When the Our Land Organics team met with a client from Cincinnati’s Mt. Lookout neighborhood, they were eager to get more use out of their backyard. They hoped to create a private destination spot that enhanced the underutilized yard’s aesthetic appeal, deepened their closeness with the natural world, and improved their views from inside the house.

While they had a fair amount of room in their backyard, they weren’t sure how to turn it into a welcoming, usable space. They also wanted a landscape design centered around native plants, but the land beyond their deck was filled with invasive honeysuckle and weeds. Adding to the challenge? The backyard’s hilly, uneven terrain.

Luckily, we love a good challenge.

The Our Land Organics team set out to transform the backyard into a functional, inviting, and serene outdoor living space using the power of a landscape design that centered around hardscaping. Our project objectives:

• Enhanced aesthetic appeal: Transforming the uninviting hillside covered in honeysuckle and weeds into an aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space.

• Functional improvement: Creating a private and comfortable patio area under the tree canopy, replacing an underutilized and mosquito-prone section of the yard.

• Integration with nature: Surrounding the patio with native-centric plantings to enhance natural beauty and provide a tranquil environment.

We began by designing and installing a flagstone patio with plenty of room for a large firepit and comfortable seating for the family and guests. Matching stone stairs connect the patio to the existing deck, linking the two spaces and effectively doubling the family’s outdoor living space.

Next order of business? Seamlessly integrating the new hardscape into the broader landscape design.

We installed a natural boulder retaining wall to frame the patio, control the backyard’s slope, and reduce erosion. Then we planted a variety of native plants that will create a tranquil environment and thrive in the backyard’s shady conditions.

Now the entire yard is cohesive, calming, and functional. Family and guests can easily flow from the house, to the deck, to the patio and back again with many options to enjoy serenity and connect with nature.  

That’s the transformative power of hardscaping: With thoughtful landscape design, you can turn some patchy grass and a weedy hillside into a beautiful, welcoming outdoor living space for family and friends.


Ready to transform your outdoor living space? Whether you’re interested in hardscaping, native plants, or any other aspect of landscape design, our experienced team is here to help. Contact us to learn more.