9 Landscape-Design Ideas to Make Your Garden Feel Cooler in High Summer Heat
From adding dappled shade and trickling water to layering up lush planting and misting the patio, these designer ideas will turn your garden into a much more comfortable space.
Latest forecasts show summers will likely continue getting hotter so you'll be needing all the inspirational ideas you can find to keep your yard cool and comfortable when temperatures soar. You're no doubt familiar with instant ways to make your garden feel cooler in high summer heat, such as using a large parasol or shade sail and installing a retractable awning. But there are lots of more surprising ways that add to your landscape design as well as cool the space, creating an environment that is a pleasure to be in during the hottest months of summer. Late-season is the ideal time to add these cooling DIY landscape design ideas to your garden, as they'll be well established by the time next summer's heat arrives.
Taking a thoughtful approach that looks at all the different elements in your yard and how they interconnect is the solution to creating a cooler garden. Assessing smart shade ideas for your garden, reconsidering your planting choices and rethinking landscaping materials will collectively help to pull together a more cohesive approach that makes your yard feel cooler in heatwave conditions.
Which of these cooling landscape-design ideas will work best for your yard?
1. Choose a Planting Palette of Cool Colors
If your goal is a make your garden feel cooler in high summer heat, the color of the plants you choose is just as important as the variety. Opt for a color theme that relies predominantly on flowers and foliage in cooling shades of silver, gray, white, purple, blue and olive green, and steer clear of hot, bright colors like red, orange, and yellow, which have the opposite effect of visually warming up the garden.
Consider silver-leaved plants that reflect sunlight, too, naturally cooling the garden when temperatures rise. They also add an element of surprise with their magical sheen. Go for silver or gray-leaved perennials such as globe artichoke, eryngium and Senecio candicans.
Growing 2 feet high and wide, this compact form of Russian sage has silver-green foliage and spires of icy-blue summer flowers in zones 4-8.
Striking blue-gray spiky flowers add a cool touch to any garden in zones 3-8 and the long-lasting blooms create visual interest throughout summer.
This new Leucophyllum candidum variety is the first true dwarf at a compact 3 feet high with stunning flowers and foliage in zones 7-10.
2. Introduce Falling Water
There are many benefits of making water a part of your landscape design. The sound of trickling water is calming and boosts wellbeing, while adding a pond or water bowl also encourages biodiversity and will attract wildlife to your garden. A cascading water feature can play a key role in making your garden feel cooler in high summer heat too, both with its cooling sound and by directly pulling heat out of the air.
There are plenty of water features you can easily install yourself and the easiest option is an off-the-shelf water feature that runs on solar power. This means no landscaping work is involved, which keeps costs down if you're on a budget. Choose an unusual design such as this curved cascading solar water feature from Wayfair with a built-in planter and you create a standout patio focus, too.
3. Plant a Fast-Growing Shrub
It's always a good idea to look for lovely natural options to make your garden feel cooler. The delightful dappled shade cast by fast-growing shrubs will create changing patterns of light throughout the day as the sun moves round. This is one of the most affordable ideas for shade too, as the only outlay is the cost of the shrub.
Look for easy shade options like fast-growing crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), which adds 2 to 3 feet of height annually if conditions are right. Small to medium varieties like 'Center Stage' Pink Crepe Myrtle, available from Nature Hills, grow to a mature height between 10 to 15 feet tall.
Another great shade choice is one of the taller varieties of oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) like screening favorite 'Alice', available from Nature Hills, which grows to 12 feet tall and has reliable white-blush pink blooms throughout summer.
4. Layer up an Airy Feeling with Screening Plants
Layering the planting with a combination of evergreen structure, ornamental grasses and seasonal perennials helps create a space that feels cool, fresh and welcoming. The trick is to bring a feel of airiness to your yard using multi-level planting.
