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.

Landscape Yard Design

A professional landscaping company is your best resource for landscape yard design. It gives you access to a team of people that will create an outdoor environment based upon the very essence of your personal desires and sensibilities.

Exterior Worlds differentiates itself from lawn and garden service companies in this respect. We do more than trim trees, cut grass, and maintain flower beds. We work according to a set of principles that create a holistic unity between your house, your yard, your outdoor architecture, and your garden design.

These principles constitute the core values of all landscape yard design, regardless of the style of landscaping itself, the size of the yard, or the many unique elements we can populate your landscape with.

The first of these principles is the establishment of thematic unity through a landscape master plan. This plan is a CAD document that details everything that will be created in your yard. It shows how individual elements will work together in relationship with one another to establish an outdoor living environment that compliments your home and extends your lifestyle beyond its four walls.

The second principle we follow is simple garden design in key locations. This creates pockets of beauty and interest in otherwise fallow portions of your yard. By simplicity, we mean avoiding overkill that would smother the senses with too much input. Our experience has shown us that less is more. By focusing on the design and pattern of a garden and choosing two or three colors to repeat throughout its form, we can establish a high level of aesthetic without creating runaway growth or excessive complexity that could potentially create a distraction.

The third principle in landscape yard design is the principle of balance. There are two types of balance, these being symmetrical balance and asymmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance is based upon the idea of creating mirror images through complimentary identical elements. Asymmetrical balance uses interwoven geometry, complimentary colors, and motifs of forms to link vegetation and architecture through subtlety and suggestion.

The fourth principle of landscape yard design is transition. Transition is the establishment of movement from point to point within a landscape. It can take both conscious and unconscious form. Obvious elements of transition include gated entrances to entry gardens, entrances and exits to custom patios, courtyards, and outdoor rooms, and walkways of stone or brick. More subtle forms of transition involve variances in perspective. The positioning of certain elements in relationship to one another can alter the sense of depth when you look into the yard. Differing heights of vegetation can also create a line of sight that pulls the eye in a certain direction. Landscape lighting can motivate movement toward the back or front of the yard, depending on the position of the observer and how the lighting is installed.

For more information on how we can use these elements to create a landscape yard design that will add curb appeal to your home, call our office for a free consultation to discuss the preliminaries of a proposed Houston landscape design plan.

Swimming Pool Landscape Design

For a Houston landscape, a swimming pool landscape design is often the pièce de résistance. Our climate invites the presence of a pool and people are naturally drawn to it. The creativity applied to the attendant landscaping only heightens the impact. Not merely the glue that holds everything together, a pool and its landscaping are the jewels atop the crown.

Exterior Worlds offers luxury designs that take the basic elements of swimming pools and give them sophisticated élan, creating a special atmosphere for all your festive occasions. Our swimming pool landscape designs allow you to move seamlessly from the interior to the exterior with the pool area functioning as a continuation of your living space. Because it serves as this linkage, it is imperative that the swimming pool design properly complement the architecture of your house. Our professional landscape designers will help you achieve all the prerequisite demands.

There’s even good news for homeowners of older residences with pools designed and built in, say, the 70s and 80s. If you’ve been looking with desire at the latest shelter magazines with their exquisite spreads of swimming pool landscape designs, a swimming pool restoration or swimming pool remodeling project from Exterior Worlds could be your solution.

A restoration project is the least involved of the two projects. Perhaps the pool’s shell could use re-surfacing to achieve a particular aesthetic that is available with today’s product offerings. Or it could mean updating the pool decking with more current material choices.

With a remodeling job, however, a complete re-do is required. It is a project that involves reconsidering your pool area and tailoring it to your specific site, including terrain, tree elements, drainage and all structural architecture, and complying with your specific needs and desires. Since no two remodeling jobs are ever alike, an Exterior World’s professional design team is best suited for this extensive venture. Bottom line, though, both re-do options are viable alternatives to consider.

