Urban Landscaping Design

Our in-town home needs some help with landscaping. What ideas can Exterior Worlds offer?
The overall objective of any landscape design, including urban landscaping, is to create a space that has a relationship to its surroundings. The goal with your landscape architecture is to create spaces in which the home, garden and architectural elements are in harmony with their natural setting. Additionally, it should reflect your visual desires and function together in every respect.

An urban landscape, yard or garden comes with big challenges. Perhaps your property backs up to the three-story blank wall of a neighboring townhouse. Maybe the space is all straight lines and right angles. Start with the big picture of your landscape garden design —your assets and liabilities. For instance, you may have large, possibly immovable features, such as trees, a long fence-line or pool machinery and equipment. Decide if you want to feature them or hide them. Landscape designers and landscape architects can bring insight and experience to this process.

What elements should we consider including in our urban landscaping?
Be creative with:
• Landscape lighting. The right landscape lighting is a relatively inexpensive way to increase your property value. It allows you to showcase beautiful trees and garden structures, and, from a practical standpoint, it provides security and safe access.
• Outdoor water fountains. Water elements create a pleasing and welcoming ambiance. For urban landscaping, they are especially beneficial as camouflage for traffic, noisy air-conditioning units and loud neighbors.
• Pathways. Paths are functional in that they provide a way into the space. They also lead the eye in, through, and across your landscape and serve as the first insight into the homeowner’s personality.
What do we need to know about drainage issues?
For a Houston urban landscaping project, storm drainage issues are very serious due to our flat topography, heavy clay soils, and increased impermeable surfaces due to years of construction that have compacted heavily-forested lots. These factors have increased flooding during our rainy season.

To address drainage system issues, local regulations have begun to follow the standards used by the Memorial Villages that require temporary drainage systems, flow rates, minimum pipe sizes, engineered drainage plans, topographic maps, and as/built plans. We advise our clients that if drainage contractors undertake a drainage project without a complete understanding of these demands, they may find themselves in the middle of a big mess that can cost thousands of dollars to rectify.

What about tree preservation?
Houston is covered with a wide variety of trees, from small ornamentals to majestic oak trees. Their ability to survive and thrive is greater with proper preservation and conservation efforts.

Trees face three main offenders:
• Compaction caused by construction vehicles and materials, both during and after the construction.
• Root damage, generally due to digging for foundations, landscaping, irrigation systems, luxury swimming pools, drainage systems and landscape lighting.
• Soil contamination, caused when construction materials, such as cement, lime, paint or turpentine, are stored or dispensed around trees. Eventually, these toxic materials seep into the soil and kill the trees.