OLA Landscape Ohio - Spring 2022

MAG A ZINE

Spring • Summer | 2022

Escape at Home Big or small, you can create an outdoor destination

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Ohio Landscape Association President

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On the cover: Green Impressions

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n some form or another, landscape professionals throughout The Great State of Ohio enrich our lives.

Whether it’s along our daily commute, around our office spaces or in our own private oasis, these professionals are tasked with making these environments less stressful and, overall, more functional.

Whether you desire a simple redo of your front landscape to add more color or a transformation that turns the rear of your property into a backyard paradise, you’ve come to the right place. Ohio Landscape Association (OLA) members create some of the most sought-after landscapes in our state.

So, for a moment, forget Houzz or Pinterest and take note.

You may just find the inspiration you’re searching for in the pages that follow. In addition, the OLA is here to help align you with our contractor members. We offer a free referral service on our website (ohiolandscapers.org). Just click on “Find A Professional” to find an OLA member in your area.

Respectfully, Brian Maurer, LIC 2022 OLA President

Spring/Summer 2022 | Landscape Ohio! Magazine

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STORIES BY CHRISSY KADLECK

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erhaps you’d like an evening stroll through a thriving native garden buzzing with pollinators and monarchs. Maybe you’d like to take an early morning dip in the in-ground pool followed by a leisurely morning coffee on a comfy chaise lounge.

You can plan a festive summertime soiree under an expansive pavilion outfitted with an entertainment center and refreshments served from a nearby outdoor kitchen and pizza oven. You can create these images of blissful retreat and vacation vibes in your own backyard, big or small, say local landscapers and designers. It even works with a modest budget.

Building your own at home escape takes inspiration, great design and proper planning, says Joe Schill, owner of Green Impressions in Sheffield. His design-build company does landscaping projects that range from $5,000 to a million dollars and everything in between.

ESCAPE AT HOME Big or small, you can create an outdoor destination.

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Landscape Ohio! Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

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GREEN IMPRESSIONS

LANDSCAPE OHIO! “My approach is to help my clients establish a budget and then go into what we call our master plan concept,” Schill says. “We gather all their ideas and inspirations and try to organize them in some type of complete plan that we present to them and refine from there.”

He then uses 3-D imaging for clients to get a clear visual of what their backyard will look like prior to unearthing one shovel worth of dirt.

“The more planning we can do on the front end of it, the easier that project is for us and the more efficient we can be and the quicker they can use that space to entertain and spend time with their family,” Schill says.

Pools in all shapes and sizes are one of the hottest elements to incorporate when creating your ultimate staycation, Schill says. “Now we’re doing complete outdoor entertainment spaces with pools, patios, kitchens, fire pits, fireplace covered structures,” he says. “Right around the time COVID was hitting and people being locked down in their houses created a huge demand in the pool world.”

The biggest trend is built-out covered structures along with the pool, which can be concrete, fiberglass or vinyl.

Picture a 400-square-foot extended area built out from the house with a fireplace and grill area or bar underneath it.

Surrounding the pool is a tanning deck with chaise lounges and decorative lighting and water features built into the pool.

In the evening when it’s not in use the soothing sounds of the pool will provide a soothing backdrop.

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“These areas almost turn into three season rooms now,” he says. “And that’s the idea — to create these little outdoor rooms, very similar to what you have in footprint of your house. You have your kitchen, your family room, dining room.

We do the same thing outside. We have our dining space. We have our cooking areas. We have our fire pit areas and a shade area.”

everything just an extension of their living space and they are making the most out of their space, small or large,” says Piteo, adding that she has a small backyard that she has turned into an oasis. She took out the grass and installed raised beds and a gravel walkway.

“Gravel of all sizes is wonderful for so many things — dry creek beds, drainage, walkways, where you don’t have to spend

ith 24 years of creating lovely escapes in Cleveland, Connie Piteo, the owner operator of Earth and Water Scapes, agrees that the biggest goal is that any backyard space becomes an extension of your home.

“Especially in Northeast Ohio, because we have such very precious few days to enjoy our summers,” she says. “That’s the best word I can use: precious. Those golden summer days and nights. We want to increase our spaces to make the most of those.”

Piteo’s Earth and Water Scapes specializes in the design, installation and maintenance of landscapes and waterscapes.

The landscape build firm prides itself on building outdoor spaces that heal the mind, body and soul, and doing it in a way that is positive for their customers.

“Since the pandemic started, people are home and that’s where they want to make

Build outdoor rooms in your yard that you can enjoy throughout the year.

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Spring/Summer 2022 | Landscape Ohio! Magazine

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LANDSCAPE OHIO! a ton of money on concrete,” she says.

“Even if you have money, that doesn’t mean you want to spend it on concrete.”