Items to consider in your swimming pool landscape design:

• In conjunction with your swimming pool designer, you will first need to ascertain the best location of the pool, a choice driven by the space available and the spatial relationship of the house and yard. You want it to be eye-catching and inviting. At the same time, you want it to fit the space without overpowering it.
• Another major element is the patio, the wonderful and much-used outdoor space is often the “living room” of your backyard. Common construction types include flagstone patio, wood patios and patio pavers.
• One feature of the pool to pay close attention to is the pool coping. Coping is the masonry product that sits on the edge of the pool’s shell, often rising above the patio and is the hard surface on which you sit when you dangle your feet in the water. Coping material choices are driven by two functions: compatibility (it should be coordinated with other material choices made for your home and landscape) and safety (it needs to be a non-slippery surface like brick or stone).

For more than 20 years, Houston has turned to Exterior Worlds for high-end landscape design and services, including custom swimming pools. 713-827-2255.

Your Front Yard Landscape Design

A front yard landscape design speaks volumes. It clearly sends messages like “All are welcomed here” or “We like our privacy” and is the first thing that registers with people about your home. As professional garden designers, Exterior Worlds can bring all your landscape design elements together. We help you make decisions on lighting, plant placement, the use of various plant textures and the best focal points. Employing sound design principles and our years of horticultural expertise, we can transform your yard into an image of pleasure that greets you every time you pull into the drive.

One way to add a big wow factor to your front yard design is by selecting a theme. This concept works best when coordinated with the architecture of your home. For instance, rock landscaping accentuates a Southwestern style home or a home built in the style of a French chateau invites a formal garden.

However, a simple choice can make an impact in your front yard landscape design. Planting annuals puts sparkle in all outdoor environments. Any well-drained garden spot, including pots and urns, can be used, with the ideal location being one that is highly visible and thus lends itself to maximum effect.

Typically one of the most prominent features of the front yard, driveway designs include the circular drives and the straightaway drive, sometimes with an apron for additional parking. While driveway designs need to be practical above all, we can help you add a design element to them with your choice of materials, such as stone, brick, pavers, decorative concrete and combinations thereof.

A wrought iron driveway gate completes a driveway with its powerful presence. Wrought iron, sometimes called ornamental iron, has utilitarian value, too, since it is practical in matters of security. These gates let you control who has access to your property when outfitted with an automatic gate opener, remote controls, sensors and code entry keypads. Wrought iron gates work wonderfully well with fencing that is also made of wrought iron, a choice that brings unity to your overall design, and equally well with wood, stone and brick fences.

When planning your front yard’s design, Exterior Worlds likes to include the side yards. They may present an opportunity for a small garden design, which will further unite the different zones of your property into one cohesive look.

While the front yard landscape design is always important for your daily pleasure, it is particularly significant when you need to sell your property. Exterior Worlds are experts at creating what real estate agents call curb appeal in your Houston landscape. Studies have proven that professionally designed and maintained residential landscaping is a major player in adding value to your property. It is an investment in your pleasure now. It is also an investment in the future with an expected return, often several times over, when you sell your home. Let us use all the landscaping elements at our disposal to create a valuable and sophisticated front yard landscape design for you.

Architectural Landscape Design

Why is architectural landscape important?
You need more than a lawn and a garden to make a landscape. A professional landscape master plan is developed with several priorities in mind. The most important of these is the priority of extending personal lifestyle into outdoor space. People want interest, activity, and comfort when they step outside, and architectural landscape design is needed to accommodate this.

Does this mean I have to pay for outdoor buildings to be built?
Not necessarily. Outdoor buildings like summer kitchens are popular forms, to be sure. What is the most important thing to keep in mind here is the need to add vertical impact to your yard, regardless of whether it be in the form of a building, per se, or some other structure. This is because the Houston landscape is flat and requires variation to look truly appealing and inviting to you and your guests.

What other ways can you ad vertical impact?
Other structures besides actual buildings fall into the category of architectural landscape design. Outdoor rooms can be built that offer full views of the open sky and partial views of the surrounding Houston landscape. These rooms can be built very economically if you are on a budget. Walls can be built out of masonry or hedges and only be a few feet high. This is often all that it takes to add a third dimension to your property.

