Garden design ideas can be based on a number of things.  One of these is geometry.  Geometry is important to the establishment of relationships between architecture and landscape elements.  Since architecture is by nature inorganic, the best way to link its form to the living forms of Nature is to find repeating shapes that occur in both and magnify these forms in the shape of a garden.

Another basis for garden design ideas is the type, or style, of the garden itself.  This refers primarily to two things.  The first of these is garden contents.  Different types of gardens have different types of greenery and flowering plants within them.  Some are more appropriate to their respective surroundings than others.  Types of gardens are sometimes named after adjacent manmade structures, such as courtyard gardens or patio gardens.  In other cases they may be named after something they do, like morning gardens that you literally sit beside in the morning while you read your paper and enjoy your coffee.

Because there are so many different garden design ideas in a near infinite number of styles and geometric patterns, it is very hard for even an expert do-it-yourself gardener to create a design that will work with all of the surrounding elements of the landscape and the home at the same time.  That is why you need a professional landscape designer to come out to your home and take a look around you’re your yard.  Identifying opportunities for garden design is the first priority.  The second is to sit down with you, the homeowner, and talk at length about your personal lifestyle.  Your values should be important to your landscape designer, as should your future plans on how to use your property.

Once this consultation is complete, there are many different garden design ideas we base the organic elements of your landscape master plan on that will become the very vibrant heart and soul of your Houston outdoor living experience.

Small Gardens
The purpose of small garden design is to utilize overlooked spaces to better bring home architecture into relationship with surrounding yard elements.  One way we can do this is to build you a circle drive with a small garden centered in the island circle.  This is a common garden design idea that we have all seen, but it requires hardscape design and as well as botanical skills to pull off.  Our resources for building driveways as aesthetically pleasing surfaces as well as functioning surfaces pays off when you consider the relationship factor at hand. 

Asymmetrical Gardens
Another popular garden design idea is the asymmetrical garden.  This is very good for a home on a small lot that is not shaped perfect to square, or where the house may be very close or very far away from the street.  Using atypical geometry and unexpected patterns in the right places may actually bring a new sense of balance to an otherwise imbalanced home façade.  This is especially true for older homes that have undergone a recent renovation but may still be located in a place on the lot that is less than ideal for home aesthetic.  With the right gardens and hardscapes, however, a whole new face to the world can be created that adds attraction factor and curb appeal to the scene.

Shade Gardens
This is a very popular garden design idea in parts of the country like the American South where hot weather demands that we seek shelter under shade trees if we are going to spend any amount of time outside.  Having greenery and flowering plants around you under the trees adds to the warmth (instead of the heat) of the outdoor living experience.

Formal Gardens
Formal gardens have been around, in one sense or the other, since Ancient times.  They emphasize geometry and a subdued (but never minimized) sense of Nature.  The idea is to arrange Nature in an orderly way without doing away with it—an ideal that the Greeks and Romans aspired to in the civil engineering.  Symmetrical balance is foundational to the formal garden design.  Normally a geometric shape, statue, or custom fountain resides at the center of the garden to bring all of its many linear and radial elements together in a single focus.  Plant life is controlled so as to maintain balance throughout.  Trees and shrubs are planted at regular intervals with mathematical precision. 

Contemporary Gardens
This type of garden is a post-industrial emerging form that is very new to human aesthetic.  While it places just as much, if not more, emphasis on geometry as other garden design ideas, its intention is radically different when it comes to garden contents.  Contemporary gardens actually work to minimize vegetation and favor the man-made over the organic.  They are very precise, abstract, and mathematical with the deliberate intention of exalting the human mind above all things.