Uplighting vs. Downlighting: How to Choose Your Landscape Lighting

Uplighting vs. Downlighting: How to Choose Your Landscape Lighting

*While this article offers helpful landscaping tips for residential properties, we now specialize exclusively in commercial landscaping services. If you manage a commercial property or HOA,see how we can enhance your landscape here.


Landscape lighting can be tricky. You see great illumination on your home or a tree, creating beautiful glows, warming ambiance, and a great mix of brightness and shadows.

But with professionally designed landscape lighting, you may not know where the light comes from … and that’s a good thing. You want to see the light in a well-designed lighting scheme, not the fixtures.

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Tips to Choosing Trees to Plant Near Your Patio

Tips to Choosing Trees to Plant Near Your Patio

*While this article offers helpful landscaping tips for residential properties, we now specialize exclusively in commercial landscaping services. If you manage a commercial property or HOA, see how we can enhance your landscape here.


A patio is a great place for enjoying the outdoors in your Chicagoland backyard.

Whether you want a place to enjoy summer dinners al fresco, a regular relaxation nook, an outdoor office, or maybe a spot for your family to play games, patios can give you what you need … and then some.

But a patio without plants might be a bit bland. This is your landscape after all. You want to get outside to enjoy nature and find peace, privacy, and tranquility.

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Landscape Lighting: DIY vs. Hiring a Pro in Naperville or Elmhurst, IL

Landscape Lighting: DIY vs. Hiring a Pro in Naperville or Elmhurst, IL

Google and YouTube can make a lot of things look pretty simple, right?

Take landscape lighting, for instance. If you’ve searched for how to install landscape lighting, you might think it’s a breeze. Pinterest photos and DIY tutorials can make you feel like an expert in minutes.

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Landscape Design Checklist: 5 Things to Do When Planning Your Landscape Design

Landscape Design Checklist: 5 Things to Do When Planning Your Landscape Design

Your backyard is your sanctuary – your solace after a long, hard day. It’s a place where you can unwind and relax.

When you want to elevate your space into more than just a patch of grass and a few flowers and plants, dreaming of your finished landscape becomes all you can think about. You can’t wait to stretch out on your patio in front of your cozy fireplace or grill your next meal in your outdoor kitchen.

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5 Backyard Improvements That Will Add Value to Your Home in Chicagoland

5 Backyard Improvements That Will Add Value to Your Home in Chicagoland

When you want to transform a boring backyard into something usable and fun for the whole family, the ideas for what you can add can seem endless.

But as you review them, you might wonder which backyard enhancements are the most beneficial for your property as true investments and also give you spaces you can enjoy.

It's always a plus to know that you can recover some of any expenses you make in your landscape when you sell your home.

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5 Tips To Hiring a Landscape Designer Near Elmhurst, IL

5 Tips To Hiring a Landscape Designer Near Elmhurst, IL

Your backyard is a reflection of your style and personality, as well as that of your home.

As you stare at your new construction or outdated Elmhurst, IL home landscape, you could be wondering what kind of landscape design professional might best fit what you want. After all, if you love an English garden or more traditional look, you don’t want someone to push a modern or contemporary feel on your space. You want your designer to understand your viewpoint.

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5 Landscape Lighting Ideas for Trees: How to Illuminate Your Trees

5 Landscape Lighting Ideas for Trees: How to Illuminate Your Trees

Trees stand tall and proud in your Chicagoland home landscape. The gleam green in the summer months, leaving dancing in the wind and casting great shade during sunny, warm days.

As the sun sets, trees become dark along with the rest of your landscape. And your once-welcoming landscape can become spooky. On top of that, you lose some valuable daylight enjoyment time outdoors.

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2 Best Pergola Materials: How to Choose What’s Best For You

2 Best Pergola Materials: How to Choose What’s Best For You

Pergolas have been accents in Chicagoland landscapes for years. While they have modern touches today, they’ve actually been around since 1400 B.C., when a garden entrance pergola adorned an Egyptian high court official’s property.

Pergolas have stood the test of time because they do so much for your landscape. They provide elegant shade to enhance your time outdoors, as well as create places for dining, entertainment, growing climbing plants, enjoying privacy, and breaking up a large space.

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6 Outdoor Living Space Design Mistakes to Avoid

6 Outdoor Living Space Design Mistakes to Avoid

Your indoor rooms are fairly easy to figure out.

Your kitchen is used for preparing food, your dining room for eating dinner with your family, your bathroom for cleaning and bathing, and your bedroom for rest and sleep. How you decorate and furnish these rooms follows their natural identities.

But your outdoor space is more of an open palette. It must be defined by what you want to do out there. Will you cook outside? Will you eat outside? Will you relax outside? Will you entertain outside? How many people will you regularly welcome into your outdoor space?

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