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Connect with Nature Invite wildlife to your home’s backyard with colorful and fragrant plants

BY ERIC SPANGLER

C

onnecting with nature can be as simple as stepping out into your own backyard, say landscaping experts.

That’s because more and more people

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DAYTON MAGAZINE . April/May 2019

Many homeowners are choosing to incorporate water into their landscape.

Landscape designers can help homeowners choose the right plants for the right location. are choosing to install a landscape in their backyard that includes plants that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, says Jerry Schelhorn, Grandma’s Gardens land-

scape designer and nursery manager. “ T h a t ’s t h e b i g trend,” he says. Clients no longer want a static landscape that looks like a “corporate” landscape with a bunch of evergreen shrubs that look the same all year, says Schelhorn.

Clients these days are asking for plants with color and fragrance that attract insects and birds.

One of the issues that may have caused more clients to seek plants that attract wildlife is the recent decline of pollinators such as honeybees and monarch butterflies, says Schelhorn.

“I just had a customer—and I loved her phrase—she said, ‘I want life in my garden,’” he says. “People really enjoy seeing the birds

come to the garden and that’s the big trend.

And being more organic,” says Schelhorn.

“And I love it. I like nature and going organic.”

Other trends for people installing landscaping include anything with fire and water, says Robert Siebenthaler, president of The Siebenthaler Co. “Firepits and fireplaces and water features to add a little feng shui to the Midwest is definitely popular,” he says.

Another trend for backyard landscapes is installing an outdoor kitchen that includes a pizza oven, says Siebenthaler—although that may be a little more “trendy” than functional. “The number of times you have to cook a pizza to get your money back is not real good,” he says.

Many people who come in to ask about landscaping services want to know whether it’s a good investment to put money into installing an indoor or outdoor living space, says Siebenthaler. That’s when Siebenthaler’s employees come in and act in an advisory capacity to suggest what kind of budget it would take to move the family outside to get more enjoyment out of the backyard, he says.

DAYTON MAGAZINE . April/May 2019

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DAYTON HOME ›› LANDSCAPING

Adding outdoor space is a great way to add functional and enjoyable living space to one’s home.

“Outdoor living space is one of the cheapest ways to add really functional and enjoyable living space to your home and if it’s landscaped well it’s one of the only things that appreciates in value as trees and plants grow and provide shade

and that type of thing,” says Siebenthaler.

Although it’s not always inexpensive, he says adding to a home’s outdoor living space is cheaper than adding indoor living space.

“And when you think about it appreciating and the ability to utilize shade to reduce

energy costs and that type of thing the valuation makes sense,” says Siebenthaler.

The most-asked question that Schelhorn gets from people inquiring about landscaping is whether a particular plant they like will work in the place they want to plant it. “They want to make sure and that’s why they’re coming to us, that what they like will work,” he says.

For example, hydrangeas are very popular plants in the Dayton region, but recently a customer asked Schelhorn if hydrangeas would work in the front of her house. When Schelhorn found out the front of her house faced south he told her they would not grow well there because most hydrangeas do not flourish in the hot, baking sun.

“And they’re like, ‘I’m so glad I came to you because I would have planted hydrangeas and I would have had a terrible time with them,’” he says. “So I make sure that what they want to do will work and we come up with something that they really love and enjoy.”

Schelhorn says Grandma’s Gardens em-

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ployees enjoy educating customers. “We don’t just want to sell them a landscape package, we want them to be successful,” he says. “So we’re real big on education.”

Grandma’s Gardens employees can visit a customer’s home and conduct an in-home consultation or customers can come in to the garden center with a picture or a leaf of a plant that is in distress and employees will try to determine what’s causing the problem, he says.

Both Grandma’s Gardens and Siebenthaler’s offer complete landscape installation and design services. “We can come to your house and we can take measurements and pictures, draw up a landscape plan for you to look at and approve and then we can provide an estimate on the cost of installation,” says Schelhorn.

Siebenthaler says his company’s services include installing hardscapes, patios, outdoor spaces and everything green. “We grow basically anything that is hardy in this area,” he says.

For those who are looking to reduce the

Shady spots in the landscape require plants that thrive with little to no direct sunlight. costs of installing a new landscape Schelhorn says Grandma’s Gardens also offers a do-it-yourself option. “We can still do a (landscape) plan and then the customer can take the plan and install the landscape

on their own,” he says.

“We can even pop out to their house and visit them during the process and give them advice onsite also,” says Schelhorn. “We try to make it as easy as possible.” n

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