An Iron Landscape Theme can Make a Large Houston Estate Truly Sublime

Many of Houston’s largest homes sit on several acres of land. 
You do not normally see these from main thoroughfares like Westheimer or Richmond, but you do see them in places along Memorial Drive, Blalock and throughout River Oaks. 

Homes on these estates often have very Old World architecture.  The size of the home and the surrounding property is sublime, grand, and almost mystic in its import. 

Such residences can benefit greatly from an iron landscape theme that draws from any number of cultural, historical, or aesthetic sources and expresses them through the beauty and sophistication of finely wrought iron forms that add drama, interest, and vertical impact to landscape design.

The first thing we might see in such a property is a wrought iron driveway gate.
Many homes are so large that they have private roads that lead up to motor courts located to one side of the house.  These roads are wide enough for two-way traffic.  Wrought iron is the only viable material to use for building a gate across such an entrance.  A gate that large built from a weaker metal is sure to warp from the force of gravity over time.

With an iron gate, however, anything from an Italian Baroque theme to a Classical motif can instantly set the tone for an entire front yard landscape.

This theme can then be extended all around the perimeter of the iron landscape by a wrought iron fence.
Homeowners have two options when it comes to fencing.  If they want a formal, yet open and accessible look to their property, the fence can function as a decorative perimeter adorned with climbing vines or supporting hedgerows of green.  A view of the house is still permitted from the street, and a view of the surrounding neighborhood and Houston landscape is afforded from within the property itself. 

Some people with very large homes, however, do not want such visibility.  They prefer privacy and isolation.  For these individuals, brick walls can line the majority of the perimeter and be broken at periodic intervals by linear runs of iron fence.  Mid-growth trees, topiaries, hedges, or climbing vines can then be planted along the walls to permit a fleeting glimpse of the top of the home—but no more.

Once invited into the estate, however, one can appreciate the diversity of forms that an iron landscape can take.

One of the most adaptive of these forms is the garden trellis.
Wrought iron trellises can play many roles on a landscape.  They can divide a patio area from a formal garden while adding vertical impact to the scene.  Urns and pottery can adorn their base, while creepers climb up their vertical and diagonal supports.  Trellises can also be placed against the sides of brick walls to hang potted plants on, or to host flowering vines.  Still other trellises can be built like obelisks that work as aesthetic focal points on an iron landscape. 

Wrought iron arbors with seats add shaded areas of drama and transition to larger estates.
Under the arches of an arbor, one can pass from one world to another, or sit on a bench partly shaded by the criss-crossed members of the frame.  Arbors can be geometric or arched, and built to any size specification, depending on what is most appropriate to the landscape design at hand. 

Completing the iron landscape theme with a wrought iron gazebo adds a sense of antiquity, sophistication, and elegance to garden design.  
Similar to an arbor in its aesthetic impact, the gazebo offers the added benefit of being able to host a larger group of people.  The stone or concrete patio beneath the gazebo can be decorated with all manner of wrought iron furniture, including chairs, tables, and benches.

Similar furnishings can be placed throughout the yard on porches, patios, and in central areas of formal gardens to complete the sense of a wrought iron landscape teeming with life, architecture, and exquisite artistic sensibility.