Houston Garden Design

What is great Garden Design?
Dan Kiley, one of the greatest landscape designers of this century explains: “the strongest artists and designers are in search for the mystery of who we are-the best work comes from that search-the mystical dimension joins with our faculties to prepare us for further growth.” The great Roman architects described it as finding the “Genius loci” or the “spirit of place” that transcending experience we may find in life from nature, visiting a place of worship or a favorite vacation spot.

How do we create a thorough garden design?
If garden design is a master piece painting; the clients program, the architecture of the home and the site context are the composition of the painting. The clients program are the wants, needs, wishes, likes dislikes, functions and uses for the space that they intend to see. A great designer treats the home as a living anatomy that is in relationship with it’s site-never as a static lifeless building. The architecture of the home may dictate the structure of the gardens, selection of materials and there arrangements, continuations of axial views and experiences extending form inside the home to the site. The context is the potential of the site to include lot size, utilities, views, obstructions, accessibility, and sun patterns, zoning restrictions basically the sum total of what is possible or not possible in response to the clients program before the design has even begun.
The Garden Design process
After the initial meeting a garden designer’s intuitive function automates and an initial diagram, concept, or concepts emerge. “In response to our customers needs” says Jeff Halper of Exterior Worlds, “we have a creative process that involves the client from inception. Through email and informal phone meetings, we move though an assemblage of drawings and rough sketches so clients are very involved with design decisions rather than showing up with the final design all at once dictating the whole thing.”

Garden Design Elements:

Pools and Outdoor Fountains-these represent the most significant part of the overall garden design, especially the relationship to the house and the outdoor use areas. Great garden design is essential to a positive out come regardless of pool cost. We have found being involved with the architect and builder at the earliest stages allows a cohesive transition from house to swimming pool.

Hardscapes - (including patios, decks or walkways.) These use areas are essential to the extension of the home. Patios, decks and walkways need to accommodate specific uses. A landscape designer must to be very in tune with the functional requirements for these areas.

Gardens - trees, shrubs and plantings may extend the relationship with the homes architecture, serve as a transition from the home to the site, or address specific problems in the sites context such as screening neighbor views, an unsightly telephone pole or create a dramatic backdrop.

The Final Painting. Jeff Halper adds: “Continued from the inception of the concept and general layout of project elements to the final built work-we work closely with the customer in the continued refinement, selection of materials, there overall suitability and performance.”

Call Exterior Worlds at 713-827-2255 to set an appointment to discuss your garden design. They have been landscaping Houston since 1987, including River oaks, West University, Bellaire, Memorial Villages and Tanglewood.