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.

Southern Garden Design

Were else can you have your favorite beverage on the porch during Thanksgiving or Christmas in shorts?
Houston is a distinctive manner of southern gardening because of our location to the Gulf coast. Our climate is a mixture of the hot humid south and the tropics of Mexico. This gives us rich year round possibilities for gardening. Even in the Carolinas were gardening might be 9 months out of the year, Houston is 12 months out of year gardening with freeze possibilities only lasting from January 15-February 15th. As hot and miserable as Houston can be in the summer months, there are opportunities for outdoor living just about every month of the year. Your southern garden is about creating a link to the horticultural past while creating the use of spaces for today spiced with the tropics.

In addition to creating stunning southern beauty, the Houston tropics can add fun and visual coolness during the hot summer months. In creating your southern garden be sure to include year round colors, textures, and scents from both the southern garden traditions and the hot tropics.
What is Southern Garden Landscape Design in Houston Texas?
In creating your southern garden landscape design, decide if want to create a formal patio or an informal woodland garden. Add in tropical flavor were you feel it is appropriate or to your liking. In creating the year round color garden the traditional southern garden plants bloom in Houston starting with azaleas and spireas around February, spring includes red buds, star jasmines and Carolina jasmines and camellias. As summer continues to heat up around June, tropical plants can really help to provide variety and color through the hot summer months: Bottle brush, plumbago, Ruessellia, Katie Ruellia, bulbine, salvias, knock out and nearly wild roses. Be sure you have excellent drainage systems and irrigation systems as well as proper bed preparation as southern garden plants require lots of feeding, healthy soils and excellent drainage.

How do I enjoy my Southern Garden in the heat of the summer?
The key to creating a landscape design in your garden is to plan for hot humid weather so you can enjoy the garden year round. Deck and patio areas for entertaining need to have shade. Patio covers, awnings or large trees can extend the use of patios through June. If there is no way around having a full sun patio due to the orientation of your house, create multiple outdoor rooms for sitting. Use lawn areas in the shade to enjoy a hot summer beverage. With careful planning and landscape design to accommodate 100 degree weather your garden can be a place of retreat even in the heat of the summer.

Great plants for the southern garden
Trees for the Tropics: Meditteranean Fan Palm, Canary Palm, Medjool Palm Shummard Red Oak, Nealy Stevens Holly, Tuscarora Crepe Myrtle, Japanese Maple, Angel Trumpet, Saucer Magnolia, Live Oak, Japanese Blueberry Tree, Bottle Brush, Japanese Yew.

Tropical Plantings: Bottle brush, Pineapple guava, Philodendrons, Gingers, Ixora, plumbago, asparagus fern, lantana, Australian Tree Fern, Angel Trumpet, Bamboo, Foxtail Fern, Leopard Plant,

Accent Plantings: Saw Palmetto, Flax, Agave, Yucca, Bird of Paradise, Dianella, Century Plant, Crinum Lily, Crotons.

Shrub Plantings: Azalea, Viburnum, Boxwoods, nearly wild roses, knock out roses, Camelia, Philodendron, Gingers

Flower Plantings: Russelia, Angelonia, Coleus, Mealy Sage, Plumbago, Bottle Brush, Salvia Coccinea, Cross Vine, Star Jasmine, Buddlea

Tropical Groundcovers: holly fern, foxtail fern, Mondo Grass, Asian Jasmine, Ardisia, Agapanthus, Ajuga

Southern Garden Color: snap dragons, pansies, petunias, geraniums, begonias, caladiums, cyclamen, pentas

French Garden Design

French garden design applies the principles of symmetry and geometry established by André Le Nôtre, chief gardener for Louis IVX at the Palace of Versailles. Versailles had originally been a hunting lodge, but Le Nôtre turned it into the envy of the European Elite with his elaborate parterres, radiating pathways, water pools, and stone coping that were laid out with an order and system that all came together into a complex, interconnected unity when viewed from a balcony or palace room. Soon, this style was copied by the remainder of the French aristocracy, and it to this day still follows the same basic design principles as its royal prototype.

Of course, today’s French gardens are obviously much smaller than the ones built around the chateaus of the 18th century. The typical Houston home resides on far less land than even a small European estate. Nevertheless modified derivatives of the original formula can still be replicated in virtually any Houston setting to the flat nature of our terrain. This is because Houston, like much of France, lies on a very level plane that is ideal for the type of formal bedding the garden is planted within.

