If you read our earlier post, you’ve already got some easy ideas to turn your own back yard into the perfect getaway spot. Here are more fun, creative ideas to make an oasis outdoors for your enjoyment. With the right touches, you’ll love outdoor living in your own yard this year.
An Outdoor Kitchen Gives You Options
Is your outdoor cooking limited to holiday barbecues? Cooking outdoors can be done spring, summer and fall with an outdoor kitchen. This may be a landscape project that sounds extravagant, but it is well worth it. Not only does it make your yard more usable, it adds to the value of your home. You can even add outdoor appliances such as a dishwasher and fridge to make things convenient, or keep it simple with a grill and some counter space for food prep. And don’t forget stools so guests can gather around and snack (or help with food prep).
An Outdoor Party Pantry Kept Well Stocked
Using an old console table or hutch, create a party pantry to place on you patio or back porch ready for spontaneous festivities. Stock this pantry with only bare essentials needed for outdoor entertaining on the spur of the moment, such as plastic cups, plates, napkins, serving bowls, and trays. Other things you can stash include citronella candles to keep the bugs away. Don’t forget the matches, trash bags, and a tub of clean-up wipes.
A Dressed Up Market Umbrella
A market umbrella is a great place to start, because it gives you some shade. But don’t stop there – use it as the base for adding all kinds of decór. String lights or paper lanterns can be hung from the ribs, or you can attach streamers for a party feel. Draping a large piece of netting over the umbrella can also give you a spot to escape those biting bugs. You’ll feel like you’re in the tropics!
Create a Beach in Your Yard
If you are unable to make it to the beach often due to distance, or other reasons, try creating a personal seashore in a corner of your backyard. If you haven’t got the finances for an in-ground pool or spa, a small pond surrounded by beach sand can work. A rock garden planted with natural grasses and easy-care succulents will add to the beach feel.
Use White to Lighten Up the Night
Using white or other pale shades, plant a bed of flowers. Using pale shades and while help make most of moonlight, since the vibrant color of most flowers fades at sunset. Flowers and foliage plants with white in leaves or flowers will illuminate when the backyard is dark. This is what’s known as a moon garden, and it’s a very popular garden design for outdoor areas that get used at night.
Add a Personal Cabana
Build a personal cabana by adding fabric panels to an arbor or pergola. Use furniture lounge-like, low to ground, covered in fabrics that are sumptuous. Add more zen by using large floor cushions. Most people think of a cabana as a poolside or beach feature, but it’s a great getaway spot even if you haven’t got a water feature in your yard.
Relax in a Liquid Oasis
Use leafy plants and colorful flowers in containers placed around a pool. When planted in decorative pots, they are an easy quick way of making your simple patio into a lush oasis. Look for foliage plants and flowers that have a tropical feel. Since they’re going to be in containers, they don’t have to be Minnesota winter-hardy. When fall comes, you can bring them indoors. Palms, rhododendrons and calla lilies are good choices. But check the sun requirements – not all do well in bright sun.
Create an Instant Garden
Did you still not find time to plant flowering shrubs and ornamental fruit trees? No problem – use containers to build yourself an instant garden. Many trees and shrubs come in dwarf varieties that do well in pots. Use containers in different colors, sizes, and shapes to transform a flowerless, colorless corner of your yard into a lush garden.
Utilizing these ideas can help give you the yard you been dreaming of. We’ve got even more suggestions for you. Speak with us at Architectural Landscape Design to begin planning your backyard oasis to have it ready for springtime!
We are a licensed MN landscape design and installation contractor serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin.