Houston Texas Garden
We were contacted by the owner of a Houston, Texas home who asked us to design a series of gardens and landscaping features that would compliment and expand the Mediterranean theme of his house into the surrounding landscape. This house sat on a very large lot of several acres in a secluded Memorial Drive neighborhood located near the 610 Loop. The home featured a symmetrical, linear appearance in spite of its two-story build, and our client wanted a landscape and garden design that would follow these same principles of self-contained regularity and subtle linear motion.
Creating a Mediterranean theme in a Houston, Texas garden and landscape is a bit more complex that it might appear at face value. The southern coast of Europe-particularly in Italy and Greece-is a mountanous area where homes and gardens are built on steep angles and sharp vertical rises. Gardens and fields are often built in terraces that climb the mountains due to the limited planting area and rough, rocky terrain. Limestone is the predominant rock type in Italy and Greece and has become iconic of this part of the world in our collective consciousness. Mediterranean homes and gardens are historically famous for their white stucco walls, olive groves, and carefully sculptured greenery embedded in a rugged limestone backdrop.
The challenge lay in taking an essentially three-dimensional landscaping style and transfering it to a Houston property. As we all know, this part of Texas is very flat, so a hillside garden is out of the question in the literal sense. However, using a combination of symmetrical forms and linear progressions, along with some innovative garden materials, we were able to mimic several aspects of seaside European terrain.
The key to doing this was to establish a combination of circular forms and linear patterns in the multiple garden elements we designed. French and Italian gardens place a heavy emphasis on order and symmetry, and both tend to utilize right angles to establish form. We planted a variety of low level growth around the house and rear swimming pool patio to emphasize its walls and corners. We then added three keynote forms to the landscape to create a Houston equivalent of a Mediterranean garden.
The first of these forms was a knot garden centered on the front door, located just in front of the home's motorcourt. We planted boxwoods in three circular rows that looked like terraces on a hillside. In the center of the knot garden we planted Loropatalum, punctuated with a lone Crinum lily as the center piece. The rich purple of the Loropatalum draws catches the eye, and the vertical dimension added by the lily draws it upward to the front entrance of the house.
Moving then to one side of the house, we transformed a substantial portion of the yard into a parterre garden that centered on a large glass room that extended from the west wing of the house. This garden was populated by low-growth rose bushes whose amenability to constant trimming makes them an ideal plant material for parterre gardens, and whose colorful blooms a made them stand out from multiple vantage points throughout this Houston neighborhood. The garden borders were made from of boxwood hedges, and the central pathways were made using European limestone gravel that mimics the color of the limestone cliffs of the Aegean and Adriatic Seas. We then completed the design by adding dwarf yaupon, a small shrub that bears a curious resemblance to clouds, all along the borders of the gravel walkways. This helped create the impression that the garden was located on a hilltop near the sea, and that the clouds were rolling across the shoreline.
One of the most appealing attributes of this Houston, Texas property is its superb location. The back of the yard borders a 50-foot ravine carved out of the earth by a major tributary of Buffalo Bayou. This seemed to us a natural destination spot for garden guests to visit after strolling around the west wing of the home to the pool. To encourage them to do so, we planted an alley of crepe myrtles leading from the pool area all the way back to the woods along the ravine. We then built a walkway out of limestone aggregate blocks that started at the parterre garden, ran alongside the house to the pool, then ran straight out through the alley of trees to the scenic overlook of the forest and stream below.
(ArticlesBase SC #876095)
How to Create a Community Garden
Taking care of and paying attention to the environment can bring groups of people together. While Nicole visits the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas she talks to Emily Nieman, the Community and Youth Gardens Program Coordinator about what familie (06:22)
Texas Two Step organic fire ant control method
Learn about the organic Texas Two Step method of fire ant control, developed by Texas A&M University. (02:57)
How to Spice Up Your Life With Herbs!
Mary visits Lenore PrudHomme from The Outpost at Cedar Creek in Round Top, Texas to get tips on growing her very own herb garden! (04:03)
Reasons to Visit Houston, Texas
In this travel video learn about the great attractions that should make you want to visit Houston, Texas, USA. (01:00)
The Top 5 things to Do in Houston, Texas
In this travel video check out the top 5 things you should do when visiting Houston, Texas, USA. (01:00)
You know one when you see it. The English garden design is all about curved beds, winding paths, riotous color. The gardener's hand is light. There-but just barely. It lets nature do its own thing. You might even say that the English garden design is controlled chaos. The history of English...
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...
In the first millennium, a wealthy Roman family would most likely have had a garden surrounding their home. In it, you might find an open-air palazzo, pergola-style structures dripping with vines and blooming flowers, a dining area with couches for relaxation, water features such as an outdoor water fountain or...
