Backyard life these days is about more than just a cold drink on the deck. People are using their outdoor spaces more and they are bringing the design elements of their home outside. We spoke to some of Canada’s talented landscape designers about the hottest trends for your backyard.

Outdoor Living Trends….
The concept of the outdoor room has been around for more than a few years but that idea is now translating into multiple rooms in one backyard. Design expert and HGTV television host Carson Arthur says more and more people are looking at less lawn and more usable space. “We always look at full sun patios, but what about a shaded area? Plant a big tree and do a seating area under the tree. It takes out a huge section of grass. It’s environmentally friendly because the tree is going to remove the CO2 from the air, but also you lower the ambient temperature in your backyard with the shade.”

Nan Keenan of Toronto-based Kennan Designs says her clients are creating separate rooms outside. “A lot of time people will have a living room and they’ll actually even have a dining room and a leisure area by a pool, or pond, or hot tub.”

Economics, and in particular rising housing prices, are driving people into smaller homes, particularly in the cities, so the natural next step is using outdoor space that may have been left as lawn before. “It’s really quite nice now because people are really taking advantage of, and using, the space they have,” says Keenan. The result is a multi-use backyard and less lawn.

In fact, many people are choosing to get rid of the grass altogether. They cite the work needed for maintenance, water and chemical bans, as well as difficulties like growing grass under increasingly mature trees as reasons as reasons to opt for other surfaces. Larger patios are becoming more common, as are surfaces like pea gravel or wood chips.

Even young families are doing without the lawns. Keenan says they make do with visits to the local park or they find other options for their kids. She recalls one client with young children that got rid of the grass completely in favour of pea gravel. “It was like a big sand box,” says Keenan. “They had their dump trucks out there. They loved it.”

Some of that lawn space is also being turned into gardens for growing vegetables. The organic and local food movement is moving into the backyards with people growing their own food. People are either building gardens or incorporating edible plants into their current flower gardens. Plants like herbs or vegetables like tomatoes look good, and, Keenan says, mixed with the exotic perennials they create a great visual mosaic.

The environment is another big motivator in current design trends. The price of products like paving stones made from recycled glass bottles or decks made from plastic bags have come down to the point that they are comparable with the more commonly used materials. “Their sales trends have gone shooting through the roof, because [the companies] are now using that message to homeowners, saying you can have the home of your dreams and you can do right by the environment,” says Arthur.

Nan Keenan adds that the green movement in landscape design is only going to increase. She’s seeing growing interest into concepts like green walls and green roofs. “I am very keen on trying this vertical growing. You can do your annuals that way. You can grow your herbs.” The walls are a whole new way to incorporate greenery into a backyard design and they come with irrigation systems that make care easier. The roofs too, Keenan says, will become more common as the use of such technologies in office buildings in major centres translate into residential homes.

Backyard design is becoming less about the big lawn and more about creating usable spaces where people can live, both inside the home and outside. Economics mean trips to the cottage are less likely so people want the cottage lifestyle in their backyard. Carson Arthur calls the backyard the ‘new frontier’ in home design. Home and Garden television has driven interior design over the last decade but it is now pushing those efforts outside to create calm and inviting living spaces in the yard.

Mark DeWolf is a wine, food and entertainment editor, a sommelier instructor with the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers and owner of By the Glass; a tour company specializing in food and wine adventures in Italy, Spain and France amongst other destinations.

With the warm weather here, there is nothing like having a barbecue and dining outside. Everything seems to taste better under the summer sun.

While we Canadians may claim our own barbeque expertise, it is the Italians who are the original experts of outdoor dining. Al fresco (in the fresh air) is after all an Italian term. But you don’t need the rolling Tuscan hills as your backdrop to create an Italian style outdoor dining experience in your backyard. All you need are good ingredients, great drinks and above all else friends and family.

EATING TIPS
Cooking in Tuscany is all about seasonality and letting the flavour of the ingredient shine. Translating this to Canada is as simple as heading to your local farmer’s market to pick out fresh produce and converting your mentality to a less is more approach to cooking. Bruschetta (pronounced brus’ketta) shouldn’t be buried in tomatoes and inexpensive processed mozzarella, like it is at most ‘Italian’ restaurants in Canada. This classic primi (served before the meal) course is at its best as simple grilled bread rubbed with garlic and soaked with really good olive oil; it doesn’t get much better than that. Add some grilled seasonal vegetables, slices of prosciutto and bowls of olives and suddenly you have an antipasto extravaganza that’s loaded with flavour, true to Tuscan traditions, and only minutes in the making.
What would a barbeque be without a little protein? In Tuscany, it’s all about Bistecca alla Fiorentina; which is simply grilled T-Bone steak. There’s nothing complicated here, just a choice cut of beef brushed with olive oil and seasoned with sea salt.

