Front yard landscaping may be about first impressions, but backyard landscaping ideas will help you make memories.
Your backyard is an extension of your home. It’s where you gather as a family for privacy, entertainment, and relaxation. But without an inviting backyard landscape, you’re left cooped up inside with screens and paperwork that have you missing the chance to grow a garden, roast marshmallows, and grill.
So we’ve gathered 15 backyard landscaping ideas that bring you all outside, and most importantly, bring you together.
1. Fire Pit
A firepit in the backyard creates a cozy evening outdoors. If the cold air keeps you and the family locked inside with the heater, a fire pit will have you all rushing outside for a warm night by the crackling fire.
Set up comfortable chairs, and you’ll be sharing jokes, stories, and memories until way past bedtime.
Have a sweet tooth? A fire pit is a perfect excuse to melt chocolate and roast marshmallows for some irresistible s’mores.
Cost: Fire pit prices start below $100 and can run as high as $1,400.
2. Pergola
A pergola can look empty on its own, but you can hang flower pots along the top, grow self-climbing plants along the sides, or hang curtains for privacy.
Pergolas turn an area into a beautiful outdoor living space. Maybe you want a cozy outdoor living room where the family can play board games and hang out, or perhaps you need an elegant seating area for catching up with friends.
Cost: The average cost of building a pergola is $3,500?. Some pergolas run as high as $6,000.
3. Outdoor Kitchen
Say hello to excellent entertainment and goodbye to expensive restaurant bills. Having an outdoor kitchen in your backyard will make you the most popular host in the neighborhood.
Every cook knows a busy kitchen cranks up the temperature, causing the air conditioner to work a double shift. Cooking outdoors gives your air conditioner a break and helps you save on utility bills. Outdoor cooking also keeps the smells outside. Keep the food prep outdoors, and those burning smells won’t be spoiling the air.
Cost: A typical outdoor kitchen ranges from $5,000 to upward of $20,000. A luxury outdoor kitchen may cost up to $100,000.
4. Swimming Pool
Turn your backyard into a personalized resort with a customized pool design, stunning ornamental grasses, and stylish furniture.
You don’t have to spend any more days at the public swimming pool worrying about how clean the water is or if anyone has used it as a bathroom.
This backyard landscaping idea includes adding plants around the pool. Tropical plants will thrive in the increased humidity.
Cost: In-ground pools typically cost between $20,000 and $65,000. An above-ground pool is much cheaper, typically costing between $730 and $4,000 depending on your budget and the quality of the pool. Unlike in-ground pools, which can last for decades, an above-ground pool may last between seven and 15 years if properly maintained.
5. Vegetable Garden
Growing a small garden in your backyard can be an enjoyable experience and something to cross off the bucket list.
Gardening encourages exercise, stress relief, and a healthier lifestyle. Consider adding textured mulch or stylish edging to your garden design. Talk to a landscaper about a customized garden fence or raised garden beds.
Once you design the garden, get the family involved by picking out the vegetables you want to grow together. Garden-based learning is a great way to teach children about community and healthy foods. The kids will enjoy eating a salad a lot more when they know they helped grow the food!
Cost: Your garden’s seeds will cost you as little as $2 a pack. Related costs will vary depending on your garden’s size, whether you install a fence, and whether you build a raised garden bed. Keep in mind: While you may have to pay an upfront cost, your garden will pay for itself after a few good harvests.
6. She-Shed or He-Shed
Everyone needs a little alone time. The she-shed or he-shed can make a great addition to your backyard and provide you with a special space that’s all your own.
Turn your shed into a DIY landscape project, or talk to a landscaper about installation and accessories, like window boxes, hydrangeas, or pavers.
Maybe you’ll want a professional to give it a paint job, or have someone install a small picket fence around your shed.
Cost: According to She Shed Living, you may pay as low as $600 to build your shed, or as high as $30,000.
7. Playset
Every parent recalls the car ride in which the kids are screaming and insisting you left the park too soon. Dinner then turns into a negotiation, and the kids are too upset for bedtime stories. A playset in the backyard can solve this.
A playset can be a fun, creative solution that adds appeal and joy to your backyard. Consider hiring a professional to plant shady trees, lay down mulch under the swing set, or plant wear resistant grass that can tolerate the heavy foot traffic.
Cost: Playsets or jungle gyms can cost between $200 and $5,000 — or more.
8. Outdoor Sauna
A sauna is an entertaining feature to have in your backyard and should be used safely. When designed correctly, it can provide a charming focal point, endless relaxation, and can double as a pool house.
Once you have a sauna installed, you can enjoy designing your backyard around this rustic building and create a cozy getaway that encourages a stress-free environment.
Cost: Outdoor sauna installations cost between $3,000 and $6,000.
9. Greenhouse
If your family loved the backyard garden last summer, then building a greenhouse will take this family pastime to the next level. Create a backyard oasis around your greenhouse with raised beds, a charming garden path, greenery, and elegant water features.
Greenhouses offer longer growing seasons, provide your plants with shelter in harsh weather, and protect your garden from animals, insects, and other pests that like to chew on your greens.
Cost: A greenhouse costs $18,000 on average, with most people paying as little as $7,000 and as much as $30,000.
