Contemporary Patio

What are the advantages of a contemporary patio?
You may not have read this before, but a patio is actually less expensive than a deck. This is especially true if standard cost materials are used and no masonry walls are built around its surface.

In addition to being a money saver, a contemporary patio can be built with maintenance free materials. You can expect to get decades—not years—of perpetual enjoyment out of your new hardscapes. Another advantage is that you can have it build in any geometric shape and any size that complements your home architecture and ties it into the theme of your modern landscape. Many are actually curved with radial arcs to break up the linearity that repeats throughout a contemporary landscape.

Advantages of Patios

What about furniture for my contemporary patio?
New developments have allowed manufactures to duplicate the types of furniture that have always been used indoors. You can get everything from ottomans to chairs and dining room tables that are weather resistant. The trick is to make sure that you match the design and color of your furniture to something that will work with you home and your landscape. Ask our team for advice on this, because we know several places where you can find furnishings that will work for you on this level.

What kind of plants go well with a contemporary patio?
We prefer to use plants that are darker in color because of how they compliment the minimalism of the typical modern landscape. You see, vegetation is not the primary material that makes a contemporary yard actually work. Geometry and repetition are more important. Contemporary landscaping is all about the mind and its constant tendency to segment and create relationships out of abstract elements. Vegetation is tightly controlled and used as adjunct support to geometry and form. Around the edges of the patio, we normally plant low-level cover that would form a border of emphasis. For vertical impact, we often plant bamboo around the edges—particularly an edge that intersects with a wall. If you want vertical impact inside the patio surface itself, another thing we can do is to remove a portion of the hardscape and turn it into a planter for tall plants or even small trees.

What type of materials do you build contemporary patios with?

Real Stone
When stone is finished and polished, it is the very best material to use for building a contemporary patio. The costs are significant, however, because it is expensive to cut and finish the stone to this level of refinement. You also have to pay for higher labor rates because stone must be hand laid with careful, methodical, and deliberate attention.

Stone has the most natural outlook, most durable but also the most expensive type of patio materials. It require good skills to install because each stone greatly varies in shape and size. Additionally, mortar compound is used to adjoin these stones and settle as they dry. It is designed to wear well in high-traffic, need little maintenance and could last for decades.

Cultured Stone
Stone veneer is lighter and less expensive than real stone. It is a manufactured material that imitates real stone, but it does not have to be quarried and polished. Veneer can be cut with saws and laid out in blocks on the ground like bricks. Simple mortar is all you normally need to hold veneers together.

Concrete
Plain concrete works very well with any contemporary landscape. It suggests a sense of very stark absolutes that go hand-in-hand with the rugged Mentalism of modern outdoor landscaping.

Of course, you may want your patio to look a bit more decorative if it is right next to your house. In that case, we can either stamp or stain the color to make it appear more like finished stone.

Brick
Brick is good for smaller patios and for building hardscapes that are circular in design. There are many patterns we can create with bricks that generate radii and linear expansions of movement.

Landscape Design Firms

With landscape design firms like Exterior Worlds, our palette and canvas is the Houston landscape. We are professionals trained in principles of design who are skilled in horticulture and construction techniques. For example, our expert design teams have adroit use of color, as shown by the use of primary, secondary, tertiary and complementary colors in design plans. Adding color to a landscape design communicates interest, depth and texture. Care is taken not to overuse color, however, since it can result in a garish, overly busy plan that could even detract from the design. We further demonstrate our color expertise not only with plant choices but in material choices as well, ones that properly accentuate your home.

Another example of the tools that we have at our disposal is the design principle of line. Within a landscape design, lines dictate space and style. Biomorphic lines, with their organic shapes that mimic natural environments, offer possibility, exploration and discovery. When circles and ellipses overlap and yield to each other, the sharing of space is conveyed. Arcs, either circular or elliptical, provide an occasion to pause or gather in a particular spot. Straight lines communicate movement while curves enhance the overall flow within the space.

Similar to other landscape design firms, we use both hardscapes and softscapes to create these lines. Perhaps we’ll do it with the hard edge of a deck, patio, retaining garden wall, pathway or Houston driveway. Equally valid, we may draw lines in space with landscape design tree placement or foundation planting. The line form chosen—be it straight, curved, circular or elliptical—defines the space and demonstrates a certain landscape style. Their proper usage results in your desired experience.

One important skill that Exterior Worlds provides our clients is our expertise in the infrastructure of landscape architecture. Even though the design elements like line and color, scale and placement, are attention-grabbers and get all the accolades, very often it is the unseen work of our design team that feeds the consistency of your pleasure in it.
Here we’re talking about such non-sexy topics as irrigation systems and yard drainage, which, when done right, reside beneath the surface and keeps your plant materials healthy and your ongoing maintenance at a minimum.

