Milwaukee has a four-season climate, and enjoys cooling breezes and sweeping views along Lake Michigan. Winters are cold and snowy, summers hot and stormy. Being a lakeside (and riverside) city, abundant humidity and green are the norm - provided they can handle the winter, plants are very happy in Milwaukee. Outside the city, suburban communities intermingle with areas of forest, prairie, and oak savannah, not to mention a whole lot of lakes.

Whether you are looking to spend more time outside in your Milwaukee yard, or are just in need of a landscape refresh, Yardzen can help you! We’ll work with you to develop a landscape design that gets you the look, feel, and function you are dreaming of, then we’ll connect you with a licensed, vetted contractor from the Yardzen Pro Network to get your design built and get you back outside.

Milwaukee-area designs run the gamut. More than any style, you’ll see variations on the classic 20th-century landscape archetype of foundation planting, hedges, floral accents, and vast lawns. Among younger homeowners in particular, you also see styles that have become popular more recently. These include native-heavy, pollinator-friendly planting designs that emulate the prairies, woodlands, and forests of the regional landscape. They also include modern, urban-flavored designs, with clean concrete hardscaping, ornamental grasses, and rectilinear layouts.

When it comes to landscape styles, Yardzen has done it all. Whatever your style may be, our designers are ready to help you achieve it.

Milwaukee landscapes are built to perform in all four seasons. This means including plants for winter interest, like early-blooming bulbs and evergreen shrubs, choosing materials that hold up to snow and ice, and providing shade sources to keep cool through the summers.

Amenities for outdoor living are popular, from outdoor kitchen and dining areas, to flexible entertaining spaces that work equally well for a quiet night outside or a Super Bowl party.

Shade structures like pergolas and shade sails are gaining in popularity, as is outdoor lighting, which helps people take advantage of the cool weather of summer evenings. On the other end of the spectrum, fire pits, heaters, and outdoor rugs are popular to help people stay outside as weather starts to turn chilly.

While hardscape aesthetics vary as much as design styles, natural stone paving and decorative rock features are popular both for their durability and the sense of belonging within the regional landscape that they express.

No matter where you live, native plants are an excellent choice for your landscape. As lovers of the local climate, native plants typically require fewer inputs of water, fertilizer, and maintenance than species introduced from elsewhere. With natives, you’ll get great plant performance with less expense and fuss.

At the same time, native plants offer unmatched habitat value for local wildlife, and help designed landscapes feel connected to the broader regional landscape.

Looking for a few natives to get you started? Here are a few of the many local favorites:

→ Ohio Goldenrod

→ Purple Coneflower

→ Prairie Blazingstar

→ Wild Quinine

→ Big or Little Bluestem grasses

→ Red, Silver, or any of the many other Maples native Wisconsin

→ Dogwood (many native Dogwoods are great for landscape use, and for wildlife habitat)

Climate is a critical factor for Milwaukee landscapes.

Landscape designs must take care to choose plants and materials that will stand up to the heat, cold, and precipitation that the climate will throw at them.

They should also incorporate features to provide comfortable spaces for any season, including shade trees and structures and water features to cool off in the summer, and evergreen windbreaks, fire pits, and outdoor heaters to keep warm in the fall and winter.

Seasonal interest is another climate factor to account for - landscapes ought to be dynamic, changing their appearance throughout the year. Careful plant selection can ensure an attractive display year-round by incorporating fall color, winter interest, and early spring blooms.

Wildlife herbivory, from deer in particular, is a factor. While no plants are outright deer-proof, landscape designs can prioritize species that stand better odds of being avoided by deer.

Now! Any time of year is great to begin work on a landscape project.

When possible, we suggest utilizing the winter to work through the design phase - this sets you up to get on contractors’ books early in the build season, so you can have your design installed and ready to enjoy in time for summer.

If winter has passed, don’t worry, it’s never too late in the year to begin work on a landscape design project.