Planting Gardens

Planting gardens personalizes your Houston landscape. Because they create a welcoming ambiance and anchor your home in the surrounding landscape, they enhance your overall property value. The time and effort you put into their planning, execution and maintenance is rewarded by the pleasure they afford.

Exterior Worlds recommends starting with the basics when planting gardens—that is, your planting soil. We believe that the most fertile and productive soil mixes fibrous soil, organic matter, rock particles and minerals, water, oxygen and micro-organisms. This combination of materials includes a portion of the native soil to encourage your plants’ health and hardiness.

When planting gardens, most people then consider their trees—which to keep and what to add. This step is usually followed by bush planting, sometimes called foundation planting since bushes, being among the taller plants in your landscape design, are usually planted close to the house’s foundation. We encourage our clients to pay attention to a plant’s mature size so you don’t want end up with bushes that overwhelm the space. Also you don't want to unnecessarily spend your maintenance budget on pruning and trimming them away from walkways and the house.

The holy grail of gardening for many people is planting roses. Roses do well in full sun with good air circulation, so for your Houston rose garden, pick a location where there will be sun for at least six hours of the day. It is preferable to find an area with morning sun and afternoon shade. Also, keep them away from large trees or hedges. They also require regular, light feedings, but do not overfeed.

Planting annuals adds definition to your gardens because you can use their color and texture to, in effect, draw lines. With seasonal color, the more, the better—so don’t be afraid to use drifts of three, five, seven, or more of the same plant. Remember to till the soil prior to planting your annuals because this area’s clay soil is easily compacted.

A question we get all the time is when to plant annuals. We advise our clients that, with seasonal color, you really need to pay close attention to the passage of the seasons. When waiting too long to switch them out—to the point where they’re dying—you’ve often missed the window for the next season’s plantings.

Please consider that one of your smartest long-term investments in the health of your gardens and entire landscape is a partnership with a well-qualified garden services provider, such as Exterior Worlds. From the start, we can help you select the best plants for this region, in general, and for your gardens, specifically. Additionally, we can do the initial installation and labor. Finally, we can provide meticulous care and attention on an ongoing basis so that your plants survive and thrive no matter what Mother Nature throws our way.

Planting gardens in your home landscape design is a key element in your total landscape because gardens, whether a bed of flowers, bushes, trees or combination of these plant materials, add texture, interest, variety and dimensionality to your yards. Not coincidentally, they are also fun because gardens show your creativity and preferences.

Landscaping Ponds

Where should I have my pond built?
A landscaping pond should be built in full sunlight so that aquatic plants will get enough light to flower. It is also best to have it built in an area of the yard that, from any vantage point, appears equidistant from major points of interest. By this we mean that if you are standing in the doorway of your summer kitchen located at the back of the yard looking at your landscaping pond located more toward the center of the yard, that your pond will appear proportionally related to nearby gardens, trees, fountains, your swimming pool, and your home in the far background of the scene.

What you do NOT want is a pond that appears to be crowded up against another landscape element or outdoor building. If a pond is part of a larger garden design, then an exception to this rule applies, but you will need a professional landscape designer to develop it in order to make it work with the surrounding landscape.

Does the shape and design of the pond matter?
Yes. A landscaping pond is part of a master landscape plan that is based on several things. The most important factor in the creation of this plan is the style of your home architecture. Since the intent of professional landscape design (not to be confused with rudimentary basic lawn services) is to create an outdoor living space equivalent in the quality of life to the interior comforts of a home, there must be a sense of reflection and congruence between the two realms these two realms blend into a singular expression of personal lifestyle.

You should therefore be aware that a pond can be a beautiful addition to your landscape regardless of the size of your home and your property. However, the size and shape of that pond will need to be designed proportionally as one of many elements in order to create the feeling of harmony and freedom you seek in Houston outdoor living.

Should I have lighting installed in my landscaping pond?
Yes. Without lighting, your pond can only be enjoyed during the daytime. Special lighting fixtures will transform it from a dull shadow on the nighttime Houston landscape into a magical realm of color and dancing shadow. Both general lighting for visibility and special effects lighting are now possible with underwater, low-voltage LED lights that are very cheap to operate and safe to use in submerged locations. They will not harm fish or aquatic plants and pose no threat to humans and pets when installed correctly by a licensed professional.

If you plan to stock your pond with fish, the most important kind of plant to install is oxygenator plants. You must be cautious not to install any plants that are toxic to fish. The list is too long to enumerate here, but just a few of these include amaryllis, bottlebrush, boxwood, caladium, dapne, hydrangea, and bird of paradise. If you have any questions about what should or should not be planted in your landscaping pond, it is best to confer with your landscape designer and let him or her recommend aquatic species with aesthetic value that will also be good for your fish.

What species of fish can I have in my pond?
That depends on the size and depth of your landscaping pond. Koi are a favorite fish, but they may not do well in just any type of pond. You may need a more formal koi pond like we often build in order to give them an appropriate environment. Goldfish and other species of carp will live in almost any type of water. If your property is big enough for a large landscaping pond of significant depth, you can even have it stocked with sun perch, catfish, or bass.

Luxury Garden

Where do you build a luxury garden?
We normally build it in the corner of the property. The size of the garden is determined by the acreage of the lot and the architecture of the home. The English garden theme is a very popular style, but other type European style can also be modified to create the feeling of upscale living that characterizes this form.

What are some decorations used in a luxury garden?
Décor varies according to personal taste. There is no hard fast list of luxury garden items you are restricted too. The point is to create an environment where outdoor living looks refined. Urns and are commonly used to hold plants and add vertical impact to small patios. Flowering plants are very popular, particularly with the English garden style. Examples include pansies, poppies, bluebell, and roses. If there is a masonry wall of some kind surrounding the garden, ivy can be trained to climb up the walls and turn them green with life.

What makes a luxury garden luxurious?
Formality is the name of the game in luxury garden design. It establishes order and system and creates a feeling of refinement in the midst of the outdoors. Symmetry and geometry are strictly adhered to in order to create a sense of balance. This is also a very high-maintenance form of landscaping, so be forewarned: you will need a maintenance contract to maintain your luxury garden.

