Shade Trees for Your Cincinnati Landscape

Shade trees are some of our favorite trees to plant around Cincinnati homes. These workhorse trees offer benefits all year long. In the summer, a carefully placed shade tree can cool your deck, patio or house and give your air conditioner a break.

Colorful foliage is a visual treat every fall. And when the leaves drop, you can thank these trees for allowing winter sunshine to filter in and warm your home. Here are a few of our favorite shade trees:

Red Sunset Maple

A moderately fast-growing tree, this red maple cultivar shades a yard with green glossy leaves that turn first orange-red then brilliantly red in the fall. A moist site makes this tree happy. It adapts to a range of climates and tolerates full sun to partial shade. This is one of our top picks because you can’t beat the gorgeous foliage of the Red Sunset. It’s a showstopper.

Choose Red Sunset Maple for:

• Superior fall color

• Good branch structure

• Reddish winter buds and winged summer fruits

• Small red and yellow flowers in the spring

• Impact: A full-grown tree will reach 45 to 50 feet in height with a 35- to 40-foot spread

• Its ability to stand up to the cold

Japanese Lilac Tree

If you’re looking for a shade tree that stands out, this one is for you. Also known as a Chinese tree lilac, this species grows to 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It’s a trouble-free, low-maintenance lilac that prefers full sun. Don’t let the gorgeous flowers and beautiful shape fool you: This tree is tough and hardy.

What we love about this shade tree:

• Showy, fragrant white flowers in panicles (long flower clusters) reaching 12 inches long

• Rounded oval crown

• Blooms after other lilac blooms have passed

• Reddish-brown peeling bark on younger branches

• Dark green leaves

• Hummingbirds and butterflies love Japanese lilac trees

Lacebark Elm

Make space in your yard for this tree—it will reward you with shiny dark green leaves all summer long. Lacebark elm is a tough tree with a graceful rounded shape. It’s medium- to fast-growing and easily reaches 40 to 50 feet in height with a 40-foot spread. With Cincinnati’s hot summers, we like a tree that can tolerate drought.

You’ll love this tree’s:

• Multicolored bark that flakes to show gray, cream, orange, brown or green patches

• Leaves that turn in shades of yellow to reddish purple in the fall

• Good resistance to Dutch elm disease

• Small dark green leaves

• Adaptability to a variety of soil conditions

• Durability

Shade Trees and More

If you would like to add more shade to your front or back yard, contact us for a no-obligation consultation. Our landscape designers are thrilled to share their tree expertise.

Top 5 Reasons to Use a Landscape Designer

Landscape designers provide homes with more than just beautiful scenery. Across the country and here in Cincinnati, landscape designers give people new ways to spend time outdoors in an enjoyable environment. They boost homeowners’ pride in where they live. They’re masters of their trade, and, like Seiler’s, they provide full-service project management that’s more dependable and more sustainable than DIY projects. 

With specialized knowledge and skill sets, landscape designers enhance your home’s overall quality, from visual aesthetics to property value. Here are five reasons you want to hire a Cincinnati landscape designer for your Queen City home.

Merging Art and Science

Landscape designers work at the crossroads of nature and art to create spaces that are both environmentally sound and aesthetically appealing. They pull from a wealth of knowledge about plant life, climates and native ecosystems, and combine it with artistic elements of design like balance, variety, texture and unity. The result is a pleasing balance of amenities, comfort, sustainability and visual appeal.

Selecting the Right Plants 

Not all locations are the same—even when they’re in the same region—and each property has its own physical characteristics and environmental needs. Cincinnati landscape designers in particular, who are extremely familiar with our Midwestern weather patterns, know how to analyze a property’s climate and plant life compatibilities so that your outdoor living space and your property’s natural elements work together in harmony. They’ll also determine what kind of plant life is most suitable for your lifestyle needs and style preferences.

Making the Most of Your Space

Specialists like landscape designers can envision the potential of a property better than anyone. By surveying the environment and understanding how you and your family spend your time there, they can enhance your home in ways you hadn’t even considered. Where you may see just an open space in your yard, a landscape designer might envision a pergola, a stone creek bed or a paved walkway to a garden. The possibilities that open up when you hire a landscape designer are endless.

