By Joe Raboine, Belgard
Photographs courtesy of Belgard
Who doesn’t love spending time near a calming body of water? Not all of us are fortunate enough to live seaside or near a lake, so how can you get the same effect in your own yard?
By adding a water feature!
Water features are a beautiful element to add to your landscaping or garden to enhance the experience. Here are a few tips for adding ambiance to your backyard with water features.
Fostering Connection with Nature
The four elements comprise our experience in the outdoors – earth, water, fire, and air. Highlighting these basic elements helps capitalize on the connection to nature and create a beautiful outdoor space.
Adding a water feature like a water bowl or bubbling fountain can create a more calming atmosphere and serve as a focal point around other plant life. Paired with outdoor seating, you can have a perfect, cozy spot to relax with family and friends.
Weaving these elements together is a great way to create contrast, too. Pairing water and fire features complements biophilic design styles and creates a sense of natural opposition. You can opt for a traditional fountain or look to more modern options, like stone and copper water bowls. The range of fire features available today means you can find anything that suits your style. Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits are classic choices, or you can look at fire bowls and fire tables for more modern flair.
Creating a Sensory Experience
In a 2022 survey from Yardzen, the company noted that homeowners are now requesting the incorporation of sensory elements in their yards. People want to smell, hear or touch natural elements when they head to their outdoor living areas.
Water features are a great way to add comforting sounds in your backyard. Depending on the type of feature you select, you can have different tones and volumes for your preference. Water bowls and ponds can mimic the natural flow of water, while fountains and bubblers add a different effect. In addition to creating more atmospheric sound, these features also help block out noise pollution from neighbors or passing cars.
Combining water features with other landscape elements can enhance the sensory experience. Pair your fountain or water bowl with soothing plants like lavender to increase the calming effect or plant more trees to incorporate rustling sounds. Mixing sensory and biophilic design truly takes any outdoor living space to another level.
Add Lighting for Functionality
Another element that adds more functionality to a space is lighting. Incorporating spotlights or landscape lights helps highlight the water feature and maximizes functionality – so you can use your space day or night. You can even choose color-changing lights to help set the tone for any occasion.
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By Dan Heims, President, Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Photographs courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
Terra Nova’s breeders have created a series of outstanding world-class echinaceas that are consistent in size, bloom power, color intensity and are a pollinator buffet. What’s not to like.
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