Is shrubbery used in this form of gardening?
Yes. Topiaries are one of the more popular types of shrubbery used in luxury gardens because they can be molded. They are pruned into particular shapes which are highly ornamental. Some clients even prefer to forgo the erection of masonry walls around their gardens and prefer for us instead to build them walls of topiary.

What types of structures can be built in these gardens?
Luxury gardens are typically very Old World in theme and therefore feature outdoor architecture reminiscent of the estates of European Aristocracy. Statuary is commonly used to add a historical touch to the scene. Some people prefer Classical figures from Ancient Greek and Roman times. Others prefer Medieval and Renaissance statuary, particularly that of France and Italy.

Fountains are also important structures in luxury gardens. Fountains have been associated with tranquility and ease for millennia have a powerful psychological impact on any scene. Exterior Worlds specializes in the construction of high-end custom fountains that feature remote pumps and silent operations. All you hear is the sound of the water bubbling against the stonework. All fountains are professionally lit as well so they can be enjoyed at night.

Is any type of special masonry or patio work installed?
Yes. Houston masonry experts are subcontracted to build planters, retaining walls, and ornamental walls in luxury gardens. The intent in all of these forms is to mix the manmade with the natural to create a sense of the structured organic. Patio work is normally done with ornamental cut stone. Some patios are designed for seating, while others are very small and intended to support flower pots, urns, statues, and custom masonry planters.

Estates Landscaping

What does “estates landscaping” mean?
It means the careful development of a landscape master plan with special materials and techniques in mind. Estates landscaping requires creativity, innovation, and impeccable construction methods. This is more than simple lawn and garden service. It involves very sophisticated grade and hardscape designs, unique and functional outdoor rooms, and exquisite gardens that express a unified sense of home and landscape.

What special elements go into estates landscaping?
Motifs are regularly borrowed from specific periods of history or specific cultures that have been emulated and admired throughout the world. Such periods include the Classical Age, the Italian Renaissance, and 20th Century Modernism. Popular cultural forms include the Italian, Mediterranean, French, and English. Designs can be strictly Old World and true to historical form, or they can be modified to suggest a period or culture in a personalized, contemporary expression.

What materials would go into estates landscaping?
This really depends on the size of your home and yard and the theme with which you wish to develop your landscape. Generally speaking, materials are going to be very unique and very high-end in nature. Larger properties will need more plants, stonework, and masonry materials than smaller landscapes will need.

What designs would this include?
Very large estates can have labyrinths or traditional parterre gardens that people can walk through. These areas can be illuminated with sophisticated outdoor landscape lights that will provide excellent visibility and special effects. Curved pathways that wind through garden courtyards, wooded areas, and small knot gardens planted with herbs are a great way to make the most of a large estate so that all points of interest can be enjoyed in something of a planned sequence.

What type of plants can be used?
Topiaries and sculpted shrubs are used for accenting entryways and outdoor rooms. Entry gardens are very popular forms to build on one side of a very large home. It creates a sense of transition from the front of the house to the backyard landscape and often screens the property with additional privacy. The walls of these gardens can actually be created from shrubs and smaller trees. This creates a barrier that adds a sense of privacy to the residence, and it also lends living vertical impact to the garden.

What other elements are to be considered?
Fountains, statues, and outdoor furniture are commonly used in estates landscaping to create a very sophisticated outdoor living experience. Other things that we can build include:

• A simple arbor with climbing, flowering vines growing around their wood or iron frame
• A loggia, which is an open air living room that you decorate with plants, furniture, and outdoor lights
• A pergola, which is a structure that has pillars and cross beams and supports climbing vines

What are the benefits of estates landscaping?
You will definitely add curb appeal to your by creating new functional space outside and improving the general overall appearance of your property.

Contemporary Garden Design

What is contemporary garden design?
Contemporary gardens are immediately recognized by their stark sense of geometry. They are characterized by clean lines, unpredictable angles, and unique geometric shapes. Contemporary garden design styles are highly variable due to the abstract nature of modernesque expression. We build your garden to be more of a direct reflection of your mind than of anything else.

Why is the design important?
Contemporary garden design is best handled by a professional who knows how to balance the subjective expression of your personality with the practical demands of residential landscaping. Your garden has to be built to a scale and scope proportional to your home and surrounding landscape elements. In respects to home architecture, it should complement the materials and architecture of the house. It should also present a scene that appears connected to its surroundings. Since contemporary landscape design is so abstract, it must create its own relationships rather than presuming on relationships between more ordinary forms that exist.

What are the goals of contemporary garden design?
Low maintenance is the foremost goal. Due to its heavy emphasis on geometric forms and relationships, the contemporary garden cannot afford to ever look unkempt or untidy. Vegetation is therefore minimalized, partly to reduce the need for constant trimming and pruning, and partly to emphasize a Mentalist reality where natural life forces are subject to the realm of pure thought.

This emphasis on the mind is intended to challenge the senses, which are by nature attuned to Nature itself, no pun intended. The body always seeks its own form and sense through its experiences. One thing that contemporary garden design always does is move you out of this world of familiar experience and comfort into the world of the unknown.

The garden must give you a feeling of transition or passageway as well. Since the mind is always working, there is no standing still in a contemporary landscape. Either you move through it, or your eye moves through it. Contemporary garden design experts will therefore either build the garden with some form of pathway through it that you and guests can walk through, or they will build it with shapes and materials that move your vision through it on to the next landscape element of interest.

What type of hardscape elements do you use in contemporary garden design?
Pavers are very popular because they interlock together and come in all colors and sizes. We can build a mini-patio with them or create a small stepping stone walkway through the sparse vegetation and unique forms. We can even find you pavers that look like bricks so you can have your own modernesque version of a brick walkway.

What are some of the more unique materials you use in building these gardens?
There are definitely more manmade materials in a contemporary garden than there are organic elements. Like we mentioned earlier, vegetation is minimal. Sometimes, even, fake grass is used to suggest the organic rather than directly experience it. Other materials that we often build include stainless steel and glass. Posts can be erected, then a wire be run between them. Hanging plants can be suspended from this mirror and backed by a translucent piece of glass or mirror that adds vertical impact to the scene.

