Have you cut out and collected pictures of great landscaping ideas, but now wonder how to actually put them onto your own property? Have you wanted to capture the vision of a stately French mansion on your property in Houston, Texas? Would you like to know whether the plants you’ve admired in European and New England countryside estates will grow on the Texas coastal plains? If so, you need the services of an experienced residential landscape design professional. A competent landscape designer or landscape architect takes you through the entire design development process, which includes: consultation and program development, analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design, construction documentation and permitting. And then on towards turning the vision in your mind from virtual reality to actual reality. Landscape design and Analysis of the Site An essential part of the initial consultation with your landscape designer or landscape architect is a walk around your property. Here is where you get to share your overall vision, detail your wants and needs and desires. It should be a free-flowing discussion about aesthetics, which includes your likes and dislikes of materials, preferences on arrangements-all the “wouldn’t it be nice if. . . ” things you’ve been considering. Try to be as specific as you can. For example, you may want a deck to seat a party of ten people or a large lawn area on which your three- and five-year-old can play with your Labrador retriever. This detailed information will be brought together by your residential landscape designer or landscape architect to create a program of uses. The program organizes uses by their relationship to one another, much like the inside flow of your home. In fact, the architecture and flow of your home should relate to the architecture and flow of your landscaping. Understanding these relationships and interpreting them well separates the artist-architectural designer from a landscape horticulturalist-contractor. Residential Landscaping Design The next step in the design process develops out of the meeting notes, site analysis, program of uses, and the design professional’s experience. At this conceptual level, the landscape designer or landscape architect conveys the overall design intent, such as the general use areas and their sizes, swimming pools and other hardscapes, outdoor kitchens and outdoor fountains, lawn areas, and plantings. This phase will also be the time when it is determined which wish list items are possible on the site and which are not. An overall cost study is developed from the conceptual landscaping design as well. Moving Forward with you Landscape Design: Once you have agreed on the overall design intent, sizes of use areas, general material selections and their applications, you are ready to begin the landscaping design development and construction phase. The documentation for this phase can be broken down into three groups: 1) landscaping design drawings for permitting. 2) landscaping design drawings to convey final design intent and material selections for you and the installation contractor 3) landscaping design drawings, called construction documents, with specifications for materials, specifications for their installation and installation methods. These drawings may be accompanied by a full package of additional drawings to include an existing site survey, tree disposition and elevation plan, tree preservation plan, demolition plan, swimming pool plan, landscape drainage systems, irrigation systems, hardscape plan including outdoor kitchen and outdoor water fountains, landscape planting plan, landscape lighting plan, and construction details for the above plans. As for permits, each city has its own unique requirements for landscape plan approvals. The norm is a submittal of the entire permitting package to be approved or rejected by a committee board. For this reason, it is important to hire a landscaping company that is fluent in these areas, one who knows what vital information to include, such as lot coverage ratios, engineered drainage plans, pool fencing layout and specifications. It is equally important to omit unnecessary information that could create confusion or send up a red flag that would keep the project from getting approved. A knowledgeable residential landscape designer or landscape architect helps win approval as quickly as possible. Garden Design and the End Results Whether your project is a simple landscaping design that only encompasses landscape planting or is a complex construction package, it is vital that you hire a landscape designer or landscape architect that is competent in the skill sets detailed here. For your satisfaction, it is also important to distinguish between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can reflect your unique style. Always ask to see a portfolio and visit the website to determine if the landscaping company under consideration has the sense of style you appreciate and is one who can design a landscape that complements your home and lifestyle. Additionally, it is highly recommended that you utilize a landscaping design company that not only does the design work, but also performs project management and landscaping installation. There is a world of difference between someone who has great ideas and another person with great ideas who also knows the availability and best use of local materials, local contractors and their methods of construction, overall cost and budget development, and can then maintain the finished product. In short, you want a landscape designer or landscape architect who can deliver a landscape design solution that flourishes in the Houston climate over the long term.  Read more...

