Formal Garden Ideas

Formal garden ideas vary widely according to culture and historical period of origin. Nevertheless, all share a common humanistic sense that man is the center of creation. Because of this, symmetry and geometry are the essential ingredients of any formal garden style, no matter what shape or size

Geometry is normally based around the key motifs of home architecture and points in some way toward the direction of the house. Many gardens are built around a central axis that lines up with an entryway or window. Others have bisecting axes that lead to a central courtyard built around focal point like a fountain or sculpture. This focal point can be seen from the house, and you can see the house as well when standing or sitting near the focal point. This creates a synergy of elegance between the house and the garden that establishes a feeling of order and system throughout the entire landscape.

Most formal garden ideas are based around the geometry of quadrilaterals. Depending on size or position, the borders may be in the form of a perfect square or a rectangle that follows a linear progression through various zones of greenery, flowering species, and special decorations. Pathways running through the garden can be built of stone, brick, or gravel. Material choices are mainly based on cultural or historical relevance to the particular design being developed.

To make any formal garden idea work from an organic perspective, you must approach vegetation with an atypical mindset. It is very hard for do-it-yourself gardeners to create their own formal garden designs because they have taught all their lives that more is better when it comes to the number of plant types you put in a garden. In formal design, however, the exact opposite is true. Too many different plant species makes the garden look out of control even when constantly tended to.

Professional gardeners, on the other hand, carefully choose first a style, and then select only a limited number of plant materials to use. Rather than having countless plants and flowers that overwhelm the senses, landscape professionals will create repeating patterns of geometry by using same types few shrubs, trees, hedges, and special flowering plants. By connecting these zones together in spirals arms, circles, rectangles, or squares, landscape professionals can create a nearly infinite number of forms with only a handful of plants that are easy to maintain.

Always make sure you work with a company like Exterior Worlds that knows botanical science, drainage, and irrigation methods. The Houston landscape looks deceptively plain, but in reality can be quite tricky and problematic when it comes to water management. Always work with an experienced team who can safeguard your formal garden ideas against the floods and droughts that can hit our part of the world without warning.

French Formal Garden

What is the ultimate theme of the French formal garden?
It uses carefully sculpted vegetation, planted in straight lines, as organic architecture. This emphasizes man’s dominance over nature through a strict control of all plant material. The disciplined symmetry of this form is precise in its planning and layout, and runs along long axes that inspire the viewer with a sense of sublime infinity.

What type of house does this garden work best with?
Historically, French formal gardens were built beneath a terrace that allowed the visitor to overlook the entire garden. If a terrace was absent, the garden would be viewed from either the top of a wall or a large window that provided sufficient overlook.

This approach can easily be modified to our contemporary location because the French countryside is remarkable similar to the flat terrain of the Houston landscape. French forms can be developed here in much the same way, with the intended vantage point for the garden being a balcony or second story window overlooking the parterres and axes of the garden.

Where on the property do you normally install a French formal garden?
The French formal garden uses the home itself as the garden focal point. Trees are planted away from the home to give it special emphasis. Low parterres and trimmed bushes closer to the home help distinguish it further.

The garden is built around a central access that is perpendicular to the house. Normally this runs opposite the front entrance and moves toward either a horizon point or a classical statue. The main axis is most often made of gravel and is edged by trees. Perpendicular axes cross the main axes to provide aesthetic balance and human transit points.

What types of geometry does this garden style use?
The most sophisticated parterres are square, circular, oval, or scroll-like in shape. They are juxtaposed against the home in such a manner as to compliment the architectural motifs that distinguish its build out. The parterres near the residence are normally created with low boxwoods that hug the ground. As the linear movement of the French formal garden progresses away from the home façade, the hedges rise proportionally. Trees may be planted in larger gardens to enhance the sense of heightened perspective and drama.

Does the French formal garden use water features at all?
Yes. In fact, water features are among its most important elements. Canals, basins, custom fountains, and waterfalls lend not only a touch or elegance, but also have a mirror-like effect that makes the garden appear larger than it actually is.

What types of decorations does the French garden use?
To further emphasize the theme of order, system, and human dominion, classical sculpture is used in the garden to establish Greco-Roman or mythological aesthetics. Sculpture is normally placed at the intersections of axes or by water features.

English Formal Garden

What is the intent of the English formal garden?
Its purpose is to present an idealized view of Nature. This style originated in England during the 18th Century. Its inspiration came from the panoramic landscape paintings of that time. It sought to create in microcosm the aesthetic equivalents of groves trees, lakes, rolling lawns, and pastoral vistas.

What geometry characterizes this style of gardening?
An English formal garden is built around a central dividing line that runs the entirety of its length. On either side of this line, plant materials and inorganic forms are equally balanced, giving the garden a sense of symmetry and order. Elements are typically arranged in interlocking geometric shapes. These can be squares, triangles, or rectangles. In the very center of a garden, a focal point is placed.

What focal points do English gardens use?
A variety of elements can be used as focal points. The exception to this is sculpture. English gardens are slightly less formal than their French and Italian equivalents and as such deviate intentionally from the practice of using sculpture as a centering device for garden design. Topiaries are often used, however, to add vertical impact and form to the scene. Another technique is to use a water feature as the focal point. In some English styles, a lush flower bed can also be used to center the design with color.

What types of vegetation are used in an English formal garden?
Climbing plants are often used to cover fences or boundary walls with greenery. Shrubs and trees often populate the interior designs and spill over slightly into the bed edges. This creates the sense of relaxed formality this style is known form. Herbs are often very popular elements to use in creating the rich geometry English design is known for. The interlocking patterns of the style are derivative of ancient Celtic art which is easily duplicated by plantings of colorful flowering herbs throughout the interior segments. Flower beds can also be used for this effect, or, as we have already mentioned, as focal points in the center of the garden. Common species include Columbines, Aster, Carnations, Cornflowers, and Black-Eyed Susans.