Small Courtyard Design

What are the most important considerations in small courtyard design?

1. Purpose – You first must decide on the purpose of your small courtyard. Design follows function in our industry. We don’t want to build you something just to look at. We want something you and your guests can experience from a full sensory perspective. Will you use this area only for conversation? Do you intend to cook outdoors? Will you use it in the winter and possibly need an outdoor fireplace or fire pit? All of these questions should be answered first before the first plant goes into the ground and before the first brick or stone is laid.

2. Accessibility –If you want your courtyard to be something people move through as one of many stops along a lighted trail, we can design the courtyard around radial pathways that emanate out into the yard. Keep in mind that such a design does not prohibit you from having outdoor seating in your courtyard—it simply gives you more choices for gathering, conversation, observation, and landscape exploration.

If you want more of a seating area, then a low-level wall with only one or two access points can be built that will significantly increase the feeling of privacy and enclosure. Such walls do not block the view of the home or surrounding Houston landscape. They only function to create a sense of special separation from your general surroundings.

3. Shade Resistance – Because small courtyard design is often done beneath roof overhands, next to homes, and alongside of masonry walls, sunlight is often limited if not blocked outright. We compensate for this in two ways. For softscape elements, we choose shade resistant ground cover and flowering plants that do not need a lot of light to flourish. For hardscapes, we install path and garden lighting to illuminate surfaces in twilight and evening times. For contemporary landscapes, we may also use strategically positioned reflective elements like stainless steel posts or mirrors that will catch what light that does shine into the courtyard and disperse it in other directions.

4. Height – The types of plants you can grow in a small courtyard must be shorter plants themselves in order to maintain proportion to their surroundings. To overcome the impression that everything is two flat to the ground, elevated planters and containers can be used to house garden plants. These masonry structures can be built from brick, stone, concrete, or any number of special materials to add color and design to the occasion.

5. Maintenance – Landscape maintenance contracts are another key component of small courtyard design. Many of the smaller plants used in the gardens here are very vulnerable to diseases and parasites and will require special professional care to properly maintain.

Gardening in Houston

How does Gulf Coast humidity help gardening in Houston?
The high humidity can be great for growing plants. Many gardens feature exotic and tropical plants that are indigenous to very rainy parts of the world. Houston is like a second home to these plants, which find the same hot, humid climate that tends to annoy us something of a paradise for themselves.

There is a downside to our humidity, however. Fungus also finds it paradise and can damage any type of plant. Gardening in Houston must include professional maintenance to ensure that fungus does not get a chokehold on the garden and destroy its contents.

Is it significant that it rarely freezes here?
Yes. The infrequent freezes allow many types of tropical plants got to grow and thrive in the Houston area. Many species of palm trees and Mediterranean flowering plants do very well in all parts of our city and can be used in Houston gardening to build formal, uniquely cultural, or highly personalized custom garden forms.

Another great advantage that our weather lends to Houston gardening is that it gives the landscape maintenance professional plenty of time in advance to cover plants that need protection from the few occasional freezes we do get in our area.

What makes the soil here so amenable to gardening in Houston?
The Houston landscape has very few rocks and is composed of a clay-like type of dirt that is very easily tilled. The resulting earth is a very lose, fibrous composition that is ideal for growing any type of plant. Even plants that require more sandy soil can be made to grow well here by mixing in sand to the now loose Houston earth that has been properly tilled and prepared.


How does the topography here (completely flat) help or hinder gardening in Houston?
Unfortunately, our topography hinders gardening in Houston in certain respects. Our biggest disadvantage anywhere along the Gulf Coast is the completely flat terrain that offers no drainage. It is difficult to move water out of a garden when you do not have adequate slopes to draw it off.

Houston landscaping professionals overcome this by building sub pumps that get rid of excessive rain water. This is one of the biggest reasons not to attempt gardening in Houston exclusively on your own. You may have all the design and botanical skills necessary to plant a superb garden of any style. However, it almost always takes an experienced landscape professional (NOT a yard services person) to build concealed irrigation and drainage systems that will remove excess rain water from plants without running your view of the Houston landscape.

When is the best time of year to plant a garden in Houston?
The best time of the year lies between the months of October through May. While it is ok to add to a new garden throughout the year, October is still the very best month to get one started.

Houston Deck Builders

What is a deck?
A deck is an elevated, flat surface that is normally connected to a house and provides a special surface for outdoor gatherings, seating, and transition into the rest of the landscape.

What can a deck do for my yard?
It can serve as a transition from your home to a manicured landscaped design. Houston deck builders create platforms of vantage point and opportunity by positioning seating areas and stairways in such a manner as to lead guests to various points of interest in the yard.

What is a deck made of?
Houston deck builders typically use wood. This has been the mainstay material used for decades and shows no signs of going away. Wood has to be specially treated in order to support the weight of human activity and the many decorations that are used to adorn its surface. Common wood that are used are pressure treated pine, cedar, redwood, and a number of exotic woods.

There are also well over 100 manmade decking materials we can build your structure with, provided it compliments your home and landscape design theme. Contemporary and modern style designs, for example, do better with composite decking, vinyl, aluminum, etc.

The deck frame provides support and structure for the horizontal decking. Houston deck builders are very careful in calculating the strength and material build of the frame based upon the type of deck they are constructing and the number of people the homeowner plans to entertain on its surface.
How can you blend my deck into my landscape?
We can line the edges of the deck with some type of softscape to blend its perimeter into the yard. This can be done in several different ways. One way is to build the sides of the deck as terraces that work as planters. Another way is to line the sides with hedges that grow even up to its surface. Our Houston deck builders can also plant different types of vegetation at varying heights in order to create a sense of descending entryway into a garden or courtyard below.

What are some of the different types of decks you build?
Platform Decks
These are the simplest types of decks and are built low to the ground. They are actually perfect for the flat Houston landscape and work very well as transitional areas between single-level homes and level back yards.

Raised Decks
Incorporate Safety Precautions like railings and stairs. Houston deck builders frequently recommend this style for families with small children.

Two-Story Decks
These decks give you access to upper levels of your home if you have a two story house with a balcony.