Most homeowners already have one or more Most homeowners already have one or more landscaping design ideas fixed firmly in their mind when they contact Exterior Worlds. They may have seen visited our landscaping design portfolio and seen the work we have done for other homeowners in neighborhoods like West University, Bellaire, River Oaks, and Tanglewood. They may have seen photographs of properties in a reputable publication that inspired certain landscape design ideas based on several motifs that caught their eye, or they may be have had a passion for a certain cultural style such as French, Italian, or Japanese that they have always wanted to develop on their own personal homestead. Regardless of the origin of such inspiration, it is important that you work with a Houston Landscaping Service that can help you more fully develop your landscaping design ideas in a manner that compliments the appearance of your home and helps extend its living space outdoors in a way that fully expresses the core values and subjective sentiments of your own personal lifestyle. Make your landscape a virtual, organic extension of your home’s structure and aesthetic. When you meet with your landscaping architect for the first time, try to develop landscaping design ideas that will compliment the architecture of your house. No matter how small or large your home actually is, it represents the most dominant feature of your landscape, and as such, cannot be ignored. Any outdoor structures such as an arbor, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, patio fireplace, or special walkway needs to reflect the basic design principles that distinguish your house from surrounding structures. The swimming pool in particular is something you should pay very close attention to. Most swimming pool construction that is done independently from a landscaping plan tends to focus only on making the pool itself functional and aesthetically pleasing. We see this all the time when we work on older homes that were build in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The pool looks fantastic in and of itself, but it clashes severely with surrounding terrain and home architectural features. We commonly have to remodel swimming pools significantly, or rebuild them all together, to harmonize the poll with the surrounding landscape. Garden design is another area that you should really rely upon professional expertise to help develop. While you may already have dozens of landscaping design ideas in mind about what types of flowers, shrubs, and trees will look best in your yard, please keep in mind that vegetation groupings constitute forms in and of themselves that either work with or against the appearance of your house. A good example would be some of the contemporary landscapes we have done in our landscaping portfolio section which required us to plant some very unique vegetation patterns to truly do justice to the unique elements that constituted a particular home’s appearance. Think form follows function when developing a landscaping plan. The best landscaping design ideas will develop forms around practical use of open areas. After all, the more beautiful your landscape, the more you are going to want to go outside and experience it firsthand. Activities will naturally follow, so coming up with a clear picture of what you intend to ultimately do when you are outdoors will help you more fully develop a plan for development of key areas of your yard. If your ultimate goal is to create entertainment space, then outdoor structures and special environments will need to be built that support the many activities that you and your guests particularly enjoy. If you have children, and you are looking to create special play areas and sports facilities, Houston professional landscapers can help you by subcontracting specialists who can design these facilities (such as courts and practice fields) safely and effectively while still remaining ultimately true to the overall landscaping design idea envisioned in the master plan. Ornament the landscape to create special space in addition to simply decorating it. Even something that normally conveys a purely artistic sentiment can play a functional role in the development of your landscaping design idea. Your Houston landscaping company can help develop special patio and seating areas that are aside just for you. Here, you can reflect, meditate, read the paper, and enjoy the morning over conversation and coffee. Fountains and sculptures, though typically categorized as purely decorative, can take on a new, more subtle role as boundary markers between public space, children space, and special, private space. Landscape lighting can then be installed around these areas to maintain these boundaries during the night as well as the day. In this sense, one single landscape can be turned into many smaller landscapes; each represented by its own unique features, forms, purposes, and carefully designed ideas. fixed firmly in their mind when they contact Exterior Worlds. They may have seen visited our landscaping design portfolio and seen the work we have done for other homeowners in neighborhoods like West University, Bellaire, River Oaks, and Tanglewood. They may have seen photographs of properties in a reputable publication that inspired certain landscape design ideas based on several motifs that caught their eye, or they may be have had a passion for a certain cultural style such as French, Italian, or Japanese that they have always wanted to develop on their own personal homestead. Regardless of the origin of such inspiration, it is important that you work with a Houston Landscaping Service that can help you more fully develop your landscaping design ideas in a manner that compliments the appearance of your home and helps extend its living space outdoors in a way that fully expresses the core values and subjective sentiments of your own personal lifestyle. Make your landscape a virtual, organic extension of your home’s structure and aesthetic. When you meet with your landscaping architect for the first time, try to develop landscaping design ideas that will compliment the architecture of your house. No matter how small or large your home