What types of inorganic elements are featured in an English formal garden?
Inorganic forms are found in three primary places: the central dividing line, the focal point (if a non-organic element is chosen), and in boundary fences or walls. Walls are intended to reflect the English love of containment and privacy. Masonry walls are often used for this effect. In traditional Tudor gardens, stone walls were often used, but in America, fences have been substituted in many cases.

The central path is usually either made of red brick or gravel, lined with small trees or shrubs that edge into the hardscape in order to create a sense of loose formality that is neat, but never stiff, per se. Because the path is more than decorative, but also a thoroughfare as well, people need to walk through and feel as though they are surrounded by vitality and life in a comforting and personable manner.

Larger English formal gardens may also use topiaries to create the equivalent of an arbor or pergola, although these terms do not strictly apply in the sense of the typical outdoor buildings we associate with these names. The intent is to create a shaded area (or two) where a small bench can be placed so people can sit and survey the garden from a comfortable position within its interior.

How important is water to the English formal garden?
Water is not an absolute must for this design, but it never fails to make a positive aesthetic impact. Because the first English gardens were inspired by sweeping landscapes with lakes, any number of water features can be used to emulate the presence of water in a natural setting. A small rectangular reflecting pool can compliment both garden form and home architecture. A birdbath or fountain can add vertical impact, or a natural pond can be placed in the center simply to lend a sense of tranquility to the moment.

Formal Garden

What makes a formal garden formal?
Order, neatness, geometry, and symmetry are the defining features of this style that traces its origins all the way back to the dawn of recorded history. Formality is a tradition honored equally in Western, Middle Eastern, and Eastern Cultures. We have all heard of Greek and Roman Gardens, and most of us as well have heard of the Hanging Gardens of Ancient Babylon. Since the beginning of history in the East, both China and Japan have perfected formal gardens as expressions of Taoist, Shinto, and Buddhist ideals.

Formality is like artistic diplomacy. It takes what would otherwise be a divergent and conflicting array of individual forms and brings them together into a working relationship where every contributing element plays a part in making up a greater whole.

What feeling should this type of garden create?
It should establish a sense of stability—something of an island of respite from the daily grind of life. Formality means elegance and that which is elevated above the mundane. Nothing mediocre should enter in to your garden, or even come to mind.

What types of formal garden plants are most commonly used?
Vegetation is selectively chosen so there will be something for everyone to enjoy. Different species of shrubs, trees, hedges, perennials, and annuals are arranged in cultural and historical motifs.

It is not a matter of the amount of plant material, but in the way that it is arranged. Some gardens are very simple and consist of only boxwoods enclosing a flower bed. More formal designs integrate and intertwine organic elements with inorganic elements. All forms must appear balanced and done to scale, be they trees, shrubs, or flowers. Inorganic elements are used to center attention on its midpoint, or to draw attention to a particular aspect of its geometry.

How many different types of formal gardens are there?
The most prominent types are based upon historical and cultural traditions. Others are based upon style or size. A few examples follow.

Formal French Garden
The French garden is intended to inspire awe and wonder, much like a grand chateau on an Elite estate. It uses carefully sculpted vegetation as organic architecture. The disciplined symmetry of this form is precise in its planning and layout, and runs along long axes that inspire the viewer with a sense of sublime infinity.

Formal Italian Garden
Like the French garden, the Italian garden is a controlled, linear, symmetrical form. Unlike the French garden, its intention is to create retreat and repose rather than awe and wonder. Italian gardens appeal to multiple senses and invite the viewer to step into an alternate realm of contemplation, surprise, and a rich diversity of shape and color.

Formal English Garden
The English garden presents an idealized view of nature. It was originally inspired by pastoral landscape paintings that emphasized rolling hills, trees, and lakes. It is a geometrically balanced design built around a central pathway and a central focal point. Around the center grows a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants arranged in geometric, interwoven patterns.

Formal Small Garden
This is an ideal style for small yards and townhome properties. It uses small squares or circles of yard in areas where larger landscape elements cannot be created. Its disciplined symmetry lends itself well to complimenting the architecture of surrounding homes and buildings, and the richness of floral and vegetation patterns can be just as diverse as those in larger formal garden designs.
Formal Flower Garden
Formal flower gardens are designed as elegant beds with straight lines. The intent of this form is to mix annuals and perennials together so that as some flowers seasonally die and come back, others are continuously blooming at various times. This maintains continual floral growth that gives color and vitality to the Houston landscape throughout the year.

Where can I get formal garden ideas?
The best place to begin is by looking at garden pictures on the Internet and any print media sources you have available. Although many of these pictures will not depict formal gardens per se, you will see a wide range of vegetation, hardscapes, and decorative elements that you can select as a sort of collage of ideas. Bring these to the table when you meet with your Exterior Worlds garden designer.

How is a formal garden plan developed?
Your designer will look at your visual wish list and then talk to you about what you expect to see, smell, and feel when you experience the new garden we are planning. We will also take extensive time to study your home and yard so we can adapt your desires to appropriate landscape elements that truly compliment the house and surrounding yard.

The plan is sketched out as a preliminary draft, which you have the freedom to change or approve. Upon final approval, a more sophisticated draft is created that is part of the landscape master plan. Installation is either done directly through our team or through specialists we contract and supervise under our invoice and guidance.

Garden Design Ideas

Garden design ideas can be based on geometry, type, or style. Geometry is necessary to tie the architecture and hardscapes in with the organic elements of the Houston landscape. By using repeating patterns common to both the living and the manmade, we can establish common motifs that tie the two together.

Garden type, or style as many call it, are designations based on the proximity of the garden to certain structures (such as a patio garden or courtyard garden), or the actual contents of the garden itself. Sometimes too, a garden type is named after what the garden is used for. A good example of this is a morning garden, which is a garden you sit by in the morning as you drink your coffee and read your paper.