Houston deck builders have to build these structures with extra supports that must be disguised or camouflaged in order to maintain the structure’s aesthetic. One way to do this is to cover the pillars with flat rocks or skirting to ornament their appearance.

How can you decorate a deck?
Planters and benches can line the perimeter to create a garden-like or courtyard-like effect. A screened-in gazebo can be built to one side of the surface to provide a shaded area that blocks out summer mosquitoes. Angles, curves, and decorative railings can create a sense of overlook onto the backyard landscape beyond.

Driveway Designs

A driveway serves many purposes. It is a utility feature that allows easy access and parking onto your property. It is your daily welcome mat as you drive into the garage. It is also a component of curb appeal. For all these reasons, Exterior Worlds believes your driveway design plays an important role in your residential landscape design.

A subset of custom hardscapes—the non-plant features of landscaping that are tailor-made for your site—driveway designs are essential to the way we live today. But while all design considerations need to be practical, it doesn’t mean driveways have to be mere slabs of concrete. Form can flow from function.

Examples of our driveway designs include:

• The common straightaway drive, valued for the ease it provides for driving in and backing out. Often a driveway apron is added for extra parking, for turning around, or for entry into a side garage.
• Another popular design has the driveway traversing the front of the property to end on the far side where the garage is situated.
• Circular driveways are also prevalent and practical, especially for properties situated on busy streets.
• Courtyard designs recall Old World living or contemporary life. The enclosed area can be four-sided or circular—but spacious enough to maneuver vehicles—and can be outfitted with a water feature, such as a classic fountain or an exterior wall fountain.

For anyone contemplating ranch landscaping or estates landscaping, you will have special driveway needs, which include parking for family and guests, safe access to public roads, sight distances, all-weather access, load-bearing requirements and turning radius. We would be happy to walk you through this decision-making process.

Yard drainage is one practical consideration that must be addressed since driveways increase your impermeable surface area. Rainwater run-off must be routed somewhere. Because of our expertise in this area, Exterior Worlds is an excellent choice as your residential landscape designer. We will ensure that your driveway doesn’t create problems—for you or your neighbors.

Once the practical design needs are met, you get to make some aesthetic decisions, such as the material choice. Your options include concrete, decorative concrete (stained, stamped, polished), concrete pavers, asphalt, brick and natural stone. As with all elements in your landscape, your choice should be influenced by the materials already present in your overall design and the architecture of your home.

You can also add extra features. For instance, driveway edging, either flat or raised, ratchets up the design impact. Complementary or contrasting bricks, stone or pavers can be laid on either side of your driveway in interesting patterns. The edging further defines the driveway and creates a transition area into the yard. Also an ornamental iron gate across the driveway provides extra security while it presents an impressive entrance.

While driveways are usually built to withstand the rigors of daily wear and tear, they will require some maintenance. Exterior Worlds can power-wash your driveway as part of your maintenance contract with us.

Clearly, driveways get noticed. They are your landscape’s first and impression, so make your driveway design a good one.

Call Exterior Worlds at 713-827-2255 to discuss upgrading your driveway.

Garden Outdoor Room

What is a garden outdoor room?
A garden outdoor room is an outdoor room that directly connects to the back of a home. Many of these rooms are built with wings that connect on either side to the walls of the house itself. A custom stone, concrete, or brick patio provides a surface area for people to gather, relax, recline, and relish moments of conversation. A glass sliding door is almost always installed between the garden and the home interior.

What type of feeling should a garden outdoor room have?
Your garden outdoor room should look comfortable and inviting to those inside your house. This is why we almost always connect the two areas with a sliding glass door so people can see everything in the garden and eventually be drawn outside. It blurs the boundaries of interior and exterior space. People in the garden can see kitchens and living areas inside, and people in the house can see outdoor furniture, greenery and custom hardscape, and lighted fountains.

Is a garden outdoor room an important part of landscape design?
Yes. Adding a landscaped place so close to the house does several things for your yard. It brings nature right up to window, so to speak, with a convenience and immediacy that are literally only a few steps away. It also creates a transition area where indoor living turns into outdoor living. When you hold engagements at your home, your guests will appreciate being able to shift so quickly between the two without having to walk that far outside.

How do you determine how large a garden outdoor room should be?
The most important consideration we pay attention to is home architecture. The garden should be built to scale with the size of the house and the size of the yard.

What types of furniture do you put in a garden outdoor room?
That depends on what you plan to use the room for. If you want it to be more of a gathering place where people stand around and mingle, then a few stone benches are apropos. If this is going to be a central hub of conversation, you will certainly need more of a living room effect and a lot more comfort than stone seating provides.

Our design team will help you accessorize and color coordinate any number of outdoor furniture sets with the surroundings of the courtyard. Decorations can be a blend of indoor and outdoor motifs, including flowers, flower pots, planters, lighted fountains, and fine statuary. Patio design is always custom and made to support decorative themes without diminishing human comfort.

Can a garden outdoor room improve my property value?
Yes. The fusion of indoor and outdoor space creates a synergy between personal lifestyle and luxury outdoor living. Prospective buyers will immediately see the advantage of buying a home that already has extended living space, organic vitality, a connection to Nature, and personalized entertainment.

Outdoor Fireplace Patio and Courtyard

An outdoor fireplace, such as the one we built for Rick and Susan Ashcroft, are a great way to create an outdoor living experience that makes is possible to enjoy a view of the Houston landscape regardless of the time of year. Outdoor fireplaces are ideal for temperate, humid climates like ours, where it never gets all that cold per se, but rather where the high moisture content of the air creates a chill factor that can penetrate all the way to the bones.

A patio fireplace dispels humidity and warms the air. It also works as an ideal architectural compliment to home architecture. Many are courtyards that look more like outdoor living rooms than patios as we typically conceive of them to be. To create such a centerpiece in the Ashcroft project, Houston landscaping, professionals placed symmetrically square, interlocking pavers in a pattern that imitated indoor tile. This accentuated the feeling of a living room outdoors, and it worked to blend the stonework and vegetation into the surrounding Houston landscaping theme.

