Outdoor Living Trends

''It's all about extending the use of the backyard and bringing the inside outdoors,'' declared Steven Tomasi, president of A.J. Tomasi Nurseries in Pembroke. Given such a disappointing spring, impatience grows to get out into the backyard. It's high time to pursue the pleasures of outdoor living. And with another summer comes the desire to add something new. This reality presents opportunities for landscape contractors to increase business in the summer season.

The most popular features for improving backyards are fire pits, exterior lighting, dining and seating areas, grills and low-maintenance landscapes, according to landscape architects surveyed this year by American Society of Landscape Architects.

Built-in fire pits also are popular for people with a larger budget.

Outdoor cooking is an American pastime and the Weber Smokey Joe remains the old standby. It's the most popular charcoal grill, said Joe Duarte, manager of Aubuchon Hardware in Cohasset.

''Gas grills are still the most popular, but interest in charcoal grills increases when gas prices go up,'' Duarte said.

As for gas grills, they are designed with decor in mind, with stainless steel, green, red and copper finishes. And they have increased in size to up to six burners to allow chefs to grill not just meat, but vegetables and the rest of the meal at once. Grills can cost from $225 to $12,000. A popular model is the Weber Genesis, a gas-powered grill that can cost as much as $800.

Water features can make backyards feel like a tropical resort. But, they only make sense if the owner chooses a maintenance-free one. That means a feature with a minimum of 1,000 gallons of water, which costs about $5,000.
Doug Litchfield, owner of Hillbilly Acres in Scituate, declared ''A maintenance-free waterfall is expensive in the initial layout, but it pays for itself down the road because it won't have problems with algae.''