Her cozy outdoor space has it all. A nice dining table and a nearby fireplace for entertaining guests. She has a woodshed with a front porch, giving the feel of structure. Her yard also has a beautiful water feature and garden beds.

“So you can go out on a nice summer night and walk through with landscape lighting,” she says. “There’s so many ways to do a small living space. We found a lot of companies really didn’t want to deal with just smaller spaces and smaller yards and maybe it wasn’t worth their time. We love it. We find it challenging but we’re really good problem solvers with space and budgets. We get super creative with it.”

structures and gathering spaces. The centerpiece was a plus-shaped 10-by-50 pool with a surrounding pool deck and spa with bathrooms and outdoor bar, TV and kitchen. The pool had a custom spa water feature built in.

“There was what I called the pond structure, and it was this beautiful screened in Tudor Style structure with a large fireplace with Bluestone, and a composite deck that extended out over a pond where they had little kayaks and paddle boats they could use for some additional entertainment space,” he says.

The homeowner was inspired by and desired an English garden backyard setting with white flowering bushes and plants. Schill and his team put in heavy, dense plantings to create the feel of such a

A lot of outdoor spaces are being designed as areas to entertain guests.

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lush English garden. Natural stone walkways and patios go around the pool deck and a built-in bocce ball court.

“There were multiple little sitting areas within the gardens, fire pit areas, fireplaces, as well as areas to cook throughout the property,” he says.

But a beautiful at-home escape doesn’t have to cost a fortune, Piteo always stresses to her clients.

“We’ve done a lot of great jobs without them costing a gazillion dollars,” she says. “We make sure that you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck. When her more budget-conscious customers ask how they can potentially bring the price of a project down, Piteo suggests they take on a job like planting the annuals throughout the space.

“I’ll tell them what to buy but then they get the experience of having their hands in it.

They are actually doing the labor.”

Landscape Ohio! Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

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GREEN IMPRESSIONS

A space doesn’t have to be enormous to be functional, Schill agrees. It could be as simple as a 15-by-15 space where you can seat six to eight people comfortably around the foundation of an existing patio. You can improve an existing space with LED lighting, enhanced landscaping or even building a pergola.

“There are many little things that you could add on without going through this major overhaul or more extensive project,” he says.

But if you want to go big and go home, there is constant inspiration on HGTV and social media for stunning estates with outdoor spaces that rival resorts.

Schill worked on a project like that in Huron, Ohio, where the design build budget was seven figures. This sprawling property was the ultimate staycation, Schill says, incorporating many high-end

LEVERAGING A STRATEGY DEVELOPED SURROUNDING THE 2008 RECESSION, PITEO regularly offers her clients three- and five-year plans to achieve the backyard of their dreams.

“During the recession, there were a lot of people who didn’t have funds coming in. People were losing jobs and they couldn’t get loans. They were losing their houses. The That people that did original have money were master plan holding onto it.” ensures In turn, her team would approach continuity backyard transforinstead of a mation in stages, piecemeal which would approach. allow homeowners to budget small chunks at a time. Instead of $25,000 one year, it could be a $6,000 investment over four or five years. The layered plan generally starts with foundational elements such as trees and taller shrubs.

The next year could be shrubs and perennials. And so on, but it’s all driven by the ultimate goals of the client.

“Throughout those stages, you can weave in elements such as a fire element and a water feature to make it a peaceful Zen space,” she says. “And then by the third year you’re looking at doing annuals and adding another element such as a pavilion or pergola. It’s just a little bit at a time but you are still getting results that are instantaneous.”

While some clients have the funds to invest in their dream outdoor spaces, Schill also regularly works with homeowners who have a vision that may take years to achieve.

“That’s the cool thing about doing a plan,” he says. “Maybe you don’t have a budget that’s a hundred thousand dollars right now, but you could do three or four $25,000 projects in phases and then you have a plan that ties it together,” he adds.

That original master plan ensures continuity instead of a piecemeal approach. “So, when it’s done, it’s exactly like that big picture and the vision you had in the beginning.”

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LET YOUR GARDEN GROW Some plants can be fruitful for your family.

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arving out a little garden space in your yard can be one of the most fruitful and deliciously rewarding endeavors.

Just ask Rob Cowie, director of operations of the garden center group at Suncrest Gardens. Not only has he managed garden centers for 35 years, he has a 3,000-squarefoot fruit and vegetable garden at his home.

That’s not to say you need a huge plot of land to start growing your own veggies.

“It’s still incredibly popular to do raised beds, and we see more and more people doing mixed container gardening growing tomatoes, peppers and fruit trees in pots,” Cowie says, adding that there’s a strong trend toward things being organic and healthy.

Consider adding a raised garden bed to optimize your gardening space.

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Landscape Ohio! Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

The benefit to using containers for tomatoes or peppers is that you can place the pots in an easy sunny spot on a deck away from critters and weeds.