The outdoor fireplace itself was constructed completely with natural stone. Each stone was fitted together like pieces in a puzzle. The chimney was 2 ½ times higher than the fireplace interior, giving the entire structure a majestic presence rising up out of the Houston landscape. An Old World sensibility was also added in the form of two flanking columns.

At one end of the patio, just opposite the fireplace, was a drop-off of about 4 feet. Here, Houston landscaping designers built a stone staircase that descended to a walkway. This walkway wound around the corner of the house to a natural swimming pool. Near to the steps of this walkway, masonry contractors we subcontracted built a stone wall connecting both ends to the patio. This created plenty of room to construct a planter which housed a number of indigenous plant species. We planted an oak tree in this enclosure so that the patio would have shade in the years to come and eventually provide support for a future outdoor chandelier the Ashcrofts intended to hang.

Houston landscape professionals added one more special touch to the patio outdoor fireplace. In order to make the structure functional year round, they contracted a local lighting design firm to install special lights inside the fireplace interior. This way, on warm spring and summer nights, these hidden lights could generate an artificial firelight that contributed charm and ambience to occasions without adding to the heat of the Houston summer.

If you are interested in any high-quality Houston landscaping services, Exterior Worlds has been providing the high-end residential landscape services and garden design services discussed above for the Houston and the surrounding areas including memorial villages (Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunter Creek Village), Tanglewood, River Oaks, West University and the greater Houston (Hou), area since 1987. Contact us at 713-827-2255

Concrete Driveway Houston

What is an affordable and durable driveway option for our residence?
Consider getting a concrete driveway built for your Houston home. Concrete is an enduring substance that can easily last for decades without showing any signs whatsoever of wear. Concrete driveways require virtually no maintenance and can be built in a number of ways that will improve the appearance of any lot and can also be used by your family as places to skate and play basketball.

How long can a concrete driveway last?
It is not uncommon for a concrete driveway in Houston to go as long as 30 years before needing any type of major repair work. Its strength makes it well-suited to the clay-like soil and flat terrain of the Houston landscape.


What benefits do concrete driveways offer Houston homes that other materials do not?

• Affordable- As a material, concrete costs less than many other materials. Its low maintenance cycle offers additional financial gains that accrue over time.
• Quality- The driveway is the first impression people get of your home. A well-designed concrete driveway adds curb appeal to your home creating a very clean, polished façade at the forefront of the property. Many concrete driveways in Houston were built so well in the 20th century that they have since outlasted the homes they were built to enhance!
• Durable- Aside from steel and natural rock, you won’t find anything that can weather the elements and take the stress of vehicle traffic as well as concrete will.
• Decorative-We routinely build concrete driveways in Houston of all colors, textures, and surface patterns. Remember—concrete may be concrete, but it doesn’t have to look like concrete.
• Versatile- Concrete driveways can fit with any Houston landscaping style.

What kind of design options can you offer us in a new concrete driveway?
There are three elements of design that can be customized to your home architecture and landscape design. One is shape. Concrete can be poured in a linear shape or built with a radial arc to form a semi-circle or circular drive.

Texture is another variable we can customize to your preference. While concrete is wet, there are all sorts of things we can do to enhance its appearance. One of these is pattern stamping. Just after pouring the slab, we can imprint any number of patterns that will emulate bricks, tile, or stonework.

We can also finish these surfaces with swirl designs, bromide, brushing, or exposed aggregate.

The third option is color. Along with finishing, brushing, and stamping, we can add chemicals to the concrete mixture that will alter its basic color into a variety of hues and shades.

How do concrete driveways contribute to Houston landscape architecture?
Houston homeowners have always put a great deal of care into maintaining the exterior facades of their homes. Concrete drives lend a sense of invitation to the front of the house . This, combined with its versatility in shape, texture, and color, makes it a something of a universal Houston landscape element that can work in front of a mansion in River Oaks just as well as it works in front of a small wooden house in West University Place or the Upper Kirby District.

Patio Outdoor Room

When we design a patio outdoor room, there are certain common denominators we adhere to. These commonalities are intended to create structure and a sense of special purpose.

Why does an outdoor room need a patio?
A patio is an outdoor room’s equivalent of an indoor floor. People need some type of surface to stand and walk on because no matter how flat the Houston landscape is, the soil is too muddy and clumpy to provide the same stability as a patio does.

What types of patio outdoor rooms do you build?
We build everything from simple garden seating areas to elaborate outdoor kitchens, and everything in between. Many patio outdoor rooms have fireplaces, courtyard gardens, luxury furniture, and arbors. Architectural style, detail, and size of structure are based upon the intended use of the room and the number of people expected to use it.

What do you build outdoor patio rooms from?
Both organic and inorganic building materials can be used. The boundaries of the structure can be made from something as basic as a row of hedges or low-growth trees, or they can be physical walls made of sophisticated masonry much like that used to build a custom home. Again, it’s what the room will be used for and how it compliments both the home and the landscape that determines all of this. The most complex patio outdoor rooms are actual buildings that have three walls and ceilings, so you have one side open to the world, and the rest of the room sealed off in a controlled environment.


How do these rooms compare to rooms inside the home?
Other than having one side left open so you can view the landscape, they can be built almost identical to indoor rooms. Climate controls and lighting systems can be added to bring creature comfort to summer night outings. In fact, even open-aired rooms with no ceilings will always have some kind of lighting in order to create visibility and establish emotional tone. Summer kitchens with walls and ceilings will have modern appliances, living room areas, and dining areas. Kitchen areas are just like those found inside, and can include ovens, stoves, pizza ovens, and cocktail bars.

What about patio rooms built around gardens?
Such rooms are often called entry gardens and are ideal developments for unused property to the side of larger homes. They provide a warm, inviting setting for conversation under the trees, moon, and stars and can designed with a fusion of artwork and softscape. Planters, pottery, and garden elements keep the senses grounded in Nature, while fountains, bird baths, and statuary seamlessly blend with the best representations of human creativity at its finest.

As multitudinous as the possibilities are here, one thing is absolute. A patio outdoor room by Exterior Worlds is an outdoor lifestyle extravaganza that remains accessible throughout the year and at any time of night. It will give you luxury living that is never more than a few steps away from the vast world of Nature that surrounds you.

