When it comes to getting the most out of your Central New Jersey property, professional landscaping is a must. Excellent landscape design goes well beyond just choosing a few hanging plants from the local nursery and adding a paver patio outside the kitchen door. Today’s designs are fully integrated to connect your home’s architectural style to the outdoors, and great design will lead your guests on a journey toward fresh vistas — or just to a relaxing nook to sit down and enjoy some company during an al fresco meal.
A lot of landscaping ideas for NJ homeowners consist of basic advice, such as adding in plants and simple structures, but one of the best parts about working with a designer is getting a bespoke outdoor room that is custom-built to enhance your property’s unique features. It’s your chance to add something truly one-of-a-kind to make your home stand out from the rest of the neighborhood.
Looking for some inspirational landscaping ideas for your NJ home? Take a look at these stunning design elements that will take your yard from average to outstanding.
1. Hidden Rooms
One of the time-honored tenets of landscape design is the art of drawing a visitor into another world. Instead of placing all of your best ideas right outside your kitchen door, try adding a secondary focal point that’s out of sight, perhaps at the end of a winding path or tucked among tall, such plantings.
This project is a great example: A fire pit with built-in seating is the destination that’s hidden below eye level when viewed from the house. The gravel path provides a satisfying sound when walked on, but it’s kept in check with rustic metal edging. Bluestone pavers add contrast to the wall seating.
2. Romantic Pergolas
Many landscaping ideas in NJ call for the addition of a pergola as a focal point over a patio seating area, and these are often added to the side or back of the house to transition from indoor to outdoor living. Unfortunately, many of these pergolas remain bare. They add structure, but not much else.
Take a page from European design and have your pergola do its job: holding up flowering vines to create a natural shady awning. Wisteria is a classic perennial vine that does well in New Jersey’s growing zones. Over time, it will grow very large, so you’ll need a very sturdy pergola to support it — but the results are totally worth it! This pergola shades a simple patio edge with ground cover plants.
3. Offset Pathways
One of the biggest differences you’ll see when you work with a trained landscape designer is that they know how to get you to see your property in a new way. This is often done with creative lines instead of just squaring things up against the house and paving over whole swaths of real estate.
For example, this offset path moves through the property on a diagonal, which adds much more visual interest. It also balances the hard edges of the rectilinear flagstones with plenty of grass in between them to soften the look (and improve drainage). This totally unique garden also has low, stacked stone retaining walls for subtle terracing — a great way to dress up an unused slope.
4. Soothing Fountains
For a truly successful landscape design, it’s important to appeal to all five senses. The sound of flowing water is incredibly soothing, and adding a water feature will create a wonderful primary or secondary focal point on your property.
A fountain can be a simple affair, but for something truly special, consider designing a naturalistic waterfall where water can empty out into a pond for maximum impact. Make great use of your local NJ rock by stacking it against a slope to create spillway. This version abuts a paver path and features lily pads and fast-growing ground cover that will eventually fill in space around the stones to create a semi-hidden gem.
The Benefits of Professional Landscape Design
A functional, beautiful landscape is one that is carefully planned, and it takes training and experience to get a design just right. A great landscape designer maximizes your property’s best features while finding ways to screen out the parts you don’t like. Hiring a professional also gives you access to a wider range of building materials, and you’ll enjoy high-end looks that you just can’t find at your local home improvement center. When you have someone with a great eye working for you, you’ll find that a whole new world of possibility opens up, including creative combinations of materials, interesting arrangements of paths and features, and design ideas that you’ve never thought of before.
If you like these four landscaping ideas for your NJ home, call a professional landscaper for help with your next steps. They’ll get a feel for what it is that you like most about your favorite designs and help translate those features into something entirely new that will work in your backyard. Instead of a brick-by-brick copy, you’ll get something even better than your source photo: a fully customized landscape that works for your property.