What are some other examples of architectural landscape design?
Any type of hardscape that is used to enhance the organic presence of a yard or garden can technically be called outdoor architecture. While this technically includes patios and driveways, we prefer to use this term to distinguish structures that have some degree of vertical rise. There are more vertical forms that we can build than you might initially have thought of. These forms can have either an exclusively aesthetic value, or they may play an important functional role in Houston outdoor living.

Examples of such include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Retaining walls
• Planters
• Custom fountains
• Masonry fireplaces
• Courtyard walls
• Architectural walls around entry gardens
• Boundary walls on either side of a walkway or driveway
• Architectural walls around large estates or private areas of a yard
• Waterfalls cascading over a series of descending terraces

The list goes on. In fact, many times our clients already have a list waiting for us when they get to their house, or they have pictures from magazines or Internet landscaping resource sites.

Regardless, we get to know them as people and then create architectural landscape designs that unify home and yard, garden and patio, lifestyle and landscape into one unique and highly personal expression.

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

What is yard landscape design?
It is the transformation of the front yard into an aesthetic realm that adds curb appeal to the home, and it is the transformation of your back yard into personalized outdoor living space.

Exactly how important is front yard landscape to curb appeal?
It is considered the most important aspect of Houston garden and landscaping. Visitors see your front yard before they see anything else. Some may see only that. It needs to be designed in such a manner that sets the theme for all of your outdoor space and draws attention to your house.

What are some good front yard landscape designs?
The possibilities are endless, provided they fit your home architecture, lot size, and create a sense of warmth and invitation to guests. If you are planning on selling your home in the next few years, you need to create a sense of vibrancy as well so as to suggest an emerging, dynamic lifestyle.

Some of the things we like to focus on are Houston driveway design, custom walkways, plantings of ornamental trees along the property line, and custom garden design. Many larger homes often have a walkway and/or a custom fountain leading up to the front door. Such walkways are very important to Houston yard landscape because they suggest a sense of movement and a call to action that invites the visitor to explore what is yet to be discovered in the back yard.

One thing we definitely strive to create is a feeling that your front yard is more than it actually is. Fountains and decorative sculptures play a big role in creating focal points that put the rest of the property in very unique perspectives. Curved lines in garden design—even small gardens---an non-linear plantings and pathways go a long way toward creating a sense of expansiveness.

Arches and gates are excellent frames for Houston driveway design, and create a sense of differentiation for your yard without making others feel shut out.

What kinds of features can you add to my back yard landscape design?
The backyard is going to be your Houston outdoor living space. It should be as comfortable and amenable as the interior of your home, and yet it should also have an organic sense to it as well.

Points of interest here are based upon two things: intended outdoor events and aesthetic preferences.

Most Houstonians like having swimming pools in their back yard, so swimming pool design is one of the main elements to most of our yard landscape master plans. The reason for this is simple. Pool contractors do not know what else we plan to do in the yard, so it is better for us to develop the schematics of the pool and then find you a company who can actually build it in relation to your house and surrounding yard.

Back yard garden design needs to reflect any clearly evident themes in your home architecture. (You wouldn’t want to put a contemporary garden right behind a traditional Colonial house). Other than that, however, much can be done in Houston garden design that is of a purely customized nature that reflects individual sentiments and taste.

Outdoor activities such as cooking and conversation can be supported by outdoor rooms like courtyards, outdoor kitchens, and outdoor fireplaces.

Are walkways also important in back yard landscape plans?
Yes. They lead you from point to point, and in very large properties, help subdivide the yard into areas of special interest.

Planting annuals in your Houston landscape

Planting annuals in your Houston landscape is a visual treat, the “fresh air” that a landscape design regularly needs. With each new season, they give you and all who travel past your property a renewed appreciation of the exterior landscapes. Annuals put color, texture and liveliness in your gardens. Purple pansies, orange daisies, pink begonias and red geraniums delight and captivate us when used as seasonal color because the human eye is naturally drawn to what is new.

Exterior Worlds uses the basic design philosophies of unity, repetition and balance when planting annuals, principles that are foundational to planting gardens of all types, shapes and sizes. There are many ways we accomplish these goals:

• We limit the color choices to those that work well together.
• Sometimes we may plant a single specimen throughout the gardens.
• Conversely, we may repeat a color across several different plant types.
• Always we consider the whole so that the overall scheme stays in balance.