GIOPETTO’S GRILLED PEACHES (SERVES EIGHT)

We serve this simple dish at outdoor pool parties while on tour in Tuscany. Despite only having two ingredients it’s a show stopper, or better said a show starter as its smoky, sweet contrast provides an explosion of flavours and gets everyone’s taste buds alive and ready for the meal to come.

Ingredients:
4 firm peaches
12 slices of prosciutto, halved lengthwise

Directions:
Halve the peaches and remove the pits.
Slice each peach half into three slices.
Place a slice of peach on a slice of prosciutto; wrap the prosciutto around the peach.
Place the prosciutto wrapped peaches, edge side down, on the grill over a medium heat.
Once the edge side is sealed by the heat, turn the peaches and cook. You want the prosciutto to be crispy but not burnt.
Delicately remove the peaches from the grill and place on a platter. Let the peaches cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

BISTECCA ALLA FIORENTINA (SERVES EIGHT)

At our villa, located outside of Montalcino, in Southern Tuscany, rosemary grows in enormous bushes. We grab it by the handful to use instead of a brush to add olive oil to beef and pork before grilling. We even add it to the coals on occasion to lend a little extra flavour to our barbequed fare.

Ingredients:
2 T-Bone Steaks
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 rosemary skewers
Cracked Pepper
Sea Salt

Directions:
Remove the beef from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before grilling.
Brush the beef with the olive oil using the rosemary skewers.
Season with cracked pepper.
Grill the beef for about 7 minutes on each side until the crust is well charred.
Season the beef with sea salt; then allow the beef to rest for about 8-10 minutes.
Carve the beef into slices and place on a platter circled with rosemary.

DRINK TIPS

Wine plays an important role in any Italian meal but no more so than when entertaining with friends and family. You don’t have to visit your local wine specialty shop to find a lauded Super Tuscan or a vintage Brunello (Southern Tuscany’s most celebrated and expensive red wine). Even in Tuscany, these wines are for special occasions. When celebrating outside, stick to carafes full of pleasant, quaffable red and white wines; be it cherry scented Chianti or a grassy Vernaccia; the latter a white wine made near San Gimignano. For the cocktail crowd serve up the Negroni; a surprisingly refreshingly blend of gin, sweet red vermouth and Campari.

NEGRONI COCKTAIL

Ingredients:
1 oz gin
1 oz sweet red vermouth
1 oz Campari

Directions:
Fill a rocks glass with ice and top with gin, sweet red vermouth and Campari.
Stir until well incorporated and garnish with a twist of orange.

DECOR TIPS
Like the food and drink creating a Tuscan inspired outdoor dining setting by the pool requires a less is more approach. Vine covered trellises, latticework and pergolas are a natural choice but for those looking for a less permanent approach can think about hanging baskets full of flowers or using old peach baskets or wine barrels (if you can find them) as rustic planters to give your outdoor space some old world charm. As for the table setting, the Italian table is devoid of too much clutter – it leaves more room for the food and drink. Fine quality Italian linen runners with matching placemats and napkins are ideal for grown-up entertaining but for less formal affairs look for solid coloured linens in tones such as red, yellow and green that match the colours of the mustard and poppy flower adorned hills of Tuscany. Set place settings with simple tumblers and serve the wine in terracotta carafes. To complete the look use terracotta flower pots full of sturdy herbs such as rosemary and thyme in lieu of elaborate centerpieces.

Much of that decision will depend on the scope of the design says Nan Keenan of Keenan Design. Putting in a vegetable garden may simply involve a trip to the local nursery or garden supply centre for advice, but she says larger projects need some long term vision. The Canadian-based landscape designer recommends finding a qualified person who will offer a consultation without fee or obligation, even if the project is small but might be part of any future renovation.

“It’s a personal decision,” says Robert Boltman of B sq. design studio inc., but he adds it might be time to call in an expert when the yard project gets beyond the client’s design capabilities. He says often clients have difficulty visualizing the space outside. Designing inside with walls that define the space is one thing but moving outside is a whole different scope. “When you are outside it’s hard because the ceiling is enormous. We have to create that space; we have to bring down that ceiling.” Boltman says part of the job of a designer is to create structure and bring things to scale. Often people will decide on elements they think will work but once installed they either don’t fit very well or don’t really flow together. “We put things in perspective for people. We can show them what a 20’ by 40’ pool looks like. We’ll tell them if it’s too big.”

