Once the holiday season gets into full swing, many homeowners decorate their landscapes by stringing lights on their evergreens and hanging a few festive wreaths. However, you may want to go even further and make sure your landscape looks beautiful from every angle all winter long and is even usable, with a place to gather and warm up when the weather allows. Here’s how masonry can contribute to a Macomb, MI, landscape design that looks good in winter.
Related: Adding Vertical Dimension to a Landscape Design Using Masonry in Canton and Troy, MI, Areas
Fire could be the most important feature you can add to your patio to make it not only more livable but more attractive in winter. There are several types of fire features that encourage people to gather around and stay toasty even on the most frigid days.
Fire Pit
Who can resist getting wrapped up in a cozy fleece blanket, sipping hot cocoa, and roasting marshmallows by a crackling fire? A fire pit offers the perfect opportunity to warm up after a family snowball fight or could simply be a wonderful spot to enjoy mulled wine with friends. When it comes to fuel, you have options. Fire pits can be fueled by wood, natural gas, or propane. While fire pits tend to conjure up memories of childhood camping trips, today’s versions are often elegant focal points by the patio. A wall with a generous ledge stone can make for a comfortable place to warm your feet by the fire, and to tie in the fire pit with other vertical elements like a grill station or pergola.
Fire Pit With Built-in Seating
To ramp up the coziness factor even more, consider surrounding your fire pit with high-back seat walls instead of open seating (such as Adirondack chairs). This will create an incredibly cozy fire area as the heat reflects off the wall to keep the space warm. Add some festive cushions, blankets, and pillows, and you’ll have the ideal spot for hanging out with family and friends no matter what nature has in store.
Grand Outdoor Fireplace
A larger and more elegant outdoor fireplace can create the feeling of an outdoor living room. Like fire pits, fireplaces look great in all seasons. Many fireplaces feature natural stone or manufactured stone veneers, whose textures catch the snow and give the surface a dramatic appearance—the contrast between snow and fire could be one of the most aesthetically pleasing ways to dress up your patio in winter.
Raised Plant Beds
Raised plant beds crafted by masons could be the unsung heroes of the backyard. While they are often used to create convenient vegetable gardens and to create a pleasing transition between the home and the landscape, plant beds can also be used to define your patio space and add privacy. And here’s where the magic happens in winter. If a planter is filled with evergreens such as boxwoods or dwarf cypress, it can act not only as a windbreak but a great place to add some holiday lights and ornaments. If it is filled with seasonal flowers, it could later be filled with pine cones, ornaments, and lights for a festive look that changes with the seasons.
Retaining Walls
Even if you have a pancake-flat property, a retaining wall is a wonderful addition that gives you additional seating without the clutter of patio furniture. It also defines spaces and adds vertical dimension. Walls—especially textured walls that feature a stacked-flagstone veneer—also take on a delightful winter wonderland look when covered in snow.
Related: 5 Outdoor Lighting Ideas Tailored to Winter Landscapes in Macomb and Rochester Hills, MI, Areas