The essential elements of parterres surrounded by trimmed hedges, repeating geometry, and embroidered patterns are used as compliments to landscaping features such as fountains, patios, and outdoor sculptures. Within these basic structures a tremendous freedom now exists for the landscape designer to create all sorts of shapes and colors within the formal bedding and enclosed low-level hedges that have remained characteristic of this form for centuries.

While French gardens will always be exquisitely breathtaking when appreciated from a removed, elevated vantage point, today’s modern landscaping techniques make it possible to create the same effects with smaller gardens, or even micro gardens, viewed from ground level. Such smaller French gardens are often located in front of outdoor patios, outdoor rooms, and arbors. This allows homeowners to sit outside and overlook a landscape whose diversity also represents unity and balance.

This bending, rather than breaking, of pattern and form allows for virtually any low-level plant species to be used in a French garden. Boxwoods are typically used to frame the edges of parterres, with perennial blooms, herbs, and special grasses comprising the interior. Color choices can range from the monochromatic to a diversity of red, blues, yellows, and varying shades of green.

The only requirement that really limits plant material options is the need of every French garden to clearly have more horizontal space than vertical space. So long as the formal element of a flat, cultivated, and highly sculpted planting remains clearly seen from any desired vantage point(s) , the options for flowers and plants are diverse and numerous.

Parterre Garden Design

The word “parterre” means “on the ground” in French. It refers to a type of formal garden created by French nursery designer Claude Mollet in the 1500s. Mollet had been inspired by the English knot gardens he had seen, and he wanted to expand their basic elements into something appropriate to the opulent and massive estates of the French Aristocracy. He decided that the parterre garden would look better if viewed from above, as opposed to a ground-level perspective. To make it visible from a higher vantage point, he expanded the one square into four squares with gravel paths that intersecting in the center. From an elevated position, this would create a sense of linear movement combined with balance and proportion.

Because parterre gardens were designed to be viewed from above, Mollet decided that clipped box and other similar shrubs would work better as visual elements than aromatic herbs and flowering plant. The English, of course, objected to this, with herbalist and poet Gervase Markham denouncing box as having a “naughty smell” that had no place in a garden. The English were missing the point. Mollet was creating something for the Elite to quietly admire from the opulence and comfort of their balconies and open windows- not stroll through the garden and smell.
Parterre gardens reached the zenith of their form under the reign of Louis XIII, at the Palace of Versailles. King Louis’s head gardener, Jacques Boyceau, defined the best elements of the parterre gardens as follows:

• Borders made from box and other shrubs.
• Compartments and pathways within shrub elements
• Passements-French for embroidery patterns
• Arabesque elements (repeating geometry)
• Interlacing patterns clearly visible from windows.

The parterre garden fell out of style after the French Revolution and the introduction of the 18th Century English naturalist garden. However, in the 20th Century, it returned as a popular element of residential landscaping design. The same basic aesthetic principles of Boyceau and Mollet are still followed, but the use of four squares divided by gravel paths is typically not used except on very large, private estates.

In most Houston neighborhoods, parterre gardens are planted adjunct to an architectural or landscaping feature. They can be either linear or contoured to compliment the architecture of any outdoor structure or landscaping element. For example, a West Houston couple with a passion for all things French had us plant a partier garden around a paved parking area that was shaped like a horseshoe. Later, this area was used to place an outdoor sculpture, and the greenery surrounding it added a natural, embellishing touch.

Typically, landscaping companies use a combination of boxwoods and holly trees for modern parterre garden design. The boxwoods provide the boundaries for the garden, and the hollies add a three-dimensional element. This simple combination makes such a garden an excellent addition to a yard that has no fence. When planted along the property line, it can create a superb and highly aesthetic natural boundary between a residence and a neighboring property.

knot Gardens

A knot garden is a garden within which plants are trained to grow in very intricate patterns that resemble embroidery patterns or knots. This type of gardening became popular during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when the English gentry wore garments that were richly adorned with intricately woven embroidery. To reflect the formality and symmetry of the English estates, the first knot gardens were shaped like perfect squares.

Because knot gardens were originally intended to be viewed from ground level as people strolled through the landscape, gardeners avoided using traditional hedgerows to define the geometric proportions of these gardens, because this would create obstructions that would obscure visibility. Instead, they would create square sections of land out of sand or gravel, then plant slow-growing plants so close together they would mesh and intertwine—creating a knotted appearance around which other species could then be introduced.

