Although there are many aspects of your outdoor living space that is simply unusable in the winter, there is one thing that may be even more enjoyable during the cold weather – your fire pit! If you don’t yet have one, the first choice you will need to make is whether you want a wood-burning or gas-burning model.

Neither is better than the other; they each have pros and cons. So let’s take a look at six factors, and you can decide which works better for you.

1. Fuel availability. If you live in rural area with plenty of firewood nearby, wood is obviously an easy option. Or if you are in a suburban home, there may already be a gas line in place. If you already have natural gas or propane appliances, it could be a very practical expense to add an outdoor fire feature as you wouldn’t have to worry about running service from the road or purchasing a tank for propane.
2. Installation price and time. Wood is certainly less expensive than gas. Also, wood-burning fire pits are less costly to install and can typically be built in 50 – 75 percent of the time needed to install a gas-burning unit.
3. Fuel storage. A propane-burning fire pit will require a storage tank that would hold from 15 to 100 gallons, depending on how often you use it. Firewood also requires storage space, so you’d need to consider where to stack it without detracting from the appearance of your home. Don’t stack it against the house, however, as firewood may harbor termites.
4. Convenience. Gas is the hands-down winner here. It’s obviously easier to push a button and have an instant fire. You also would not have to deal with the mess of the firewood and ash cleanup.
5. Safety. There is always a danger of leaks with gas. But if the fire pit is professionally installed, these are rare. With wood, there are of course dangers inherent in cutting the wood, stacking it properly, and dealing with the fire when you are finished. In either case, understanding the risks and knowing how to handle fire responsibly are very important to your enjoyment of an outdoor fire feature. If you have children around the fire, make sure to teach them fire responsibility as well.
6. Primary use. If you just want the ambience and heat of a fire, gas is certainly an easy option. But if you want to cook on the fire, you need to go with wood. Knutsen Landscaping offers the Zentro smokeless fire pit from Breeo, with a special design to keep the smoke to a barely noticeable trace. And a special swing-away grilling rack works wonderfully with these fire pits.

With all these considerations, the choice is up to you. And the professionals at Knutsen Landscaping will be happy to assist you no matter which one you choose. Either way, a fire pit is a great way to enjoy the outdoors even in the coldest weather. You can have your own winter wonderland for many years to come!

Knutsen Landscaping is pleased to announce the release of a new video that describes and details our work and services. Hear an interview with our founder and president, Andy Knutsen, and see beautiful footage of some of our latest work: beautiful pool decks, stunning firepits and fireplaces, and outdoor living spaces that dreams are made of!

For many people, spring and summer are the banner months for landscaping. After all, who can deny the bright, beautiful explosion of colors available in the warmer seasons? Of course, the calendar turns, however, and fall is inevitable. But don’t despair! The array of autumn colors goes well beyond brown.

Add color to your property by planting the right tree.  Fall is a great time to plant trees, and there are many ways to “decorate” your property naturally through tree plantings!  There are many tree varieties with beautiful fall foilage to choose from, such as the Pacific Sunset Maple or a Stellar Pink Dogwood.

• Chrysanthemums are perhaps the go-to flowers for fall, and with good reason. Shades of red, yellow, orange, peach, and white provide a good beginning for your autumn palette. And don’t forget the pink–and especially purple–contrasts to round out your mums. Most of us are familiar with the seasonal varieties sold at florists and garden centers in the fall, but if you find plants labeled as “garden mums,” they can last for years.
• Versatile and heavy blooming pansies are available in just about every color in the rainbow, so can provide any splash of color you need for your autumn palette. What’s more, if planted in the fall and covered carefully in the winter, pansies have a chance to come back in the spring.
• Celosia is a natural for fall because of the traditional fall colors available: bright yellow, warm orange, scarlet red, and deep burgundy purple. Additionally, the plumes of their blooms add vertical texture to other fall flowers.
• Fall-blooming varieties of dianthus, especially in the darker purple hues, will offer beautiful mum-like blooms to your fall garden. And be sure to plant them where you can enjoy their great scent!

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  Sweet alyssum also gives you a great scent, while also a carpet of color to enhance your autumn landscape. It can also be used in container gardens to cascade over the edge.

• The bold, dramatic Black-eyed Susan offers golden daisy-like flowers to brighten any landscape or container garden. And if left to form seeds, the Black-eyed Susan will attract finches and other birds as well.
• Please don’t overlook the ornamental pepper to add a pop of texture to your fall landscape. The colorful fruits of these plants come in festive shades of red, yellow, orange, and purple. And they’re available in different shapes and sizes, from the round Black Pearl to the elongated Chilly Chili.

As fall settles in, you have a wide array of colors and plants with which to paint your autumn landscape. So grab a pumpkin spiced latte and contact Knutsen Landscaping today to further explore the possibilities.

Outdoor living spaces—patios, decks, and more—offer many different elements to enhance your outdoor experience. After all, the whole purpose of landscaping and hardscaping is to increase the enjoyment of your home and property! One of the most popular features is a fire pit. Everyone seems to love gathering around the fire pit, just like they may have done with campfires in the past.

However, one thing can quickly put a damper on everyone’s good time—smoke! In a turn on the old saying, where there’s fire there’s smoke. Thankfully, there are ways to minimize that problem. One excellent product that Knutsen uses is the Zentro Fire Pit Insert by Breeo. The Zentro is designed to fit into most standard fire pit structures; it’s available in 24-, 28-, and 32-inch sizes, both circular and square. Steel and stainless steel options are available in all sizes. (In addition to the inserts, they also offer standalone firepit models.)

