Ranch Landscape

How do I go about Landscaping my West Texas Ranch?
The sheer size of the rural landscape can be overwhelming for the average landscape contractor, landscape designer as well as the owner who no longer works the land but uses it for rest and retreat. The prospect of maintenance, care and management of a Texas Horse Ranch, Farm or Estate can be daunting. A plan should include phased management and implementation of a landscape design.
How do I develop a management program for my Ranch?
A complete management or maintenance program for a ranch landscape defines zones of management, prioritizes tasks and determines if various maintenance areas should be expanded or deleted altogether to make the job of maintenance much more manageable. Defining zones of management:

1) The most concentrated and highest maintenance takes place around the perimeter of the house. These include weekly tasks such as mowing, shrub pruning and weeding.

2) The next zone might include bi-weekly or monthly maintenance tasks such as weeding and pruning around less often used walk, patio or pool areas for entertaining. Both zones one and two should receive regular fertilization, mulch and have an irrigation system as well.

3) the next zone could include biannual spring and fall clean-up areas such as fields that are seasonally mowed, shrub brush edges that need regular thinning out or filling pot holes in the entry road all categorized as spring and fall clean-up.

By organizing tasks by their intensity, zone of management and time of year for tasks to be done a yearly maintenance schedule of tasks and budgets even the largest estate can be fashioned and brought into perspective.

How will a landscape design help me?
Because a lot of rural landscapes have been built at different times, with many different pieces, a Master Plan Design can be a great help in providing cohesiveness and unifying even the largest property by its various uses. It can be a very gratifying process in piecing together farm history of the past with the present.

What can I do to better unify the various buildings, uses and drives to my property?

Drive to the House- A row of majestic oaks or fruit trees along the drive can be a wonderful approach to tying the main drive into the house. Also, a circle drive could be added to accentuate the homes entry as well as provide a turn around.

Define edges-Define the different parts of your property into lawn areas, orchards, and woodland edges much like nature would have dictated in the past.

Outdoor Fountains –the sound and beauty of a rustic fountain. Build the country fountain in a simplistic manner so it is easy to maintain.

Summer Kitchens-country outdoor kitchens can be built to reflect the home be repeated such as matching roofing or molding details giving it a county nostalgia feel and creating unity with an old farm house.

Walkways-just as English Gardens of our past, walkways of gravel, limestone chips and reused brick or stone from the original construction can lead around the property and link to arbors, benches, or swings.