While it is possible for a do-it-yourself gardener to come up with very good garden design ideas on his or her own, making those ideas work with the rest of the yard is another matter. That is why you need a professional landscaper to come to your home and take a good look at your property. Identifying opportunities for garden design is the first thing we do. The second thing we do is point these opportunities for design out to you and match them to your plans for a future outdoor lifestyle.

Once our consultation is complete and the landscape master plan is in process of development, there are many garden design ideas we can introduce into that plan to make your yard into the equivalent of a second home just outside your home. Just of few of these ideas include the following:

Small Gardens
The intention of small garden design is to make use of ignored or overlooked spaces and to transform them into something aesthetically pleasing. This works to bring home architecture into a better relationship with surrounding yard elements.

Asymmetrical Gardens
Another popular garden design idea is an asymmetrical garden. At face value such a thing may not sound attractive, but it can work very well a small lot that is not shaped perfect to square, or where the house may be too close or too far away from the street.

Shade Gardens
When you have to sit under the trees to withstand the Texas heat, it is always nice to have greenery and flowering plants around you under the trees. This adds to the warmth (instead heat) to your outdoor living experience.

Formal Gardens
Symmetrical balance is the foundation of all formal garden design ideas. The garden is always centered on a geometric shape, statue, or custom fountain that brings all of its linear and radial elements together in focus. Plant life is also controlled and balanced, and trees and shrubs are planted at regular intervals with mathematical precision.

Contemporary Gardens
Contemporary gardens are unique in that they actually work to minimize vegetation and favor the man-made over the organic. They are very precise, abstract, and mathematical so as to communicate the exaltation of human though above instinct and organic impulse.

Garden Designers

Garden designers possess high levels of knowledge and discernment when it comes to design principles, plants and ecological systems. Working in Houston landscapes, Exterior Worlds’ ultimate goal is to develop a yard landscape design that will meet the needs and goals of our clients—and in the process, create a thing of beauty.

As specialists known as one of the top landscaping firms in the region, Exterior Worlds displays dexterity in working in the two basic systems of garden designs: formal and natural designs. We also pay attention to the long-term character of these projects, including their maintenance requirements.

Do you have a remodeling project on the horizon such as a backyard remodeling job? As garden designers, we can help you work through the myriad decisions about what to keep, what to take out, and what to re-do. Our clients have found that, in the long run, it saves them money since we bring a fresh eye and energy to the looks of your property—something that you thought there was no hope for might only need a touch of restoration.

For projects that are particularly comprehensive, we can discuss the possibility of landscape phasing. In this process, the design is implemented over time using incremental steps, giving you the opportunity to space out your cash outlay but still follow a logical plan. An example of such a plan for softscapes:

• In phase one, we concentrate on the plantings by the house
• In the second phase, we design the beds in the side yard.
• In the third step, we concentrate on specialty plantings, such as a rose garden.

A garden designer focuses on more than plants and their placement, however. We also apply our expertise to the hardscapes of your landscape design. For example, if softscapes are not factored in, a swimming pool landscape design can quickly become hard-edged and unforgiving, something we always avoid.

Likewise, landscapers don’t simply rely on the big, flashy elements. In fact, we have found that the really pleasing affects are often small touches. An antique ornamental iron element may add character and uniqueness to the overall design. Or perhaps a custom iron wall planter—or series of them—in just the right place can quietly complete the ambiance. Expertise in both big and small choices exemplifies the very best landscape designers.

As garden designers with an abundance of education, enthusiasm and experience, we provide a wealth of knowledge to clients who want a special theme for their garden. French gardens, a garden theme that works well in the flat topography of the Gulf Coast, are popular here. Like some parts of France, our coastal plains naturally invite the formal garden beds used in knot gardens and parterre gardens, which are integral to French gardens. As another example, Zen gardens, which have their origins in the desire to represent complex and universal truths in simple forms, use sand and stone to create meditative spaces. In keeping with our basic business philosophy, Exterior Worlds will work with you on what works best for your specific site while still meeting your wants and preferences.

Garden landscaping design

What is the purpose of garden landscaping design?
The intent of garden design is to provide peace of mind and aesthetic unity between the landscape and the architecture of the home. Gardens tie all things together, from hardscapes, trees, outdoor water features, and swimming pool design.

How should garden landscaping design make a person feel?
The most important thing is to make you and those you invite over feel a sense of warmth and invitation. Because vegetation is alive, it carries with it the very warmth of life itself. Sculpting vegetation into forms and patterns that magnify this warmth is the heart and soul of all garden landscaping design. Objects placed within the vegetation should add vertical impact and provide focal points so people will focus their attention on the rich sensory experience the garden has to offer.

Are focal points important to garden landscaping design?
Yes, because they give the eye something to rest on. This allows you to slow down and explore the rest of the garden. When you have company over, this is vital to the creation of a sublime and beautiful moment when your guests see your garden for the first time. The size, shape, or color of the focal point can attract their attention or help them navigate to other points of interest.

In the case of navigation, garden entryways are extremely important because they establish the mood of the entire garden experience. An entry can be something as simple as a wrought iron fence, or it can be much more complex, such as a masonry wall with an arched entrance. Sometimes pergolas and arbors are also used as entryways to very large and formal gardens to create a sense of drama and scale.

Is it true that a garden should have many different kinds of plants and flowers?
Generally speaking, Houston gardens do better when they consist of carefully selected plant materials that are arranged with appropriate designs. Too many different plants and colors of flowers hits the mind with more of a patchwork explosion of sense rather than a controlled, deliberate, unified field of aesthetic. This is the mistake most commonly made by do-it-yourselfers and cheap garden and lawn companies. They think more is better, and the more the merrier and better.

In reality, repetition of key elements is the secret to professional garden landscaping design. Just a few plant species interspersed with the right hardscape materials can them be used to generate repeating themes that reflect and compliment the architecture of the home and blend the garden with other features on the landscape.