Boltman recommends having a good idea of what you want in the yard and then seeking a professional to make it all work together. “A lot of people are using the internet these days to focus in more of what they really want.” He says that’s great and saves time and energy for everyone involved. He laughs as he says sometimes people don’t do that and will start arguing about design elements in his office. “It’s always fun being in that conversation.”

What are some of the common mistakes people make when starting a backyard project?

It can be hard to visualize size and space in a backyard and often that means people over estimate what will fit. Robert Boltman says clients sometimes want a bigger pool but they can’t understand that doing so will mean there is no room for a seating area or other spaces that will make the yard comfortable and useable. Boltman says it’s also important to really think about how the space will be used in all season and over time. A good example is a hot tub. Boltman says he often asks if clients plan to use a hot tub in winter. If the answer is yes, moving the tub close to the house can save a cold run through the winter snow.

Nan Keenan says often people make the mistake of doing a project piecemeal. “They work in one corner and get that all done and then do another corner. What ends up happening is it doesn’t really flow well.” Keenan says, even if people are doing the work themselves, it’s worth the money to get a good design from which to work. Another big mistake Keenan sees is when it comes to choosing plants. She says it is important to look at the atmosphere and space the plant will be growing in and choose appropriately. The trend is now moving towards opting for native plants, but just because the plant is native to the area doesn’t mean it is native to your soil. “Take the dogwood, for example,” says Keenan. “They require water and a certain amount of light but because it is native people think it will grow in their yard.”

Taking care of my lawn is becoming difficult with increasing bans on chemical and water. How do you recommend keeping a healthy lawn?

“Don’t under estimate an irrigation system,” recommends Robert Boltman. “An irrigation system is by far one of the most valuable things you can include in your garden.” Boltman says water sensitive irrigation systems reduce work and unnecessary watering and can utilize rain water and rooftop run off. “It is an added expense to the garden” he admits, “but you can store water these days, you can save that water and water your lawn of course.”

For her part, Nan Keenan admits lawn care is difficult in the current environmentally sensitive environment. More and more municipalities are banning pesticides and other lawn chemicals. Keenan says companies are moving to more environmentally sensitive products, but she says battling weeds is still a difficult fight. Choosing a different grass seed might alleviate some problems says the landscape designer. “There is seed that you can buy that requires very little water, doesn’t require a lot of sun and doesn’t require a lot of cutting.”

I want to start growing my food. How should I go about putting in a vegetable garden?

Growing food at home is a great idea for both your health and the environment but Keenan says people need to be aware of the space they have available. “I often suggest growing vegetables in containers,” says Keenan. It also offers the advantage of controlling the soil content and adjusting the location for sun. If you do want a traditional garden, prepare the soil well and make sure the location gets lots of sunlight. “Sometimes incorporating it right into the garden is not such a bad idea either. I would encourage putting a tomato plant amongst your other flower shrubs. There are a lot of lovely looking herbs that also work well in that kind of environment.” Taking that route also lets you keep the garden looking good all season long. A vegetable garden can look unsightly at certain times of the year but mixing the veggies in with other plants can keep it looking lush.

A backyard pool can be a source of fun and relaxation for families, but the water must be treated with respect and attention. Pool safety needs to be of paramount concern to pool owners, especially those with children in the house, as well as in the neighbourhood. Sadly the Red Cross reports drowning as the leading cause of death in children aged one to four and a swimming pool at home increases the chances.

Mother of two Shannon Defer was worried about her two kids, now aged 5 and 8, when she and her husband bought their Nova Scotia house. Their first move was to install a locking gate to the deck that wraps around their above ground pool. “The gate always stays locked, unless we are actively using the pool,” says Defer. The kids can play in the yard and Defer has peace of mind knowing the kids can’t access the pool. It was a good move according to the Red Cross which reports installing self-closing and self-locking gates would eliminate nearly all toddler pool drowning.

Making sure kids don’t have access to the pool in other ways is also important. Ladders to above ground pools can be removed when not in use and patio furniture and other potential climbing hazards should be kept away from the pool to prevent unsupervised access.

Defer says her son once tried to move a patio box over to the pool gate. Her husband caught him and threatened to dismantle the pool if the ever did something like that again. “He was serious,” says Defer. “We would get rid of the pool if we thought it was going to be a risk.”

