Enhance Your Morning Coffee Experience With Plantings in Brighton, MI, and SE Michigan
Creating a serene and inviting outdoor space can significantly enhance your morning coffee routine. Thoughtfully selected plantings in Brighton, MI, and SE Michigan bring a sense of calm and natural beauty to your outdoor environment, transforming it into the perfect retreat for a peaceful start to the day. Whether it's the texture of ornamental grasses or the vibrant hues of blooming perennials, the right plantings can add visual interest and tranquility to your mornings.
Choosing Perennials for Year-Round Interest
Perennials are an excellent choice for adding color and texture to your outdoor space. These long-lasting plantings return each year, creating a sense of continuity in your landscape design. In SE Michigan, hardy perennials such as black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, and hostas thrive in various conditions, making them ideal for enhancing your morning coffee experience.
Black-eyed Susans offer cheerful yellow blooms that brighten the space from late summer through fall. Coneflowers, with their purple and pink petals, attract pollinators and bring a pop of color to the landscape. Hostas, known for their large, textured leaves, provide a lush, green backdrop and thrive in shaded areas, adding interest to corners or near walkways.
Incorporating Ornamental Grasses for Movement and Texture
Ornamental grasses bring a sense of movement to your outdoor space as they sway gently in the breeze. Varieties such as fountain grass, switchgrass, and feather reed grass add vertical interest and texture, making them a beautiful complement to other plantings.
Fountain grass, with its delicate plumes, creates soft, flowing lines that draw the eye and invite you to linger longer in your seating area. Switchgrass, native to SE Michigan, offers striking upright blades that create a natural screen or backdrop for more colorful plantings. Feather reed grass is another versatile option, providing an elegant structure with its tall, narrow shape and feathery plumes.
Placing ornamental grasses around the perimeter of your seating area or along walkways creates a sense of enclosure without feeling confined, enhancing the overall experience of enjoying your morning coffee outdoors.
Related: Ann Arbor, MI: Combine Function and Beauty With a Custom Retaining Wall and Plantings
Adding Fragrance With Blooming Shrubs
Fragrant blooming shrubs can elevate your morning routine by engaging your senses. Lilacs, hydrangeas, and viburnums are ideal choices for bringing both beauty and fragrance to your outdoor space.
Lilacs bloom in spring with clusters of fragrant purple, white, or pink blooms, creating a calming atmosphere. Hydrangeas add dramatic blooms in shades of blue, pink, and white, depending on the soil’s pH. These plantings last throughout the summer, offering a burst of color that enhances the view from your seating area. Viburnums offer white or pink blooms in spring, followed by berries that attract birds, adding another layer of enjoyment to your mornings.
Designing With Natural Stone Features for Added Comfort
Natural stone features such as walkways, seating walls, or patios add functionality and beauty to your outdoor space. A natural stone patio creates a stable surface for your seating area, while also blending seamlessly with the plantings around it. The earthy tones of natural stone complement the surrounding greenery, enhancing the tranquil atmosphere.
Walkways made from flagstone or bluestone can guide you through the landscape, connecting different areas of your outdoor space. These routes create a sense of flow and invite you to explore while sipping your morning coffee.
A low stone seating wall around your patio or seating area can provide additional seating options or act as a boundary between different planting zones. The natural textures and colors of the natural stone add to the overall harmony of the space, creating a cohesive environment that feels both welcoming and peaceful.
Seasonal Color and Interest With Annuals and Bulbs
For added seasonal color, incorporating annuals and spring bulbs can bring a burst of vibrant blooms to your outdoor space. Annuals such as marigolds, petunias, and impatiens offer bright blooms that can be rotated each year, allowing for fresh combinations of colors and textures. These plantings thrive in containers, making them easy to place around your seating area or along walkways.
Spring bulbs like tulips, daffodils, and crocuses provide early-season interest, blooming as soon as the snow melts. Their colorful blooms mark the start of warmer weather and create a cheerful atmosphere for your morning routine.
Related: Top-Quality Lawn Care and Vibrant Plantings: Elevate Your Southeastern Michigan Property
About the Author
Troy Clogg Landscape Associates was born in the early ’80s by Troy and his friend Greg Counsell. Today, Troy Clogg Landscape Associates is one of the largest and most successful landscape and snow removal companies, offering residential and commercial clients landscape design and construction, as well as snow and ice removal for businesses throughout Southeast Michigan. Our teams bring passion to every project, along with professional service, a large fleet of equipment, cutting-edge products, and out-of-the-box thinking to meet all of your needs.