Is repetition really all that importation in garden landscaping design?
Yes. It is extremely important. You see repetition in Nature itself, everywhere you look. Go to any valley, beach, mountain, forest, or desert, and you will see repeating shrubs, flowers, and tree growth with a symmetry that looks as though it has arranged itself. Nature’s beauty has been attributed by many to a simplicity that seems wise beyond human logic. In landscape design, we work to duplicate this simplicity by emphasizing geometry, pattern, and style with a less-is-more approach that is more subtle and suggesting than it is strong and overpowering.

Houston Landscape Designers

Landscape designers take primary elements—open space, plants, hardscapes and naturally-occurring elements—and arrange them into interesting compositions, thereby turning a mere yard into a landscape. Your Houston landscape becomes soothing or naturalistic or out of the ordinary. Or whatever your intention was in working with a landscape designer in the first place.

At Exterior Worlds, our team of landscape designers begins with a frank and open conversation to ascertain your needs and wants, your lifestyle, limitations and preferences. Based on our expertise in the Gulf Coast region, we stay attuned to the inherent differences in the many upscale neighborhoods in our area. Something that works in Bellaire landscaping may not necessarily work in Piney Point landscaping due to varying terrain, vegetation, soil, or regulatory and permitting constraints. Our ability to deal with these difficult, time-consuming and sometimes conflicting demands is where we prove our value to you.

From these discussions, our landscape designers develop landscape master plans, which address issues such as:

• The purpose of your landscape. Perhaps landscaping for entertainment is important. Or maybe you want a tropical landscaping or butterfly garden design, both highly compatible with our climate. The exploratory discussion brings these concepts to the forefront.
• Hardscapes, the non-plant features in your yard. This category includes the various and marvelous accoutrements that define luxury landscapes, such as wrought iron fencing and driveway gates, patios, custom swimming pools and outdoor fireplaces.
• The infrastructure of the yard. This necessary segment covers drainage, erosion and irrigation matters. Just to highlight one of them: Houston property owners regularly deal with the double-edged problem of torrential rains falling on flat topography. Since all that water has to go somewhere, the question is—where? Exterior Worlds has years of expertise in all these critical concerns.

We always incorporate solid design principles in our landscape plans. Let’s take line theory as an example. Lines, whether tangible or intangible, indicate movement and flow from one zone to another. They also help define a raw space and guide the placement of hardscapes. You could even say that lines have a style of their own since there are many types of lines and each impacts the space in different ways. As an example, curvilinear lines naturally flow and reflect the shapes found in nature. With this line type, we work to reveal the designer’s hand instead creating an ungoverned and wild messiness. At the opposite end of the spectrum are rectilinear lines that imply a grid and convey a very formal style. Here, the space is kept carefully in balance and symmetrical, which can sometimes veer into rigidity and coldness, something our designers work to avoid.

In the end, you want a designer who is creative while staying attuned to your wants and needs. Additionally, this professional must possesses material know-how, including the suitability and durability of materials specifically for our climate, and has to know local construction standards—a combination of skill and talent that you will find at Exterior Worlds, with your Houston home and garden being the ultimate beneficiary.

Simple Garde Design

Why is it called simple?
Simple garden design is so called because it is based upon the awareness that less is actually more. The intention in this particular element of landscaping is not to create grand outdoor living experience or a peculiar sense of the exotic. It focuses instead on establishing basic sensory experiences of sight, sound, and smell that create a desired state of mind. The geometry is very basic as well—sometimes even being deliberately plain. Colors are attractive but not overdone so as to suggest an experience to the eyes without overwhelming them.

What style or theme can you use in a simple garden design?
We would base the style on that of your home’s architecture. This does not necessarily mean that your garden will look like an identical geometric compliment to your walls and rooftop. It may work better as a counterpoint to architecture than a direct, reflective correspondence. It may also provide a vital focal point for your landscape master plan.

What is a focal point?
A focal point is something that you use a landscape element to draw attention to. For example, if you have outdoor buildings, focal points should be established near the entrances of each so people can see where these structures are and how to enter them.

Some other very important uses of focal points include attracting attention to outdoor art and special monumentation like custom fountains. Focal points are also very important in large yards that have to be divided into zones of interest in order to prevent guests from being overwhelmed by a feeling of too much space.

Simple garden design can be used in all of these settings to establish perspective and boundaries.

What do I need to be careful about?
You need to be careful of people that promise you the moon for low costs.

Many people think that simple garden design means they can simply build themselves by going to a nursery and picking out some plants they like. What happens, though, when they get to the nursery, is that well-intentioned people offer them advise on installation that is almost never apropos to the homeowner’s needs.

If you go this route, you will probably end up with a collection of pretty plants and flowers, but that does nothing to contribute to aesthetic of your home and yard.

It is better to have a design created by a professional who can develop something that provides you with an experience in its own right, but whose size, geometry, texture, and sensory experiences builds aesthetically expansive relationships within the context of a larger landscape master plan.

Can simple garden design be a part of a patio?
Yes. This is often done with fireplace patios outdoors. For swimming pool patios, however, this is not practical. People step in the plants, and the plants would get too wet. Around these hardscapes, it is better to install garden materials that add accent and form to the surface and that work to blend the inorganic structure of the patio into the surrounding lawn and general landscape beyond.

Yard Landscape Design Ideas

Plan, plan, plan—the beginning of any good yard landscape design. The end result will be a beautiful a vista that gives you daily pleasure. And it comes with a big pay-off in that attractive landscaping provides a return on investment when it comes time to sell your home. At Exterior Worlds, we think of this time, effort and money as the big three of a yard landscape design project.

One early decision on your part needs to be whether to hire a designer such as the ones you’ll find at Exterior Worlds. While you will find a range of fees for landscape designers, bear in mind that the artistic talent that they bring to the table can turn your place into a showcase. Trained in principles of design and best horticulture practices, these professional planners of yard landscape designs pay big dividends.