Boosting the Value of Your Property

Landscape designers know the importance of a first impression. Homes with high curb appeal tend to sell about seven percent more than homes that are lacking, according to Realtor Magazine. In our region, where the real estate market is competitive, Cincinnati landscape designers know that properties with great curb appeal (and incredible outdoor living spaces in general) pay off for homeowners.

Increasing Livability 

Living and working in a visually appealing space that brings you comfort goes a long way toward your and your family’s overall contentment. Landscape designers find opportunities to enhance the atmosphere so that you can indulge in life’s little pleasures and enjoy where you spend your time. It could be evenings with your family on a newly furnished patio, entertaining friends around a firepit or hosting a pool party. Landscape designers get to know your needs and lifestyle, and imagine ways to make your home life even better.

As Cincinnati landscape designers, we’re seasoned pros who can transform your home into your own personal oasis. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.

Mature Trees Star in Landscape Makeover

Almost 20 years ago, the owners of this Montgomery home asked Seiler’s to polish the landscaping for their home, which was built in the 1980s. Then, in 2017, the couple worked with Legacy Builders Group to completely rework the home’s interior. With new oversized windows and reworked room arrangements, the owners asked us back to refresh their outdoor surroundings, specifically with mature trees. 

Full-Scale Makeover

The landscaping Seiler’s installed in 2001 had become overgrown and was starting to block the view of the home. As part of the landscaping renovation, we designed a new master plan. The plan included changing walkways, adding seating walls and a dry creek. A new pergola in the backyard and a new patio area were also part of the updated plan. 

“We wanted to use the site’s big mature trees as a focal point,” Will Seiler explains. Existing trees were pruned and shaped to become the stars of the new landscape plan.  

“The homeowners really like the shade and they want to create a cozy, private setting in the backyard,” Will says. The design called for planting large Aristrocrat pear trees. These trees are lovely in every season, from charming white flowers in the spring to glossy green leaves in the summer to bright fall foliage. As ornamental trees, they produce small inedible fruit in the summer that are a favorite with birds.  

On this flat site, water management was an issue for the homeowners for years. The new landscape design called for a dry creek that would be both functional and beautiful. It manages the water and creates a beautiful focal point in the yard.  

As part of the whole-home remodel, the deck was redesigned and made more open. Now the home’s many outdoor living spaces flow more easily. The deck steps act as the main artery into multiple parts of the property.

A simple pergola draws the eye to one corner of the yard. It arches over a patio lined with pavers from Reading Rock. A huge granite boulder from a supplier in Wisconsin accents the patio entrance.

Around the perimeter of the front yard, limestone walls define planting beds filled with large, newly planted boxwoods. Along with the mature trees, these established shrubs give the new landscaping a lush, full look. “We had our work cut out for us in finding large plant materials,” Will says, “but it’s our specialty to make new landscapes looks like they have been there for years.” 

With the interior remodel, an unused formal dining room was converted to a home office. Its bay window overlooks the curved front walkway lined with flagstone.

Lighting is always a part of the landscape designs Seiler’s creates. Here path lights accent a low wall and are softened with ground cover plantings.

Ready for Outdoor Living

The fully redesigned landscaping includes a firepit area for gatherings, too.

Is your landscaping ready for a refresh? We would love to talk with you about your options. Contact us today to schedule a no-obligation consultation.

Home for the Holidays: Backyard Gift Guide

Our homes have been through a lot with us this year. Why not show them some holiday love? Whether you’re buying for friends or family, or your own house, this backyard gift guide will inspire you. All items are available at Cincinnati retailers, so you can support local businesses as you shop. 

Indigenous Craft Gallery

A fixture on the handcrafted scene in Cincinnati, Indigenous Craft Gallery offers a wide range of gifts for the yard and garden. Located in East Walnut Hills, the shop is open seven days a week this season. Most of the wares are made by regional artisans.

Put on a happy face with Ohio artist George Carruth’s “garden smiles.” These cast concrete plaques look like sandstone and hold up to the elements all year ‘round. Look for the artist’s sweet details in all of his pieces, which include figurines and other garden art. 

North Carolina metal artist Elizabeth Keeth brings her pre-rusted cut steel pieces to Indigenous, too. Choose a tree of life motif or artwork with birds, dragonflies and welcoming quotes. Keeth’s pieces can be used indoors or out.

