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Backyard landscaping ideas | Waterloo Outdoor Design

Landscaping the backyard of your Austin, TX, home combines the elegance of both form and function. Your backyard is part of the local ecosystem; its design should safely channel rainwater and support the contained plant life in your garden beds — other than those duties, the design is entirely up to your vision of the perfect backyard escape. Are you looking for backyard landscaping ideas to create the perfect relaxing garden oasis, a lively family gathering spot around the fire pit, a gourmet outdoor kitchen (or grill pit), or perhaps a little bit of all three?

Austin homeowners have the freedom of a temperate to warm climate, making it the perfect place for both luxurious green gardens and beautiful dessert-style grassless landscaping. Whether you’re planning on an astounding deck or an enchanting garden path, you’ll find the expertise you need with Waterloo Outdoor Design Build. Here are some of our favorite backyard landscaping ideas for the coming season.

Defining Space with Structure

You have two landscaping options in a large backyard: Grade the field and place soccer goals or define the space with elegant structural elements. Consider curving pathways, raised garden beds, artistic sheds, or Pavillion pergolas for an enchanting garden design.

Work with our landscape design specialists to visualize how beautiful your space could be with trees and bushes hiding shady garden corners or with beautiful rock beds creating visual artistry in swirls of colorful quartz. Lay defining pathways in pavers or stepping stones and use your outbuildings to create new garden regions to explore.

No Patio, No Problem – Add a Pergola

If your back step opens into beautiful green grass, you don’t need to pave a patio to make the most of your outdoor space. Create outdoor living designs by adding a free-standing pergola draped with indoor-outdoor curtains for adaptable shade and elegant privacy. Enjoy the cool grass under your toes, or hang a bench swing or hammock from the pergola beams to drift into weightless garden naps.

Use The Lawn as a Patio

Another option for a patio-free backyard design is to use your lawn as the patio. Grade your lawn, so it’s beautifully flat and cultivates rich, soft grass with no weeds or hidden pebbles. Embrace the joy of barefoot picnics, lawn lounging, and beautiful green expanses. To contrast the rich natural green carpet, you can frame your patio lawn with paving, pebbles, or flower beds.

Think about a Grass-less Design

What about going completely grass-free instead? One very popular backyard landscaping idea is known as “Xeriscaping,” or creating landscapes that require little to no water. When landscaping Austin, TX homes – where dry spells are common – a backyard of pavers, pebbles, and succulent flower beds can require hundreds fewer gallons of water to keep alive and beautiful every year.

Grassless landscaping designs are also easier to maintain, requiring less weeding or protection from insects. At the same time, you get to see the fantastic shapes our local and transplanted succulents can take when allowed to thrive in arid Austin soil.

Just be sure to note which of your grass-less succulent flower beds like direct sunlight vs. shady seclusion.

Fire Pits & Creating An Outdoor Open Air "Room"

This year, outdoor living and backyard fire pit ideas are a huge hit as families are inspired to embrace luxurious indoor-outdoor lifestyles. Every Austin backyard should have a seating area surrounding a welcoming fire pit, no matter your landscaping style.

A little brazier-style fire pit can turn even a small back patio into a firelit oasis, while larger backyards can landscape an entire stone-lined seating area with a bricked-in fire pit that glows with heat for delightful summer play and warm winter evenings with family.

Add Privacy with Retaining Walls Around Patios

A subtle way to add privacy to your patio is with retaining walls, raising the level of your garden, or creating a sunken patio effect that is both elegant and cozy. Tall plants, outdoor curtains, and stylish outdoor dividers can provide backyard privacy without taking away from the ambiance and beauty of your landscaping.

Give your patio shape, level, and personality with retaining walls that define different heights throughout your garden, then use that difference in height to provide relaxing, beautifully screened backyard privacy for yourself and your family.

Outdoor Kitchens & Cafe Society Themes

What about backyard landscaping ideas for your outdoor kitchen or cafe society vibe? Your outdoor kitchen design should be uniquely you, whether you are the grillmaster general or a DIY gourmet. Outdoor kitchens are best when shaded under a pergola or covered patio. We find that cafe seating is the most charming when hidden in surprising private corners of a lushly landscaped backyard.

Whole Backyard Design Services at Waterloo Outdoor Design Build

Whether you’re landscaping a luxurious new patio for outdoor living or looking for whole backyard design services, you can count on the landscaping and design experts of Waterloo Outdoor Design Build. We’ll work with you to fully create and realize your vision of the perfect backyard design. We can do everything from welcoming fire pits and outdoor kitchens to stylish grassless xeriscaping designs. Contact us today to discuss backyard landscaping design ideas for your Austin, TX, home.

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