Early discussions will also center around which elements to add to your landscape and how to enhance what you’ve got. To begin with, you need to understand your environment. In general, your Houston landscape benefits from a relatively mild climate, nutrient-rich native soil (even though it does need amendments) and a variety of indigenous plants that are naturally lush and verdant. Also, landscape design tree elements cannot be over-valued. Trees give your yard height, shade, color, movement and interest. With consistent and reasonable maintenance, we have seen trees increase in value by as much as 400 percent over a 5-7 year period.

Water elements are another prized element in Houston landscaping. We have found that luxury pools are an expected amenity for upscale homes. Pools provide hours of fun (at any time of the year, but particularly in our hot summers), are a perfect setting for entertainment and delight the senses even when you’re not in them. If you own an older home, perhaps a pool renovation is in order, a project that requires considerable effort, but creates real value for your property.

A water fountain, such as a garden wall fountain or contemporary garden fountain is another visual and auditory treat. It gives a focal point to the eye and soothing sounds to the ear. Fountains are extremely versatile in landscape design. You can place them in front yards, back yards, in small, odd-shaped plots and at entry ways.

Masonry hardscapes unite your architecture with the landscape by projecting out into the yards, thus linking these two disparate zones together. Masonry that rises from the ground also adds a vertical element to your design. Examples of Houston masonry run the gamut from a minimalist brick planter or stone wall to an elaborate pool and patio area with an outdoor kitchen.

However, your ideas and schemes don’t have to be elaborate. At Exterior Worlds, we believe that some of the best yard landscape design ideas are simple and elegant. When we plan and execute a landscape design, we focus on the concept that the landscape is the framework for your house and, just like with artwork hanging on your wall, the frame serves the main attraction.

Garden Pergola

What is a garden Pergola?
It is a garden feature that provides a shaded walk through a passageway of pillars. The pillars support cross beams and sidewalls of lattice that give you a place to train vines that will provide additional shad and greenery.

How will a garden pergola compliment my residential landscape design?
First of all, it will give your home curb appeal by creating a bit of extra character. People always love the blend of architecture and greenery these remarkable structures add to a property. It will be an excellent way to add dimension to your patio or garden outdoor courtyard and make it into a major point of interest.

What are some other benefits of a garden pergola besides curb appeal?
The first thing it does is add a vertical dimension to your garden design. Climbers make it look as the garden was reaching upward from the ground. The blend of pillars, cross beams, and vines now create a partly shaded area that gives you a place to sit. If you are looking to turn one of your gardens or courtyards into a central outdoor focal point, then having a pergola built will definitely establish its significance.

Does a garden pergola have to be built only over a garden?
No. Sometimes it is built this way, much like a gazebo, when a small garden in the yard needs added appeal. However, many pergolas are built along walkways. These walkways can lead to any point on the landscape where a sense of entryway is desired. One very popular way to use a garden pergola like this would be to build it between a patio and a courtyard to help transition the mind from a predominantly hardscape environment to a much more organic and lush setting.

Can these structures be customized in size and style?
Yes. The geometry can be either angular or curved, depending on your residential landscape design and the elements of your yard we are building the structure to enhance. There is a famous pergola in Salzburg that looks almost like a tunnel of pure green, with just enough light filtering in to guide your path.

Are garden pergolas ever used as entrances to outdoor rooms?
Yes. In fact, this is often the best way to build an outdoor room, because the tunneling effect of the structure focuses the senses on a new realm of experience that waits just on the other side of the passageway.

Can you decorate a pergola?
Absolutely. Plant-friendly outdoor lights can be installed in the interior if you want low-level ambient lighting at night time. You can also hanging plants and flowers from the crossbeams, and outdoor artwork can decorate the interior side walls. Any wood in the structure can be stained and finished to give it a high-end look.

Garden and Landscaping

What goal am I trying to achieve in garden and landscaping?
You are looking to have your property transformed into a work of art that speaks of luxury Houston outdoor living and increased curb appeal. You already have a sense of vision as to what you want to see. Our job is to come in and develop a landscape master plan around that vision and literally paint your landscape in three dimensions for you.

What type of grass works best with garden and landscaping design?
There are all sorts of grasses that can be added in place of the all-too-common San Augustine grass that dominates so much of the Houston landscape. San Augustine is a convenient grass to use in yards, but its aesthetic value and tactile comfort leave much to be desired. In dry summer months, entire patches of it will turn brown and die.

Even when it doesn’t die, it is rough to walk on with bare feet. Perhaps you might want to consider a greener, softer grass like Zoisa. It adds a superb emerald quality to large open parts of the yard that previously were interrupted by dry patches.

What role do patios play in garden and landscaping design?
They play a major role. Hardscapes like patios are built to draw crowds. Sometimes these crowds are very large and congregate to celebrate special occasions outdoors. Gardens are very important along the edges of these patios. They frame the inorganic surface with a sense of life, and they serve to unify the manmade with the natural.

What role does the house itself play in this process?
It serves as the visual and thematic centerpiece for all garden and landscaping design. Both the size of the home and the architecture of its geometry help determine the style of landscaping design we ultimately shape the surrounding property with.

How important are trees in garden and landscaping design?
Trees provide opportunities for small gardens and flower beds. In a large yard, such plantings help create zones of interest that minimize the overwhelming feeling of a large lot. In small lots, flower beds can be planted in such a manner around trees as to make the yard look bigger than it is. It is all a matter of perspective.

Does swimming pool design play a significant role in garden and landscape design?
It does not play a direct role in garden design, but it is crucial to the success of the overall landscape. A swimming pool should always be designed by a professional landscaper who can draw it to perspective with surrounding outdoor elements and home architecture. The landscape contractor can then subcontract a pool specialist to do the actual labor. This way, the pool is both proportional and aesthetically complimentary to all inorganic and organic elements alike.