Landscape design firms in Houston, including Exterior Worlds, give swimming pool landscape design a lot of attention. Since our climate welcomes a luxury pool, it usually becomes the center of outdoor living. We have specialists who focus just on the swimming pool environment and cater to every aspect of the pool to come up with a plan specifically for your wants, needs and site capacity.

One last tip for those homeowners who are in the process of hiring the best landscape design firm for your exterior design: we highly recommend that you ascertain their skill at maneuvering through the permitting process for standard items such as drain and irrigation systems, fencing and tree preservation. Exterior Worlds has turned it into a fine art and our proficiency in this area can save you money, time and aggravation during the installation phase.

Plant Landscape Designs

The best Houston landscapes exploit interesting and vital design concepts that are in balance and ones that serve both form and function. With your plant landscape design, you have an opportunity to intermix hardscapes, plants and natural features in an artful way.

Before any planting takes place, soil deserves a special mention in a Houston plant landscape design. In any dirt component, there is usually a mixture of sand, silt and clay, with one predominant element. In our region, the soil has a high concentration of clay, a special challenge for gardeners. We recommend amendments for planting soil in this ratio: 1/3 loam (or soil), 1/3 sand, and 1/3 organic matter.

Landscape design tree placement also needs to figure in the early days of this process. Trees are vital components in your design, yet they are the structural elements that take the longest to mature. Therefore, we counsel our clients to plant them early and to plant them with their mature size in mind.

When thinking about creating a memorable plant landscape design at Exterior Worlds, we are mindful of three basic areas of your landscape. Public spaces, such as the front yard, are on view by the public, which includes everyone from the postman to the mom on her way to the grocery store to potential buyers arriving with their real estate agent. Private spaces are the back and side yards and any other space shielded from accidental view. Utilitarian spaces encompass trashcan, compost heaps, a/c units, and pool equipment areas and are best kept out of sight.

In considering the placement of plants within a landscape, we always concede that plants have personalities. While some are showy and flashy, others are soothing and hardworking, and still others are here today and gone tomorrow. And just like with a party, you want a good mixture of the different types. If you only invite the quiet types, you have a totally forgettable affair. With too many show-offs, the place gets overwhelming.

Bush planting forms the foundation for your landscape. Taller, evergreen bushes generate a pleasing background, shorter bushes provide filler texture and flowering bushes provides the splash of color. Here in Houston, you can choose among evergreens that create a year-round structure and also incorporate deciduous shrubs, such as planting azaleas, that afford ornamental value throughout the year.

Deep red pansies, pink geraniums and black-eyed Susans—they delight us and draw us. Planting annuals supplies the eye with something new to look at by providing color and texture. Seasonal color acknowledges the changing of the seasons while renewing your enjoyment of the outdoor landscapes.

Exterior Worlds like to use plants in unexpected ways, such as a living garden wall. We create these walls by training plant material to grow around a metal frame. We then position them as you would any wall, say, a seating area within a larger zone or to provide protection from the sun and wind.

Enliven your Houston patio and garden with a design conscious landscape from Exterior Worlds that reflects your genuine style. We will create a thoughtful plant landscape design for you that will define you as a serious homeowner, one who cares about lush but appropriate statements.

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.

Landscape Design Service

Why is a landscape design service important?
An experienced professional knows the principles of landscaping and will be able to create an outdoor living experience for you that is unique to your property and complimentary to your home. This will go a long way toward expanding your lifestyle beyond the boundaries of your home interior. It will also add curb appeal to your house should you ever consider listing it on the market.

Could I save money by hiring a lawn services company?
Yes, but your yard will not look nearly as good. You need a professional landscape design service who understands principles like unity, symmetry, balance, scope, and scale. Developing a new look to your property requires more than simple gardening and lawn trimming services, as important as those things are. It requires an understanding of construction, advanced garden design, tree-protection, swimming pool design, and outdoor room construction.

What makes the services of a professional landscaper so much better?
First of all, we will take the time to study your home and property lot. The basic architecture of your house and the topography of your land often provides something of a template we can build upon. We also take the time to get to know you and understand your lifestyle. Getting a good picture of how you plan to spend your time outdoors helps us know what structure and hardscapes to build, and how to use garden design to add vitality to these forms.

Do we have any say in what goes into a plan?
Yes. Landscape design services are best accomplished in partnerships with the client. Try to think of all the many ways you plan to use your outdoor environment and write down the key points for our first consultation. Functionality will actually determine the size and scope of many outdoor structures, so planning ahead a bit is always a good idea.

Where can I get ideas on the decorative aspects of landscape design?
Any images that you find appealing can be used as raw material in a brainstorming session with our landscape design services team. You can cut out pictures from magazines, check out books from the library, or even bring photographs of neighbor’s yard. You can also check our case history section and look at previous projects we have done. You may find several items of interest there that could serve as inspiration for your home and yard.

When searching for inspiration, what should I keep in mind?
The most important thing to remember is simplicity. Isolate the geometric shapes, plant types, basic colors, and design patterns that appeal most to you. The good thing about working with Exterior Worlds is that you can hand us a collage of images and ideas that we can then weave together into a more complex, intricate, and truly custom design for your home.

