If you plan landscaping your garden, the first thing you need to decide is whether to hire a professional landscape designer or to do it yourself. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, so there is no "right" or "wrong" answer to this question. Find out when it is better to use the help of a landscaper or try your hand in a landscaping. It is best to hire a professional landscape designer if: 1. You want to make big changes and the aria to work with is large. Larger is the property - the more planning the landscaping will involve. Even though it might seem that hiring a professional is very expensive, you will probably spend more trying different things yourself. Just imagine that you install a waterfall in your garden, but its look and placement is not quite right, reinstalling it will cost you a lot. It is better to hire a landscape contractor to save yourself from disappointment. 2. You don't just want a beautiful garden, but a garden of a particular style - an English garden or a Japanese one, for example. Creating such [more..]

In 2003, we received a call from John and Jennifer Randall of West Houston. They had decided to build a French-style home just off of Piney Point near Memorial Drive. Jennifer wanted a modern French landscape design that reflected the symmetry, balance, and patterns of Old World estates. French landscapes like this are popular because of their uniquely proportioned partier gardens, formal garden and constructions, and tightly clipped hedges. John also wanted the French landscape design because of his passion for his heritage (he originally came to Houston from Louisiana), as well as the obvious aesthetic benefits of creating a natural complement to the architecture of the new house. The first thing we designed was a motor court driveway/parking area in the front of the home. While you may not think that a paved element would have anything at all do with landscape design, in reality it is truly apropos to the theme. French homes almost always have paving that extends all the way to the house. In the case of the Randall home, we used interlocking concrete pavers to create a surface that looks much [more..]

Many clients find themselves in a difficult position trying to integrate a remodeled home with new elevations, entrances and windows that no longer have a good relationship with the existing landscape design. A new home on a cleared lot that has no landscape design can be even more overwhelming with endless possibilities and viewpoints from which to consider a new garden, pool, arbors, pathways and landscaping. A good landscape designer can bring fresh eyes and new possibilities to difficult spaces. Define the Landscape Program As a home owner it's important to break through the frustration of your existing landscape design and just decide what you want. Your program is an outline or list of desired wants/needs and functions for the site. For example, "I want a beautiful pool with some kind of water feature, grill area and spot for entertainment" or "I want my landscape design to reflect the beauty of the Tuscan Valley." Visualize and use all of your senses in how you will enjoy your new landscape garden entertaining or relaxing with family and friends. Landscape Concept Once we meet on site with the client and get [more..]

Flower Landscape Garden Design Making a landscape garden design implies grafting a plant for each walkway, garden bed, tree, rock, and blade of grass to create the perfect outdoor space. This can seem like an overwhelming or daunting task, but it doesn''t have to be. There are very basic forms that can be followed to make the space seem just right without taking so much work that it isn''t fun anymore. Themed Gardens Most landscape garden designs are based on a theme of some sort; it could be birds, relaxation, fragrance, a favorite plant or flower, a favorite color, or just about anything else. The point of a theme is to create a pattern and point of interest with in the landscape garden design to hold the viewer''s attention. This can be accomplished subtlety or with obvious focal point. The key is pattern and repetition. The human eye likes to see pattern and repeating patterns; this can be accomplished in landscape garden design with color, size, species, or with an external commonality such as an animal the plants will attract. Color is an important tool for landscape garden design, using bright cheery colors can create an [more..]

A garden can be a thing of beauty: provided a little care and attention goes into its creation. That's where landscape garden designs come into play – the difference between creating a garden in a considered fashion and just letting things grow. With a little forward thought and planning, any outside space can become a glorious addition to house or home. The difference between a planned garden, or a properly planned garden, and a non planned garden, is this: when you plan, you are able to give a natural effect much better than if you just throw things together and hope for the best. That's because a garden is a defined space, usually bordered by a hedge or a fence. Nature is undefined, and so looks "right" when things just grow where they fall: a garden, which is humanity's attempt at capturing nature in an easy to swallow format, only really looks correct if it has been planned in advance. Landscape garden design, which produces a sensible plan for every part of a garden, so all its elements can be considered as a flowing whole, allow homeowners to reproduce nature in miniature [more..]

Every garden has a bit of fantasy in it and, for Houstonians longing for the look and feel of, say, Tuscany or the Italian Renaissance period, no garden fills that desire like a Mediterranean landscape design. Combining elegant elements of nature with the relaxed Mediterranean culture, the Mediterranean landscape design can go from simple, yet cultivated to elaborate lavishness. Crystal clear water and outdoor water fountains, sweet herbs right off the vine to be used in outdoor kitchens, relaxed spaces for entertainment, and lush, practical vegetation characterized the Mediterranean landscape design. Just as a rose by any other name smells sweet, so too the Mediterranean landscape design. It is known variously as Andalusian, Santa Barbara Revival, Tuscan and Moroccan styles. Primarily taking its name from the climate of the Mediterranean region and southern Europe, it falls midway between the broad formal and informal garden design categories. The influences of classic landscape design can clearly be seen in this style due to the proximity and prominence of ancient Rome. Mediterranean Landscape Design-Through History The Mediterranean landscapes originated in ancient Arabia and evolved, as all garden styles have, throughout the centuries. [more..]