For more information about The Great Outdoors, LLC, visit www.greatoutdoorsva.com, call 434-218-1215, or email greatoutdoorsva@gmail.com. Public business address: Charlottesville, Virginia. Service area: Charlottesville
Business & Innovation · Business feature
Graham Howe brings a designer’s eye to Charlottesville’s outdoor spaces
A woodland garden can offer more than a patch of shade. At The Great Outdoors, the planting is part of a larger composition: layers of foliage, a place to sit and paths that make a backyard inviting to use.
A woodland garden can offer more than a patch of shade. At The Great Outdoors, the planting is part of a larger composition: layers of foliage, a place to sit and paths that make a backyard inviting to use.
The Charlottesville landscape company is owned by Graham Howe, whose landscape-architecture degree from Cornell University connects the design of outdoor spaces with the practical work of building and maintaining them. The business serves residential and commercial properties in Charlottesville, Albemarle County and Central Virginia.
Native plants are part of its approach. One featured planting uses Sweetbay magnolias to bring interest to a garden, while another project pairs a flagstone patio with timber edging and low-maintenance planting. The two examples show the range of decisions behind a landscape: what grows there, how its materials meet and where people will spend time.
The Great Outdoors offers design consultations, installation and continuing maintenance. Planting work encompasses trees, shrubs, perennials, ornamental grasses and groundcover. Maintenance includes pruning, mulching and bed edging, keeping the care of a landscape connected to its original design.
The construction side extends to patios, walls, walkways and water features. Natural stone, brick, slate and timber are among the materials the company works with, alongside reclaimed and recycled products. Drainage services include French drains, swales and downspout extensions—less visible work that can be essential to the way an outdoor space functions.
Howe’s business also handles soil testing and turf installation, bringing attention to the ground beneath the finished garden. For a property owner, that breadth creates a way to discuss planting, structures and maintenance together, from an initial consultation through the work that follows.
The Great Outdoors can be reached at 434-218-1215 or greatoutdoorsva@gmail.com. Its website includes project photographs and information about services throughout the Charlottesville area.