Garden pots, containers and urns are perfect vessels for your seasonal color. For instance, potted annuals make a courtyard garden design really come alive. They add an architectural element to the ambiance. We have used a combination of pots and color to define a garden space or frame a view. By planting annuals in large-sized containers overflowing with color, we have also used them to create a zone, and, when you tire of that arrangement, we can always reconfigure the pots into another design.

We also recommend that you supplement the color that annuals bring to your yard with blooming trees, bushes, vines, grasses and other plant material. We like to mix up the blooming phases of your choices so that you get different spots of color throughout the year. For instance, native grasses provide movement and subtlety. We also use colorful, variegated foliage and berry-bearing bushes to bring variety without extra expense. In particular, planting roses is a prized way to add exquisite color to your gardens.

One note to the wise gardener: installing a drip irrigation system is a smart way to deliver water to your annuals, especially if they are in small or difficult spaces. Examples for their uses include beds between sidewalks or along a driveway, rose gardens, and containers such as decorative pots and hanging baskets. Drip systems let you to water the root systems instead of the flowers, something your annuals will truly appreciate.

When to plant annuals is a question we get a lot. The first consideration needs to be which annuals are appropriate for the current season, and by that we mean specifically the Houston climate. Attention must be paid to our mild winters, hot and humid summers and tendencies toward monsoon-like rains. The same answer is true for the question when to switch out to next seasonal color. In general, you’ve most likely waited too late if the current plantings aren’t surviving.

Make your Houston home and garden pop by planting annuals. In yards of all sizes, in garden beds, in wall planters, in pots, on patios, near the pool and spa, and at entryways—seasonal color breathes fresh life into your landscape design.

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.

Bush Planting in your Landscape Design

At Exterior Worlds, we think the hard-working bush is one of the gardener’s best friends. The taller, evergreen bushes create the backdrop against which colorful plants stand out. At the mid-level, or filler, range, shorter bushes provide interest and flowering bushes add color and texture. All of which makes bush planting one of the foundational elements in your Houston landscape.

Bush planting is sometimes called foundation planting, coinage that came about when most houses were pier-and-beam and bushes were planted close to the house to hide the distracting construction. Unfortunately, foundation planting is often static and too narrow, a single row of shrubs in lockstep with the lines of the house. This problem has a quick fix: just layer the bushes front to back, from shortest to tallest, making sure none of the new bushes loom above the established ones.

One tip on garden landscape design when planting bushes: the wider the beds, the more freedom of expression. A wide bed lets you combine seasonal color, native grasses, evergreen bushes, flowering shrubs and graceful trees, which are more attractive. The wider width gives you more planting opportunities for a lush, layered look.

With bushes, you want to go with evergreens to create a year-round structure. However, you also want to use deciduous shrubs and perennials that provide ornamental value all year. Planting roses is one way to add bushes and color to your landscape. Rose bushes require specific and meticulous care, but the pay-off comes with that bowl of fresh roses from your very own garden, sitting on the dining room table and sending out waves of pleasure.

Planting azaleas is an often dazzling choice for our region. In addition to azaleas, choose plants with staggered bloom times so that you have spring blossoms, colorful summer flowers, bright fall foliage, and winter berries and fruit.

One ally in your bush planting endeavors is a reputable lawn and garden services provider, such as Exterior Worlds. We can do the inspection for insect infestation required feedings and pruning. And speaking of pruning—you need to be mindful of choosing varieties of shrubs that will grow to the size you want. It saves on your landscaping budget because it means the landscaping crew spends less time trimming.

Bushes thrive on proper mulching, as do all the plant material in your garden design.
We recommend that mulch installation be done as soon as new bushes are planted and then checked regularly to see where it needs to be re-applied. For superior results, garden beds should be mulched twice a year. Mulch should not run up the trunks of bushes—or any plants—as this over-application harms them and invites disease.