Aim for a loose arrangement with plenty of ground cover plants to keep soil cool and moist. Then mix tall native perennials like coneflowers and achillea with airy ornamental grasses that move in the slightest breeze for a shape-shifting middle layer. Shrubs and multi-stemmed trees complete the top storey and ensure the layers beneath are kept shaded and cool. Pruning the lower section of shrubs to reveal the open structure of stems is a trick many landscape designers use to give gardens an airy feel, and you can also remove the lower branches of trees to raise the crown and create a lighter vibe.
Using layered planting has the added benefit of naturally screening your garden for privacy if you're overlooked by neighbours.
5. Create Dappled Shade with a Privacy Screen
One of the quickest and most affordable ways to add cooling shade as well as adding to your landscape design is by using a decorative screen. They can be made from a range of materials including metal like the Corten steel sunburst screen in the design above, and can be customised to match the style and aesthetic of your outdoor space. You may decide on using several.
Not all privacy screens need to be fixed in place and landscape designers regularly opt for strategically placed standalone screens to add style as well as shade. Choose a lattice style that will allow light to pass through so your patio will feel airy and not boxed in. It's an easy trick to copy, and one that will add a unique design element as well as a more secluded feel.
6. Hydrate Dry Patio Air with a Solar-Powered Fountain
A floating fountain in a watertight container is all you need to cool the air
Landscape designers recommend positioning a water fountain on or near your patio, deck or other seating area as it hydrates the air, and you can benefit from the cooling atmosphere it creates. It's easy to DIY your own solar fountain water feature with a cheap floating pump like this from Amazon , making this one of the easiest patio ideas to try.
Solar fountains work by constantly recirculating water and this keeps the surrounding air hydrated and oxygenated. Easy to create and hypnotic to gaze at, they are just what your patio needs to cool the air, while also providing a valuable source of water for birds, bees and other visiting wildlife to enjoy. A solar fountain also prevents water from stagnating and becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
7. Grow a Living Canopy
Erecting a pergola is an obvious way to add shade to the garden, but creating a living roof is one of the more surprising landscaping tricks that's bound to be a conversation point. Planting fast-growing climbers to grow up and over a pergola helps prevent heat building up in the garden. The foliage blocks the sun’s rays, creating a cooler space to enjoy.
The living canopy you create will provide natural shade that's more pleasant for relaxation or dining in hot weather. It's an easy way to make your outdoor space feel cooler in high summer heat, especially if you choose fragrant climbing varieties like rose, star jasmine or honeysuckle as you will be enveloped in clouds of heavenly scent.
8. Landscape with Light-Colored Mulch
Stretches of hardscaping such as a paved patio tend to heat up the garden, especially if the pavers are charcoal gray or black. Dark-colored pavers absorb heat during the day, releasing it later once the air temperature cools, making your patio an unpleasantly hot place to be in the evening. And the smaller your garden, the hotter it will feel.
Instead choose light-colored landscaping materials that reflect sunlight such as pale natural stone and hardscaping finishes like these bone-toned porcelain pavers from Lowe's. Combine with buff gravel and white pebbles like these decorative river stones from Lowe's and you'll find your patio is considerably cooler in high summer heat.
9. Spritz your Patio with a Mister
Patio misters are a popular option for cooling down outdoor spaces. Easy to use, these systems are connected to a hose or outdoor tap. They can hang along the edge of your roof or be freestanding. The largest systems are designed to cover an entire patio or deck area, while others – like the 15-foot misting umbrella from Wayfair pictured – are big enough to cool a seating area.
Patio misters are designed to release a fine mist that's cooling without soaking you, and a great solution if you live in a hot, dry climate and are looking for smart ideas for patio shade and cooling. Mister systems are energy-efficient, providing a cost-effective solution for beating the heat without high electricity bills.
Another option is a misting fan like this Portable Outdoor Mister from Walmart which combines air and mist to keep you cool. In addition to moving the air around like a conventional fan they release mist. If you want hydrated air without the movement, a simple freestanding mister such as the Cobra Misting System from Walmart, a versatile solution for yard work and keeping pets cool.