Originally, knot gardens in England consisted mostly of herbs and small, flowering plants. Almost any kind of herb or flower may have been used at this time provided it created an aroma equivalent to its visual aesthetic. Everything was constantly trimmed to keep the vegetation low-enough to the ground that every element could be clearly seen. Normally too, English gardeners would design these landscapes with entrances and exits that would allow people to stroll right only inches away from the heavy concentrations of lush and fragrant vegetation.

Over the centuries, the basic concept of the knot garden has remained relatively unchanged. However, the Renaissance insistence of the geometry of the perfect square, as well as the aversion to any type of hedging, has given way to a new, more practical aesthetic. This is particularly true in the world of residential landscaping. In most instances, a knot garden on a typical Houston property is one of many unique elements all interrelated to the same comprehensive landscaping plan. As such, knot gardens often intersect with other features on the landscape. You commonly see them around patio areas, along stone walls, and around fountains and sculptures.

Because a modern knot garden is more often a landscaping element rather than the featured center point of a landscape, its shape will often follow whatever earthwork, water feature, or decorative element it is meant to compliment. For example, a knot garden planted that is planted along a stone wall to add a complimentary, organic element to its structure would be rather narrow and rectangular instead of a perfect square. More than likely, too, it would have more flowers than herbs to give the entire scene a splash of many colors, and it would further deviate from the Renaissance by framing the flowers in row of boxwoods trimmed to grow very low to the ground.

Another popular use of the knot garden is to accent statuary or fountains in the center of the yard. Again, the strict linearity of the Old World style gives way to the 20th century aesthetic principle of form following function. Abstract sculptures in contemporary landscapes may use a combination of alternating circular, square, and rectangular trainings to command one’s attention toward the subject in abrupt, incremental steps. Fountains often look much better when surrounded by a circular knot garden as opposed to a rectangular or square one.

Ultimately, however, the shape and contents of such a garden depend greatly on the surroundings at hand and the preferences of the homeowner.

Running Bond Brick Walkway Built in Tanglewood Front Yard Landscaping

We were contacted by a Tanglewood resident who was unhappy with the way her front yard looked. The existing drive was nothing more than a massive concrete slab that took up almost the entire front yard, leaving almost no room for vegetation other than small patches of San Augustine grass. For at least six months out of the year, the grass would die and turn brown, giving the front yard a drab appearance that diminished the Old World architecture of her home. Another major problem with this front yard was a small Magnolia tree growing next to the back wall. If it continued to grow at its present rate, it would begin to push against the bricks and crack the wall over the next few years. The homeowner wanted us to completely change the vegetation and trees in her front yard and replace the bulk of her driveway with a brick walkway. She wanted something more classically European--reminiscent of the horse and carriage days of past centuries.
After careful study of late nineteenth century photographs of brick roads and sidewalks, we decided that the most appropriate pattern for arranging the bricks would be that of a running bond. This pattern involves laying the bricks on their sides so that the narrow parts face upward. It is a very practical style for creating curved walkways that wind in front of homes or bend through gardens. We used some unique construction methods to create this structure and to make it look as historically authentic as possible. We laid down a concrete foundation first in the general shape of the walkway. We did not want to ruin the illusion of antiquity by placing mortar or grout between the bricks, so we spread the mortar over the concrete, and set the bricks with only sand to fill the spaces between them. We sealed the sand with paver seal, so that when it set it created a smooth surface with no cracks or gaps.

Removing the bulk of the driveway had now given us a golden opportunity for landscaping all along the outer edge of the brick walkway and portions of the front yard that were previously dominated by San Augustine grass. The first thing we remove the magnolia tree and plant a line of Japanese yew trees that goes from the street all the way to the wall in the back. This stops the eye from wandering into the neighbor’s yard, and it frames the south side of the landscape with a lush backdrop of dark green. We then varied the color scheme by planting plum delight in front of the Japanese yews. This is a burgundy bush that is very hearty, and maintains its color throughout the year. Boxwoods planted just at the edge of the running bond walkway formed a third layer of vegetation that worked to highlight the bricks like a portrait frame accents a picture, forcing the eye to follow their intricate patterns around the curve to the front of the house. Using boxwoods to frame all or portion of a front yard is a common technique in landscaping. Boxwoods can be used to enclose everything from shrubs to decorative sculptures. When curved, boxwood frames help draw the eye around structures as it did here, where the vegetation keeps the eye moving down the walkway until it lands just square in front of the home.

