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Its a rare person that isn’t drawn in by the beauty of the flowers on the Tropical Hibiscus, a.k.a Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Luckily, unless we have a really severe cold spell where the temperatures remain too low for extended periods, you should have great luck growing these gorgeous, long blooming plants in your Phoenix landscaping. For those who would prefer not to risk the unpredictable nature of winter weather, they still make an excellent large container plant to add continual color and beauty to your courtyard or outdoor living spaces. This will allow you to move the plant inside should the weather grow too cold for their liking. However, many people have great success in growing them in their landscape beds.

Showy hibiscus comes in a wide array of bloom colors from white to yellow, orange, pink and red. – not to mention those varieties that have bi-colored flowers. There are also both single and double petaled flower forms available. A native of Asia, the plant has different names in different Chinese states and has been gracing gardens there since before the 12th century.

There is even a variegated foliage variety with mostly white leaves and rich red flowers that is most striking in a morning sun only situation. The flower color on any Tropical Hibiscus has a great deal to do with where it should be planted in any Phoenix landscape design. The darker colors fare well in most day sun, where those with lighter blooms do best without any afternoon sun. Obviously, like any sun-loving plant, the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis requires several hours of full sun a day to produce good blooming. Locating them accordingly will make it easier for you to enjoy abundant exquisite beauty and color throughout the warm months of the year.

Being a tropical plant, rather than a xeriscaping selection, whether you container grow them or put them in the ground, you will need to count on giving your Tropical Hibiscus sufficient water. A shrubby form, versus a tree shape will help them to conserve moisture and deal with the high temperatures and arid conditions of summer in your Phoenix landscaping better. If grown in a container, you should count on watering them without fail on at least a daily basis in summer, as well as putting them in a spot that they are protected from the hot afternoon sun, no matter what color the blooms are. Above the ground, the heat will affect them far faster than when in your planting bed soil.

Deep root watering practices are best with Tropical Hibiscus. This trains them to put their roots deeply into the soil where moisture will stay far longer for their needs. Hibiscus rosa -sinensis in your Phoenix landscaping beds are best kept on a lawn watering schedule from spring through fall and on a citrus watering schedule during the winter.

Photo courtesy of likeaduck, CC Share-Alike 2.0

Popularity: 6% [?]

For the majority of Arizona homeowners, they’ve either acquired an existing outdoor living area that falls short of the features they would like, or the process must be done in stages as the budget allows. This is true not just with Glendale landscaping clients, but those all over the greater Scottsdale – Phoenix area. Many times, starting all over from scratch isn’t a feasible strategy and isn’t necessary to enjoy great outdoor living spaces outfitted with everything you want them to offer.

It is very popular today to create different outdoor living areas with a change in the patio flooring. In new build installations in some parts of the country, the dining area, cooking area, fireplace lounging area or outdoor living room are all treated with outline borders to set them apart from the overall paver fill. The finished look is as if there are area rugs under the patio dining set and outdoor furniture that create open air rooms. These are interesting and can be very intricate to create on the ground behind a home. Unfortunately, the paver manufacturers who make the types of block this is done with do not have distributors here in Arizona. (Please send your complaints about being discriminated against to Unilock and tell them they need to open a new location in this part of Arizona.)

Still, just as the flooring changes from room to room inside your house, this is the perfect strategy for upgrading outdoor living spaces. Adding areas that don’t exist or enlarging those that are inadequate, even with Phoenix pavers, an exact match to the old paving surface to the new one will be almost impossible. Pavers differ by dye lots, and even natural stone can have a noticeable change of coloring from what was there before the construction began to what is used in the added on square footage. With stone paving, this would be due to them quarrying in different places than at the time when the original patio designs were installed. Because of this issue, it makes far more sense to create distinctly different ‘room spaces’ when starting all over isn’t really an option.

Some homeowners will opt for the change in patio paving to be more subtle than what you see in the images here, but it is really dependent on what the current material and coloring is as to whether this is possible or will fit your budget. As long as the two type of paving material’s colors don’t clash, it will look great and very unique to your backyard. There is no set rules on how you decorate your Glendale landscaping, beyond proper material selection for long lasting beauty, installation procedures and prep work. After that, whatever suits your taste and style is what you should do.

Here, adding to the outdoor living space’s features included a built in gas grill, outdoor fire pit with seat walls and enough new patio space to add an outdoor dining set close to the cooking area. The new raised patio space gives the homeowner ample room and plenty of extra seating whenever they have a larger gathering for dinner or an evening of relaxation. Dancing firelight can be enjoyed from the pool or the lounge chairs on the pool deck too. Just about anything is possible when you remodel with the right amount of creativity, craftsmanship and masonry knowledge.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Like all other communities around greater Pheonix, backyard Peoria landscaping almost always features a patio. While you’re looking at the options available for paving with Arizona patio designs, don’t overlook high interest – all beauty travertine stone tile.

Unlike man made pavers, there is a great deal more color variation and subtle nuances with a natural stone product. The irregularities and pitting in natural travertine tiles offer a very smooth surface for Peoria patio designs now found in flagstone paving. This is because the finish on each piece of travertine paving is smoothed as they are sliced from the large rock formations. Split face rock as you have with flagstone will never be perfectly level, but travertine will. Its the closest thing to the flat surface one gets with Arizona pavers without it being a concrete product.