Finally, when planting gardens, plan before you plant. A good starting point is with an enlarged photo of your house from which you can trace its outline onto paper, including any features, such as mature trees, that you plan to keep. Then draw in your preferred plants, including bush plantings, at their mature shape and size. Exterior Worlds employs professional landscape designers who can aid tremendously in this important step.

Landscape Patio Design

Is landscaping the patio important?
Yes. Landscaping patio design has the ability to transform the entire look of your house and create a transitional space from the house to the greater portion of the yard.

What are some of the more important considerations when it comes to landscaping patio design?
We want to make sure that the grade is right in order to guarantee proper drainage during times of heavy rain. This will involve leveling off the earth or building retaining walls to keep a portion of the landscape back. Once the grade and elevation are right, we work very hard to create a foundation that will not shift in the soil of the oftentimes unstable Houston landscape.

Concrete makes a great foundation, and it can also be concealed to support more attractive materials like rocks, stone, tiles, and bricks.

How do you determine what materials to use in patio construction?
We base material choices on home aesthetic, surrounding outdoor architectural elements, overall theme of landscaping design, and on client budget. Materials should fulfill a practical purpose of providing a reliable surface on which to place furniture, stand, and sit. They must also be attractive enough to make a major contribution to residential landscape design.

How important are details?
Important enough that you need a landscaping professional to develop your landscape patio design. Since patios are focal points for gatherings and entertainment, even the smallest details offer opportunities to thematically connect to other points of interest in the yard. It is never a good idea to hire masonry contractors to build a patio that is has not been planned in relationship to both the home and surrounding outdoor forms. To do so is to create an island of hardscape that risks looking at odds with other creations.

Is space an important consideration?
Yes. We want to create living space that generates interest, comfort, and opportunities for exploration. If your yard is exceptionally large, we want to use landscape patio design to divide it into zones of activity. Several patios of different sizes may be needed to do this. Typically they are larger in size in order to match the vast space of the lot itself.

In smaller yards, we want to create the illusion of more space. This may involve building patios out of very small stones or bricks in order to emphasize the circumference and surface area of the form. Certain tricks of the eye can also be achieved by adding items like custom fountains or small masonry walls contribute to the impression that such patios are larger than they actually are.

Are plants important to landscape patio design?
Yes. Plants link hardscape to the yard itself and lend a sense of vitality that emphasizes the patio as a focal point of outdoor life. Even in contemporary landscape design, where vegetation is minimized, there is still a very great need for some kind of vegetation to add emerging presence to form.

A patio landscaping design that features plenty of lush green plants and vibrant colorful flowers breathes life into any space. You can install a mass of perennial plants, which require little maintenance. Spruce up your patio with bright potted annuals.

What are some other features to think about?
Water features are also pleasant addition to your patio landscaping design. Consider building a small pond or adding a waterfall if your space will allow it. There are small construction kits for these features available at popular building supply stores.

What type of furniture should I buy?
Find something that is weather proof first and foremost. Choose styles and colors that fit your lifestyle. Base your size selections on the amount of room you actually have on the patio. If you have limited space, aim for comfort and a nice look rather than extravagance.

Luxury Garden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contemporary Garden Design

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Small Courtyard Design

What are the most important considerations in small courtyard design?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Online Landscape Design

How exactly will you develop an online landscape design without visiting my yard?
We have worked in this business since 1987 and have as many years of experience under our belts. We have worked with vegetation from all over the world and have extensive understanding of what goes on in any landscape.

The pictures and documents you send us provide us with a working guide. There are, of course, always minor things that are unforeseen, such as climate changes, possibly breezy environments, and rainy conditions unique to your part of the country.

This is why we offer fee-based, remote consultation services that ensure that the process is done correctly. If a site visit is warranted and affordable to client we will consider it.

How does online landscape design work?
Online landscape design begins with us getting as clear a picture of your yard as humanly possible. Photographs of your home and yard are needed so we can study your home architecture, your existing vegetation, and any structures that already exist on your yard.

How many pictures do I need to send you?
Try to get us 10-15 pictures of your house, taken from all possible angles. Then, take at least that many of your front yard, then of your back yard. It works best for everyone if you use a digital camera and simply email the pictures to our online landscape design team.