We then introduced dwarf monkey grass to hide the stalks of the boxwoods and to further frame and highlight the bricks in the sidewalk. We replaced the San Augustine grass throughout the front yard with more drought-resistant zoysia grass. For small front yards, it creates a much plusher lawn that requires little maintenance or rainfall to sustain its emerald color. It also features a much finer blade that encourages you to walk on it.

In the back, on either side of the walkway, we completed our project with a few additional plantings. We introduce camellias to give the home flowers in the winter time between December and February. On the north side of the property, we kept a portion of the original driveway for parking. This left nothing but a small strip of San Augustine between our client’s home and the neighboring property. We planted a linear row of boxwoods and mondo here, and added a row of crepe myrtles to create a natural boundary equivalent to that of the Japanese yews on the other side of the yard.

We completed the project with a full-grown tree on a truck to plant in the very back to balance the expanded front yard and the multiple layers of vegetation that now shaped and contoured the landscape around the running bond brick walkway.

River Oaks Stepping Stone Patio & Pool Renovation

Exterior Worlds was contacted by a family in River Oaks to remodel their pool and build a stepping stone patio around it. The pool was L-shaped and clashed with the entire back yard. The owners wanted the pool redesigned with more of a curved, linear shape that would suggest harmony and balance with surrounding natural elements. They did not want a wooden deck or concrete patio around the new pool, either, but instead requested we build them a stepping stone patio that would look like a part of Nature, but would feature sophisticated drainage and provide a firm, reliable surface upon which to walk.

Stepping stone patios are not difficult to build. The difficult part is building them with a drainage system that will prevent standing water from accumulating. In this case study, we actually built the stonework on individual pads of cement. We built the french drainage system to run under this substructure, and we concealed it with vegetation planted between the individual stones. This made them look very old, as if the grass had punched through in places and had been growing there for a very long time.
We changed the design of the pool into that of a large, curved linear structure. We accentuated one side of it into a stone walkway that hugs the side of the pool. It ran all the way through the yard, and passed through a wooden trellis into a sculpture garden with an outdoor seating area and a patio. We wanted this walkway to look like it was a part of Nature as well, so we constructed it using the same materials we had used to build the stepping stone patio. We cut the stones into pie shapes rather than squares, which allowed us them to fit them individually together and build a 30” structure that followed the water in an arc, allowing it to serve as a coping as well as a pathway.

The sculpture garden into which this walkway led was also a very unique element to this landscaping project. Here, we moved away from the theme of a natural stone patio toward that of a traditional flagstone patio. We actually built this patio off the linear walkway coming from the pool, then connected small walkways to the two doors leading into the home’s interior. We also built a small fountain out of brick into the wall of the home, so that guests who were seated outside at night could look at the lighted water falling against the backdrop of the house.

Throughout the property, we planted a variety of flowering plants and ground cover around our stepping stone patio and walkway. Jasmine was used profusely to control erosion and to prevent encroachment from weeds. Monkey grass was also used for weed and erosion control. Agapanthus and golden globes were used in places near brick walls and corners to help keynote these areas with their highly colorful, seasonal blooms. We also added height and elegance to the landscape with Italian cypress, and planted Camellias throughout the property to provide blooms for the winter season when other seasonal were dormant.

French landscape design

In 2003, we were contacted by a West Houston couple by the names of John and Jennifer Randall. They had just built a French-style near Piney Point and Memorial. Jennifer a house like this surrounded by a French landscape design in the style of an Old World Estate, and John had always loved the architecture and landscaping designs of his French ancestors.

The first element we created for the Randall’s was a driveway/parking area that ran all the way to the front porch. French homes typically feature paving like this that funs all the way up to the house. When such a driveway area is created with interlocking concrete pavers like we used at the Randall home, it looks much older than it is. It is a very useful tool in making a new construction look more like an estate owned by landed gentry, and provides a good central starting point around which to develop something as intricate as a French landscaping design.

