Search results for "Low maintenance garden" in Home Design Ideas
Exterior Worlds Landscaping & Design
This shade arbor, located in The Woodlands, TX north of Houston, spans the entire length of the back yard. It combines a number of elements with custom structures that were constructed to emulate specific aspects of a Zen garden. The homeowner wanted a low-maintenance garden whose beauty could withstand the tough seasonal weather that strikes the area at various times of the year. He also desired a mood-altering aesthetic that would relax the senses and calm the mind. Most importantly, he wanted this meditative environment completely shielded from the outside world so he could find serenity in total privacy.
The most unique design element in this entire project is the roof of the shade arbor itself. It features a “negative space” leaf pattern that was designed in a software suite and cut out of the metal with a water jet cutter. Each form in the pattern is loosely suggestive of either a leaf, or a cluster of leaves.
These small, negative spaces cut from the metal are the source of the structure’ powerful visual and emotional impact. During the day, sunlight shines down and highlights columns, furniture, plantings, and gravel with a blend of dappling and shade that make you feel like you are sitting under the branches of a tree.
At night, the effects are even more brilliant. Skillfully concealed lights mounted on the trusses reflect off the steel in places, while in other places they penetrate the negative spaces, cascading brilliant patterns of ambient light down on vegetation, hardscape, and water alike.
The shade arbor shelters two gravel patios that are almost identical in space. The patio closest to the living room features a mini outdoor dining room, replete with tables and chairs. The patio is ornamented with a blend of ornamental grass, a small human figurine sculpture, and mid-level impact ground cover.
Gravel was chosen as the preferred hardscape material because of its Zen-like connotations. It is also remarkably soft to walk on, helping to set the mood for a relaxed afternoon in the dappled shade of gently filtered sunlight.
The second patio, spaced 15 feet away from the first, resides adjacent to the home at the opposite end of the shade arbor. Like its twin, it is also ornamented with ground cover borders, ornamental grasses, and a large urn identical to the first. Seating here is even more private and contemplative. Instead of a table and chairs, there is a large decorative concrete bench cut in the shape of a giant four-leaf clover.
Spanning the distance between these two patios, a bluestone walkway connects the two spaces. Along the way, its borders are punctuated in places by low-level ornamental grasses, a large flowering bush, another sculpture in the form of human faces, and foxtail ferns that spring up from a spread of river rock that punctuates the ends of the walkway.
The meditative quality of the shade arbor is reinforced by two special features. The first of these is a disappearing fountain that flows from the top of a large vertical stone embedded like a monolith in the other edges of the river rock. The drains and pumps to this fountain are carefully concealed underneath the covering of smooth stones, and the sound of the water is only barely perceptible, as if it is trying to force you to let go of your thoughts to hear it.
A large piece of core-10 steel, which is deliberately intended to rust quickly, rises up like an arced wall from behind the fountain stone. The dark color of the metal helps the casual viewer catch just a glimpse of light reflecting off the slow trickle of water that runs down the side of the stone into the river rock bed.
To complete the quiet moment that the shade arbor is intended to invoke, a thick wall of cypress trees rises up on all sides of the yard, completely shutting out the disturbances of the world with a comforting wall of living greenery that comforts the thoughts and emotions.
Exterior Worlds Landscaping & Design
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 mountainous 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. For more the 20 years Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston's fine neighborhoods.
Edger Landscape Design
Wide pathways and the blowsy California native plant Deer Grass are elements in this water-saving, low-maintenance front garden. Edible plants in this garden include grape, lemon, orange, and pommegranate.
Cathy Edger, Edger Landscape Design
Find the right local pro for your project
Bramley Apple Garden Design
My client had a severe hayfever allergy so the garden was designed with low allergen materials such as artificial grass and the plant selection was based on non-wind pollinated plants, flower shapes that reduce pollen exposure and ground cover plants to prevent weeds.
Secret Gardens
Spanning three levels this city penthouse was in need of a makeover. The client wanted a low maintenance garden to enjoy personally whilst also creating expansive entertaining spaces. Set against a dramatic backdrop of stunning views of the harbour and city skyline, the garden is enchanting with ponds; walkways and an entire entertaining level, complete with hot tub.
Dig Your Garden Landscape Design
Novato hillside garden, just a couple of months after planting with drought tolerant plants that include lavender, phormium, and a variety of hardy grasses to include Pennisetum 'Karley Rose' and Phormium, (New Zealand Flax). © Eileen Kelly, Dig Your Garden Landscape Design
Earth Mama Landscape Design
Once a forgotten, moldy putting green—now a healthy vegetable garden. Raised beds were built and filled with organic soil and leaf mold. This garden provides the family with spring through late fall vegetables including lettuces, tomatoes, beets, peas, eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, and a ton of basil and other herbs! Please visit the website for more photos of this project.
Schmechtig Landscapes
Request Free Quote
Informal Garden Design in Winnetka, Illinois. This backyard design utilizes shrubs, pergola, garden decorations, stone and paver paths throughout the landscape design.
