As the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday approaches, we’re inundated with gifts in all shades of red, depicting the love shared between two people. But if you really want your Valentine to know the depth of your love, give the gift of green by planning a new landscape design for your home instead of giving a red heart-shaped box filled with chocolate and some roses bought at the store. With the kind of winter we are experiencing this year in New Jersey, New York and the entire Northeast, the anticipation of a newly designed landscape is sure to elicit loads of “I love you’s!”

Although it’s certainly too early to start any actual work on transforming your outdoor spaces, now is the perfect time to start planning for the landscape design of your dreams. By starting the process now, you can do some research to see what you like and don’t like and can start planning for features that are sure to please. You can look in books, magazines or online to start getting an idea of the style you like, as well as the materials that you would like to use when the ground finally thaws and work can begin on your new outdoor sanctuary.

Landscape design encompasses far more than simply the shrubs and flowers that are planted in the beds around the house. It can also include a great many features that not only add to the aesthetic value of the property, but also enhance the functionality of the space as well. For example, you can have a new patio installed, as well as meandering walkways that flow through your beautiful gardens, if that’s what suits your fancy. If you have a pool, you can design your new outdoor spaces around the pool, with beautiful surrounds, colorful flower beds and comfortable retreats.

If entertaining outdoors is more your thing, you may want to incorporate an outdoor kitchen into the planning of your exterior space. This can be a relatively simple proposition, or you can create an elaborate space complete with cooking areas, prep areas, seating areas, a bar and even a pizza oven. Another way to add a “wow” factor to your design, as well as to provide you with a place to snuggle when the sun goes down, is to have an outdoor fireplace or firepit designed to fit your space. This can be an eye-catching feature that does more than simply look good.

There are many options to consider when designing your new oasis, and giving your sweetheart the gift this Valentine’s Day of knowing that you are committed to creating the landscape design of her dreams is far better than any vase filled with cut flowers or boxes filled with candy that you can give her. By doing so, it’ll also give both of you something to look forward to as you long for days when the snow stops falling and you can once again enjoy the green that lies beneath.

For more information about landscape design or to inquire about the many services Millenium Stoneworks offers that can help you achieve the outdoor spaces of your dreams, call us at 732-519-1112 or 347-723-6990.