lake, or stream is less likely to have water problems. What comes with that terrain typically are some access and use issues for the land that slopes down to the body of water. This usually can mean slopes, hills, or even cliffs.

Getting the benefits of the water views becomes harder when the only access that’s flat is sometimes next to the house.A well-designed deck can transform slopes into level spaces that can be one or a series of outdoor living rooms. You can have decks for lounging, entertaining, swimming pools, barbecuing, and any other kind of outdoor living.

Our landscape designers can create decks that are either single-level structures that hover above the landscape, or multi-levels ones that descend into it. Here are some great decking opportunities to consider:

- A freestanding deck partway down the slope for the best views, enjoying the shade of a great maple tree.

- A floating deck that is off the ground – it seems to be nestled among trees and shrubbery .

- A viewing deck that has built in seating all around that offers a lot of scenery.

- Several levels of decks that wrap around the house, providing a variety of views.

- A multi-tiered deck system that steps down a cliff following the natural outline of the slope, with multiple decks.

- A multi-level deck that transforms a severely sloping hillside into a spacious outdoor living room.

- A stand-alone deck featuring an arbor at the end of a path, covered by climbing roses or clematis.

There are many uses for decks on waterfronts.   Decks can serve as a substitution for stairs or a combination of stairs and landings that can make a steep descent to the water much more interesting. Give us a call to help you with your decking needs on 952-292-7717.

 

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Planning a Small Garden Design with Principles

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

The same design principles apply to all gardens, whether large or small:   Unity, Simplicity, Variety, Accent, and Balance. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Planning a garden is one of the most creative home projects we each can undertake. Your landscape should reflect your dreams, your likes and dislikes, as well as your notion of what your yard or garden should be. Our talented professional MN landscape designers can help you design your space with the ideas you have in mind. We can help you search through the numerous stone, brick, and natural stone selections available in the Twin Cities area to complement and define that space.

Unity is that quality that joins all the parts of the garden into a pleasing whole. When a garden is unified it makes you and your guests feel comfortable and gives the feel of more space. Choosing a style or theme connects the elements of a garden. Repeating garden elements such as stone paths or stone retaining walls, or repeating the same plants in different places are examples.

Simplicity in the garden means eliminating unnecessary details. If it doesn’t make a major contribution, don’t include it. A rule of thumb is the smaller the garden the simpler it should be.

Variety means adding enough different items without mixing too many styles or making the space seem to cluttered. Significant elements like a patio which combines brick and stone materials in an unusual design can deliver that added punch.

Accent is at least having focal point or accent such as a gazebo, a piece of statuary, or an especially handsome specimen tree such as a flowering crab apple.

Balance in a small garden is achieved by distributing the total visual weight around that major accent.

We’ll design  and build the right structures, pathways, patio decks, fences to make your small garden design balanced  and all yours.  Call us at Architectural Landscape Design, serving Minneapolis and St. Paul on (952) 292-7717.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Covered Structures Create Seclusion from Spring to Fall

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

A garden filled with trees, shrubs, and flowers and a lawn can be quite delightful. Edith Wharton, the noted American author lived most of her life in Europe. She noted that in Italy, “the grounds were as carefully and conveniently planned as the house,” and that “the old Italian garden was meant to be lived in-a use to which, at least in America, the modern garden is seldom put.” There has been a growing trend in America to landscapes that are more similar to the Italian way Ms. Wharton described.

One of the most dependable ways to attain the essential atmosphere of privacy that she was noted is using covered garden structures. They lend the garden a special sense that invites people in. Now any type of roof like structure can be attached to the house to make shade, create privacy, provide shelter from wind and rain during the summer, spring, fall, and winter. A completely closed overhead structure can protect you from rain and snow. An overhead structure that is partially open, say with a lattice work can offer ventilation and a sense of privacy with vines growing over it.

The simplest of overhead structures is the trellis that just extends from the rafters of the house out. It offers a sense of shelter, seclusion and secrecy. If you put vines on it, it will soon be covered. The most popular is an overhead structure that covers the patio deck that is next to the house.

