Don't let the summer heat take away your enjoyment of a nice yard. Cool yard landscaping techniques can help make your yard more comfortable even in the heat of summer.
1. Plant Trees Wisely
Trees provide shade, so focus on planting shade trees on the western and southern sides of your home. Deciduous trees are the best choice if you want to minimize sunlight during the hot months but still have some sun exposure during the winter, since the trees will lose their leaves in the fall. Just make sure to choose tree varieties with a mature size that will fit into the space available.
2. Use Green Groundcover
Bare soil is a heat sink, which can make your yard and even your home hotter. Cover bare soil with green plants, which will help cool temperatures as they hold some moisture and reflect back heat. A lawn is suitable if you don't mind the maintenance, but you can also opt for green groundcover. Clover, creeping thyme, and other low-growing plants make suitable lawn replacements if grass isn't really your style.
3. Lighten Your Hardscaping
Part of your landscaping design will revolve around hardscaping. This can include pathways, patios, and even gravel mulched areas. Skip the coal-black asphalt and instead opt for lighter colors for the hardscaping. Light gray concrete or white river rocks have higher albedo, which is the reflectivity of the material. Materials with high albedo reflect back solar heat instead of absorbing it, which results in a cooler yard.
4. Minimize Mugginess
Mugginess and humidity are problems when there is too much moisture and minimal air circulation. You can decrease the amount of air moisture in your immediate environment by planting native plants that don't require excess irrigation or wet soil conditions. As for air circulation, how you plant and then manage those plants is key. Instead of solid hedges which block air flow, for example, layer plants of varying heights along your yard's borders. This way the breeze can still snake its way around them.
5. Install Shade Structures
Integrate shade structures into the landscaping for areas where trees aren't suitable or where you may need a bit of extra shading. Small arbors in front of the south wall, which are then covered in pretty vines, are attractive additions to the landscape and keep the harsh sun from soaking into your home. You can also install pergolas in the yard itself to provide a bit of shade and create cooler oases in the yard.
Contact a landscaping contractor at a company like Owen's Mowing for more ideas on developing the perfect cool yard.