What do I need to send you in terms of pictures, emails?
Take a full 360 degrees of both the front and the back yard. Photograph trees and existing elements like water spickets, and gas meters. Be sure to include pictures of the side of the house, along with columns, brick details, arches, and windows. Include architectural details---roofline, fireplaces, and doorways.

The whole point is to give our team enough of a visual to mirror the architecture in the unfolding master plan.

What else do I need to send you?
One of the most important documents we need is a lot survey. Most homeowners receive one when they purchase their house. However, if it has been several years since you bought the house you may not have it readily available. In this case, call your title company and ask for another copy to be mailed to you.

Also, ask them to check to see if a topographical map of your property can be sent to you. This map will show us what elevation changes occur throughout your home. We need this to design your irrigation and drainage systems.

We also need to do what is called a “tree survey.” This lets us know where the trees in your yard are located so we can design a plan with tree preservation and future growth in mind.

How can I find someone locally who will actually implement your online landscape design?
The best resource is the Internet. The second best resource is referrals from neighbors who have already worked with local landscape professionals. When you find a company, check out their portfolio. Call at least three references people, interview them, and then decide which one best fits with you

Do-it-yourself landscaping

Can I pay you for remote consulting services to advise me on do-it-yourself landscaping?
Yes. That is the whole point of working with an online landscape designer. Do-it-yourself landscaping is never as easy as it looks on a website or in a magazine. There are many variables at the unseen level that require your attention that you will probably be perplexed by when you first encounter them.

What are these variables?
Things like drainage, irrigation, elevation changes, tree root protection, and basic outdoor architecture will need some personal, expert guidance at times. We can provide you with these services for a reasonable fee, guiding you through the process from start to finish.
What plants shrubs and trees are good for a do-it-yourselfer to work with?
You can work with any plants, shrubs, and smaller trees. We do not recommend large trees for do-it-yourself landscaping projects because very large trees require trucks and special digging equipment to install. Stick with smaller species like Japanese yew that you can install with hand tools and a reasonable amount of digging.

You can also handle any garden plant or flower that can grow in your area if you are unsure if a particular species will grow in your part of the country, call us. Our team of experts has over 20 years of experience in botanical science and can recommend the best plants to place in your garden.

For outdoor architecture, avoid attempting complex construction projects. Stay with basic gravel, stone walkways, and basic brick and stone masonry. Most decorative outdoor architecture can be done yourself with a few basic tools. Things like outdoor buildings need professional design and construction teams.
How can I maintain my trees and shrubs?
Hire a landscaping company for tree and shrub maintenance.

What types of outdoor masonry can I build on my own?
That depends on your do-it-yourself landscaping skills and the tools you have available. Call a member of our team before you begin and get some professional guidance on planning out your work before you begin.

Never start building anything without some kind of drawing or schematic to work with. Work only with materials you are comfortable handling.

If you are absolutely sure that you can tackle a project on your own, you may need to hire a specialist.

Can you sell me raw materials and plants?
Theoretically we could, but that would not be cost effective for you. Everything you need for do-it-yourself landscaping can be bought either locally in your area or ordered over the Internet.

Can you direct me to the best online resources?
Yes.

If I run into trouble, can you come here or find someone in my area to lend an extra pair of hands?
Yes. We will travel if the client can cover the cost of travel and onsite consulting fees. Call us if this is something you are interested in.

What is curb appeal?

How do you define curb appeal?
It is the perspective that you gain just as you approach the home from the front curb. Curb appeal is directly tied to the value of the home and is vital to those looking to upgrade the appearance of the property prior to listing the home on the market.

What is its purpose?
To create and direct the emotion created by the Houston landscape. Adding curb appeal distinguishes a home as preeminent among other dwellings on the block and adds attraction factor to the innate worth of the dwelling.

Curb appeal is critical because it is the first impression one gets of a home owner’s personality, and a first impression is worth a thousand words.

What hardscapes enhance curb appeal?
The most effective hardscapes are those that tie architecture in with the natural elements of the Houston landscape. This always lends appeal to a home because it suggests closeness to Nature and outdoor living that add a sense of warmth and invitation even to inorganic elements and architectural structures.