To the side of the driveway, there was an open area that John asked us to do something with that would be both ornamental and functional. He had purchased a boat, and was waiting for a slip to open at the marina. In the meantime, he wanted a place to park it temporarily without just backing it into the grass. We came up with a plan to accommodate the need for temporary storage that would also play a major contributing role in our French landscape design.

Using small dark stones laid down like gravel, we made a small parking area for the boat that was shaped like a horseshoe. We surrounded it with a bright green, scalloped hedge. We planted boxwoods and Holly trees around this hedge, and we them throughout the yard and around the side of the house. This contrast of light and green ground cover is used a great deal in French landscaping design. The varying shades of color to create an unconscious sense of movement which the eye tends to follow. (The temporary parking area was subsequently transformed into decorative space a few months afterward. John moved his boat to Clear Lake, and asked us to come back and install an outdoor sculpture that looked very elegant when placed in center of the parterre garden.)

The elegance of this residence and its French architecture and landscaping design made this home overnight sensation in regards to Piney Point landscaping. To make sure that everyone could see it at night as well as the day, so we contracted a lighting design company to ensure that all important elements of the house and property were fully visible in the dark. Using mercury vapor lights concealed in trees, we created artificial moonlight over the parterre garden and front porch area. To accent the architecture, we used a blend of up lights and down lights, and we further emphasize the front of the home with special façade lighting.

John and Jennifer have since sold the home and moved on to even bigger and better things. However, the home they built and the landscaping they so carefully maintained throughout their stay in Houston has remained a premier attraction for this West Memorial neighborhood.

Heights Landscaping

A Heights family contacted us and hired us to design them an Italian garden with a number of corresponding decorations and functional elements that would support a Classical design theme. The house itself was perfect for this project because it was built with very Old World architecture to begin with. It was a two-story home that had a porch and an upstairs balcony in the front. Stairs led up to the porch, and the windows were decorated with large shutters. Just next to the house grew a very large and stately old oak—ideal for concealing a tree light to illuminate the entire roof of the structure and showcasing throughout the night the European look and feel we intended to create.

The lights that we hid in the oak tree provided more than enough lighting for the roof, balcony, and windows. To light the porch, we concealed fixtures under the eaves to light the walking surfaces, steps, walls, and downstairs windows. In the front area surrounding the oak tree, we planted a small Italian garden with a variety of ground cover plant species, shrubbery, and smaller, ornamental trees. This added an organic feeling to the angular symmetry of the house. We then completed the first phase of our project by placing urns on either side of the stairway leading up to the front porch. This lent a sense of Classical grand entryway that, although technically Roman nonetheless remains consistent with the theme of an Italian garden in form, proportion, and placement.

Because the house itself had been built more toward the front of the lot, there was a great deal of property behind the home that gave us plenty of room to integrate organic, functional, and decorative elements of an Italian garden. The first thing we created for our clients was a planter, built in the shape of a small wall just tall enough to sit on. This wall followed the contour of the rear of the home, and provided both a place to plant greenery, and sufficient room to comfortably sit and have coffee, conversation, or a quick read of the morning paper.

Just beyond this planter, we then built a water fountain in a design consistent with the architecture and general layout of the property. All Italian gardens work to support the linear movement of architecture, so the design we chose was a simple rectangle whose decorative appeal was enhanced with lighting and water jets. In the evening, four water spouts spray upward with the light dancing between them.

To further compliment linear design and right angles, we built a limestone patio around the water fountain. The limestone pavers actually began at the base of the planter, and were slightly sloped on that end toward concealed, 1-inch drain channel to provide water runoff. It was constructed with a blend of hardscape and softscape that created the illusion of it stretching past the fountain and fading away into the grass. This helped the patio blend harmoniously with the Italian cypress we planted in the garden, and complimented the handmade pottery we interspersed among both organic and inorganic designs.

To create a sense of enclosure and destination for our new Italian garden, we built a fully functional garden arbor at the far end of the property. This area had previously been obscured by the unsightly appearance rising out of an adjacent commercial lot behind the property. The new wooden arbor, built over a limestone patio with Permacast columns and a cedar roof, worked to partly block the view of this building. To further draw the eye away from it, we added a rather innovative feature in addition to the standard lighting and ceiling fans we normally build in our arbors. We placed a mirror on the back wall that reflected the patio in front of the arbor and the Italian garden that stretched all the way back to the fountain and the planter. Like all mirrors do, this had the unconscious effect of making the property look a little larger and more self-contained within its own boundaries. Then, to complete the project with an extra touch of comfort and elegance for guests, we decorated the patio and placed chairs and tables in front of the arbor that would give seated guests a good view of the Italian cypress, the fountain, and lighted interior of the arbor.