Teaching your kids to be comfortable in and around the water is another important step says Dalhousie University swim coach David Fry. Living near the ocean, he says he’s always surprised at how many people who work on or near the water don’t know how to swim. Whether it is a backyard pool or living near a lake or river, knowing how to swim is paramount. “Let’s face it, in Canada, not to many people are too far away from at least one of those things.”

Fry says swim lessons are always a good idea and recommends starting kids young. “They become comfortable in the water as infants and that’s a big step.” When they get older, he says small classes are the way to go. In fact, he says more parents are opting for private lessons. “They learn much more quickly,” he says. “You end up spending less money or no more money because you don’t need as many lessons to get to the point where they are, at least, safe in the water.”

However, he warns, lessons can’t replace parental vigilance. Something Defer says she and her husband take seriously. She says sometimes her daughter’s friends are surprised at the strict level of the pool rules, but the Defers stand firm. “They are not allowed into the pool until the parent gets in first.”

The kids may think it is strict, but it lets the Defers enjoy their pool all summer knowing their kids are safe. Lasting summer memories are happiest when safety is a priority.

Whether you are setting up a full outdoor kitchen or just want to throw a few steaks on a portable barbeque, the grill is a big part of living outdoors… and having the right barbeque can make your summer experience complete. With so many options on the market, it can be hard to figure out just what might suit your life and your backyard. The first step is to consider your lifestyle. Are you a gourmet chef looking to create a whole meal outdoors, or do you just want a good grill to get those burgers tasting great? Al Jackson of Jackson Grills in Duncan, British Columbia says a buyer needs to know what kind of cooking they want to do. “Barbequing and grilling are two different things.” Jackson says gas grills, be it propane or natural gas, are great for convenience. They come up to temperature very quickly and are designed to function well in cold climates. Charcoal, says Jackson, impart a unique flavor but it takes more time. “It’s a bit more of an event. When you want to cook on your charcoal grill you want to do it on a weekend or when you are having guests.” Ninety-five percent of grills in Canada are gas fired, but Jackson says charcoal is seeing a big resurgence in Canada.

Once you’ve settled on the type of cooking surface, Jackson says it is important to think ahead to how you’ll use it. He recommends thinking about rotisserie options. The most popular option is becoming an infrared rotisserie burner. It’s a ceramic burner located in the back of the grill so meat dripping off the rotisserie does not hit a hot burner and cause flare ups. “The infrared energy transmits to the meal and locks in the juices and creates almost like a crust on the outside of the meat that keeps all the juices on the inside.”

Just like your kitchen, having the right tools can make grilling easier, and more fun. Here are a few options to bring some style to your outdoor grill:

*Smoker Boxes: These popular new tools can impart all sorts of new flavours to your food. Hickory wood chips are great with beef while fish is nice cooked with apple wood.

*Grill Stone: This may sound a little odd but these stones are made from quarried porous rock. The stone is placed on the grill and the meat is placed directly on top. The stone slab prevents flare ups but also creates an even heat for superior cooking.

*Lighting: Tired of juggling tongs and a flashlight or cooking in the dark, today’s grill aficionados are making BBQ lighting the most popular grill accessory on the market right now. The LED lights are mounted off the rotisserie grill or off the side shelf and make year round grilling easier.

Try a steam cleaner for your BBQ, these are a twist on the traditional BBQ brush, they add water to the mix which the hot grill turns to steam for an easy, non-chemical, way to clean the grill.

• Act like you’re on vacation. Turn off your blackberry or cell phone.

• Do you want the kids buried in their DS or iPod? If this may be a hazard, lay down some rules about when and where the use of electronics will be allowed.

• If you were away on vacation you’d have things planned. Plan a family game or buy a volleyball net for the pool to keep people together and having fun.

• Take some pictures. Every other vacation has photos of the kids swimming or playing around, why should this be any different?

• Eat like you’re on holiday. The BBQ can cook different things at the same time. Why not make burgers for the kids while making something more adventurous for the adults?

• Decide who is on vacation with you. Is it just family or do you want the whole neighbourhood dropping in? Maybe have a pool party to see your friends but keep some time for yourselves too.

• Don’t treat this like a second choice. Whether you have decided to stay home for financial reasons or just because you’re tired of being on the go all the time, make this a time for you and your family. Get in the pool, go bike riding or go for a walk. Have fun!

Blackberries and iPads, telecommuting and flex-time: they were all contrived with the idea of making our lives easier. Instead, they seem to tether us all the more tightly to work. The ever present call of the office makes quality vacation time more important, yet a still suffering economy and the rising cost of travel make getting away from it all harder to do.

