While most landscapes are designed to be enjoyed during daylight hours, when autumn rolls around, we have far fewer of those hours to spend outside. If you want a dynamic and inviting fall landscape, use fire features to draw friends and family into the brisk autumn air.
Fire features create a reason to gather, socialize, and celebrate with your friends and family outside. There is a universal joy that comes from sitting around the fire whether chatting, roasting marshmallows, or just staring deep into the flames.
So, how do you incorporate the element of fire into the landscape?
Design Fire Features into the Landscape
If you’re in the preliminary stages of planning your landscape, incorporate a fire feature from the earliest stages. Invite people to sit and stay awhile by building seating directly around the fire. Build permanent, bench seating around the fire pit, and add cushions or throws to soften the seats. Or place outdoor furniture around your fire feature in whatever style suits you.
Position fire features close to the house for convenience, or make them a destination. By placing a fire further away, it draws people out into the landscape. Provide a sense of escape and seclusion by obscuring views from the house, and make it a real getaway spot.
If you choose to make your fire a destination, don’t treat it as an afterthought! A secondary designed space with a path or walkway from the main patio through lush landscaping expands the usable space of your property. Bring on a professional designer if you need help.
Styles
Portable
Place a portable fire pit or chimney onto an existing hardscape area to easily add fire to the landscape. Move your portable fire pit around the site until you find the perfect spot. Or change locations depending on the size of the group or mood you are trying to set.
Pre-Fabricated Kits
Many hardware stores have fire pit kits designed to be built in a weekend. Build them directly on level ground or construct them on existing patios. Most of these consist of cast stone or block set in a circle or square, and come in a variety of colors.
Custom Fire Features
Work with a professional landscape designer when planning a custom fire feature. A designer ensures placement, orientation, traffic flow, and scale of the fire feature will work within the rest of the landscape and for the size of the groups you plan to entertain. Style, budget, materials, and of course, safety are also considered so you end up with a feature that is right for you.
Wood Burning
Some people love the smoky smell and the crackling sounds associated with wood burning fires. There is also something rewarding about tending a wood fire, stoking and adding wood as the fire ebbs and watching it revive.
A wood burning fire feature may be your best choice if you have a wooded lot or have easy access to firewood.
Disadvantages to wood is that the fires are more difficult to extinguish and they tend to be messier.
As an aside, do not harvest wood from parks and wild areas. Not only is this illegal, but transporting wood from unknown sources may inadvertently spread pests and diseases to new areas. Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a major threat to our region, so please don’t contribute to its spread.
Gas Burning
A gas fire can add the ambiance of a wood fire with a few differences. Gas burning fires …
- don’t need to be stoked.
- don’t provide the smoky smell associated with burning wood.
- are easy to turn on and off – usually just a switch or knob.
- don’t require buying, moving, and storing wood.
- have the capability to adjust the flame.
Gas burning fire features are typically more expensive because a plumber is required to run and connect the pipes.
Other ways to incorporate fire in your landscape
Although there are many ways to incorporate fire into the landscape, some people prefer to include the element of fire without it being the main focus. If this is you, fire bowls, lanterns, candles, and torches also add the warmth and ambiance fire can provide. Regardless of the way you choose to integrate fire into your landscape, it is sure to be a feature that friends and family will enjoy.