Houston House and Home - Index

Houston House and Home - houstonhouseandhome - Index

Your landscape should complement
the style of your home. For example,
a stately stone home with
Palladian arches cries out for a formal
garden with closely clipped
shrubs, trimmed trees and welltended
lawns. A low-slung mid-century
ranchhouse looks swell with
exotic grasses as accents or perhaps
a Japanese Zen garden for ambience.
Whether you’re starting from
scratch or redoing a landscape, consider
hiring a professional designer
for the master plan. Google “landscape
designers + Houston” or
check the Yellow Pages for landscape
designers and look for members
who use the initials “ASLA”
behind their names, which means
they are members of and meet the
professional standards of the
American Society of Landscape
Designers. Also, many nurseries and
plant retailers employ designers
who can design and implement an
overall scheme for you. Ask to see
designers’ portfolios and/or Web
sites to see if their work is a fit for
what you want.
Choose a style that’s sustainable
for the way you and your family live.
If you want a manicured formal garden
but aren’t willing to hire professional
landscape help and can’t do it
yourself, you won’t be able to
achieve the look you want.
But when your landscape and
house do blend in harmony — and
you can’t imagine one without the
other — you have added enormous
value to your home and pleasure to
your soul. Here are some types of
landscapes to consider.
Know Your Style
Formal Landscape. Formal landscapes
celebrate order, symmetry
and balance. For this mansardroofed
classic French-style home,
Houston landscapers Thompson +
Hanson have designed a crisp landscape
of carefully pruned shrubs
and contained groundcover in a
muted palette. The lawn is meticulously
kept.
Informal Landscape. In this backyard
retreat by David Morello
Garden Enterprises, the trees and
shrubs seem to be there by happy
accident. They claim their own
space, interrupting one another and
sprawling hither and yon. Ground
cover is allowed to spill onto patio
stones and sprout between the
cracks. Classic patio furniture brings
order to the space. Styling by
Houston interior designer David
Stone. Photo by Aker/Zvonkovic.
English Country Garden. Rough
hewn stones form a curvy border for
this English Country style garden by
Norm Arnold of Glorious Gardens
Inc. Many English plants won’t thrive
in Houston’s heat; Arnold substitutes
plants suited to Houston’s climate to
get the lush color palette of
England’s fabled gardens. Photo by
Norm Arnold
Pocket Urban Garden. The tiny
entry to a townhouse in urban
Houston has just enough room for
soaking pool and spa. Equisetum
and bamboo provide the greenery
in this mini-landscape by McKinnon
Associates.
Gulf Coast Tropical Landscape. On
Galveston Island, this tropical landscape
by Mark McKinnon of
McKinnon Associates is made possible
with raised planters to create
perfect drainage for aloes, agaves
and herbs. The planters also serve as
seating in the garden. Photo by
Jill Hunter
Container Garden. Even the tiniest
patio or balcony can hold some
greenery. But plant pots are high
maintenance. “They dry out quickly,”
says McKinnon. “You have to
water them daily in the heat of the
summer. In addition to soil moisture,
nutrients are depleted rapidly. They
drain all over the terrace and cause
stains. I incorporate them only if they
make a meaningful contribution to
the garden.” He also connects them
to the landscape’s automatic watering
system to make sure they get
watered frequently. Large pots make
strong accent pieces in the garden.
“In my practice, big is better and the
fewer the better,” McKinnon says.
Photo courtesy Smith & Hawken
SG11