Three Landscape Trends going strong at Darboy Stone and Brick!

If the warmer weather this week doesn’t have you retreating back inside, then you are probably excited to begin making the most of your yard for the summer!  I wanted to share a few pictures of the new colors and stone options for exterior patios that I noticed at a recent visit to Darboy Stone and Brick in Appleton.  Here are three trends in landscape that are going strong this summer!

Black Accents

In keeping with other home exterior trends, the selection of black bricks seems to have expanded.  This black soldier layer defines a rustic patio area with a more natural irregular shaped black brick that caught my eye.

Likewise, this black brick was used to accent a fire pit circle finished with a mix of grey paver stones.

Shape Bending

As noticed in all the pictures above, none of the patios featured a traditional brick paver shape and style.  The popularity of this castle rock configuration of stones seemed to be the newest thing to take over the outside display examples at Darboy.

This paver path I photographed was a twist on a traditional paver walkway.  The bricks were a bit more chipped and rustic and installed at an angle.

Even here if you look beyond the black soldier course of this photo from above, the bricks are an nontraditional longer shape installed in a herringbone pattern.

Even the standard retaining wall block have gotten a revamp with a more long and linear profile option!

Defined Spaces

An outdoor living room is not a new trend but still high on most people’s wish list for their yard!  The amazing exterior fireplace options, especially this one with the decorative fireboxes on each side, rival the beauty of our interior fireplaces!

And I am a huge fan of a pergola or stone wall to bring definition to the space.  The sitting wall from the previous fire pit photo invites you to stay awhile while dressing up a campfire circle with pillars and pavers!

And there you have it!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I picked out as a few trends in landscaping that are going strong this year!