In the first millennium, a wealthy Roman family would most likely have had a garden surrounding their home. In it, you might find an open-air palazzo, pergola-style structures dripping with vines and blooming flowers, a dining area with couches for relaxation, water features such as an outdoor water fountain or...
Modernism, in the context of landscape design, is a result of forms and functions that reflect the need for outdoor living spaces that enhance contemporary lifestyles. As Garrett Eckbo, one of the central figures in modern landscape architecture, said, landscape design is the "arrangement of environments for people." Contemporary garden design...
Do you cut out and collect magazine pictures of great landscaping ideas? Do you have a photo album of, say, a stately English mansion that you'd love to use for your home landscape design in Houston? Have you admired the plants and trees of European countryside estates and wondered if...
Home landscape design matters. A study commissioned by the Professional Landcare Network states it in financial terms: Homes that have been professionally landscaped bring 15-20 percent more upon resale than those with no home landscape design. From an aesthetic viewpoint, it delivers pleasure. "The importance of home landscape design is...
Start a worm farming compost bin right now and you'll generate a steady supply of rich, brown fertilizer high in nutrients and free of dangerous chemicals. Your flower and vegetable gardens will thrive and you'll save cash.
Have you ever spent an evening of fun on a friend well landscaped patio sitting by the warm glow of their outdoor fireplace? I have and it made me want to be able to experience in my own backyard. I like to get involved in home improvement projects, but for many this type of project is a little overwhelming.
For thousands of years people have enjoyed keeping plants indoors but what exactly are the benefits?
Flower horticulture is getting much more a favorite by gardeners every single moment. Blossoms can easily brighten up everybody's moment. They smell wonderful, and they are an excellent activity. Flower gardening can be easy, low-cost, and hundreds of excitement can be seen.
Having an organic garden means growing organic plant food like fruits and vegetables. This will save you a lot because planting organic vegetables will not cost a lot. You can make a garden right at your backyard and you will be able to grow organic vegetables for your family. Organic foods are healthier because no chemicals were used in during the growth stage of the vegetables. And you will be able to help Mother Nature because you are using organic fertilizers for your garden.
Having a garden sounds expensive and can require a stiff investment: lawns, landscaping services, plumbing services, plants, fertilizers, water and a lot more. But fret not, because you can save a lot of money by growing organic plant food that, amazingly, can be found in your own household or can be brought directly to your local supermarkets!
Planting your own tomato seeds and watching them grow is a great way to start your garden while it is still cold outside. Browsing seed catalogs allow you to dream about next summer's harvest of baskets of bright red tomatoes.
As chimeneas become more and more popular, make sure you stay safe whilst enjoying these wonderful additions to any garden or patio. Here are some essential tips for how to use a chimenea.
If you are considering adding a custom swimming pool to your landscaping design, you might want to think about the addition of a pool water fountain. We have seen pool water fountains turn an everyday swimming pool into a memorable work of art because they add movement, sound, shape and...
Outdoor swimming pool design is one of the most exciting and fulfilling aspects of landscape architecture. When guests come to visit, they almost always want to go to the pool. Regardless of whether they intend to actually swim, lay out, or gather for conversation on the patio, it is absolutely...
Fire and water fountains place two opposing forces together to create startling and dramatic artistic statements in a landscape design. If you were to rate the various hardscapes used by professional landscapers along a horizontal scale, fire and water fountains would be situated on the far right-where the big wow-factors...
Contemporary patio design is one of the most unique and dynamic elements of contemporary landscape design. It offers more opportunity for expansion and integration with other landscaping elements than do other types of hardscape. Planters, fountains, retaining walls, and even gardens can be integrated into the physical structure and basic...
As low voltage landscape lighting technology has evolved over the years, it has come to enjoy a position of prominence in many aspects of outdoor lighting. Its decorative enhancement of certain types of landscape forms is unsurpassed. Its cost-savings potential is much higher as well because it is much cheaper...
In general, contemporary design means spare and simple geometries arranged in a pleasing, functional way. Combining innovation and flair, these designs use dramatic shapes to create a point of view that is fluid and natural. We believe these adjectives describe contemporary water fountains, too. With contemporary water fountain and garden design,...
Garden waterfall design continues to gain increasing popularity all over the Houston Area. Many of our citizens have become a bit bored with traditional swimming pool and garden designs. The garden waterfall represents an instantly recognizable, beloved natural formation that adds an aesthetic to any back yard. Waterfalls are essential...
The intention of backyard landscaping is to create an outdoor living experience that can rival the stimulation and comforts of interior space. In order to accomplish this end, we have to do much more than work with the organic aspects of the yard itself. As important as trees, shrubs, and...
1