What are some examples of superb work in hardscaping that you have done?
One in particular that stands out was a Tanglewood home with a driveway that was nothing more than a concrete slab surrounded by San Augustine grass. During the hotter months of the year the grass would die in places, leaving brown patches that added unsightliness to an already drab front yard.

We completely transformed this yard by replacing the circle drive with a brick walkway framed by boxwoods and dwarf monkey grass. This new combination of design and color had the effect of drawing the eye away from the surrounding Houston landscape and focusing it on the center of the home.

How can garden design contribute to curb appeal?
It is very important. In fact, many regard it as the basis of creating great curb appeal. A lack of garden design can make a yard appear disordered. If the home is located in a part of the Houston landscape that lacks little aesthetic in its own right, the absence of garden design can actually create a sense of chaos.

What role do trees play in curb appeal?
Trees add scale and control the perspective of houses. In some neighborhoods they screen the home from surrounding residences.

What other plant materials are crucial to this process?
Flowers are very important here because they add color to the Houston landscape. They decorate the yard with vibrancy and color, which in turn accentuates the home with an added dimension of outdoor décor.

What outdoor architecture can be added to front yard landscaping?
Many architectural elements stereotypically conceived as back yard structures only can actually be used to beautify a front yard. These elements include fountains and small patios. More complex structures can also be added such as walls, steps, and pedestals. The latter are very important anytime it is necessary to create a sense of grand entryway.

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.

The Importance of Custom Masonry in Houston Landscape Design

What is custom masonry?
Custom masonry is a very pronounced form of hardscape that rises up from the ground, adding a third dimension to the landscape beyond that offered by a simple foundation or patio.

Masonry includes a multiplicity of forms most of us have seen all of our lives. Most of these forms date back to ancient times and have become iconic of the mythic and archetypal in our collective consciousness. Brick walls, stone patios, columns, seat walls, stone steps, and stone retaining walls, have dominated everything from the Sumerian landscape to the Houston landscape, and many places and times in between.

Where does masonry offer the greatest aesthetic impact on the Houston landscape?
Its strongest virtue, as the Ancients would say, is that it marries the architecture to the landscape. Such unity is prerequisite to creating a truly livable outdoor space that defines activity with aesthetic itself. When we introduce the masonry elements of the home by building them out into the open spaces of the yard, we create a feeling of unity between hardscape and softscape that implies a return to a state of Nature, and a blissful life of harmony with the elemental forces of life.

What are some examples of custom masonry?
Some of them are surprisingly unobtrusive until you get close enough to see them. Custom drain grates, mosaics, and custom stone patterns constitute the “little things” that transform functionality into sophisticated ornamentation.

How does custom masonry support swimming pool construction?
Custom masonry is literally the backbone of swimming pool construction. It is the predominant material for cladding the substructure of the pool. This superstructure includes the beams that stabilize the entire structure, the pool shell itself, and the concrete that forms the actual bottom of the pool.

How does custom masonry support garden design?
Since gardens are almost completely organic, the selective addition of custom masonry elements ties the vegetation directly into the architecture of the home. For a typical garden, a small architectural wall, or a planter running parallel to a wall, is often all that is needed to link apparently divergent realities into a interrelated, interdependent unity. Larger gardens can also be linked to key elements of the Houston landscape with more elaborate masonry work.

How does custom masonry support outdoor room construction?
As we have previously noted, masonry has been the main element of architecture for millennium. Outdoor room construction follows this principle. Since most outdoor rooms are open to the air on at least one side so that people can have a view of the Houston landscape, the importance of custom masonry is even more pronounced, because it is in the nuances and subtleties of design that unique outdoor living spaces find true expression in the form of new and innovative boundaries and spaces.

The Many Uses of Cut Stone in Houston Landscape Design

What is a cut stone patio?
It is a patio constructed out of stones cut into geometric shape. They are generally cut into squares, rectangles, or some other clearly recognizable pattern.

Are these stones all the same size?
The individual stones in a cut stone patio may or may not be the same, depending on the style of Houston landscape design they are intended to support.