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.

Outdoor Fireplace Patio and Courtyard

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

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

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

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

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

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

Concrete Driveway Houston

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Houston Garden Design

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Houston Patios and Gardens

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Houston Home and Garden

What is the greatest benefit offered by c elements?
Gardens support home architecture and link the home with the natural environment. It is very important to do this in order to generate a comfortable outdoor living environment for the homeowner. The absence of garden plantings will make a yard look sterile, dominated by the house and outdoor buildings and diminished in organic vitality.

The right style of garden, on the other hand, can merge the connection between home and nature. Most gardens are planted right up against the house, so that when you move outside, you immediately step into a world of greenery and color that sets the tone for the entire landscape.

How do you determine what Houston home garden design will work best for a particular residence?
More than anything else, we seek to discover what Houstonians plan to be doing in their gardens. We try to find out what the intent of space usage is. Outdoor spaces are developed in accordance with the activities that occur within them. Understanding the specifics of a given activity and how many people are expected to attend on the average helps us develop aesthetic and functional specifics.

What are some examples of outdoor spaces that you can enhance with garden elements?
Almost any outdoor structure or special space can play host to a garden of some kind. One of the advantages Houston offers is nice weather for 9 months out of the year. Spas, living rooms, pools, and canopy-covered patios can create environments that are pleasing to your guests. These places can be standing areas or seating areas, depending on your preference, where you can gather together for wine or coffee and enjoy weather.

Does Houston home garden design involve any outdoor architecture?
Yes. As a matter of fact, our style of gardening often relies upon the construction of advanced outdoor buildings such as outdoor living rooms and outdoor terraces. These are very sophisticated structures that introduce a very powerful inorganic presence into a yard. Planting gardens in front of these buildings and to either side of their walls helps soften the architecture and more harmoniously blend it into the landscape.

How can Houston home and garden design be used to develop the landscape of a large yard?
Larger yards can often exceed 3 acres in wealthier neighborhoods and have a great deal of open space in the middle and back of the property. These areas present a number of opportunities for us to build patios, construct lighted trails, construct ponds and fountains, and build outdoor rooms and buildings.

Gardens in these areas can be less formal and more freeform in design. As you move away from the home toward an outdoor fireplace, a quiet morning garden, or a canopy-covered patio in the back of the yard, the wilder elements of nature can function as an invitation to escape from the pressures of life represented by the more structured demands of indoor living and responsibilities.

Houston Landscaping Design

Respect home architecture
Our particular style of Houston landscaping design devotes a tremendous amount of attention to the home itself. This is because the ultimate goal of residential landscape design is to create an outdoor living environment that rivals that of the home interior. As such, it has to mirror, to a certain extent, the living environment of the home itself.

Some homes, such as French, Mediterranean, and Colonial style homes, have historical and cultural significance. Other homes, such as modern, traditional, and contemporary, take a much more stylistic approach to architecture.

It is the professional landscaper’s duty to identify the most relevant architectural keynotes of a house and to develop landscape elements that appropriately reflect their significance.

Garden design
Garden design can be done from either a cultural/historical point of view or with a strong bent toward customization. It really depends upon the yard. Some Houston landscaping designs, much like home architecture, have very powerful cultural and historical roots. We see this a lot with French landscapes and Mediterranean forms. Others, again like the homes they compliment, may be deliberately contemporary or modernesque in design.

For every discernable style of landscaping there is a discernable style of garden design to support and enhance it. Some examples include French, English, Parterre, Japanese, Zen, contemporary, and modern.

Hardscape design
In any given Houston landscaping project, regardless of what style of architecture or garden design we find, anywhere from 60%-80% of the landscape master plan is going to consist of hardscapes or man-made structures. When we think of hardscapes, we immediately visualize patios and driveways—ie: horizontal surfaces that are level with the surface of the ground.

These forms are indeed hardscapes, but not the only ones that can be built. Technically, a hardscape is any inorganic structure that is built in a yard. Masonry, walkways, and retaining walls are some examples of vertical hardscapes.

Outdoor rooms
Outdoor rooms do not have walls the way rooms inside a house have walls—that is, walls that completely enclose you. Outdoor rooms are open to the surrounding air so Some may have hedges or small masonry walls that define their boundaries, but otherwise, they are open air structures that allow you to see the full expanse of your yard beyond.

Outdoor buildings
Outdoor buildings are another matter. Outdoor buildings always have at least three walls and some sort of ceiling. This is because they are designed to provide comfortable environments within which to entertain guests and host events. Common examples are outdoor living rooms and outdoor kitchens.

Custom swimming pools
Swimming pool renovation, remodeling, and construction are very important elements of Houston landscaping design. This is because a pool must look proportional to the home and to the yard, and because its geometry and depth must mirror the aesthetics of the surrounding garden design, tree growth, hedges, and hardscapes.