Creating a Backyard Oasis
May 2008 - Erin Isings

After a long work week, it’s Friday night and you’re ready to relax. But if the very thought of fighting your way through traffic to the cottage makes you feel exhausted, consider investing in a relaxation space closer to home, in your very own backyard.
There’s much more of a trend towards people inventing their own space, says Tom Sampson, owner of California Spa and Fitness. “People tend to entertain at home. In many households, two people are working and there’s not the energy to go out at night, so they entertain themselves, or their guests, at home. Part of that is turning their backyard into an extension of their home and having an outdoor room.”

Sampson has seen a surge in the demand for hot tubs, which he attributes to a desire to create a relaxation space at home and a realization of the health benefits of doing so.

“Often the winter air in our homes isn’t the greatest, so this is a way to get out and enjoy the fresh air and be warm and protected. Hot water promotes the expanding of arteries, capillaries and veins and that means the re-oxygenated blood travels to your tired muscles faster.”

Sampson also cites the flotation factor as a health benefit. “The amount of your body below the water level is one-tenth of its normal weight, so your joints aren’t all cramped together. And generally, there’s an endorphin release from your brain that makes you feel relaxed. All of this means that people can go out to the hot tub, isolate themselves from their daily pressures and have their body and mind relax. When they get out of the hot tub, they feel refreshed, more relaxed and in a better state of mind.”

There are no limits on creativity when incorporating a hot tub into your backyard space. “You don’t have to adapt the look you want in order to fit the hot tub; the hot tub will fit your look,” says Sampson, noting that his London, ON business has won awards because of their ability to help clients customize their space.

“For example, if you want to build (the hot tub) into rocks and stones and you don’t need the cabinet around it – you’re not going to see it and it will be a waste of time – then we can build that,” says Sampson, who has been in the business for almost 20 years. “Or if you need to move the pump and pack to another area because you have a fairly intricate design, we can move that around.”

The new direction for hot tubs is salt water sanitizing, he says. “It’s Health Canada-approved and it cuts down on the demand for putting chemicals in the hot tub.” Two people in a hot tub create the same pollution as 140 people would in a backyard swimming pool. But salt water systems cut 80 per cent of the demand for chemicals, which means less maintenance. A salt water hot tub needs to be drained once a year, while a regular hot tub needs to be drained every two to three months,” says Sampson.

But does that mean you have to be a chemist to properly maintain a hot tub? Definitely not, he says. The average person needs to spend five to 10 minutes per week maintaining their hot tub. The problem for the majority of people is remembering to do it.



“Our business revolves around personal health and well-being,” says Sampson, of the family-owned store that also sells saunas and fitness equipment. “Our customer satisfaction is really what’s important to us.”

Like any outfit, no backyard is complete without accessories! So after deciding on the big features, such as a swimming pool or hot tub, you can focus on adding accessories to complete your overall look – starting with patio furniture.

The good news in patio furniture this year is that people are demanding comfort. “Comfort is king, but it wasn’t five or 10 years ago. Then, they were looking for maintenance-free,” says Steve Gilboe, president of Patio Palace in London. “The backyard has become an extension of indoors. People have made their theatre room or entertainment room, but they’re not using those rooms as much as they thought they would. So they’d like an outdoor room,” says Gilboe. This trend has lead to outdoor furniture mimicking indoor furniture, with outdoor sectionals, ottomans, slipper chairs, and toss cushions. These cushions are designed to dry quickly and not fade in the sun.

The latest outdoor trend in furniture material is vinyl wicker. It’s important to note the difference between outdoor vinyl wicker, which is durable, and outdoor resin wicker, a cheaper substitute. “Outdoor vinyl wicker is a petroleum-based product. It’s like the vinyl siding on your home,” says Gilboe, adding that the trend is so hot many people are designing it or lending their names, including Andre Agassi and Thomasville, a traditionally indoor furniture brand.

Many customers also like cast aluminum, says Gilboe, which is a solid-tube frame, not a hollow-tube frame. Proper cast aluminum is resilient enough to be left outside year-round in the Canadian winter. And it’s heavy enough to stay in place in windy areas such as new subdivisions or lakeside properties. Teak outdoor furniture is always popular, but should be oiled once a year to maintain the look.