Neighborhood butterflies will swoop over to your garden when you provide them with a colorful feeder made by Larry Mack of Holland, Ohio. Mack combines metal and blown glass in his line of garden bells, rain chains, butterfly feeders and other ornaments.  

Scot and Laura Kellersberger create 3D metal garden art in their Kentucky studio. Look for extra large insects, animals and birds in their garden stakes and sculptures.  

Renaissance Garden Accents

Tom and Marie-Claude Boehmer offer a wide variety of fountains and garden decor in their shop in the Voltage Lofts on Madison Road in Oakley. Located on the third floor of the building, Renaissance Garden Accents offers many backyard delights in a stylish showroom. 

Go for a well-rounded look with ceramic spheres in a variety of sizes and colors. The globes bring a pop of color, which is especially welcome in the winter garden. 

The shop offers many types of fountains. Classical fountains like the one the shop created for our recent English garden client offer a timeless look. These tiered, cast concrete fountains can be custom-ordered to exact specifications. The shop also carries many cast concrete fountains in stock. 

For a slightly different look, choose a glazed pottery fountain. Larger models have a basin that can be installed below ground and surrounded with rocks and plantings. Smaller glazed fountains are perfect for a deck or patio. 

Looking to add a bit of music to the backyard? Renaissance Gardens carries Music of the Spheres Wind Chimes in stock. Available in five sizes and 11 precision tunings, these chimes bring a charming calm to the garden.  

Also popular as gifts are the shop’s small statues, lanterns and gargoyles. For the backyard with a sense of humor, look for elves or gnomes. Visit the Renaissance Garden showroom or get inspiration from the numerous photos on the shop’s website. 

Voltage Furniture

While you’re visiting the lofts, head to the Voltage Furniture showroom to see the latest offerings in contemporary outdoor furniture. The shop can introduce you to premium makers like California-based Brown Jordan and other international designers. Find the showroom on Madison Road in Oakley or learn more online at www.voltagefurniture.com.

Watson’s

Local retailer Watson’s offers everything you need for family fun, both indoors and out. Visit their flagship showroom on East Sharon Road in Sharonville, or shop online.

As you stretch the outdoor living season this year, try one of Watson’s indoor/outdoor lamps from Uttermost. The table and floor lamps make great gifts for your outdoor living space. Each one is made of weather-resistant slate and copper with a brushed suede shade that stands up to the elements.

Backyard Gift Guide and More

Really want to make a splash this holiday season? Consider adding a new fire pit, fireplace, outdoor grill island or patio to your landscaping. We’re be thrilled to discuss your options in a no-obligation consultation. Happy holidays to you and your home!

Hot Outdoor Fireplace Trends

This year, especially, we are all looking for ways to be outdoors as much as possible. Sitting by a fire outside is a great way to spend time with friends and family even as the temperatures dip. If you’d like to warm things up in your landscaping, here are the latest outdoor fireplace trends: 

Indoor Style, Outdoor Location

One of the hottest outdoor fireplace trends is bringing the quality and range of styles available for interior hearths outside. You can choose a direct-vent or vent-free fireplace for your outdoor living space. If you’re looking for a fireplace you can put anywhere outside, a vent-free unit is a good choice. With vent-free, there’s no need for a chimney or a place to run a vent. The gasses produced by combustion in a vent-free fireplace safely disperse outdoors.  

You can choose to mix things up: If your indoor fireplace is more traditional in style, a more contemporary look outdoors could be a nice change of pace. Or you can match your indoor and outdoor styles for a seamless feel. Most of our clients wrap their outdoor fireplaces or fire pits in stone or brick, whatever they feel complements their home’s exterior finish or other hardscaping elements they might have.  

One of the recent outdoor fireplace trends involves flames on a small scale: gas-fueled torches or fire vessels. Units on the market now might be tiki-style torches, traditional lanterns or stylish fire bowls. Whatever you choose, these elements’ dancing flames provide light and an inviting ambiance. 

Gas Beats Out Wood

Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits traditionally burned wood. If you have easy access to firewood and kindling, wood can be the way to go. Today most homeowners choose the ease and convenience of natural gas to fuel their outdoor fireplaces or fire pits. 

With a gas line run to the fireplace or fire pit, starting and extinguishing a fire is push-button easy. And you don’t have to worry about sparks or getting rid of ashes. Another benefit to natural gas is that the line can be split to fuel both a fireplace and a  gas grill. 

