I maintain that brisk temperatures are no reason to keep you indoors.  After all, there’s good growing season left, and your garden can be taking advantage. It’s also the prime time to get your lawn ready for the conditions ahead. 

Before the coldest of the weather hits, you might want to aerate your grass and lay down any of the fertilizer you may want to add.       Photo Credit: flickr

You can even start planting in the late summer to harvest some early fall crops.  Species especially suited to cooler environments include spinach, pansies, and garlic.  It’s also a good chance to get your bulbs in the ground for next spring and plant some grasses, which bloom in the late summer and early fall. 

Another great strategy for your fall time gardening projects might mean investing in a cold frame.  These great little gadgets are lightweight, easily portable, and insulate plants or shrubs from the harshest of temperatures.  If you’ve put in bushes or shrubs and the weather is set to get colder sooner than expected, cold frames are a great way to protect your investment and enjoy the foliage in the spring without worry.

There is this yard I absolutely adore.  It belongs to a smaller restored Cape Cod on a corner lot, and the charm is tangible.  I run past it in the mornings and can’t help but admire the artful vegetative appointments.  It’s well maintained and just the slightest bit wild, all with those careful touches that tell you how deeply the artist cares for the landscape. 

Photo Credit: Bainbridge Design Build 

And while this is all well and good, you might be wondering why this house is worth mentioning, and the answer to that came a few nights ago.  A few nights ago when, for the first time, I saw my favorite little lot under the graying dusk.  And while I’m generally conditioned to notice great landscaping, this little set up quite literally stopped me in my tracks. 

I suppose I had noticed the solar lanterns along the walk, even the lampposts, but in the dark, under the full glory of night, were lights strategically placed in ways I could never have dreamed up.  Hydrangeas lit from behind glistened with glittery blue brilliance, the accent lighting on the steps bathed the place in a soft ochre glow begging me to wander up to the front door, which I was very nearly almost compelled to do simply to meet the mastermind behind this nighttime garden wonderland. 

Photo Credit: Image Electric

It quite literally was the difference between night and day, all accomplished through some impressive, and probably very easy, landscape lighting.  It’s all in the lighting, and what a way to take this little yard from amazing to downright stunning with the flip of switch.

I don’t know about you, but summer makes me itch to get outside and take in all that the season has to offer.  Nothing seems more essentially summer than the beach to me, and my favorite outdoor ideas take full advantage of this theme. 

Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

With summer in full force, its nice to enjoy the season outside, and even if you can’t be at your favorite beach locale all the time, you can bring the feel of it to your home. 

The great thing about beach themed landscaping is that it gives you the opportunity to make your yard and outdoor spaces as individual as the beaches themselves.  Everyone has their favorite beach, and a pretty good idea of their favorite things about that beach.  Use this as your palatte, and get started!  What kinds of plants thrive in your favorite coastal town?  Are there textures, features, colors that stand out for you when thinking about that spot? Use them!

Don’t have the ocean view to go along with this fire pit set up?  You can still enjoy the effect in your own backyard, minus the travel time.

   Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

Here are some more great examples to get you brainstorming:

Photo Credit: Cottage Living

Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

Maybe it’s just the fact that I don’t have a yard, but this time of year fills me with a serious case of Yard Envy.  The options for creating something unique to reflect your landscaping vision are virtually endless. 

I could channel a coastal feel with sea grass, stone and recycled hurricane lanterns, or maybe a tropical paradise with imported palms and new guinea impatients - the plants, the rock, the fire pits and chimineas, the decking material…the options are incredible and inspiring:

People are starting to turn their outdoor spaces into so much more than yards and its exciting to see them becoming the spaces for entertaining, relaxing, cooking, and counting stars.  

Landscaping can be a stressful burden for a lot of homeowners I realize, but I still can’t help coveting the lovely yards I see around, and harboring some envy at all the opportunity they have to exercise their passions and take their yards wherever they please.

Photo Credit: Paradise Costa Rica

I realize too what I like about so many of these ‘yards’ is the rising lack of grass.  Less grass is great for a lot of reasons but it also means less water, which means more environmentally friendly! There are so many turf free routes to take with your outdoor space, check it out:

http://urbanecosystems.net/index.php?job=urbanecoportfolio

If you want to enjoy your yard more, and have less yard work to do on the grass, these ideas seem like the way to go, especially if you’re looking to reduce your eco-footprint at the same time.