Travertine paving tiles are laid the same way that patio pavers are with the base and fill sand being compacted to provide you with long lasting, beautiful paving. Travertine being a soft stone allows easy cutting to create installation patterns also not possible with concrete pavers. Not that you cannot cut paver stones, but the brick-like shape of pavers available in Arizona really only allow cutting to fit a fluid curve or make a straight edge with an offset laying pattern. Travertine pavers are available in a variety of sizes, allowing for more intricate cuts and wider variation in patio designs.

As is seen in the backyard Peoria landscaping pictured above, the patio design’s travertine pieces are much larger than those used in the walk that leads from the house to the outdoor living space’s flooring. Depending on your preferences, travertine pavers can be cut to create an intricate pattern or simple ones as was done in this Peoria landscape. Whether its a more random pattern you seek, or something more artistic, travertine makes a unique laying pattern a simple task. It does require a lot of cutting work, but renders a truly beautiful and very different patio designs than you would find just anywhere.

One of the greatest thing about travertine patio designs is the subtle and more dramatic tone variations in the stone tiles. The finished surface has miles more character than Peoria patios made from concrete pavers. The overall light coloring of travertine also deflects heat, which is a good thing in the Arizona during the summer months.

There are a lot positive and creative benefits to having Peoria patio designs made from travertine. These natural stone paver tiles are will suited for both formal and informal areas. They also make great courtyard floors and even front walkways. Anywhere the pavers don’t need to stand up to the stress of vehicle traffic or parking, travertine is an excellent paving material that will remain beautiful and low maintenance in the Arizona climate.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Having a patio adds a totally new dimension to the concept of home. One really can’t call a full featured design like we have available today a patio, for it is really much more than that. The patio is really just the paving, the feature elements we add turn these backyard places into what can only be known as Phoenix outdoor living spaces.

There are so many different elements these days that we can add to enrich and beautify these exterior rooms. For some homeowners in the Scottsdale – Phoenix area, water features are preferred to be part of the swimming pool and double as a fountain. Others have no pool in the backyard, and for them the addition of waterfalls or outdoor water fountains are highly sought after elements to be worked into the space or its surrounding planting areas.

Like all other parts of this particular area of Phoenix landscape design, water features can take on any style at all. They can be rustic or very contemporary, built of natural materials or from glass and steel. Its all a matter of taste preferences from yard to yard. A true waterfall would obviously be built of rocks as it would be in nature, other materials would be classed more as fountains.

Against the backdrop of the untamed desert landscape, natural rocks and stone seem the perfect choice of material for waterfalls to harmonize the distant view with the outdoor living space’s overall appeal. They do, without a doubt, create the perfect accent to plants of any kind and easily fit into any backyard landscape design theme.

The use of natural rocks also allows a totally customized waterfalls design not possible with any prefabricated or molded pieces. They can take on any shape or size the homeowner desires and the available spaces allow. For most, a small waterfalls tucked into a corner near the seating area is preferred. As most Phoenix landscapers will tell you, this gives you an affordable water feature that will be very easy to care for and the lowest maintenance. They also make a great deal of sense, as they use very low volumes of water to run, yet no amount of ambiance is sacrificed.

Adding simple night lighting to waterfalls in outdoor living spaces is an excellent idea. Water features that are lit at night add a unique visual accent for relaxing and entertaining.

Popularity: 6% [?]

There’s nothing quite like the cool night air after a summer afternoon here in our Arizona desert climate. While the sun’s disappearance overhead makes for comfortable outdoor lounging, early in the warmer months and as we approach winter, the night air can be quite chilly. Whether for ambiance added to a social gathering or to put some warmth into the night spent visiting with friends in Peoria, there is something very special about adding custom fire pits to your patio.

Designs that work with your available space and flow with the colors already present in the pavers or patio stone tile or other hardscape in the backyard, even the walls of the house make for beautiful outdoor living space elements. While most Peoria fire pit designs are round, there is no law that decrees your outdoor fire feature has to be that shape. It can be square or rectangular, but long standing traditions direct most homeowners to want a round fire pit.

Gas firepits are most popular thanks to our relative lack of abundant fire wood here in the valley. For most, when comparing the two options in fire pit designs, gas burning models are more attractive for more reasons than firewood being at a premium. First,  its much easier and faster to have flames dancing with gas than with a wood burning fire pit. Still some love that aroma of burning wood, so from time to time, we get requests for the wood burner as opposed to gas. In a city or development community, however, ordinances could be in place that curtail the use of wood as the fuel for open burning as is what occurs in fire pits. During dry months here in Arizona this is especially an issue, since live sparks could be a hazard.

Adding custom fire pits to Peoria patio designs is popular. They are definitely an asset to outdoor living spaces. Something homeowners here in Arizona can enjoy almost 12 months a year.  As with the fire pit design in the image above, the patio pavers and landscape stone in the backyard landscaping are echoed in the natural stone caps on the built in seat walls and on the fire pit itself. The sand tones in the stone coping adds a light accent color to the overall design appeal.

With four seat walls circling the round fire feature, this corner of the home’s outdoor living space is a special spot for evenings spent with friends and family. Nicely accenting the dark patio paves, the area stands out from surrounding hardscape elements and the rest of the backyard landscaping. Once lit after sundown, Peoria fire pit designs like this offer the perfect relaxed conversation space for entertaining or the family in residence.

Popularity: 7% [?]