Garden Arts / Manchester Fence Company
We created this large garden almost entirely w/ coniferous plants. We call this our "Vermont All-Season Color Garden"©. There is interest in this space every month of the year. Looks great in a bare winter or when there is snow. It is also low maintenance and care free. It is also unique.
Anita Sullivan Gardens
This shows the layout of the garden, the curve of the stepping stones gives an all weather path from the patio to the 'hangover corner'. Note that the flower bed walls are wide enough to sit on, so double as 'party perches'. Photo by the home-owners.
Living Green Design
Bringing the indoors out with this Air plant designed shower by Brandon Pruett. This is an extremely low maintenance since the shower will hydrate the air plants so no need to water them.
Dig Your Garden Landscape Design
This tired, unused San Francisco backyard was transformed into a modern, low-maintenance landscape with site-appropriate plantings enhanced by raised planting beds and a lead-free artificial lawn to replace the existing water-thirsty lawn. I created two separate "rooms" to break up the long narrow yard, and specified full range blue stone for the two small patio areas, connected by a curved pattern of rectangular pavers of the same natural stone. The raised concrete rectangular planting beds were incorporated to bring more movement and interest to the landscape along with gravel bed accents alongside. Some of the existing concrete remained, and was stained with a color to compliment the natural stone. These photos were taken over a three year period. Photos: © Landscape Designer, Eileen Kelly, Dig Your Garden Landscape Design.
Dan Nelson, Designs Northwest Architects
View of house from beach. Scott Lankford, Landscape Architect.
From the street, a round rock pathway leads to a small seating area next to the water with a small fire pit. Low maintenance, drought resistant and salt tolerant plantings were used in mass and clumps. This garden has become the focus of the neighborhood with many visitors stopping and enjoying what has become a neighborhood landmarkArchitect.
Northwest Native Landscapes LLC
Dramatic plant textures, modern hardscaping and sharp angles enhanced this mid-century modern bungalow. Soft plants were chosen to contrast with the sharp angles of the pathways and hard edges of the MCM home, while providing all-season interest. Horizontal privacy screens wrap the front porch and create intimate garden spaces – some visible only from the street and some visible only from inside the home. The front yard is relatively small in size, but full of colorful texture.
O'Connell Landscape
A garden to match the style of the residence, this garden for a Marin County Eichler utilized stone, concrete and colorful low maintenance plantings to transform an overgrown, outdated space.
Northwest Native Landscapes LLC
Dramatic plant textures, modern hardscaping and sharp angles enhanced this mid-century modern bungalow. Soft plants were chosen to contrast with the sharp angles of the pathways and hard edges of the MCM home, while providing all-season interest. Horizontal privacy screens wrap the front porch and create intimate garden spaces – some visible only from the street and some visible only from inside the home. The front yard is relatively small in size, but full of colorful texture.
The Lazy Gardener
A refurbished Queen Anne needed privacy from a busy street corner while not feeling like it was behind a privacy hedge. A mixed use of evergreen trees and shrubs, deciduous plants and perennials give a warm cottage feel while creating the privacy the garden needed from the street.
Low Maintenance Garden - Photos & Ideas | Houzz
Staab & Olmsted LLC - Landscape Architecture and F
A traditional garden in the French style that contains fruits, berries, herbs, cutting, and vegetable garden.
Traditional garden in Chicago with a vegetable garden.
Traditional garden in Chicago with a vegetable garden.
Thomas Roszak Architecture, LLC
Photo credit: Scott McDonald @ Hedrich Blessing
7RR-Ecohome:
The design objective was to build a house for a couple recently married who both had kids from previous marriages. How to bridge two families together?
The design looks forward in terms of how people live today. The home is an experiment in transparency and solid form; removing borders and edges from outside to inside the house, and to really depict “flowing and endless space”. The house floor plan is derived by pushing and pulling the house’s form to maximize the backyard and minimize the public front yard while welcoming the sun in key rooms by rotating the house 45-degrees to true north. The angular form of the house is a result of the family’s program, the zoning rules, the lot’s attributes, and the sun’s path. We wanted to construct a house that is smart and efficient in terms of construction and energy, both in terms of the building and the user. We could tell a story of how the house is built in terms of the constructability, structure and enclosure, with a nod to Japanese wood construction in the method in which the siding is installed and the exposed interior beams are placed in the double height space. We engineered the house to be smart which not only looks modern but acts modern; every aspect of user control is simplified to a digital touch button, whether lights, shades, blinds, HVAC, communication, audio, video, or security. We developed a planning module based on a 6-foot square room size and a 6-foot wide connector called an interstitial space for hallways, bathrooms, stairs and mechanical, which keeps the rooms pure and uncluttered. The house is 6,200 SF of livable space, plus garage and basement gallery for a total of 9,200 SF. A large formal foyer celebrates the entry and opens up to the living, dining, kitchen and family rooms all focused on the rear garden. The east side of the second floor is the Master wing and a center bridge connects it to the kid’s wing on the west. Second floor terraces and sunscreens provide views and shade in this suburban setting. The playful mathematical grid of the house in the x, y and z axis also extends into the layout of the trees and hard-scapes, all centered on a suburban one-acre lot.
