Landscape is accentuated on a bright, sunny day. Photo / courtesy O’Neill Landscape Design and Installation
Patio, grill, landscaping and more can enhance any outdoor entertaining space
S.A. McSherry
From outdoor sunken trampolines and multi-level level outdoor entertaining, to lavender fields, Northeast Ohioans have been dreaming through the long winter of how best they will enjoy summer.
And it starts with the home, whether it’s refreshing the backyard, building a new patio or improving curbside appeal, Heidi O’Neill of O’Neill Landscape Design and Installation, says.
Jonas Pattie of the Pattie Group, whose father started the company mowing lawns on his street when he was 11 years old with his “partner” who was 7 years old and incorporated the company when he was 18 in 1968, says the evolution of outdoor landscaping has evolved tremendously. The Pattie Group is a full-service landscape development firm.
Nothing is more important than creating a design plan for the project first on paper after interviewing clients about what they really want to achieve, Pattie explains.
O’Neill says if a company is any good, it will charge a client for the design process. Hiring a company that just designs as it installs is just a problem waiting to happen.
Utilizing the expertise of a company’s landscape architects and planners will save clients money in the long run, Pattie said.
Curbside appeal is obviously important for the front of the house. It’s a visitor’s first impression, Pattie says. And for resale value, it’s vital. Without curb appeal, a large percentage of potential buyers won’t even get out of the car, he said. Considerations should include a 5-foot-wide walkway to the main front door, so guests may walk together, as well as a convenient space to park. As good design can define the main front door, soften and frame the house, he says. If there is an ancillary door on the front of the house, a smaller width walkway is in order and doesn’t draw too much attention. The landscaping around the main walkway and front door should be about 75% evergreen, considering six months of year in Northeast Ohio, there’s nothing blooming, Pattie says.
Designing an outdoor living area and creating exceptional curb appeal go hand in hand, our experts agree. Courtesy O’Neill Landscape and Design and Installation
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A big trend is creating an outdoor “living room” with solid roof patio structures, framed in wood, with stone or paver flooring, heated ceilings, retractable screens and lighting and sound systems, according to Pattie. It became a popular concept when everybody was cooped up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and looking at their backyards, thinking what might be possible, he says.
It’s so true that covered structures are desirable for entertaining and with them, outdoor heaters, which can extend the season by two months, O’Neill said. Heated furniture, propane heaters and ceiling heat are catching the homeowner’s eye.
Pattie Group has a fully licensed electrician on staff, who is an important link in designing outdoor spaces, from grounding needs for pools, to complex outdoor structures and kitchens. Since outdoor settings are becoming more important in the extension of the home, indoor luxuries such as sound systems, televisions and dynamic outdoor lighting help create that outdoor magic. LED lights in white and multiple colors can be adjustable and easily controlled on one’s phone. Table lamps can be charged up easily and the charge lasts for days. Wi-Fi speakers also keep improving – rugged, portable and waterproof, some double as decorative rocks, lanterns and even Tiki torches.
Even decks are evolving with new products to address clients’ complaints that their decks are too hot in the summer to walk with bare feet, O’Neill said. A new deck product by Trex features ultraviolet reflective properties that mitigate heat. Around decks and other structures, wire tension railings, more invisible and sleeker than conventional railings are also popular, she said.
Water features, such as a bubbling rock fountain, which creates a calming, gentle flow of water, utilize a simple pump and hidden basin to recirculate water. It’s very low maintenance and less expensive than sustaining a pond, according to Pattie, who has a bubbling rock in his backyard, which also serves as an amazing bird bath. And natural-looking waterfalls are one of the Pattie Group’s specialties, he adds.
Heidi O’Neill of O’Neill Landscape Design and Installation
Jonas Pattie of the Pattie Group
Low maintenance “no mow” areas are becoming increasingly popular in larger residential lots. Courtesy Pattie Group
While pools continue to be popular, the costs for traditional concrete pools have doubled in price in the last 10 years, O’Neill says.
Last year, Pattie installed a Fiberglas pool at his home, which was significantly less expensive than a traditional concrete pool. It also took a lot less time, from design work to the time it took to install – between one to two months, compared to concrete construction, which is more difficult and takes more time to design, and on top of that, a year-long waiting list and about three to five months to install, he says.
Smaller plunge pools are another alternative, says O’Neill, who is installing the first Soake Pool in the area, a solid concrete pool, 7-by-13 feet, with or without jets, fully tiled and with or without an auto-cover, made by a company in New Hampshire.
“Environmentally-sound landscaping requests such as organic fertilizers, organic lawn care, native plant materials, pollinator gardens, organic vegetable gardens in raised containers, and recycling of current materials tend to be popular now,” explains O’Neill, who is a horticulturist and landscape architect.
The No. 1 killer of plants is under- or over-watering in Northeast Ohio, Pattie points out. His company develops irrigation systems with “state-of-the-art technology and horticulturally based methodology that takes into account micro-climates” of a client’s landscape.
O’Neill installed a grill island for her husband, Jay, fitted in between two boulders, a showpiece. She has installed many masonry grill islands, which were bulky and expensive and required a 42-inch-deep foundation. Now, the choices in freestanding units such as custom fitted aluminum that will fit any appliance and custom grill cabinetry matches the look of the inside cabinetry and still hold up to the weather. O’Neill also built a fire pit in a gigantic boulder and on a flat side, carved a three-foot in diameter hold and placed recycled glass around it.
O’Neill installed an unusual “perennial plant palette” for a shady area at her home that is filled with a variety of ferns with great texture and color even when they are not in bloom” and are deer resistant. Ferns plants included Giant Solomon’s Seal, Turtlehead, Toadlily, Jacob’s Ladder, Japanese Forest grass, Fairy Hairy and Goatsbeard.
At his family’s home, Pattie decided to simply let the grass grow in a portion of his 3-acre homestead. Not only was the area low maintenance because it required no irrigation or fertilization (and he mows it just once a year) but also became a lovely haven for birds. Tall grasses help create privacy as well, perhaps lining a mowed grass path. Evergreen plant cover for portions of a yard, can cut down on maintenance as well, he adds.
O’Neill says creating “environmentally sound, sustainable landscapes that have a strong artistic and aesthetic focus, a sense of identity and atmosphere and engage people within their living spaces” is her philosophy.
S.A. McSherry is a freelance journalist.