“If you’re not the person like me who has 30 varieties of tomatoes, and you want one tomato variety, you could do cherry tomatoes in a pot right on your deck and have fresh tomatoes every day,” he says.

More families are approaching food gardening as a fun and valuable activity to do together.

“We see tons of kids in the garden center because their parents are really encouraging them to understand where food comes from and engaging them in the process of picking seeds and plants,” he says.

They are planting mini orchards in their backyards, incorporating blueberry bushes and fruit trees like apple, apricot, peaches, plums, pears, sweet and sour cherries and pawpaws.

A garden is only as good as its soil.

Cowie pushes his customers to invest as much as possible in excellent soil whether it’s fresh soil for a raised garden bed or amending the starting soil in the yard.

“The more money you can throw at it, the better,” he says. “In the spring, I’m constantly adding dehydrated, cow manure and mushroom compost.”

He uses carrots as an example. “If you want to grow carrots in Ohio, it’s kind of hard to do in our wet soil. But if you grow carrots in the raised beds, with perfect starting soil, it’s unbelievable how beautiful your carrots can be.”

Don’t forget to consider adding some flowers to your food garden. Not only will they add color and texture; they attract critical pollinators.

“Dahlias are a fabulous addition and a great cutting plant, and I always have a butterfly bush in a pot in my garden because it draws in all the butterflies and the bees,” he says. “Without bees, you don’t end up with cucumbers. The best thing to do is plant plants that attract the new pollinators and the honeybee.” landscapeohio.com

LANDSCAPE OHIO!

SHRUBS

Top Trends THE COLOR OF THE YEAR WORKS IN YOUR OUTDOOR SPACE TOO.

ISTOCK

EARLY AMETHYST BEAUTY BUSH Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst'

DWARF KOREAN LILAC Syringa Meyeri ‘Palibin’

As the “IT” pantone color for 2022, Very Peri is whimsical, delicate and an inspiring hue to incorporate into your landscape design for the season.

“If you’re constantly changing out plants, you’re never going to really get a beautiful, full landscape. However, this year, Very Peri gives us some really great choices,” says Sandy Munley, executive director of Ohio Landscape Association.

“The caveat being that the most important things to consider when you are choosing plants for your garden are the conditions that they grow in and what that particular plant needs. So you always want to be careful to read up on that plant or use a professional who understands what all the specific plants need.”

TREE

REDBUD Cercis canadensis

PERENNIALS

VARIEGATED LIRIOPE Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’

PURPLE CLEMATIS Clematis ‘Jackmanii’

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Spring/Summer 2022 | Landscape Ohio! Magazine

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LANDSCAPE OHIO!

LITTLE LANDSCAPERS Getting the kids involved means more fun for everyone.

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e can cultivate our own little landscapers with some of the same principles that make us successful in the garden: Make it fun, plan and prep, and give them space to grow.

“Depending on your kids' age it’s best to keep the activity on the shorter side, where you can do it all within an hour,” says Kevin O’Brien, landscape designer with Lifestyle Landscaping in North Ridgeville. “That usually means there will be prep work on the parents’ side and you’re leaving the fun stuff for the kids, so it’s not perceived as nasty work. What kid doesn’t love to grab the hose and spray the water everywhere?”

cies not the cultivar), agastache, which is a magnet for butterflies, and milkweed.

SENSORY GARDEN In a small, under-utilized area, you can incorporate plants that are fragrant, ones that have soft leaves or spiny texture and ask the kids to focus on what they see, hear, feel, smell or taste while exploring the garden. This can be achieved using edible plants like strawberries, a fragrant perennial like lavender, and a soft leaf like Lamb’s Ear. THEIR VERY OWN GARDEN Once the kiddos are engaged and interested, you can always give them their own plot — be it 2x2 or even 10x10 — to pick their own plants and then get them into the ground. “So they have ownership of it and give them the freedom to create something fun,” O’Brien says.

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Spring • Summer | 2022

Escape at Home Big or small, you can create an outdoor destination

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Landscape Ohio! Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

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NATIVE PLANT GARDEN The biggest trend right now is a move toward using native plants in the landscape, O’Brien says. That means using

plants that grew naturally in Ohio. Their benefits are twofold — they take carbon out of the air and put it into the soil through natural processes, and they support biodiversity namely by helping other insects, bees, bugs, pollinators, butterflies because they can feed off or live on these plants.

“If a plant cannot help another organism, then it’s decoration almost,” he says. “Why not create a pollinator garden or native plant garden.

Plant 10 native plants so the kids are involved in the planting. Once the kids see the diversity of insects that are flying into their native garden, especially if they are a bit older, perhaps they would be more interested in either adding to it or taking care of it.

You can create this interactive, engaging and educational space by planting varieties such as nodding onion, columbine, baptisia, clover, coneflower (straight spe-

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