What types of outdoor architecture work will with Houston garden and landscape design?
Outdoor kitchens are a favorite throughout the Houston area. Courtyards and outdoor fireplaces are also very popular. Custom outdoor rooms around lighted fountains are yet another popular structural element that combines masonry with vegetation.

All of these examples involve blending hedges and flowering plants into a very complex and carefully constructed landscape that may have up to 80 percent of its surface area covered in hardscape. The skillful planting of vegetation and smaller trees helps ensure that a sense of vitality and dynamic experience clearly differentiates the quality of life outdoors versus indoors regardless of the level of creature comforts we build into our structures.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Small Garden Walls

Size does matter, so the saying goes. Yet Exterior Worlds has found that small garden walls can carry a big wallop, so don’t let the use of the word “small” here mislead you.

A classic concept within the landscaping lexicon, the small garden wall—so called due to its short height—lends its strong, clean lines to bring order and structure to a garden landscape. Short walls create zones. They direct traffic from one area to another. They divide a space. We prize the short wall in our landscape design work, particularly in the way they can bring interest to otherwise flat and uninspired terrain.

Some of ways we have used short walls for our clients:

• We have built small garden walls in entertainment areas to provide de facto seating or table space.
• They have been used as lines of demarcation, specifying areas to be highlighted—a custom swimming pool, rose garden or outdoor room.
• When built to enclose flower beds, these walls can protect the plants from wind and other elements.
• They can serve as retaining walls when constructed with proper engineering.
• With a subtle but sophisticated touch, a small wall can delineate a property line to give it clear distinction. A small wall used in this way is particularly apt for a front yard, since it creates a visual barrier rather than an actual one, thus preserving a welcoming look for your home.
• Conversely, we have used a small wall in combination with a wrought iron fence. The results—a finely crafted fence that is built for durability, longevity and beauty. These combination fences convey an open ambiance and elegance while also providing protection.

If you are working within a particular theme for your landscape design—maybe a French garden or a Southern garden—small garden walls can further underscore that choice. With a classic theme like a French garden, all you need to do is visualize the structured gardens of Versailles to understand the impact of short walls. For romantic designs like a Southern garden, a small wall builds on the sense of intimacy and enclosure.

In general, walls are versatile tools for any custom landscaping project done by Exterior Worlds. For instance, living garden walls—in which we sculpt tall plants such as a lantana, cherry laurel (both of which are drought-resistant and have the added benefit of flowering), or reedy bamboo and turn them into green and living walls—add form, interest and texture to your yard. A glass garden wall that uses architectural glass within a sturdy framework provides both definition and privacy. You even get a hint of mystery when the sun shines through it and back-lights the plants on the other side.

Whether small, glass, brick, stone, or living, exterior walls allow you to take advantage of the strength inherent in geometric lines. Your garden will bloom, grow and flourish by putting this concept to work in your landscape design. It is such design consciousness that brings distinction to a landscape, so let Exterior Worlds seamlessly integrate walls into your landscape plan.

Call Exterior Worlds at 713-827-2255 or visit www.exteriorworlds.com for more information on this topic. Providing the greater Houston area with high-end landscaping design and services since 1987.

French Courtyard on the Far Edge of the Greater Houston Landscape

There was a man with an Arabian horse farm located in New Ulm, Texas—a town not too far from the outskirts of Houston. This man is known throughout the world, and clients often visit his estate to buy the horses he breeds. He asked us to build a French courtyard from which he and his clients could overlook the horses grazing in the prairie on the south side of the hill, and offer a magnificent view of the Greater Houston landscape from the east side of the hill.

The genius of this French courtyard is that it is actually two courtyards in one. The courtyards are slightly separated from one another and connected by a limestone pathway that bisects the center of both sections and runs back to the house. A formal vegetable grows along one section, and on the side of the other section, the hill drops down to the valley below where the horses graze. The first section offers a seating area near a fountain built into a wall. The second section is actually the part of the courtyard that offers the view of the valley of horses from one angle, and the distant Houston landscape from the other.

This section is built with conversation and comfort. The sale of horses is the nature of the homeowner’s business, so the most magnificent view of the herd—and the opportunity to discuss their magnificence—is a very subtle, and also very powerful, tool of business.

The design of this seating area is deliberately austere. Although the property is technically part of the geographic outskirts of the greater Houston landscape, we did NOT want to generate the energy of a hard-driven business deal like parts of the city itself are known for.

Instead, we wanted the 18th Century look and feel of limestone chip walkways and an antique table and chair set in the center of an outdoor patio. We further expanded this historical theme by decorating the patio with an antique table and chair set that established a very strong Old World feeling more apropos to discussing the finer things in life.

Among the more notable features in this French courtyard are its skillful blend of contrasting shades of light and dark colors, and the view it offers visitors of the Greater Houston landscape and the beginnings of the Texas Post Oak Belt.

This creates a very strong feeling of order, symmetry, and vast convergence that balances all of the many organic and inorganic elements of the surrounding garden. It provides an ideal aesthetic environment to host either a formal – yet simultaneously relaxed business dinner. The owner can also use the courtyard to close friends and relatives who drop by to chat for a few hours in the beauty of the garden.

Since 1987, Exterior Worlds has specialized in developing custom projects such as this one many of the finest properties found throughout the Greater Houston area and landscape.

Houston Landscape Design with French Elements

A couple by the name of Claire and Dan Boyles commissioned Exterior Worlds to create a Houston landscape design based upon French themes and forms. The Boyles home was built in Colonial French style, with Claire having been very involved in the planning and development of its architecture. She wanted to make the surrounding property appear as those a portion of France had been lifted out of Europe and integrated into the indigenous forms and vegetation of the Houston landscape.