You may be thinking, “Smokeless fire? How is that possible?” Good question! And honestly, no fire can be 100 percent smoke-free; but there is a way to greatly minimize that smoke to the point where it’s barely noticeable. The key to creating a smoke-less fire is a double-wall design. Small holes in the bottom of the inner chamber coax hot air between the walls. This hot air rises between the walls, heating more as it does, until another series of holes at the top carry it back into the fire. This hotter air creates a secondary combustion, burning the smoke created from the fire until it’s almost undetectable.

You’ll no longer have to worry about who will be sitting in the trail of drifting smoke coming off your fire pit, moving chairs around and disrupting your good time. What’s more, the secondary combustion makes for a hotter, more even flame giving you have a better cooking source for grilling. Things like steaks, chops, and burgers never tasted better! And there’s a griddle accessory available for eggs, bacon, and pancakes, as well as a chicken rotisserie and swing-away grill. There’s even a kettle winch and cast iron kettles for soups and stews!

The great news is that all of this will fit right into your new or existing fire pit design; the Zentro is made specifically for that purpose. Furthermore, Breeo is a local company, formed and functioning in Kinzers, PA.

So when it’s time to consider creating or upgrading a fire pit for your outdoor living space, Knutsen Landscaping is your source. And with Zentro Fire Pit Inserts, we won’t blow smoke in your face!

You’ve invested considerable time and resources to making your home and outdoor living space look just the way you want it. But what happens when the sun goes down? You certainly don’t want to lose all that beauty and curb appeal! Proper lighting will not only carry your design beyond the daylight hours, but it will allow you to create a new and exciting nighttime landscape.

Be sure to take the right approach in designing the lighting for your landscape. It may seem, for instance, that a trade electrician is the best place to start. But this decision may not afford you all the expertise you need for your outdoor lighting project! Trade electricians can certainly get the job done, but landscape lighting is not usually their wheelhouse. For the best results, a landscape designer is a much better choice.

In particular, there are three advantages to choosing a professional landscape designer for your outdoor lighting design:

1. Although a trade electrician can certainly install your lighting, a designer brings a trained, professional, artistic eye to your design. Coming to a landscape designing like the professionals at Knusten is like asking a fine artist to paint your mural—rather than a house painter. You’ll get a much more aesthetically pleasing result. You and the designer can determine just what effect you want to achieve with your lighting, whether it’s a romantic, dramatic, mysterious, or other type of atmosphere you wish to create.
2. Lighting designers like the team at Knutsen is knowledgeable about the growth of trees, shrubs, and other softscaping elements on your property. Such expertise can ensure that the design you create will evolve with the desired effect as years go by and your foliage changes. You don’t want to be disappointed when your landscape grows over the years! A landscaper will take these natural changes into account in the design.
3. Landscape lighting typically relies on stepped-down power from your house, reducing 120-volt household current to a safer 12 volts. Because of this you do not need to trench the wire at 18” deep like you would with 120 volt. The wire just sits below your mulch or decorative stone in your beds. Running all the wire through the beds and out of beds is a landscaper’s specialty. They will have a much better understanding of how the system functions in and through your beautifully landscaped beds and how to restore to perfection after the job is complete!

It is definitely in your best interest as a homeowner to select a trained landscape professional to bring the right light design to your landscaping. Contact Knutsen Landscaping to speak with a lighting designer, and discuss the possibilities for showcasing your front yard and lighting up your entire outdoor living space.

One of the most dramatic – and let’s face it, most expensive – elements of outdoor entertainment design is an inground pool. Some homeowners would start the process by calling several pool companies and getting estimates for installation on their property. Then after the whole process is finished and the workers from the pool company have cleaned up and left, the homeowner might decide the pool needs some landscaping.

At Knutsen Landscaping, we would like to suggest the opposite approach. Call the landscaper before you contact the pool service. There are definite advantages to meeting with a landscape designer at the very beginning.

First and foremost, a landscape designer will create an integrated overall design for your outdoor living space. We will consider the entire property and its relation to your home and neighborhood, as well as your own individual tastes and personality. Although a pool company will offer a range of selections, they are often rather standard. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but landscape design is just not what they do.

A second major concern for designing your pool landscape is what kind of trees you want and where they will be placed in relation to the pool. You want natural shade and beauty, but you will also want to avoid dirt, pests, and fallen leaves. Considering all these options as early in the process as possible will help to give you the desired result.

A third consideration is the hardscaping that your pool area might feature. Walkways, fencing, decks or patios, and structures like a pergola or gazebo, work much better as integral parts of the design, rather than an afterthought. If these options are considered and discussed from the beginning, you’ll end up with a more harmonized overall look. Furthermore, you and your landscape designer can place the pool in the best location for all of these to work together.

An inground pool is probably the biggest investment homeowners will make in the landscape of their property. Again, a pool company can give you some options and install a perfectly serviceable pool. But if you start with a landscape designer, you can come up with a design that perfectly fits what you want on your property, and you’ll end up with an outdoor living space that is unique and unlike any other property in your area. And remember, a well-designed landscape – including a pool – can add as much as 15 percent to the value of your property.

So if you are ready to make the commitment to an inground pool on your property, make Knutsen Landscaping your first call. We will meet with you to determine your goals and options. Together we can make your unique outdoor living space one that you will enjoy for years to come.