It’s a conundrum Maureen Shade solved by building her own vacation getaway right in her own backyard. “We decided this would be our country home,” she says about her family’s plan to redesign their Toronto backyard. “I don’t feel like I’m in the city.”

The result has been a pool with cabana, a hot tub, a basketball court, as well a fire pit and eating area. “It gives a peaceful, tranquil feeling.” Shade says she often comes home after a stressful day and just steps outside for a moment to feel the atmosphere help release her tension.

“I love it. I love it. I even put a heater outside, she says, adding the outdoor spaces get used more than the indoor rooms. “My kids do homework out there. We’ve gotten to the point that they can watch television out there. It’s really like a home outside.”

The idea of creating that vacation atmosphere at home is one that’s really catching on says BonaVista Leisurescapes owner Jennifer Gannon. “Over the last few years we have seen noticeable growth in the number of requests for people who are seeking a backyard oasis as an alternative to a cottage.”

Whether’s it’s just a hot tub or a full redesign of the yard, people want to use their backyards in ways they haven’t in the past. “People are designing space outdoors with the same care and attention as they decorate their interiors,” says Gannon.

For her part, Nova Scotia mom Nancy Bossuyt was tired of taking the kids out to the lake after a busy week. “That was just way too much work.” Putting a pool in her yard has changed more than just the family gas bill; it has changed their whole lifestyle. “Last summer we took two weeks off and we just stayed at home.”

Bossuyt credits the change to her local pool and spa dealer Holland Home Leisure. Part owner Brad Sweet says he started promoting the idea of a vacation at home when his own family vacation became more work than fun. The cottage lawn had to be mowed more often than the family could get away, and the trips down south didn’t seem to have the staying power they hoped for.

“My wife works and I work. We have done the trips away and it’s a fantastic time but when you get home it’s done. What do you do for the rest of the 50 weeks?”

Instead Sweet opted for an inground pool and has never looked back. “Live life now is my theory. Everything is based on payments today. It’s affordable, whether you’re putting $200 away a month for a family vacation or $200 for a hot tub or pool.”

For her part, Maureen Shade says after three summers of having their new backyard, her three teenage kids don’t even ask to go away on vacation. “I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I would do it as opposed to a cottage.” Friends and neighbours refer to the yard as heaven and Shade agrees. You can almost hear the tension drain from her voice and she looks into her yard. “It’s our oasis, really it is.”

“We discovered the real benefit of it quite by accident,” says Nova Scotia orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Eric Howatt. His wife suffered injuries after a serious car accident in 1999. She was talked into trying a friend’s hot tub one night when she was in particular pain. “She got in the hot tub at their request and she was like a new person when she came out.” It wasn’t long before the Howatt’s had their own hot tub and she was using it two or three times a day. “It was the thing that kept her going,” says Dr. Howatt.

Saskatoon writer Bonnie Zink too finds relief soaking in hot water. She uses a jet bathtub, but the result is the same. A long time sufferer of osteoarthritis, she often finds medications don’t alleviate the aching in her back and neck enough. She says soaking in hot water works wonders. “It loosens my muscles, which then alleviates the pains that I experience. Headaches dissipate. Joints become limber and almost pain free.”

Hydrotherapy is commonly used in physiotherapy and rehabilitation activities but having a hot tub at home can provide immediate relief for everything from diabetes to sleep problems. Doug Gillespie of Hydropool Hot Tubs in Toronto says a lot of customers report a calmer, healthier lifestyle after buying a hot tub. “The number one reason people are buying hot tubs is for well-being and stress relief. If you can hop into a hot tub and the snow is falling or the stars are out, spend a little time with your family and friends, a hot tub allows people to reconnect. Outside of the health benefits it certainly promotes a lot of togetherness for the family.”

New products are also improving the hot tub experience. Lorette Kalender, CEO of Pharmaspa, is promoting the use of aromatherapy and herbal supplements in the bath or hot tub. “One of my customers, since they started using our tiger balm crystals, no longer takes pain killers. They soak in that every day and they no longer have to take medication.” The theory behind the therapeutic fragrance is that while the body absorbs the water care products in the hot tub water, it is also absorbing the beneficial extracts in the aromatherapy product.

Regardless of the marketing spin, medical evidence supports hot tub health claims. Soaking in hot water lowers blood pressure and allows the blood to bring more oxygen deeper into the tissue, while at the same time more efficiently cleaning out the carbon dioxide. More antibodies are produced, therefore boosting the immune system, and endorphins, which are the body’s natural pain killer, are released easing aches and pains. So do something good for yourself and go soak in a hot tub to allow the warm water soothe your body and mind!