Mediterranean landscape design

What are the elements of a Mediterranean landscape design?
For Houstonians longing for the atmospheric qualities of, say, Tuscany or the ancient Greek era, no garden fills that desire like a Mediterranean landscape design. Our clients travel abroad and come home wanting to recreate a setting that they fell in love with in Italy, Morocco, Spain or Greece. At Exterior Worlds, we think every garden should have a bit of fantasy in it.

As the name implies, Mediterranean gardens are dry-climate gardens. Think of the semi-arid, rocky hills of Austin, but with olive groves. These gardens have the same attributes—use of axis, linearity, and central focal points—of formal landscape design. Their most distinguishing feature is in their use of materials; limestone or gravels for pathways, for example. For plants choices, we suggest junipers, Italian cypress, dwarf yaupons and other blue-green or gray plants.

What are the features of a Mediterranean landscape design?
The architecture of the house needs to blend with a landscape done in a Mediterranean theme. You can achieve this goal with the intelligent positioning of a hardscape feature: perhaps a wrought iron garden gate as can be found in Barcelona or a limestone garden arch. Your goal is to create an Old World ambiance.

When working in this style, the home and landscape can be further connected through selective use of plantings. The choice of plants, in fact, is the main definer of this style:
• Herb gardens. Herbs, especially attractive in terra cotta planters, enhance the Italian influence and create enticing smells. Ahhh…basil, rosemary, sage and thyme.
• Vegetable gardens. The original Mediterranean gardens were quite practical and were extensions of the ubiquitous farming cultures. Therefore, a vegetable garden fits right into this landscape, providing sustenance and color.
• Trees and shrubs. Given the sunny climate from which this style arose, it is no surprise that shade is extremely important—making it a natural for Houston. The twists and turns of live oaks are very fitting in this garden. Other tree choices are olive trees, Italian cypress and orange or lemon fruit trees.
• Vines. Use creeping vines like wisteria and grapevines.
For material choices, you can choose among several different notable elements suitable for residential gardens done in the Mediterranean style. To name just a few: stone, weathered bricks, terra cotta tiles, flagstone, tumbled travertine, wrought iron, classical statuary, Roman columns, and wooden beams.

What other elements work in a Mediterranean landscape design?A residential garden done with Mediterranean flamboyance is refined and relaxed, capturing the easy living of the outdoors. In choosing the spaces and hardscapes to further enhance the surroundings, consider these options:
• Outdoor water fountains. Water is a critical part of the Mediterranean lifestyle, so consider fountains that are in a Romanesque, Italianate or rustic style.
• Swimming pools. Within this theme, classic shapes, like squares, rectangles and circles, work well for pools. We often suggest that our clients combine them with an outdoor water fountain.
• Outdoor kitchens. A focal point of outdoor entertainment, a summer kitchen provides a natural gathering place.

We would love an opportunity to consult with you in creating a Mediterranean Garden Design for your Houston backyard. Exterior Worlds has been providing the residential landscape services and garden design services discussed above for the Memorial villages Tanglewood, Bellaire, River Oaks, West University and the greater Houston, area since 1987. Contact us at 713-827-2255

Landscape Achitecture

Whether you are constructing a building or a home, landscape architecture is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of a project.

You can see it in professionally-designed residential properties, public parks and playgrounds, parkways and golf courses. The principle of landscape architecture is to create spaces that are functional and beautiful. Landscape architects plan the location and the arrangement of outdoor water fountains, garden arbors and gazebos, and swimming pools. They are also focus on designing and developing landscapes that suit the natural environment and conditions.

Who can deliver the landscape plans, documents and designs?
To become a landscape architect usually requires a bachelor’s or master’s degree in landscape. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are (2) undergraduate professional degrees: a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA). Typically, these degrees entail four or five years of study in design, construction techniques, art, history, and natural and social sciences.