Whichever fuel you choose, the warmth and glow of an outdoor fire are sure to be crowd pleasers. 

Incorporating Outdoor Fireplace Trends

Most of our clients choose to include a fireplace or fire pit in their landscaping. A popular choice is to add a hearth to an outdoor living space lined with pavers. Some clients prefer a fire pit that’s set off on the property on a bed of gravel. Low walls surrounding a pit can provide extra seating. 

Take your time to research outdoor fireplace options or tap into our years of expertise. Give us a call today to set up a no-obligation consultation and let’s turn up the heat in your yard!  

Making a Splash: Cincinnati Pool Landscaping

For their spacious lot near Lebanon, Ohio, the owners of this new construction home could picture a luxurious oasis in their backyard. With a comprehensive design by Seiler’s Landscaping, the pool landscaping for their Hensley Custom Building Group home is big and beautiful.  

The Big Picture 

Overall, the expansive pool deck is lined with travertine to create a seamless outdoor space. Stone stairs lead down the sloping site from the side yard. The home’s screened outdoor living space (on the left in the photo above) looks over the pool landscaping designed for fun and entertainment. 

Turning Up the Drama

Dancing flames bring warmth and dramatic flare to the space. A pair of fire vessels flank the raised seating area that sits just above the spa and pool beyond. These vessels feature gas flames with a dramatic waterfall below that helps recirculate water in the pool.

On one end of the outdoor living space, a generous fire pit creates a place for friends to gather. A retaining wall defines the space and shelters it from the wind. 

The fire pit, constructed of natural stone and travertine, provides a long view of the entire pool area and the back exterior of the home.

Natural limestone steps lead from the side yard down to the pool area and outdoor living space. 

Lighting It Up

The landscape design for this outdoor living space includes a complete lighting plan. LED colored underwater lights give the pool a beautiful glow. The homeowners can choose from a wide range of colors to suit their mood or the occasion. Path lights, spotlights, lights mounted under steps and underwater pool lights work together to make the whole space welcoming after the sun goes down.

Your Cincinnati Pool Landscaping Ideas

Whether you’re building a new home or are planning to add a pool or outdoor living space to your current home, we would be happy to hear your ideas. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation. 

Paw Patrol: Landscaping for Dogs

If there’s a dog (or two) in your family, you know how much they love to be outdoors. Whether you have a new home or are looking to refresh your yard, landscaping for dogs is easy.

You can have a great looking yard and happy pups, too. Here are a few tips:  

Seeing Spot’s Spots?

When landscaping for dogs, one thing to consider is the issue of dog urine leaving “burned” areas in the grass. Solutions for this problem can include: 

• Using a more hardy type of grass

• Creating a fenced “dog toilet” with artificial turf

• Providing areas for your dog to relieve himself that are lined with stones or mulch instead of grass

Dog paths can leave bare patches in the lawn, too. An attractive way to deal with these “runways” when landscaping for dogs is to use stepping stone pavers to create a walkway. If you fence part of your yard to keep the dog out, we would recommend a flagstone path along the fence instead of grass. If your dog isn’t one to chew rocks, gravel borders along fences are also an option.

Can You Dig It? 

Whether you have a puppy, a breed that loves to dig or just a dog that’s bored, you may have a yard full of craters. When creating landscaping for dogs, we can set aside an area filled with sand, mulch or soft soil that’s specifically meant for digging. You can encourage your dog to dig in the space by hiding dog toys there. Praising Fifi for only using that area to dig can help her learn to leave other areas alone.

Give Them Shelter

Whatever style you choose, a doghouse can add charm and a protected spot for your dog to lounge. As we design your landscaping, let us know if you’d like to include a doghouse or other dog shelter. If your goal is to create summer shade for your dog, we can also select appropriate plants or trees to include in your design.

The War on Mud

For many dog families, mud that gets tracked into the house is a constant issue. A large patio near your door could cut down on muddy paws. Finding ways to vary your dog’s path around the yard can also help preserve grass and decrease mud. 

Healthy and Happy

Landscaping for dogs means you can enjoy time outside with your pet without worrying. As we design your landscape, tell us about your pets so we choose plants that are dog-friendly. You might also want us to include a pet watering spot, a paw-washing station or an area where you can play fetch.   