Masonry Contractors

Why hire a masonry contractor when I can do the work myself?
Building a patio, a walkway, or even a simple structure like a retaining wall is much more complicated than it seems. You have to design your structure from the standpoint of relationship to your home and the totality of your property, not just the structure itself. Also, you have to sort through what appears to be a near infinite number of materials to find the select few that can give you the texture, color, and structural integrity most appropriate to your landscape design.

A masonry contractor, under the general contract services of Exterior Worlds, can save you time and money by listening intently to your description of what you would ultimately like to see constructed in your yard. We can then hire the appropriate masonry professionals, source the very best materials, and combine them with over two decades of expertise in landscape design and outdoor architecture construction.


What are some of the more common forms of masonry Exterior Worlds builds?
Stone Retaining Walls
A retaining wall is very useful to hold back the grade of the otherwise flat Houston landscape that is vulnerable to flooding. Often a retaining wall also serves as a façade of sorts to an elevated outdoor building such as an arbor or summer kitchen. Stone works with any number of landscaping styles depending on its cut, color, and finish.

Outdoor Fireplaces
An outdoor fireplace can be built on a custom patio that can serve as a comfortable outdoor seating area available to guests any time of year. Masonry contractors can build planters for winter flowering plants, low level ground cover, and even small trees into these patios to create an illuminated courtyard warmed by the light of a fire.

Patios
Exterior Worlds has a team of masonry contractors that represent some of Houston’s finest custom patio design specialists. These experts build your patio to the scale of your yard and the scope of your intended guest lists.

Walkways
Masonry contractors can strategically build all sorts of concrete, brick, or stone pathways to cross and crisscross your yard, connecting key points of interest and balancing the relationships between otherwise very divergent elements.

Why would I hire a landscaping company instead of just finding an individual masonry contractor?
A masonry contractor is normally not trained in garden design, tree services, yard care, and tree preservation. In order to make sure that the new hardscape elements balance with your house and the vegetation that surrounds it, it is better to hire a landscaping company like Exterior Worlds to work as the general contractor for your project.

The outcome will be something functional that aesthetically compliments your landscape with seamless design integrity and adds curb appeal to your home.

Houston Garden Design

What types of garden design work the best for Memorial homes?
Although it is very close to the Galleria, the Memorial neighborhood has a distinctively rural feel to it. In fact, it feels and looks more rural than a lot of Houston area suburbs. The large lots and ranch style homes create a feeling of expansiveness. Houston garden design experts support this by planting natural gardens that contribute to the forest-like feeling of heavily wooded lots, and country-style gardening that supports the ranch style homes.

What are gardens in River Oaks like?
They are very formal. Lots in River Oaks are very large, and many of the homes date back to the 1920’s. River Oaks is famous all over the world for some these Old World and Colonial style Mansions that are truly magnificent in every respect. Many of the trees here are also among the oldest in Houston. The magnolias, for example, are survivors of Houston’s all but gone indigenous forest that was cut down in the late 19th century to build the railroad.

Houston garden design teams must be careful to preserve all the many layers of history laid on top of one another in River Oaks. Many unknown factors—such as tree roots near the surface that must be worked around, or utility cables that are not marked on city documents—require highly customized garden installation to avoid disturbing existing tree life and structures.

What are Tanglewood gardens like?
In the Tanglewood neighborhood, the lots are very large, and the homes were built in the 1960s. The terrain is very flat in this part of the city. Large water oak and live oak abound throughout the Houston landscape in all directions, giving the otherwise flat lots a sense of fullness and life.

This led to the original homes here being built in the same ranch style homes that Memorial is known form. However, recent trends have seen a more toward the construction of new custom homes, many of which are well over 6,000 square feet in size.

Rose gardens work very well with many of these yards. Around the perimeters of new custom homes, we take a more innovative and highly individualized approach to Houston garden design. Forms here must be highly individualized in order to properly respect the persona that the new home projects toward the neighborhood. Front yard landscaping and small gardens in the front are very important here in order to give each new home a highly distinguished and truly unique appearance.

What about Bellaire and West U?
In Bellaire and West University, Houston garden design focuses on making small lots look large. Most lots here are small, and the homes range from smaller wooden homes to very large homes that have recently replaced original structures. Gardens must be compact, geometrical, and often many in number. This helps create the illusion that the property is larger than it is and proportional to the new, larger home now residing on it.

Houston Driveway

What is a driveway?
In residential landscaping, it is a small thoroughfare that provides street access to the front yard. Most Houston driveways are plain concrete slabs and nothing more. People park their cars over them and never give them a second thought as they march to the front door.

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way in your front yard. Exterior Worlds can build you a driveway that is as decorative as it is functional. The key to doing this is the understanding of your home’s architecture and the construction of a surface that mirrors its aesthetic elements and compliments surrounding hardscape and softscape elements.

What are driveways used for?
Houston driveways support the commuter nature of our city by providing parking areas in front of homes. Not everyone parks their vehicles in the driveway all the time, though. Some use garages and carports to house their cars, trucks, and SUVs and leave the motor court open to guests. In these scenarios drives can be built that almost act like pathways leading from the street to a separate motor court parking slab or covered parking area.

What are different types of Houston driveways are there?
The residential parking areas that we design tend to be highly individualized to the home. Much of the customization lies in the choice of materials. A brick driveway goes very well with a traditional or colonial home. A concrete driveway, on the other hand, works very well with contemporary styles. Black asphalt can contribute a majestic sense to custom homes that are large in size and feature a unique blend of architectural motifs. Still other materials include decorative forms of concrete, such as brushed concrete, decomposed granite, and cobblestone.


What would you suggest for driveway landscaping?
Houston driveways can be constructed using a blend of hardscape and softscape designs. Varying both the surface and the structure of the hardscape is the best way to make your drive truly stand out. Walls are one way of enhancing the form without altering its function. In fact, walls can even provide additional safety for parking at night. They can be built to run parallel to the surface, or they can cross perpendicular to the entrance. A gate can be installed that then allows you to control access to your own parking area and secure your car behind a barricade after dark. If you do not want to look so elusive to your neighbors, we can build an arched-entryway that provides a decorative, open access to and from the world at large.