actually is, it represents the most dominant feature of your landscape, and as such, cannot be ignored. Any outdoor structures such as an arbor, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, patio fireplace, or special walkway needs to reflect the basic design principles that distinguish your house from surrounding structures. The swimming pool in particular is something you should pay very close attention to. Most swimming pool construction that is done independently from a landscaping plan tends to focus only on making the pool itself functional and aesthetically pleasing. We see this all the time when we work on older homes that were build in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The pool looks fantastic in and of itself, but it clashes severely with surrounding terrain and home architectural features. We commonly have to remodel swimming pools significantly, or rebuild them all together, to harmonize the poll with the surrounding landscape. Garden design is another area that you should really rely upon professional expertise to help develop. While you may already have dozens of landscaping design ideas in mind about what types of flowers, shrubs, and trees will look best in your yard, please keep in mind that vegetation groupings constitute forms in and of themselves that either work with or against the appearance of your house. A good example would be some of the contemporary landscapes we have done in our landscaping portfolio section which required us to plant some very unique vegetation patterns to truly do justice to the unique elements that constituted a particular home’s appearance. Think form follows function when developing a landscaping plan. The best landscaping design ideas will develop forms around practical use of open areas. After all, the more beautiful your landscape, the more you are going to want to go outside and experience it firsthand. Activities will naturally follow, so coming up with a clear picture of what you intend to ultimately do when you are outdoors will help you more fully develop a plan for development of key areas of your yard. If your ultimate goal is to create entertainment space, then outdoor structures and special environments will need to be built that support the many activities that you and your guests particularly enjoy. If you have children, and you are looking to create special play areas and sports facilities, Houston professional landscapers can help you by subcontracting specialists who can design these facilities (such as courts and practice fields) safely and effectively while still remaining ultimately true to the overall landscaping design idea envisioned in the master plan. Ornament the landscape to create special space in addition to simply decorating it. Even something that normally conveys a purely artistic sentiment can play a functional role in the development of your landscaping design idea. Your Houston landscaping company can help develop special patio and seating areas that are aside just for you. Here, you can reflect, meditate, read the paper, and enjoy the morning over conversation and coffee. Fountains and sculptures, though typically categorized as purely decorative, can take on a new, more subtle role as boundary markers between public space, children space, and special, private space. Landscape lighting can then be installed around these areas to maintain these boundaries during the night as well as the day. In this sense, one single landscape can be turned into many smaller landscapes; each represented by its own unique features, forms, purposes, and carefully designed ideas.  Read more...

Whether you are "borrowing ideas" or "plan to create the design your own landscape, you should at least have a basic understanding of the principles of garden design. This does not mean that you apply all the principles to all parts of the plan. But only with an understanding of these principles will help you generate ideas and increase your creativity. Great landscaping lies in the eyes of his Creator. Thus, while the principles of landscape architecture are great guidelines to follow, do not feel like they have for the "rules" of landscaping. Summary and creativity are allowed. The unit must be one of your most important goals in your design. It may be better understood and applied as consistency and repetition. Repetition creates unity by two elements, such as plants, plant groups, or institution in the country. Consistency creates unity in the sense that some or all of the different landscape elements to add a whole. Unit may be the consistency of character elements made in the design. By nature, I mean the height, size, texture, color, etc. of different elements. A good example is the use of focus blocks. If you've ever seen a landscape design, the great white shark, stone round here and had another big block of red granite square there, and so on, then you've seen that unity was not created by this particular item. This is just one example, but the principle applies to all other elements such as groups of plants and materials. A simple way to create unity in the landscape, is to create themes. And one of the easiest ways to create themes with a small yard or garden decorative statues. Creating a theme garden is easier when it comes to something that interests you or who have a passion for the Allies. If you're into butterflies, for example, you could draw a theme with plants, butterflies, and statues, create jewelry, and have to do another organization, the butterflies. The unit must be expressed by at least one element in the landscape, and preferably more. Using elements to obtain an initial idea through consistent style and voice is a particular topic, which creates harmony. Simplicity is indeed one of the principles of design and art. It is one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or do it yourself. Just simple things at first. You can do that later. Simplicity in planting, for example, to select two or three colors and repeat them in the garden or landscape. Keep decor to a minimum and within a specific theme and keep hardscape like rocks online is also practiced simplicity. Balance in design is, as the word says. Equality. There