As dog owners, we understand that it’s important to consider every member of the family when designing the perfect landscape. If you’re dealing with pet damage to your yard or just planning to update your landscaping, contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Retaining Walls and New Construction Landscaping

Cincinnati is known for its seven hills, and many new home buyers in our area have to deal with hilly, sloped lots. Luckily, the solution is simple: In new construction landscaping, retaining walls can be life savers.

Landscaping Superheroes

Retaining walls look beautiful, but they are also tough and strong. Holding back literally tons of soil requires brawn and a bit of engineering. For a very steep slope, a single retaining wall might be sufficient. Another option for a steep slope is to build a series of walls to create tiers or terraces. These level areas can be used for flower beds, patios or lawn.

Retaining walls may look simple, but making sure they are stable requires some engineering. Particularly with new construction, builders often need to cut into a slope to ensure a level area for the new house. To keep that disrupted slope from eroding or sliding, a retaining wall or walls will be necessary. Walls over three or four feet should be designed by someone with experience in specifying the appropriate reinforcement and choosing the proper materials.

Anatomy of a Retaining Wall  

Typically, retaining walls, like those found in new construction landscaping, start with a base layer of sand and crushed stone. This layer is tamped down either by hand or machine to be compact and level. If this base layer is not leveled, building a level wall is impossible. The first stones, blocks or other wall materials are stacked on top of the base layer. 

Behind the wall, on the slope side, drainpipe (sometimes called drain tile) is installed to move water away from the wall. Layers of gravel above and below the pipe allow water to filter down to the pipe. The gravel also helps the wall stand up to the pressure of the heavy soil behind it. For walls over 3 feet tall, we use a geogrid mesh that helps stabilize the wall. The geogrid ties all the layers of fill together into one reinforced mass and is installed according to engineering specifications. 

Another way to allow for drainage is to insert small diameter pipes between the first course of the wall’s stones or blocks. This pipe, set perpendicular to the wall, moves water from behind the wall out to the face of the wall and away. 

A properly installed retaining wall will be level, but will angle slightly back toward the hillside. This backward angle toward the slope of the site helps minimize soil pressure on the wall. Finally, the wall may be topped with a larger capstone.

Getting the Look

You’ll find a range of styles for retaining walls in new construction landscaping. Walls can be curved or straight and can vary in height. Your landscape designer can help you choose between brick, stone, blocks or even wood. Wall materials can match or complement the colors of other hardscaping materials used in your new construction landscaping. Topping walls with a flat capstone can create a place to sit or a ledge for flowering containers.

Retaining walls add character, dimension and interest to landscaping. As a final touch, spotlights or uplights can make them stand out at night and call attention to their beautiful texture.

New Construction Landscaping Ideas

Whether you’re building a new home or are looking to refresh your current landscaping, we would be happy to hear your ideas. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Party Central: Outdoor Living Space Project Management

After living in their brand new house for several years, the homeowners had outgrown the small, kidney-shaped patio off the screened porch. Instead, they envisioned a place where they could serve meals, socialize and spend time as a family and with friends. They called on Will Seiler and our team for outdoor living space project management.

Completing the project just in time for a pandemic that would make outdoor living more important than ever turned out to be perfect timing.

The outdoor living area is made up of four distinct spaces: A fire pit area, a grilling island with bar, a dining area and a covered seating area. It’s all just steps away from the home’s screened porch and kitchen.

Low stone walls faced with U-Cara stone block from Unilock define the perimeter of the fire pit and provide extra seating for larger get-togethers.

Topped with black granite, the grilling island and bar includes a built-in grill and refrigerator, sourced from SiteOne Landscape Design. Its location gives the “grill master” a view of the fire pit, sitting area and the deep backyard.

Stone block walls blend seamlessly with the patio’s Beacon Hill pavers from Unilock. Across from the fire pit, the covered seating area offers a comfy spot to unwind, day or night.

A flagstone path leads friends and guests from the side of the house to the twinkling lights and warm welcome of the backyard.

Outdoor Living Space Project Management

At Seiler’s Landscaping, we love working with homeowners to design and install outdoor living spaces that fill all their needs. If you’re imagining what your backyard could look like, tell us about it. We would be honored to discuss your options for expanding your living space to the great outdoors.