When it comes to the spacing of the rafters it is good to know what the sun exposure is for that space, what the wind or breeze possibilities are, and what kind of privacy is available. Our landscape designers and landscape architects at our MN landscape company are experienced in assessing locations, and creating effective designs for covered structures that will do the best in combining nature, art, and landscape in your yard. Call 952-292-7717.

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Isolate Your Garden From the Dark With Lighting

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Your yard and garden can be isolated from the dark world outside by introducing lighting to your landscape. Lighting will allow you to enjoy the scene out your window from indoors in any season and in any kind of weather. What is more beautiful than being able to watch big snowflakes float down from the sky, or to be able to watch big drops of spring rain on a stormy night?

Lighting in your landscape apart from the practical function of providing security can be used artfully to create your gardens own aura. It’s like lighting a room in your house if you use up lighting, dimmers, lamps, and overhead lights you can create a variety of moods based on the light. Safety is key; lighting for safety around stairs and along sidewalks or pathways always makes sense as a basic lighting requirement. You can go the next step to accentuate your garden as a sanctuary by illuminating entire areas.

A lot of outdoor lighting is done with spotlights and floodlights. There is an art to lighting, if it isn’t done right you may increase the number of insects you are attracting. So you want to keep the lighting away from outside sitting and dining areas.

Garden areas and lower features like low spreading evergreens are often lighted from above. This manner of lighting can somewhat replicate sunlight and moonlight. Using light from below can make higher features pop out, like the gnarly limbs of an old oak. If there is a feature in your yard that you really love and want to have stand out backlighting may be the answer.  We will work with you and experiment with the placement and type of lighting used until we get the effect you want.

As an outdoor lighting contractor we can combine that knowledge with that of our landscape designers and architects to give you the best lighting plan that evokes the atmosphere you are looking to create.  Call our Minneapolis landscape design company today on 952-292-7717.

 

 

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A Plan for a Fountain: To Fountain or Not to Fountain

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Why would you want to plan for a fountain today? Don’t they take large volumes of water? First of all any time of year is a great time to plan for a fountain. The amount of water used can be controlled by the plan you make. What remains constant is that the sound of trickling or running water is always soothing and adds a sense of movement in the garden.

Fountains were first built in the early days of civilization. They were strictly functional then. They were first built to enclose natural springs. A fountain was the place to go to get clean drinking water for people and their animals.

As time went by people learned to channel water into the places where they lived. The town fountain became a place to gather water, find the news of the day, etc. Today water is still used as a way to wash away troubles and add sound and movement to physical landscapes. There are a wide variety of styles of fountains that guarantee that you will find the right size and style to work for you. At Architectural Landscape Design, our designers are experienced in fountain and water feature designs.

In ancient Greece they harnessed the natural springs by building columnar shrines over the springs and dedicating them to nymphs or deities. Going to the local spring each day was part of normal housekeeping for Greek women. In ancient Rome, natural springs had utilitarian fountains built around them to make them easy to use. It was here that the wealthy started to create their own baths and fountains at their estates.

Later in the 16th and 17th centuries, building fountains became a hobby for the wealthy throughout all of Europe. We can help you design a fountain that will increase your enjoyment in your home call Architectural Landscape Design Minneapolis at 952-292-7717.

 

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The Best Laid Plans; Why Work With A Design Landscaper in Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer?

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Why would you want to work with a landscaper in designing your yard in any of the four seasons? Your yard offers different views in all seasons that help in the planning process and much of the physical part of landscaping can be done in from spring through late fall. In developing a landscape plan at Architectural Landscape Design our designers and architects begin with a carefully thought out plan based on your needs and wants that includes a step-by-step process. Well review it’s:

Boundaries-We’ll establish the boundaries of your property with you. Looking at boundaries we determine whether we should install fences, hedges, stone walls. We want to be considerate of the views that you have and your neighbors currently have considering the different seasons.

