8 Backyard Elements to Add to Your Landscape Architecture Plans in Auburn, CA

Achieve a wow-worthy backyard with some ingenuity and inspiration. Here are eight backyard elements to consider adding to your landscape architecture plans in Auburn, CA.

Fire and Water

Outdoor Living Auburn CA - Landscape Architecture

Fireplaces, fire pits, and water features such as terraced waterfalls have the ability to completely transform an outdoor living space. Add both fire and water to create a wonderful yin-yang effect of using elements that are opposites but have a unique ability to draw people together. Water features bring the sounds of nature to your backyard while a fire pit or fireplace would take the chill off—and together, water and fire features make for a sensory feast that you and your guests will love.

Great Landscape Lighting

Lighting, done right, isn’t just utilitarian. From the moment you enter your backyard at dusk, a well-designed lighting scheme invites you to enter, and to discover details of the landscape that you may not notice much during the day. Lighting highlights texture, sets the mood, and illuminates special features.

Related: How Professional Landscape Architecture Can Improve Your Rocklin, CA, Commercial Property

An Outdoor Kitchen

A kitchen becomes an instant social hub, and food just tastes better when cooked and eaten outdoors. Whether you want a simple grill station or a full gourmet kitchen, consider adding special features like a pizza oven or wet bar to enhance the experience.

Seating Walls

Masonry seating walls are one of those outdoor living elements that almost everyone wishes they had added earlier. Not only do they define the space and address the need for overflow seating, their shapes can make a huge space feel more intimate, and a tiny space feel spacious. Top them with potted plants for a pop of seasonal color.

A Sunken Conversation Area

If your yard feels exposed, consider this excavation project: Create a sunken conversation area around a fire pit, and surround it with a low wall, trees, and taller plants such as ornamental grasses, for a secluded feel. As with any seating area, be sure to consider exposure to the elements—a pergola or solid roof could further enhance the feeling of seclusion while offering shade from the blazing sun.

Outdoor Games Area

Fancy a game of giant chess? Use large-format pavers in two different colors or a mix of pavers and contrasting pebbles to create a human-scale chessboard. Or transform an unused side yard into a bocce court or outdoor domino area.

Related: 8 Landscape Architecture Ideas for Creating a Well-Designed Outdoor Space

An Edible Garden

Position an edible garden next to an outdoor kitchen. Short on space? Go vertical, with a completely vertical container garden attached to a privacy wall or make the most of space behind a retaining wall. Don’t like to garden on your knees? Use raised beds edged with low stone walls.

A Secret Nook

Sometimes, you just need to get away from it all—without leaving home. Create a secluded, secret nook in a corner of the backyard or in an unused side yard with tall privacy fencing or a masonry wall on the property’s perimeter, with lush plantings and a comfortable place to sit to round out this special space. Position the seating to take advantage of the most serene view, whether it’s a backyard pool, garden, or a distant vista. A small fountain or waterfall will add to the serenity by masking traffic sounds.