This design was not technically a formal French country garden. Instead, it used the essential elements of this style to transform the immediate Houston landscape around the home into the symmetry, color, and sense of formality associated with this French aesthetics. One of the more notable features we used to accomplish this was a custom swimming pool, fashioned according to the principles of linearity, complimentary right angles, and a luxury spa and pool fountain. We also added French pottery in various locations around the patio to balance the stonework against the look and structure of the home.

We then planted a formal garden parallel to the linear movement pool to reflect its. Similar to larger French country gardens, this garden is bordered by sheered bushes and emphasizes straight lines, angles, and symmetry. Its most distinguishing feature is that it consists entirely of various shades of green, which supports the feeling of a French estate embedded in an exclusive and private portion of the HOUSTON LANDSCAPE.

Just around the corner from the home’s back entrance stand a double-door entrance to the master bedroom. It is here that we built the Boyles a small patio to use as a private seating area. We deviated slightly from the strict linearity and symmetry of adjoining elements by adding pavers that ran out like steps from the patio into the grass. We planted boxwood hedges around the patio, which are common to French country garden design and further contribute to the sense of an Old World morning garden setting.

To further accentuate the patio, we added pavers that ran like steps from the seating area into the grass. We also planted rosemary and mondo as ground cover in the spaces between the patio, the corner of the house, and the back wall that borders this portion of the yard.

We then landscaped the front of the home with a grand sense of entrance by building a stone walkway that ran from the sidewalk to the front of the house, and then diverged in right angles to run parallel to the covered front porch. We also added a small parterre garden to the left side of the porch to mirror the home’s French colonial design

French country garden design is traditionally viewed as a very formal style intended to completely fill the entirety of a vast estate. The genius of the Boyles project lay not in strict adherence to tradition, but rather in adapting its basic principles to the architecture of the home and the local topography of the surrounding HOUSTON LANDSCAPE.

For more the 20 years Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston's fine neighborhoods.

Centering your Houston Landscape Design around Your Garden

What do you mean as a designer by “centering”? Does that mean the center of the yard?
No, in terms of organization, it means centering the garden on the main access to the house. Typically there is a centerpoint to a home and a corridor that runs through the property to it.

A garden can often be centered on this. If this is not possible, there are rooms that setup view corridors to the Houston landscape. The garden(s) can be centered on these corridors. In effect, we are always working off a central axis of the home somewhere, somehow.

What is a view corridor, and where are they found?
Anything that gives you a view of the Houston landscape is a view corridor. From the perspective of the house proper, such corridors would include windows, doorways, and walkways of ingress (going into the home) and egress (going out of the home.)

Does the garden have to be a certain size?
A garden never is limited by size. The issue here is scope and scale. You want your garden to be proportional to the house and yard.

A master landscape design plan for a townhouse may call for a garden that is only six feet wide. On the other hand, a three acre estate may have a 200 foot garden in the back yard. The whole point is to make the garden proportional to the central access corridor inside the home.

Does every landscape master plan have this attribute?
No, but it is a driving principle of professional landscape design. Some plans in certain unique instances do not involve the planting of gardens. However, almost every other Houston landscape project we do will involve at least one garden, and the principle of centering it applies according to the guidelines discussed here.

When are their exceptions to this rule?
Sometimes gardens are planted to the side of the house and off the axis of the main transit points. They can also be planted alongside of curved, linear, and natural walkways that lead away from architecture to remote or private destinations in the back of a yard.

Gardens planted along these walkway are not intended to support the form of a building, but rather communicate the idea of moving into a highly differentiated and unique portion of the Houston landscape set aside for special interests and activities.

Do you normally integrate inorganic into a garden?
Yes, we frequently integrate elements such as fountains, gravel, masonry walls, linear planters, mirrors, glass, steel beams, and trellises.

Do every plant gardens inside of hardscapes?
No, but we will leave areas open to plant flowers, grass, small trees. We can plant herbs and dwarf grasses to make it look older. Sometimes we can build a natural retaining wall with ferns growing out of it. This could be seen as gardens in a sense because they integrate greenery into stonework and concrete.

This is done in both the front yard and back yard?
Yes. We plant gardens in both, but the back yard almost always provides more design opportunities. Front yard gardens are limited by the perspective of front ingress and the front door.

Houston Pool and Lanscape Project

A Houston family by the name of Friedman was adding an outdoor summer kitchen and screened-in dining room to the rear of their home. Their home was a traditionally style home residing on an enormous lot. They hired us to develop a master plan that featured a pool and Houston landscape concept that would connect to the new addition and extend the semi-outdoor space of the screened room into fully open space.

Our assignment was to create movement, interest, intimacy, and a controlled sense of drama that would ultimately help this enormous property appear inviting and intimate through carefully constructed, special points of interest.

The design we created, in many ways, introduced the theme of the entire Houston landscape. Since the view of the backyard was by nature panoramic, and because we were dealing with an enormous yard to begin with, we wanted to create a controlled sense of drama that you were coming into a yard whose plane dropped down. Grade change was the key here. By varying elevation and step width, we could make even the largest of forms on the Houston landscape feel intimate and inviting.

One of the two most prominent elements on this vast expanse of Houston landscape was the ornate custom swimming pool that we designed for the Friedman’s. It consisted of a two-level structure, with a fountain on one end. In the fountain there were three bubblers that shot water up into the air. The bottom of the fountain was completely covered in blue glass tile and lighted from within. Although small in comparison to the rest of the pool, the uniqueness of the fountain’s design made it one of the most prominent areas of interests, ideal for pulling chairs around its perimeter.

The fountain also adds something of a spa element to the pool. The lower end is 18 inches deep-deep enough to sit in, and the water is both heated and lighted. People can actually recline here much like they do in the spa, and dangle their feet over the edge of the waterfall.