are essentially two types of balance in the landscape. Symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetric equilibrium where it is more or less equally spaced matching elements of garden design. Spread evenly with a garden, could both sides of the same shape, form, plant height, plant groupings, colors, bed shapes, theme, etc. You may remember creating something like if you were a child in class Drawing at school to share. Where do you take a piece of paper, spray paint on it, fold it in half and fold them and then magically interesting symmetrical design. So symmetrical balance or design is something like a mirror image or reflection. Symmetric on the other hand, is one of the principles of landscape architecture is a little more complicated. While the textures, shapes, colors, etc. This may remain constant until a certain unit, can create forms and Hardscape more random. This form of balance, often separate or different themes, each with an equal but different type of attraction. A good example would be where bed shapes or paths differ on both sides of the border. On one side could do with a sense of wind flow while the other is straight, straight and hard. This can also be a good contrast. Flowing lines are pleasing to the eye but the bold contrast of a curve with a straight line can be very interesting. Asymmetrical balance is not necessarily limited to the shape of your garden. An example would be where one side of the garden, especially in the shade of tall trees, while the other is primarily a lower growth of flower garden or even a combination of these two examples. This is limited only to your imagination. Contrast and harmony can be achieved using plants. Foliage end to the coarse foliage, round leaves verses heel leaves and compliments the color and contrast. Plant height, color and texture may vary from one region to another varies, but each area should be staying in his own coherent theme. You hear about "issues" in much speaking. Many successful do-it-yourself designs follow a basic theme for most of the principles of landscape design described on this page you requested. The correct use of plants and garden furniture, or a mixture of both is a simple way to achieve themes. Color adds the dimension of real life and interest to the landscape. Bright colors like red, yellow and orange seem to advance and you can make an object appear closer. Cool colors like green, blue, and pastels seem to get away and you can make an object appear to grow on you. Gray, black and white are considered neutral colors are best in the background with bright colors used in the foreground. However, increasing depth in a landscape, you dark and coarse textured plants in the foreground and use fine textured plants and light use in the background. Colors can also be used to draw your attention to a specific area of the garden. A bright display of colors between the cooling can naturally be envisaged. Natural transition can be applied to avoid radical or abrupt changes in your landscaping. Transition is basically gradual change. It can be optimized using the plant height or color, but also to all landscape elements, including, but not be applied to restrict the textures, foliage shape or size, and size and shape of individual elements. In other words, the transition can be achieved by gradual, ascending or descending, arrangement of different elements with different structures, shapes, colors and sizes. An example of a smooth transition would be a stair effect of large trees and medium trees, shrubs, bedding plants and balcony. In this example, if a little knowledge would be useful in selecting appropriate plants. The transition is one of the principles of garden design that will be used to create illusions "to" May in the landscape. For example, a transition to higher plants shorter, a sense of depth and distance (as in a type of paint) to make the garden seem larger than it actually is. A transition from shorter plants and more can be used to make a meeting place under the stand, and seems closer than it actually is. Line is more structural principles of landscaping. It can be placed above all the beds of course, went to connect, access and movement and flow. Straight lines are strong and direct, while curves are soft, natural, flowing effect. Percentage refers only to the size of elements relative to each other. Of all the principles of landscape design is obvious, but it will take a little thought and planning. Most design elements in the landscape can be deliberately planned to meet the right proportions. For example would be when a small indoor garden, an immense statue of seven feet of garden will be placed in the center, build out of proportion and a little sticky to say the least. Or put a small four-meter-high waterfall and a pond in the middle of a large open courtyard will be lost in the distance. Make no mistake means that if you have a big yard, you can not have smaller features or garden decor. Percentage is relative and elements can be adjusted to size by creating different rooms in the garden. The goal is to provide a comfortable relationship between the three dimensions of length, create width and depth or height. A small pond may be appropriate when in a corner or edge of a large area and becomes a focal point of the larger area while creating its own atmosphere. An entire room, sitting area, or a theme can be created around him. Other rooms and themes can also be created. See small gardens for ideas to create spaces and creating illusions. Also it requires a special audit and investigation to give the correct selection to avoid the use of plants in proportion. Repetition is directly to the unit together. The well has a variety of elements and shapes in the garden but repeating these elements is the term variety. The unit is to use objects or elements that are equally satisfied. Too many unrelated objects can overload the garden and admire unplanned. There is a fine line here. It is possible that too much of one element of a garden or landscape feel uninteresting, boring and monotonous. However, the unit can be created by the use of several different elements repeatedly. This in turn keeps the garden interesting.  Read more...