Where is it mostly used?
Cut stone patios are used to build hardscapes in areas where people gather and move from point to point. We commonly build them around swimming pools located at the rear of homes. Here, the patio becomes the focus of outdoor living space, and a gathering spot that links architecture to water’s illuminated fluidity and ambience.

Front walks are also made of cut stone to create a sense of grand entrance to a house. This sense of stateliness can be further enhanced by building the front porch out of the same materials. A house differentiated by these elements stands out on the Houston landscape as being unique in its ability to add human refinement to natural elements without overpowering the organic vitality of life.

How does it compliment garden design?
Because stone is a natural element, it ties very well into the richness and natural order of a garden. Cut stone makes an excellent border for almost any garden style. It can also compliment nearby gardens with patterns that are recognizably geometric and reflective of the layout of garden design. Many times a pathway, fountain, or retaining wall that is built near a garden will draw attention to the greenery and magnify its importance on the Houston landscape.

Is this a good style to use near a pool or outdoor building?
Yes. One of the biggest benefits of cut stone is its ability to communicate a sense of control that is governed by the order of nature and not the hand of man. This creates symmetry, design, and containment without overpowering the scenery.

What architectural theme does this best support?
All architectural themes can be enhanced with cut stone patios. Different styles can be reflected by simply varying the type of stones we use, the geometric shapes into which they are cut, and the sizes of the individual stones themselves.

Color also plays a very important role in supporting certain architectural styles such as traditional, contemporary, and modern. Stone colors should be selected that appropriately reflect the intent of the home itself as it rises up from the Houston landscape.

What landscaping theme does this work best with?
Any landscaping theme can be enhanced with this type of patio design. It works especially well with natural landscape design and tropical landscape design.

Houston Landscape Design

What makes your company unique among other Houston landscape design companies?
Most of them are not landscape design companies. The majority of these businesses only work on the organic elements of the front and back yard. Some only do lawn work. Others provide specialized services in garden and flower bed planting and maintenance.

While these are all important parts elements to a residential Houston landscape, they represent only a fraction of what a true landscape design really is. What we create through a landscape design master plan is the equivalent of a home outdoors, complete with outdoor rooms, recreation areas, and special points of interests.

How do you create a home outdoors?
We create a multiplicity of elements linked to the thematic principles established by the architecture of the home itself. In a since, the house on the property is the hub from which the spokes of our design radiate outward into the yard into a diversity of hardscape and softscape forms?

What is a hardscape form?
There is broad definition and a narrow definition. By the broad definition, a hardscape is anything manmade. By the more narrow definition more commonly used in Houston landscape design, it is a manmade horizontal surface such as a deck, a patio, a motorcourt, a driveway, or the tile flooring of a courtyard.

Any manmade structure with a vertical rise is more accurately described as custom masonry or outdoor architecture. These forms include such things as architectural walls, retaining walls, custom planters, ornamental drains, stone steps, columns, and seat walls.

What is a softscape form?
Essentially, it is plant life. This includes lawn grasses, trees, shrubs, garden plants, and ground cover. Softscape design is the process by which plant life is sculpted to reflect mood, theme, and geometric order of the human mind without losing its organic essence in the process.

How do you bring such opposites together?
Well, you are assuming polarities here that really do not exist. Plant life is alive, and architectural forms are living space. In this sense both are living systems of a sort. When we look at life supported living systems we are dealing with compliments, not opposites. This makes landscape design more of an art of creating interdependent and interconnected relationships rather than reconciling what many assume to be irreconcilable opposites.

You mentioned outdoor rooms. What are these?
An outdoor room is really nothing more than a space that has been set apart for a special purpose. Entry gardens, courtyards, morning gardens, and terraces can all be outdoor rooms. Many of these have nothing more than low-level ground cover or small trees that create partial boundaries just high enough to separate them from the rest of the yard, but low enough to permit a clear view of the Houston landscape.

An outdoor building, on the other hand, is more like a room in a home. Generally it has a roof and at least two solid walls to provide shelter from the elements, yet also permit open access to the outdoor spaces of the yard.

Common outdoor rooms include summer outdoor kitchens and arbor living rooms.