Another trend for this year is to have a conversation area or lounge table for casual dining. “Customers are forgoing a dining-height table and going with a lower to the ground table, almost coffee table height or slightly higher,” says Gilboe, noting that many of his customers are entertaining outdoors for three to five hours with drinks and appetizers, instead of the traditional five o’clock dinner. The lounge table means that you don’t have to serve at a formal table and then move to a more comfortable conversation area.

For outdoor colour, Gilboe admits that he sets his sights high for the displays in his 14,000 square-foot showroom that offers free delivery from London to Kitchener-Waterloo. “We deliberately go off the palate and bring in some funky product in different frame colours maybe a glacier blue or a macaw green or a tangerine orange – something that really makes an eye-popping statement on our floor. But what generally happens is that people don’t want to make that statement with the frame. Instead they’ll do toss cushions (in the funkier colours). Outdoor cushions can be tossed on a set from last year to bring out different colours in it.”

The newest cushion colour tones for this year are sage, olive, or a glacier blue and chocolate brown combination, he says.

For frame colours, chocolate brown and bronze are in right now. “For a long time, everyone had forest green or hunter green, but people are tiring of that now,” says Gilboe.

There’s no limit to what you can do in the backyard. New products include outdoor paintings, which look like indoor artwork but are made to hang outside and won’t fade, rot, or mildew. Other products include bars, wood and gas-burning fire pits, outdoor heaters, and outdoor rooms that have retractable screens, like the Sky Dome, says Gilboe.

And to put the finishing touches on your backyard oasis, it’s time to think about greenery – with or without a dash of colour.

But where to start? When creating your space, it’s important to think about whether your backyard has sun or shade, keeping in mind any possible condo corporation rules.

Rita Heeman, owner of Heeman Greenhouses and Strawberry Farm in Thorndale, recommends choosing the plants or flowers that you like, then learning about the blooming period for that plant. Staggering the bloom time for your plants means you’ll have a beautiful backyard all season long.

“Perennials bloom for about three weeks, so when you’re planting perennials, don’t pick perennials that all bloom in the summer,” she says. Annuals bloom all summer, but they don’t come back the following year.

For annuals that like the sun, Heeman says that geraniums provide an array of colour, but you have to be willing to deadhead them to keep them colourful all summer. Petunias are also very popular.“You can use them in your containers or plant them on the ground like a carpet,” suggests Heeman. “Selvia Evolution is a nice purply-blue colour. It has dark blue flower spikes and grows to be about 18 inches tall. They go great with a shorter, yellow marigold; it’s a very nice combination.”

For a larger flower, Heeman suggests profusion zinnias. “Not many people know about profusion zinnias. They’re bright and showy, and they grow 12 inches tall. The flowers come in so many colours: white, orange, apricot and cherry. They’re very easy to grow in full sun and they do well in the summer heat.”

If you’re looking for annuals to jazz up those spots where you can’t quite get enough sun, Heeman recommends begonias (tuberous or fibrous) and impatiens. And don’t forget coleus, which is known for its leaf colour. “The leaves come in different shades of red, or two-tone. You buy them more for the colour of the leaf than the flower.”

For dressing up a trellis or balcony area, simply lean a mandevilla next to it. “We find the mandevillas really popular,” says Heeman of the tropical vine that thrives in full sun and flowers all summer. And the end of the season doesn’t mean the end of the mandevilla. Simply cut it back to a foot in length and bring it inside for the winter. However, Heeman warns that the mandevillas are susceptible to spider mites.

For the green look, she recommends perennials such as hostas, yuccas, palms (not carried by Heeman’s), or Boston ferns. For hot, dry areas, consider vincas, gazenias or lantanas.

If you’re unsure how these plants would fit into your space, you can see a 40,000 square-foot example at Heeman’s, which has been in business for 44 years. Best of all, in the summer season, you can enjoy a strawberry sundae fresh from the on-site strawberry farm while you shop!