What is Tree Landscaping?
Trees contribute shade, create privacy screens, ornament homes and outdoor buildings, and lend dramatic vertical impact to garden design. They also add a very important sense of dimension to any Houston landscaping plan. Because they grow to all sizes, tree landscaping can make a major contribution to any Houston yard.
Privacy is one of the most important aspects of outdoor living that people often never think about until they notice people looking into their yards. If there is no boundary between two properties, neighbors sometimes even presume to invite themselves over. Privacy landscaping trees are an excellent way to put a stop to such things. Linear tree walls make an excellent barrier along the property line between two yards. Trees walls can also take the form of enclosures that insulate courtyards, swimming pool patios, and outdoor kitchens from open scrutiny.
Privacy is only the beginning of contributions that tree landscaping can make to a property. Homes look much more majestic when framed by trees growing at varying heights around their facades. Many outdoor buildings also take on a much more sophisticated look when built in relationship to surrounding trees. This is a very subtle, yet powerful, way to blend architecture with natural elements by making both a part of the scene.
Because the Houston landscape is so incredibly flat, tree landscaping also serves a very real need for vertical impact. They have the unique ability of lifting the entire landscape up in the mind’s eye. When trees of different heights are arranged in different zones of interest throughout the yard, they create layers of movement, rise, and fall that draw the eye of the observer away from the tabletop terrain to the point that it is barely noticeable.
Tree landscaping also offers the very practical advantage of shade. Many hardscape and softscape elements are constructed in parts of the yard that are too far away from existing trees. Shade trees can be added to these elements in creative ways that aesthetically support the Houston landscaping design. Sometimes trees are placed in gardens to shelter garden patios.
Garden patios can be built around shade trees so that nature and hardscape are blended together. People can sit in front of a lighted fountain, outdoor fireplace, or illuminated sculpture and be surrounded by trees that keep them cool in the daytime, and that add drama and interest at night.
Tree lights installed high in the branches create artificial moonlight that filters down through the branches onto the stonework below.
Shade trees are not the only type of trees than can be planted around hardscapes. Many walkways are lined with smaller trees in order to create a corridor like effect. Oftentimes, courtyard entrances are framed with ornamental trees that announce the entrance to the interior with a sense of grand invitation.
Tree landscaping with ornamental species is often a very important element of professional driveway construction. A well designed flagstone paver or decorative concrete motor court looks even more sophisticate with ornamental trees growing along its border. These trees can sometimes be as short as six feet in height and still effectively upgrade the entire aesthetic of the entire front yard landscape.
