Drawing to the Gathering Place Outside with Fire and Water

Creating gathering places that draw you, your family and friends to YOUR backyard can be achieved by adding unique elements to the backyard. A Fire and Water Feature accomplishes that goal in several ways.

First of all, Fire and Water Features are still quite new to many homeowners. The novelty and beauty of the feature is in and of itself quite a draw to the backyard. Of course, the sound of the water cascading into the bowl helps to provide a welcome tranquil setting. The fire radiates heat to warm a cool evening. And don’t forget to bring the marshmallows.

Let’s go outside!

Columnar Plants Add Interest To Any Landscape

Columnar plants add unique interest to the landscape…The featured plant is a spiral Emerald Green Arborvitae, a sturdy plant for Nashville, Tennessee. Pruning once a year after the spring flush is usually adequate to maintain a tight, formal presentation of the plant.

The single, stately Emerald Green Arborvitae is a popular columnar plant in Nashville due to its tight, columnar, evergreen and hardy features. The Emerald Green Arborvitae can also be used to create a warm and attractive screen in areas where space is more limited.

Other columnar possibilities include Sky Pencil Holly…

Columnar Boxwoods…

Italian Cypress…

Taylor Juniper, which actually is an alternative to the Italian Cypress, which is very borderline in Nashville…

Alberta Spruce, which is a smaller type of ornamental, columnar plant…

And a couple of deciduous, columnar trees, the columnar English Oak…

And the columnar Sweet Gum…

Each have their own distinctive characteristics that can add interest to any landscape!

Koi Ponds Don’t Need to Look Like Black Liner Pools

There are basically two types of Koi ponds. The strict, traditional Koi pond construction includes sophisticated and expensive filtration equipment which may include a biological and sand filter as well as an ultraviolet system. The traditional Koi pond also includes an exposed black liner in the bottom of the pond to promote easier cleaning through an installed bottom drain that recirculates through the filters. This type of Koi pond with the exposed black liner presents an unnatural pond appearance.

The second type of Koi pond, as represented by the photos, relies on more natural filtering processes and includes a natural looking stone lined bottom and sides. The filtration basically consists of plants covering approximately 30% of the pond surface, removing fallen leaves from the water and adding beneficial bacteria on a regular basis to the water. The bacteria can be purchased online or from most pond supply businesses. The beneficial bacteria feeds on nitrogen in the water which is the food source of algae, thereby minimizing the food source of the pesty algae. Adding white albino catfish to the pond also contributes to controlling of pond algae. The albino catfish can be purchased online and will need to be replaced with smaller ones every 18 months or so as they grow out of scale with the pond.

Is it a Swimming Pool?

Creating a unique pool with a woodland presentation adds interest to backyard get-a-way Gathering Places! The key element is the creative approach – creating a natural, woodland waterfall cascading into a swimming pool. Craftsmanship is required.

What Is Going To Draw You Outside to Your Nashville Backyard?

Come Home to Go Outside is the drawing mantra to the backyard Gathering Place by creating healthier outdoor lifestyle additions.

Developing woodland backyard get-a-ways at any home by introducing mountain streams and waterfalls increases this draw to the backyard Gathering Place.

Who would not be drawn to the backyard that is reminiscent to the mountains? Why go to the mountains when the mountains can be in your own backyard?

And nestled among mountains, rivers and natural woodland landscapes, Nashville, Tennessee provides a great setting for this type of approach.

Pondless Waterfalls, A Unique Element To Any Backyard Get-A-Way Gathering Place

Want the drama of a waterfall without the maintenance and liability of a pond? Pondless waterfalls provide a unique element to any backyard get-a-way gathering place, whether it be a resort style landscaping or an informal woodland escape. Nashville, Tennessee provides an excellent setting for the creation of any type of mountain waterfall because of its mountainous type of surroundings.

The water of one of these creative waterfeatures simply disappears into the stone at the bottom of the waterfalls. There it is recirculated back to the top of the falls by a pump in the waterfall basin.

One of the distinctive features of the pondless waterfalls includes the ability to walk right up to the base of the waterfalls. This is possible since the basin of the pondless waterfall is filled with stone.

A couple other distinctive features of the pondless waterfall is the minimal maintenance required for the waterfall compared to the maintenance required for a pond as well as the ability to turn off the waterfall whenever the homeowner goes out of town.

A pondless waterfall included in a backyard creative landscape design and installation will simply promote the backyard as a destination for family and friends!

Instant Privacy!

Create Instant Privacy!

The art of taking away an unwanted view by creatively arranging a group of evergreen trees to achieve privacy and focus to the home and it’s entrance.

Before – The house was one of many in a row without privacy or focus to the home and it’s entrance.

Planting a variety of large evergreen trees, cryptomeria, deodar cedar and magnolia’s provided the homeowners with instant privacy as well as an attractive addition to the front of their home.

Come Home To Go Outside!

It’s one thing to have a patio! It’s another thing to have something that draws you to the patio outdoors!

Water is captivating, whether it is a cascading waterfall at the patio’s edge or a soothing, quiet pond brimming with colorful, playful fish. Water is simply a welcomed addition to any lifestyle.

Creating Privacy Planting Large Trees

Planting large evergreen trees is an effective method of creating privacy in your backyard. The closer the trees are planted to the outdoor living space, the fewer and smaller the trees will need to be. The further away from the space will require larger and more evergreen trees to create the desired privacy.

A good landscape design that includes planting large evergreen screen trees will be creative with the selection and placement of the trees. Whenever possible it usually is best to avoid simply planting a row of evergreen trees. Using an assortment of varieties of evergreen trees and strategic placement of the trees will help promote a warm setting for your backyard Gathering Place!

How Important Is the Presentation of Your Home?

Enhance the landscape presentation of your home with color! Broad, colorful annual flower beds can add a year round festive setting for your home. Bright, colorful pansies during the fall and winter can brighten up any day. And the wide variety of spring and summer annual flowers gives limitless creative possibilities for a fresh, new presentation of your home. Show It Off!