11. Gardens Galore
Who says you can only have one kind of garden? Every home, no matter how big or small, has the space for a garden. Depending on your passions and your space, your new garden may be a style you hadn’t yet considered. Edible vegetable gardens and ornamental tropical plant or flower gardens are popular. With limited space you can add a vertical garden or raised garden bed to your deck or patio, start an indoor herb garden, small succulent garden, fairy garden, and more.
12. Drought Tolerant Landscaping
Dry weather doesn’t have to annihilate your garden and lawn every year. Certain climates have windows of time when there’s no rain and the moisture in the soil dries up. If droughts occur in your area, avoid the heartache of investing in water-loving plants and switch to drought tolerant greenery. Depending on your local climate, adding plants like lavender, catmint, California poppy, yarrow, and artemisia keeps your outdoor space colorful and thriving.
13. Filled with Flower Beds
Flower-filled gardens are lovely, but flower beds and pots give your backyard landscaping a little something extra. Elevated flower beds are kinder to the back muscles, with less bending required to prune, plant, and maintain. Flower beds can be placed in areas where they’ll get the right amount of sun, which may lead to more thriving flower gardens. An empty or neglected flower bed attracts attention for all the wrong reasons; keep your flowers perky and thriving by selecting outdoor plants meant for your climate.
14. Paver Patio
The addition of a patio off a bedroom or other living space gives you another outdoor area to beautify. Create a serene place for drinking your morning coffee, entertaining, or enjoying a different view of your backyard. Decorate your patio with furniture, string lights, wall art, and greenery and create a micro paradise.
15. Minimal Mowing
Enjoying your backyard and maintaining it are two separate activities. For more pleasure and less upkeep, bring features to your backyard landscaping that reduce the amount of grass you need to mow. Instead of grass, build a deck or terrace to extend your living space. Still want the greenery without the work? Replace traditional lawn turf with creeping thyme – it gives you a beautiful, hassle-free lawn that can still be stepped on.
16. Vegetable Gardens
Cut your grocery bill by growing your own seasonal produce. Not only is a vegetable garden a charming backyard landscaping idea, but it also provides you with a hobby that gets you outside in the fresh air. It’s hard to beat the taste of healthy, fresh veggies you grow and harvest yourself. While summer is a time when many veggies thrive, there are still many vegetables you can grow through the fall.
17. Fully Fenced
Dreaming of a house with a white picket fence? Maybe you prefer your privacy? There are many reasons to get an aesthetically pleasing fence, and it’s not just to keep urban critters out of your yard. Depending on your backyard landscaping ideas, a fence creates a neutral backdrop that you can use to design your perfect backyard space. Pick a fence with decorative appeal and enhance it with some creeping plants, outdoor lights, or weather-resistant art.
18. Welcoming Walkway
Instead of using a gaudy “keep of the grass” sign, a clear walkway is a simple way to keep foot traffic off a lawn. Depending on your outdoor landscaping decor, walkways can be simple rocks, marble or cement tiles, wood planks, decorative concrete, and more. Find what fits your style and use it to create a clear path around your home.
19. Starry String Lights
The addition of string lights adds ambiance to an outdoor space, and allows visibility for entertaining well past sunset. From classic Edison bulbs to novelty chili peppers, string lights come in several designs to suit a variety of style preferences. Make sure you hang outdoor string lights safely and out of the way of walking paths. We like these highly rated simple string lights available at Amazon because they suit any occasion.
20. Partial Privacy
When it comes to fencing, all-around fences may feel a bit like you’re boxed into your own backyard. If there’s a side of the house that offers beautiful views, partial privacy opens up your yard and gives you access to the visual wonders of your neighborhood. Partial privacy can be achieved with minimal fencing, a trellis or pergola, a living fence of cedars or other greenery, outdoor curtains, and many other options, too.
21. Pergola
Not a trellis and not a gazebo, a pergola is a distinct structure that can stand alone or attach to the side of your home (though permits may be required). Known for its vertical columns and crossbeams, a pergola is a stunning addition to backyard landscaping. It can provide shade with a fabric canopy or climbing plants, offer an elegant place to sit or mingle, and has a beauty that no other structure captures. This simple pergola available at Wayfair is one of our favorites.
22. Shade Trees
Being in the sun all day isn’t the best for you. With harmful UV rays, enjoying the outdoors properly means being responsible and seeking shade when you’re able. If your backyard landscaping is a little light on shade, it’s never too late to plant some trees and gain extra shade every year. The best shade trees pair well with relaxing, playful children, and hammock hangouts.
23. Storage Shed
Prolific gardeners, pool owners, and tool enthusiasts need a place to keep all their gear, or they risk cluttering up their gorgeous backyard. No longer merely a practical storage building on your property, a shed is part of your yard sight lines and should be selected for how well it suits the feel of your yard. For its size, aesthetic, and usefulness, this highly rated shed available at Wayfair fits nicely in many large backyards.
24. Geometric Backyard Landscaping
The clean lines of modern homes translate well into modern landscaping ideas. Mirror the shape of structures and features around your home within your backyard landscaping. This creates a cohesive aesthetic that flows well throughout your indoor and outdoor living spaces. These shape details can be incorporated into the planters you select, walkway stones, the style of patio furniture, and even how you prune your trees and plants.