Can you really integrate softscape into a Houston driveway?
Yes and far more than you may think. Plantings like small gardens, tree islands, shrubs, and various ground cover species can bring attention and vitality to your parking area. Flowers can either support or enhance the geometric boundaries of the motor court. For example, if your drive is simply a straight, linear form with no variation, we can plant a variety of garden forms that sweep out in curved radiuses to either side. This can soften your entire front yard and add a sense of dimension and vitality impossible to achieve with strict linear movements.

Houston Masonry

Hardscapes typically represent 60%-80% of any landscape. Masonry is an key component to hardscape design because it makes lifts the hardscape off the horizontal plane of the ground and adds a vertical dimension to the yard. You need masonry to create a truly superior outdoor living environment that conveys a sense of curb appeal to neighbors and possible future home buyers. The otherwise flat terrain of the Houston landscape will become transformed in your yard into realms of ascending and descending realities where ornamental stonework, custom patios, and special stepping stone blend harmoniously into the sculpted vegetation of your landscape design.

Some materials used in Houston masonry have been used for centuries. Stone and brick have been around since ancient of times. Today, the list of materials has also been expanded to include blocks, concrete cast materials, poured concrete, colored concrete, and textured concrete.

People routinely ask us if they can do their own masonry work. This depends completely on the individual’s level of skill and personal time. It is not easy for today’s working professional to find the time to build the many complex forms that a truly impeccable landscape requires. It is more practical to hire a professional firm like Exterior Worlds that can get a clear picture of what you want and do it for you.

Just a few of the many things we can add to your front yard landscape or backyard landscape include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

Concrete Masonry
The great thing about concrete is it doesn’t have to look like it’s just concrete. New finishing methods can make it any number of colors and polish to a level of refinement equivalent to polished stones like granite.

Rock and Slate
If you love Nature and want a natural swimming pool or miniature tropical stream added to your property, rock and slate can be used to create masonry forms that look so natural they could just have easily been carved out of a wilderness landscape.

Fired Clay Bricks
This is one of our more popular Houston masonry materials used in the construction of courtyards and outdoor fireplaces.

Quarried and Cut Stone
These are ideal for developing both contemporary and Mediterranean landscape themes.

Mortarless concrete blocks
Concrete blocks can be used to build multi-level planters around structures, adding a vertical dimension to the otherwise flat Houston landscape.

While it is a fact that Houston landscaping design occurs on a completely flat floodplain that offers no natural change in elevation, the skilled landscape developer is never held back by the constraints of local topography. Artificial earthworks and masonry forms can always be added to any Houston property and be developed in such a way as to mirror much more varied and interesting terrain in other parts of the country.

Keep this in mind if you are a new resident to our city and have recently found yourself homesick for forests, streams, or rolling hills. Call Exterior Worlds now and let our experts come build your home into the home you have always wanted that is both close to work and close to heart.

Courtyard Garden Design

What is courtyard garden design?
Simply put, it is the cultivation of special garden space or spaces inside a courtyard of some kind. Since courtyards tend to be highly individualized outdoor rooms, courtyard garden design often features a very high level of customization.

Why consider a courtyard garden?
A garden will enclose an otherwise sterile hardscape enclosure into a true outdoor living room by incorporating living things into the fabric of its design. You will feel like you are more of a part of your landscape if you are seating in the midst of greenery and flowers. Your patio, fountain, and ornamental masonry will take on an added dimension of life that will transfer directly to the occasion at hand. Nothing stirs the moment more than something else stirring in the night around you. Nothing else brightens up the day than something alive for the sun to shine on.

What type of courtyard garden design should I choose?
Look through our case history section to get some ideas on basic garden styles. Then, think of ways you would like to see these forms altered and customized to match your particular tastes and lifestyle, and make a list. Let us discuss your preferences with you and lend you our professional expertise in style, materials, color, and finishes to make an impeccable final produce.

Are architectural details important to consider?
Yes, but you do not need to worry about making your garden match your property. Our core philosophy of residential landscape design hinges upon the appropriate compliment of home architecture with hardscape structures and softscape elements.

Would drawing a plan to scale help me?
We do not expect you to draw a garden design plan to scale. Just draw what you want to see. Make it look the way you want to feel. This gives us a better idea of what is in your heart and mind than anything else. Consider it your option to create a rough draft of sorts that communicates your core values and perceptions to us, and our professional duty to formalize and polish this rough draft for you as part of our service offerings.

What types of plants are used in courtyard garden design?
That depends on the size of the courtyard. Hedges are used for organic walls in smaller courtyards to allow for a partly open view of the Houston landscape. Smaller plants are used in courtyards built in smaller yards in order to make the surrounding property look bigger than it really is. Conversely, many courtyards in extremely large yards need shielding from the sense of too much vast expanse. These courtyards tend to have gardens with very large or very exotic tropical plants. They also have higher walls made from custom masonry or mid-level trees planted as an organic wall.

How can I make my courtyard garden a true reflection of me?
Itemize your favorite indoor decorations, activities, and works of art. Anything goes when it comes to brainstorming. Be generous with yourself when it comes to the flow of ideas. Never feel embarrassed when it comes time to talk to our design team.

You will find that our staff has a remarkable ability to go through your list and find outdoor equivalents to your indoor living experience. Special features such as statuary, custom fountains, lighting pools, ornamental seating, and elaborate patio stonework suddenly emerge in concrete reality as a courtyard that creates your own personalized expression of Houston outdoor living.

High Quality Landscape

What is a high quality landscape?
It is a style of garden and hardscape development that creates an exceptionally high standard of outdoor living. Ingredients that are key to its success include high quality soils, plants, trees, architectural techniques and construction methods.

Is their only one style of high quality landscape?
No. This level of quality can be attained in any landscaping design style. The differentiation lies not in the type of form, but in the level of its intricacy and the exceptional level of construction and service that goes with it.

What type of homes need a high quality landscape?
The great thing about high quality landscaping is the fact that any home can theoretically benefit from it. Our only word of caution to homeowners is not to overinvest in the property. This is not to say that buying high quality is ever a bad idea. However, it must be done in proportion to your home value.