For landscape architects seeking advanced degrees, there are two routes. Those who obtain undergraduate degrees in landscape architecture can earn their Masters (MLA) in 2 years. If you hold an undergraduate degree in a field other than landscape architecture and want to go into landscape architecture, the MLA usually requires 3 years of full-time study. In 2007, 61 U.S. colleges offered 79 undergraduate and graduate programs in landscape architecture that were accredited by the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

Working with home architects, surveyors, engineers and contractors, landscape architects help determine the best arrangement of the property’s elements. Landscape architects, in collaboration with these professionals, create detailed plans indicating new topography, vegetation, walkways, and other landscaping details, such as outdoor kitchens, gate placement and other decorative features.

Landscape architects first study the project as a whole. They think about the wants and needs of the owner and the existing budget. They analyze the natural elements of the site, such as the climate, soil, slope of the land, drainage, and vegetation; examine where sunlight falls on the site at different times of the day and different times of the year; and assess the effect of the existing neighborhood, roads, walkways, and utilities.

The next step in the development is the conceptual design stage that develops out of the meeting notes, site analysis, program of uses, and the architect’s knowledge. At this level, an architect conveys the overall design goals, such as the general use areas and their sizes, material choices, irrigation, drainage systems, turf areas, and plantings. An overall cost estimate is developed from the landscape plan as well.

Once you have decided on the final design esthetic, you are ready to begin the landscaping, development and construction phases. The documentations for these phases include: planting plans, drainage plan, construction details, electrical plans, irrigation plans and a permit set, for presenting to the locate municipalities. These plans also convey final design intent, and construction details which include specifications for materials and their installation.

Exterior Worlds, in business since 1987, provides landscape design and services for residences, commercial buildings and retail centers in the Houston area. Call them at 713-827-2255 to request a consultation or estimate.

Traditional Garden Design

What is Traditional Garden Design?
Rustic classic garden design. Arcadia was a legendary place in Greece known for its quiet garden beauty were Virgil, the Roman poet, described as the home of pastoral simplicity. Natural woodland trees weaving into weathered stone columns and colonnades covered with Wisteria vines and English ivies is the rustic beauty of the classic garden. These ideal and romantic garden settings of the past are a cross between Formal garden design forms, English garden design and have an arid feel likened to Mediterranean gardens.

Classic Garden Design in Houston.
We can look for inspiration in the painters of the 18th century -Ruins of Greek and Roman architecture with garden statues, grottos, temples, water, winding paths, and the surrounding land. The look is natural yet the positioning of every tree, rock, and planting element was placed to present a balanced, harmonious and timeless mood. First, set up the axial paths and open spaces that create structure in the garden. A rustic patio of limestone gravel, step stones, and groundcovers for relaxed entertaining and European contemplation. Elements such as an antique concrete bench weathered or chipped with moss or ferns on it for nostalgia or concrete plinths that terminate at a Texas mountain Laurel or Olive tree in a rustic Gardiner. A natural effect utilizes plants such as Wisteria, agapanthus and lace ferns. At its smallest scale create a weathered vase with a sphere of dwarf yaupon and creeping rosemary and fig ivy covering its curves.
The Rustic Pool-an understated square pool with a Tuscan tan shell. At the waters edge; a simple mixed tile of greens, blues, and browns accented with a bold coping of thick chiseled stone.
Outdoor Water Fountains of Antiquity-An 18 century stone trough that catching the water from iron spout, is a perfect touch for an old world landscape design. Vines can be trained up its edge, which can echo the Italian centuries of long ago.
Arbors, Pergolas, Colonnades and Grottos- similar to English gardens is the opportunity for an arbor or pergola. Concrete pillars covered with a wood pergola, rambling wisteria and star jasmine vines.
Landscape Lighting- Tradition gardens did not have landscape lighting, however given the opportunity to illuminate their gardens, we can be reasonably sure they would. Landscape lighting is a fantastic opportunity to add ambiance and accent statuary for evening drama.
Landscape Maintenance- classic garden maintenance will be critical in keeping the natural yet orderly feel of your garden in check on a regular basis. Regular trimming of vines, fig ivies, and dead heading of roses is a weekly necessity in the classic garden.
Elements of good landscape maintenance:
1. Lawn service
2. Rose maintenance
3. Annual flowers
4. Irrigation inspection
5. Mulching

If you are interested in a traditional garden designs discussed above, Exterior Worlds has been providing high-end landscape services for upscale homes throughout the Houston (Hou) area since 1987. Specializing in Memorial Villages landscaping (Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunter Creek Village, Hedwig Village), Tanglewood, Bellaire, River Oaks and West University. Contact us at 713-827-2255

Formal Landscape Design

What is Formal Landscape Design?
The hand of the landscaper is clearly in evidence in formal landscape designs as the pathways and plantings are controlled along crisp lines. It is this order that gives a sense of peace and ceremony. Formal landscape design is our attempt to bring to bear our control over nature, to fashion our idealized version of it.