This waterfall was one of the most unique features we added to this traditional Houston landscape. We had a quarry cut a slab of stone in a radius design and cut runnels in it with a diamond saw. We then thermal finished the slab and covered the front end with a custom blend of glass tile. The various colors and hues in the glass are intentionally reflective of surrounding vegetation and water patterns. There is also a deliberate copper hue to the design to help reflect pool lighting.

This further develops the sense of controlled drama that creates interest and intimacy on such a large tract of Houston landscape. The variation of colors, especially when catching either sunlight or pool lights, especially mirrors the elegance of the adjacent parterre garden and various flower species planted to the side of the arbor entrance.

Both the upper and lower portions of the patio were made of Pennsylvania full color sandstone. The coping of the pool is a lighter colored material known as Leuders Limestone. It has a rich hue that provides a superb compliment to both the architecture of the home and the surrounding foliage. Water rises up from jets covered by custom stone covers for water jets. This adds scale and sound to the patio, and provides special effects when illuminated at night.

It is very relaxing to pull up a chair by the water jets and watch the kids run in and out of spurting water as it arches into nighttime sky above the Houston landscape and lands in the lighted water of the pool.

Outdoor Garden Design

Outdoor garden design is one of the most important pieces to creating a truly superb Houston landscape.
One thing to keep in mind when discussing your new Houston landscape with your professional design team is that you do not have to limit yourself to only one garden.

There can be many different gardens installed in both your front and back yards, and there are many different roles these gardens can play. A few of these new forms will ultimately occupy positions of central importance and significance. Others will work in a deliberately supportive fashion to accentuate specific structures and landscape elements.

Perhaps the most significant supporting role of this type could arguably be the aesthetic contribution it makes toward accenting home architecture. With the right vegetation and form, home architecture can be extended beyond its inorganic boundaries and given organic expression and added dimension. The actual style of the garden will be based upon the intended tone of the landscape in general and on the necessary forms and colors required to support surrounding architecture.

Many architectural designs have a specific cultural origin or reference a specific historical period.
Many outdoor garden designs also reference specifics of historicity and culture. For example, there are French, Italian, and Mediterranean styles. These specific garden types help establish the visual motif of the home as the predominating thematic component to the landscape. A French home supported by French garden design becomes a French landscape.

Other outdoor garden designs may not be intended to support architecture. English gardens reflect the order and symmetry of the British rural countryside. Knot gardens turn backyards into reflections of Celtic and Renaissance embroidery, making the landscape itself into a fabric of utility where herbs and spices can be grown as well as used for decoration. Zen gardens create quite retreats for meditation and reading in the private corners of the yard. Shade gardens help center growth and activity in areas beneath stately trees.

Outdoor garden design can occupy a more central role in residential landscape design. In front yard landscaping, it can lead the way to the front door of the house, establish boundaries between a home and neighboring residences, and create dimension in the open areas of the lawn. In backyard landscapes, gardens can center divergent elements on a common focal point.

In contemporary landscape design, the modern outdoor garden is used to create pockets of organic presence in a landscape of geometry and inorganic hardscape structures. In other forms of professional landscape design, the organic presence is much stronger than it is in contemporary landscaping. Outdoor garden design is even more important to these developments because it accentuates the vitality and diversity of vegetation and provides the much needed sense of vitality that is so vital to differentiating the amenities of outdoor living from the comforts and enclosures of indoor lifestyle pursuits.

Designer Gardens

Designer gardens are places of beauty and retreat. They call upon us to let go of the pressures and responsibilities of the outside world. Across all cultures and time, gardens have a natural ability to calm us. They help us see where we belong in this world.

At Exterior Worlds, we believe that designer gardens are hard to define because each garden takes on the unique personality of the gardener. It can be seen in the relationship between the different spaces within a landscape design. Likewise, plants, arrayed thoughtfully and fully or austerely as mere accessories, reflect the owner’s sensibilities.

As professional landscapers and designers, Exterior Worlds works with the best landscape designers and landscape architects in the region to create garden paradises that fit the lifestyles of our clients. Following is a sampling of the different elements you might find there:

• Infrastructure. Drainage systems and sprinkler systems are fairly indispensable to a Houston landscape design, especially since our climate continually astounds us with its ability to go from not enough water to too much water in the space of a single day. Our clients have also found that retaining walls help with drainage and erosion issues. Residential landscape lighting is another feature to plan for—it lets you enjoy your environs 24 hours a day, while also providing security and safety. We work hard to design our clients’ infrastructure so that it blends seamlessly into their overall plan.
• Hardscapes. Prominent items in this group include outdoor lounges, luxury pools and covered outdoor kitchens. These entertainment areas can be tailor-made to fit your specific needs, whether you do formal entertaining or simply use it for your nuclear family. Other ideas, elements that look good on any property and have for centuries, include wrought iron fences and wrought iron garden gates.
• Accessories. This category includes garden structures, such as a wrought iron arbor, a garden gazebo or antique ornamental iron element, which provide interest and variety. Also water elements, including a waterfall landscape design, a contemporary water fountain, or a large water fountain, that add pleasing auditory and visual notes to your garden.
• Ongoing maintenance. To further your enjoyment of your designer garden, let Exterior Worlds provide a turn-key landscape maintenance contract for your grounds. From the mundane to the complex, our experienced and skilled crews can take care of the hard work and the best practices.

Our goal is to create designer gardens that engage the senses, that bring about both aesthetic and emotional responses. The slant light from the morning sun drenching the azalea beds. Songbirds at full throttle. The fragrance of lilies and roses wafting through the air. The will to live as seen in a budding peach tree.

At Exterior Worlds, we acknowledge that “garden” is a noun and a verb. It seems to us that the twofold meaning was intentional since a garden is a place of action. Life happens here and, since time immemorial, humans have appreciated this ideal. A garden is a process, a becoming. It is life in motion.

Since 1987, Exterior Worlds has provided discriminating clients in the Houston area with high-end landscape services. Call 713-827-2255 for a consultation.