Flooding, snowstorms, and tornadoes are the biggest natural risks that Iowa and the surrounding area face.

Due to climate change, it's also at a high risk of drought and heat waves. Clean water is at higher risk now than ever.

Any landscaping business, as well as homeowners, now have to consider all those factors in Iowa City and the rest of the state.

Maintaining a healthy landscape has to involve a level of protection against natural disasters and risks.

Using drought-tolerant plants with low water requirements for droughts and water scarcity is recommended. Irrigation systems have to be smarter and less potentially wasteful in any landscape project that includes them.

More significantly, any Iowa landscaping design must also include measured steps to protect the soil against heavy rainfall, snow storms, and flooding. That includes ground cover, large tree plantings, and building a retaining wall to protect soil from erosion and direct correct drainage.

Iowa's hardness zones stretch from Zone 4 to Zone 7, covering Zones 5 and 6 fully.

Northeast Iowa falls under zone 4. Then it's zone 5 more to the east, around North Liberty and Iowa City.

Central Iowa covers zone 5 and 6. And the extreme southwest parts cover zone 7.

Generally, Iowa falls in the humid continental zone with hot, humid summers and wet springs.

Maples, pine, and evergreen are some examples of what grows perfectly in continental climates.

The areas falling in the far north of the state deal with the harder winters and require the best selection of most cold-hardy plants like coneflowers and hyacinths.

Winter in Zone 5 minimally varies between negative fifteen and negative twenty. The sharp winters and short growing seasons in Iowa's North Liberty, Iowa City, and surrounding area falling in zone 5 demand cold-hardy plants in your garden.

Those include vegetables like beet, chives, and butternut squash. And plants like Yarrow, Phlox, Hydrangea, and Geranium.

Zone 6 and 7 have minimum winter temperatures between negative ten and zero. That's a medium-length growing season. Some of the best plants for those winters include Tulips, Asters, daffodils (with careful weed control), Salvia, and Lillies.

Native plantings are always a good choice. Naturally, a native plant is more adapted to the climate and can survive without a lot of interference, watering, and fertilization.

That's getting more crucial by the day as the issue of water scarcity gets more serious. And it also means less garden and lawn care and maintenance from your side.

Landscaping your gardens with native plants is also good for the environment as a whole as it's beneficial to wildlife and attracts beneficial insects to your outdoor space.

Native planting is a good idea for all parties and they keep a beautiful landscape all year round. It's also good to incorporate some native plants without going overboard if you still want to keep other landscaping elements.

Modern landscape designs are one of the most popular.

It focuses on transforming outdoor spaces of your property into luxurious living spaces that are as functional as they are beautiful.

That includes outdoor living rooms, an outdoor kitchen, firepits, an alfresco dining station, and outdoor lighting to highlight both the beauty and function of the yard. It is also a design meant to ease lawn care and maintenance as much as possible.

Urban landscape design is also popular, especially in Iowa City and the surrounding area. Otherwise, eco-friendly landscape designs are also consistently rising in popularity. The to-do list of eco-friendly landscaping includes water-conscious hardscaping, native plantings, and wild-life accommodating plantings.

Traditional landscaping in Iowa is still also relatively popular and the first choice of many homeowners in Iowa.

High-quality stones, like slate, for outdoor living use and hardscaping are crucial in Iowa's landscapes to endure the hard winters and heavy rainfall.

Firepits, pavers for the lawn and driveway, walkways decks/patios for the front lawn and porch, etc, are usually built with high-quality natural stone and concrete. Metal, high-quality wood, and bricks are also popular.

Hardscaping features in residential landscaping like retaining walls, which protect the soil against erosion, are also highly popular.

Water features and pools also remain popular in Iowa landscaping.

Our design services are nationwide and include full front yard and backyard packages. That includes 3D landscape and hardscape design and contractor estimation quotes from your local Iowa landscape contractors.