Throughout history, formal gardens have evolved. Traditional, or classic landscape design, for instance, is a type of formal garden that uses linear pathways and sheared shrubbery. In the 16th and 17th centuries, knot gardens and parterres were in vogue. Originating in England, a knot garden is a square made of low, clipped hedges. Within the “knot”, a variety of blooming plants and herbs grow. Parterres developed in the formal estates of France and are four squares laid in a symmetrical pattern separated by gravel paths. The planting that makes the outline of the parterre is an evergreen shrub trimmed into a pleasant, sometimes intricate, shape. Parterres are designed to be viewed from on high—from the crest of a slope or the balcony of a chateau.
Like language, the term “formal landscape design” continues to vary with time. There are few hard and fast rules—but the main constant is to use the principles of formal landscape design to create a garden that is gorgeous and supports the things you love.

How to create a Formal Landscape Design.
Formal gardens need not be dull. They can be quietly theatrical or outright bold. While there are many kinds of formal gardens, they have two qualities in common: balance and regularity. These attributes are best exemplified by the way the structural lines, called axes, bring the eye to rest where they intersect. Axes are direct lines of sight that lead to a important feature, usually the house. Normally a formal landscape has two axes perpendicular to one another. Called the main axis and the secondary axis, they often double as paths.

The primary axis is usually wider than the secondary path that crosses it. The extra width gives the main axis visual prominence and directs the eye. Thus the eye travels along the main axis, then stops when it reaches the intersection with the secondary axis, which joins it at a 90 degree angle. This joining is a good place for a focal point, such as an outdoor water fountain, that creates interest.

In contrasting to Traditional garden design that uses curved borders with undulating edges, in formal landscape design the edges and borders are laid out in neat, geometric shapes—rectangles, squares, triangles or circles. Along with the decisive contouring of the plant materials, these shapes accentuate the stability and serenity of formal landscape designs.

Because of the acute geometry of formal landscape designs, some residential styles are better suited for formal gardens than others. Colonial and Federal-style houses built of brick or stone work well with this style of garden. Formal gardens nicely complement urban townhouses, particularly those constructed in formal architectural styles such as Second Empire, Georgian or Greek Revival. Contemporary designs, with their spare and unembellished lines, also support formal landscape design.

Other Features in a Formal Landscape Design
• Swimming Pools. The water is the whole point of a formal pool. You want to create a frame for the water that turns it into a design element within the landscape. To that end, a rectangular shape of water looks inherently formal. Round, oval and square work well, too. Within a formal garden, the swimming pool should be placed where it geometrically fits into the overall design. It can be situated in the middle of the space or unconnected to the other immediate features or structures. The pool is meant to stand out and be noticed. Be mindful of your choice of materials with a pool. You want to stay within the formal realm. Flagstone, tile or brick all work well.
• Lighting. Use the different types of landscape lighting—down-lighting, up-lighting, architectural lighting, incandescent lights—to play up the theatricality of a formal landscape design.
• Water features. Water Features fit beautifully in formal landscape designs. Just remember to keep them in the style of the garden and house design. A simple garden design with lots of open space and spare lines can take a more complex water feature.

What is required longterm?
Landscape Maintenance is the Key: An ongoing feature of formal gardens is maintenance. Regular and assiduous maintenance will keep your formal landscape design formal. “After investing a lot of money on your landscape installation, it only makes sense to protect it and make sure it develops as designed. And that’s where a landscape maintenance program comes in,” says Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds. “As part of a thorough landscape maintenance program, hedges as well as other shrubs and bushes should be trimmed regularly to maintain the desired contours. Ground cover and vines should be edged to maintain a neat appearance. This regularly-scheduled attention will ensure that all elements conform to the overall plan of the formal landscape design.”
Exterior worlds is located in the memorial area. They have been landscaping in Houston area including River oaks, West University, Memorial Villages, Tanglewood since 1987. Call Exterior Worlds at 713-827-2255 to discuss the creation of your formal landscape design.