Where in a yard like this do landscapers have to focus the bulk of their attention?
Landscape professionals must focus more on softscape elements than hardscape elements. This is because almost any hardscape form, when correctly built to last and aesthetically compliment the terrain, exhibits a high level of quality in its own right. Gardens, shrubbery, ornamental trees, and special grasses now have to be added to frame the inorganic with a sculpted layer of greenery and color that retains its natural life force in the confines of sophisticated forms.

When does a high quality landscape offer today’s homeowner maximum financial value?
It creates long term sustainability. The superior aesthetics of garden planting, ornamental plant life, patio design, pool construction, and custom fountain work extend living space into the outdoor world where home buyers are invited to experience a better quality of life on two fronts: one indoors; one outdoors.

How does a high quality landscape affect the lifestyle of the homeowner?
Exterior Worlds can create such a realm in a manner that is stress free for the client. You never need to worry about what is happening, because our team handles everything.

How do hardscape elements distinguish themselves on such a property?
Quality is determined by investing in the material infrastructure of a particular form. Adding beams and substructure to patios, arbors, and pools increases the longevity of the structure and adds tangible improvements to the quality of landscaping design.

Where in the US are high quality landscapes essential?
To begin with, high quality landscaping is not limited to luxury homes. However, because home value is a determining factor in the amount of money one should spend on a landscape, most work of this type is done on luxury properties.

Three-Level Pool Patio

When they work only with softscape elements like lawns, gardens, trees, and shrubs, it is sometimes very challenging for Houston landscaping design specialists to create special zones of comfort and interest. Vegetation is good for magnifying space, but to build a sense of structure into the landscape, architectural structures and custom hardscapes have to be introduced into the master plan that will scale down the Houston landscape into deliberately proportioned spaces that create a sense of amenity for people.

One phase of a multi-phase Houston landscaping project recently done for the Friedman family illustrates this truism. The home and yard were of such monumental proportions that outdoor elements had to be designed in proportionally large dimensions. Along with a custom swimming pool, we had to build a 2,000 sq. foot patio pool deck that could host events number up to-50 people. The challenge was to design the patio with an aura of uniqueness and significance to avoid generating too much of a stage effect.

Houston landscaping designers eventually determined that three elevation changes could be built into the hardscape that would effectively create three distinct areas of interest and assembly. One area would surround the pool itself. A second area, higher area connecting to the summer kitchen of the home would overlook the pool fountain and the spa. A third area at the opposite end of the pool would lead up to an arbor that offered a superb vantage of the surrounding Houston landscape.

We constructed the patio out of Pennsylvania blue stone. Using a dark colored stone like this is one way to scale a large property down in perspective. It creates a focal point that draws the eye away from the vastness of the Houston landscape and draws it into a new realm of refined poolside comfort and special water effects.

Houston landscaping experts designed the patio with custom drains and special water jets that helped create these water effects. At night, water shot out from these jets into the lighted depths of the pool.. Stairs leading up to the terrace were built broad and wide so people would feel like they were gradually descending to the water or ascending into a higher realm.

We also used Pennsylvania sandstone to continue the aesthetic theme of the patio. This terrace offers first time visitor and returning guests alike a superb choice between the spa and the arbor above. Rocking chairs provide comfortable seating from an ideal vantage point just in front of the arbor. A retaining behind the terrace built to hold back the grade of the soil also serves a decorative function by framing the entire upper patio with border and emphasis.

Houston Patios and Gardens

Most Houston patios and gardens are built in the back yard. These constructs literally carve special spaces out of the fabric of the landscape itself. These spaces are meant to play host to special activities and support those activities with specific states of mind.

On some larger estates, like those in River Oaks, patios and gardens can be built in the front yard as well. People in these neighborhoods often like a seating area near the sidewalk where they can visit with neighbors and get a panoramic view of the Houston landscape.

A Houston patio and garden go hand in hand. The patio gives you a surface that you can stand or sit on, and the garden frames that space with elements of vitality and life. This feeling of living enclosure makes you feel warm and invited into an intimate setting irrespective of the size of the patio itself.

There are all sorts of patio design that you can choose from. The fittingness of any given style, material build, or hardscape size always corresponds to the nature of the event that will occur on the patio and the aesthetic demands of the property. We must always respect home architecture and maintain thematic consistency with the design of the surrounding landscape. Nevertheless, there is a tremendous amount of freedom that exists for us when working even within these boundaries.

For instance, patios can be built out of any number of materials. Just a few of these include decorative concrete, natural stone, ornamental brick work, and decorative wood treated to resist the elements. Which of these works will work best with any given landscape style will ultimately be determined through consultation with the client and the expert advice of the landscaping professional.

Another major factor in Houston patio and garden design are the weather conditions of various seasons. The landscape designer must integrate some form climate control into a patio and any corresponding structure that surrounds it. This can be anything as simple as an overhanging tree or a decorative canopy.

In the hotter summer months of July, August, and September we may need a bit more to cool things down. Outdoor structures like arbors, living rooms, and outdoor kitchens can be built with ceiling fans and basic AC systems. Gardens around are often planted with shade resistant species because the plants receive less sunlight.

For the cool months of the year, patios and gardens are by nature much more self-contained. Because of heavy humidity combined with sporadic cold snaps, people must be kept both dry and warm. Garden plants used here are typically species that flourish in cooler climates with heavier rainfall. Drainage is very important because from December to February in Houston often experiences heavy thunderstorms and flash floods that can make outdoor environments uninhabitable and wash plants away if preventative steps are not taken.

Popular patio styles for winter are outdoor fireplaces and outdoor fire pits. Both can be built either as standalone structures or part of a courtyard or entry garden. Other elements like lighted fountains, pottery, and decorative statuary can be added to make even the coldest of winter nights vibrant and comfortable. Winter canopies can be used to cover seating areas on rainy nights so lighted vegetation and decoration can still be enjoyed regardless of what the weather happens to be doing.

On clear February nights, however, an evening outdoors on an Exterior Worlds lighted patio and garden space can be just as enjoyable—and perhaps even a bit more romantic and mystical—than a typical summer evening that many take for granted in our traditionally warm climate.