Mid Summer Is the Perfect Time to Reimagine Your Outdoor Space

Phlox and Hydangea make a great summer combination

Winter is often when the best landscape plans take shape. Spring is when those ideas become reality through thoughtful landscape installation and planting. By summer, your new trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses are settling in, establishing roots, and benefiting from warm temperatures and summer showers as they push out fresh growth.

For many homeowners on the Main Line, this is exactly how a landscape should work: design first, install well, then enjoy the results.

A Well-Designed Landscape Should Require Less Water

One of the biggest advantages of a professionally designed, low-maintenance landscape is that watering demands decrease significantly once the landscape is established.

By selecting native plants and drought-tolerant perennials that are matched to your specific site conditions—sun, shade, soil type, drainage, and exposure—your landscape becomes naturally more resilient. Instead of constantly fighting the weather, the planting is designed to work with it.

That means your garden can continue looking beautiful through summer, including the occasional Philadelphia-area heat wave, without requiring excessive watering, constant attention, or unnecessary stress.

Your Landscape Should Not Be Another Summer Chore

Most families are already busy enough.

Summer is filled with getting kids to and from camp, keeping up with work, planning vacations, packing for weekend trips, and trying to spend more time outside. Your landscape should not become another item on the to-do list.

A thoughtful landscape design creates outdoor spaces that are meant to be used and enjoyed, not constantly maintained.

Some of Our Favorite Low-Maintenance Summer Performers

When designing landscapes throughout the Main Line and Philadelphia suburbs, we often rely on plants that provide long-lasting color, support pollinators, and tolerate periods of heat and dryness once established.

Three favorites are:

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly MilkWeed)

Brilliant orange flowers, exceptional pollinator value, and excellent drought tolerance.

Long Bloom

Pollinator Favorite

Drought Tolerant

Phlox ‘Jeana’

Clouds of soft purple-pink flowers that bloom for months and attract butterflies.

Long Bloom

Butterfly Magnet

Low Maintenance

Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’

Vibrant purple blooms that provide color through much of the growing season with minimal care.

Season-Long Color

Heat Tolerant

Easy Care

The Goal Is a Landscape That Gets Better Each Year

The best landscapes do not peak the day they are installed. They grow into themselves.

As roots establish and plants mature, the garden becomes fuller, more connected, and increasingly resilient. Watering needs typically decrease, maintenance becomes simpler, and the landscape begins delivering the feeling every homeowner wants: beauty without constant effort.

That is why we focus on low-maintenance landscape design, native plantings, and site-appropriate plant selection throughout the Main Line and Philadelphia suburbs.

Summer should be the season when you sit back, enjoy the blooms, watch the pollinators, and appreciate the work you invested in months earlier.

Because a great landscape is not meant to create more stress. It is meant to give some of it back

Imagine What Your Landscape Could Become

As you walk around your property, notice what deserves to stay.

Perhaps there are beautiful mature trees that anchor your landscape. Maybe certain garden beds thrive every year and simply need to be expanded. The best landscape design builds on what is already working.

Then consider the areas that could be reimagined.

Maybe your backyard needs more privacy so it becomes a place where you actually want to spend an evening outdoors.

Maybe your foundation is filled with evergreen shrubs that provide structure but leave your home feeling flat during the summer. Layers of flowering perennials, ornamental grasses, and native plants could bring color, texture, and life to your landscape.

Maybe nearby construction has changed the way your property relates to the surrounding homes, and your landscape needs stronger edges, screening, or a better sense of definition.

Or perhaps life has simply been busy.

You have spent years maintaining your home, tackling repairs, raising children, managing work schedules, and keeping everything moving forward. The landscape has stayed good enough because there always seemed to be something more urgent.

Now may finally be the right time to invest in a landscape you can truly enjoy.

A Thoughtfully Designed Landscape Changes More Than Your Yard

A beautiful landscape is about much more than adding plants.

It is about creating a welcoming first impression every time you come home. It is about increasing your home's curb appeal while creating outdoor spaces where your family wants to spend time.

Whether you are dreaming about front yard landscaping, a private backyard retreat, colorful perennial gardens, or a complete landscape renovation, thoughtful garden design can transform the way you experience your home.

A thoughtfully designed landscape should become more beautiful with time, not more demanding. That is why we believe in using lasting design principles, carefully selected native plants, and low maintenance perennials that continue to reward homeowners season after season.

A well designed landscape brings beauty throughout the seasons while supporting pollinators, reducing maintenance, and complementing the architecture of your home.

Ready for a Fresh Start?

Every landscape tells a story.

If yours no longer reflects the way you want to live, or if it simply is not bringing you the joy it should, this season is an opportunity to imagine something better.

If you're ready for a fresh start, we'd love to help. At Union Landscape Design, we specialize in low maintenance landscape design and installation throughout the Main Line and Philadelphia suburbs. Our goal is to become the area's most trusted partner for homeowners who want beautiful gardens, native plants, and thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces that become a welcome retreat for years to come. Together, we'll build on what is working, reimagine what is not, and create a landscape you'll look forward to coming home to every day.

Contact us today to schedule your consultation, and let’s start planning your perfect outdoor retreat.

Explore our Pricing Packages to see real examples and find the right starting point for your project.

— Union Landscape Design

Summer Is the Season to Enjoy Your Landscape