Landscape Design Ideas to Inspire Next Year's Remodel in Madison and Monona WI Areas

2020 was a life-changing year for everyone. As people spent more time at home, they got to experience backyard living at its best… and at its worst. If your outdoor living experience was marred by poor design or the wrong amenities, plan ahead for 2021 so that whatever comes, your backyard can be an enjoyable sanctuary. Here are landscape design ideas to inspire next year’s remodel in Madison and Monona, WI, areas.

Related: Merging a Patio With Surrounding Nature in Sun Prairie and Fitchburg WI Areas

Practical Gathering Spaces

A bigger patio might seem like the answer to your backyard woes if the main challenges were lack of space and/or poor patio layout. However, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. The downside to adding on to a patio could mean a space that’s big and impersonal, but not necessarily more efficient.

Often, a better approach is to start from scratch and create a patio that reflects how you truly live. This includes optimal positioning of key elements such as an outdoor kitchen and fire pit, or creating a series of outdoor rooms (mini-patios) that help contain noisier, busier activities and make quiet spaces truly quiet.

If you prefer a single patio instead of a series of smaller interconnected patios, the hub approach still works: a centrally located cooking/dining space, and outlying areas for relaxing. Amenities like an outdoor fireplace or fire pit create a welcoming atmosphere.

Related: 4 Trends That Landscapers Near Me Predict for 2021 in Middleton WI

Quiet Spaces

With many people now working from home, getting away can seem impossible. Create a peaceful space where you can unplug, with a small paver or natural stone patio tucked into an otherwise unused corner of the backyard or side yard. A hammock or comfortable lounge chair, privacy fencing or a living wall, and a small fountain add to the tranquility.

Eco-Friendly Design

Low-impact, environmentally friendly design is on-trend especially with climate change. It doesn’t mean turning your backyard into a desert landscape, or sacrificing greenery in favor of a patio. It means choosing native plants over fussy, thirsty, and chemical-intensive exotic plants and lawns. Native vegetation is friendly to local pollinators, birds, and small wildlife. It preserves the local ecosystem, and rewards you with attractive, hardy, water-wise and low-maintenance plants ideally suited for the location. 

Replacing a portion of your lawn with native plants makes your landscape more interesting and reduces your landscape maintenance chores so you can relax and enjoy more time with your family. And, it’s a refreshing change from cookie-cutter lawns present in most suburban areas. 

Permeable Pavers

A water-wise landscape also involves your hardscapes. If you’ve ever seen sheets of water cascading down an asphalt surface, you can see how much water runs off of hardscapes, causing flooding and pooling - often in unwanted places. 

Permeable pavers on your driveway, walkway, and patio allow rain and snowmelt to seep into the ground below through wider joints between the pavers. A special substrate lets water filter into the aquifer instead of pooling or running off. 

Today, there are many choices in beautiful, stylish permeable pavers that suit your design aesthetic while reducing your environmental impact.  

Updated Lighting

Modern landscape lighting uses fixtures and techniques to create distinct zones and moods without the bug-attracting glare of harsh floodlights. 

A Gathering Spot

No outdoor feature is as important as the cooking area to bring people together. Whatever your cooking preferences, consider adding features like a wood-fired pizza oven to create a true hub of outdoor living.

Related: 6 Zen-Inspired Design Ideas for a Relaxing Patio and Pond in Waunakee WI