Ground levels-We’ll review your ground levels and drainage. Are there any areas where we want to change the ground levels? We may want to build and install retaining walls, level ground areas, or maybe even dig and install fire pits water ponds or reflecting pools, stream beds, or waterfalls.

Primary infrastructures-Is there a need to plan to build up primary retraining walls to hold back soil, is there a need for walls to create raised beds. What paths, driveways, sidewalks, edges of flower beds, gate posts, foundations for potting sheds, steps, or any other hardscapes we should plan to build?

Features and details- We’ll put in or build the main features, or the “fun features” like install liners for water ponds, lay patios, erect sheds, build gateposts, hang gates, erect pergolas, arbors, and trellis, and build walls.

Lawns- We’ll add the topsoil and finally roll the ground. Than either laying down sod or seeding the lawn we’ll finish the ground.

Planting-We’ll review our planting plan one more time and start by planting the main feature trees and shrubs, and than the subsequent plantings. And if we put in a pool or a pond we’ll fill it.

Let us help you plan your landscape any season of the year, call Architectural Landscape Design Minneapolis at 952-292-7717.

 

 

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Stay In The Swing Of Things: Add A Synthetic Backyard Putting Green

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

A private putting green is one of the landscape features people are adding to their landscapes. It can be a great place to practice your putting. You can also use it to teach your children or grandchildren how to put. And it can be used for entertaining…you can have putting parties or putting matches with friends and family.

If you’d like to practice 20 foot putts you’ll need at least 25 feet to create your putting green. It can be smaller based on what is the desired length of putt you’d like to practice. There isn’t any need to worry about maintaining putting standard green grass since synthetic turf works very well. Plus it always is green and looks great from afar.

We’ll level the area for the putting green and put in the necessary drain lines so there isn’t any standing water. Our landscape designers and architects can prepare the plan, the site, and do the installation of the turf and cups. . They can also create a landscape plan that can turn your backyard putting green into a major focal point. If you are entertaining you can take the flag(s) down and enjoy the beauty of a golf course green in your own backyard.

A retaining wall on the higher side of the green will protect it by keeping dirt and other material from washing down on the green. We’ll design an asymmetrical space and design plantings around the green so it becomes a beautiful garden of shrubbery, grasses, and flowers.

An added benefit is that by installing a personal putting green you are eliminating turf in your yard and lowering your yard maintenance. That means more time to golf!

Contact us for a free one-hour consultation on 952-292-7710.

 

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Pergolas: Creating Private Places

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

You don’t need a lot of space to create a private place in the garden. If you don’t have a place that naturally is private you can create it by adding a pergola!  It also doesn’t have to be in a corner, you can put a pergola wherever you have decided you want some seclusion. A pergola is an arbor or passageway of columns supporting a trelliswork roof.

Sometimes by simply screening off a section of the garden with a little latticework you can get a great sense of privacy. You can go from the simple pergola of two lattice panels at right angles with a simple beamed structure overhead. Or you can create a dramatic approach to a pergola by establishing a green lawn path or a brick paver herringbone opening into a larger area where you place the pergola. If you want to create it as a viewing platform for the rest of the garden build retaining walls and fill them in and elevate the pergola on a platform. The retaining walls can double as planters with stone steps leading up to it. You can have built in benches or chairs, use it as a setting for tables and chairs, or simply a set of chaise lounges.

Both the simple and the more elaborate pergola types provide places for a lot of ornamentation. You can have abundant plantings that go up the wooden structures’ walls and cascade down from the beams. You can paint or stain the structure in a variety of colors to make it more rustic or more dramatic.

Using the lattice work as a design feature you can “frame” vignettes” you want inhabitants or approaching guests to see. They can frame statutes of lovers, fountains with spray, particular plantings that you want to feature. The simplicity or complexity can be achieved also through the type of flooring you install. Some range from gravel to elaborate brick or natural stone paver patterns to concrete platforms.

Our landscape designers are experienced at designing pergolas call 952-292-7717.

 

 

 

 

 

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