Many green attributes were designed into the home; Ipe wood sunscreens and window shades block out unwanted solar gain in summer, but allow winter sun in. Patio door and operable windows provide ample opportunity for natural ventilation throughout the open floor plan. Minimal windows on east and west sides to reduce heat loss in winter and unwanted gains in summer. Open floor plan and large window expanse reduces lighting demands and maximizes available daylight. Skylights provide natural light to the basement rooms. Durable, low-maintenance exterior materials include stone, ipe wood siding and decking, and concrete roof pavers. Design is based on a 2' planning grid to minimize construction waste. Basement foundation walls and slab are highly insulated. FSC-certified walnut wood flooring was used. Light colored concrete roof pavers to reduce cooling loads by as much as 15%. 2x6 framing allows for more insulation and energy savings. Super efficient windows have low-E argon gas filled units, and thermally insulated aluminum frames. Permeable brick and stone pavers reduce the site’s storm-water runoff. Countertops use recycled composite materials. Energy-Star rated furnaces and smart thermostats are located throughout the house to minimize duct runs and avoid energy loss. Energy-Star rated boiler that heats up both radiant floors and domestic hot water. Low-flow toilets and plumbing fixtures are used to conserve water usage. No VOC finish options and direct venting fireplaces maintain a high interior air quality. Smart home system controls lighting, HVAC, and shades to better manage energy use. Plumbing runs through interior walls reducing possibilities of heat loss and freezing problems. A large food pantry was placed next to kitchen to reduce trips to the grocery store. Home office reduces need for automobile transit and associated CO2 footprint. Plan allows for aging in place, with guest suite than can become the master suite, with no need to move as family members mature.
Acorn Ponds & Waterfalls
Front Yard Landscape Design installation in Monroe County, Webster, NY.
Designed and Installed for this beautiful home about 3.5 years ago. I need to go back and take new pictures as I'm sure the plants have grown and are looking even more mature now.
Included in this Front Yard Landscaping Plan was a Front Entrance Garden with a Gorgeous Maiden with Urns Water Feature Fountain, a Pondless Waterfall Design and Installation, Low Voltage Landscape Lighting and Low Maintenance Plantings. Acorn Ponds & Waterfalls, Certified Aquascape Contractor, Landscape Designer, Fountain Contractor, Installer, Pond Designer of Rochester NY 585.442.6373.
Check out our website http://www.acornponds.com and give us a call 585.442.6373.
Front Yard Landscape Designs, Ideas, Monroe County Rochester NY, Front Yard Landscape Designer, Front Yard Landscaping, Front Yard Walkways, Front Yard Landscape Contractor, Front Yard Design Installations, Front Entrance Gardens, Front Yard Plantings, Low Maintenance Front Yard Designs, Renovations, Redesign, Re-Design, Front Yard Remodel, Front Yard Replace.
Lawn, Front Yard Trees, Front Yard Plants, Front Yard Design Concepts, Front Yard Ideas by Acorn Ponds & Waterfalls of Monroe County, Rochester NY, 585.442.6373, is a Certified Aquascape Contractor, Landscape Designer, Outdoor Lighting Designer, Installer, Builder, Contractor and Design Service Company.
Sign up for your personal design consultation here: http://www.acornponds.com/contact-us.html
Click on the link below to view our Facebook album on LED Landscape Lighting Ideas: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.274149295955533.59089.103109283059536&type=3
To learn more about some of our projects, please click here: http://www.acornponds.com/landscape-design.html
Click here for a free Magazine all about Ponds and Water Features: http://flip.it/gsrNN
Acorn Ponds & Waterfalls of Monroe County, Rochester NY, 585.442.6373, Certified Aquascape Contractor, Landscape Designer, Outdoor Lighting Designer, Installer, Builder, Contractor and Design Service Company. We have professional Installation and Design Services available for the following:
Landscape Design
Outdoor Room Design
Outdoor Living Area Design
Backyard Ponds and Waterfalls Design & Construction
Front Yard Landscape Design
Backyard Landscape Design
Patios and Walkways: Paver, Stone, Brick
Low Voltage Landscape Lighting
LED Landscape Lighting
Swimming Ponds
Small Garden Ponds
Aquascape Ecosystem Ponds
LED Outdoor Lighting
Retaining Walls
Fountains
Water Features
Pondless Waterfalls
Pond Maintenance and Design
Aquatic and Under Water LED Lights
Bubbling Boulders and Urns
Natural Stone Patios and Rock Gardens
Paver Patio Design
Garden Ponds
Outdoor Kitchens
Pizza Ovens
Fire Pits
Fish or Koi Ponds
Waterfall Ponds
Low Maintenance Plantings
Commercial Landscape Design
Residencial Landscape Design
Drainage Issues, Solutions
Aquascape Rainwater Collection Systems
We serve Pittsford NY, Penfield NY, Brighton NY, Fairport NY, Webster NY, Greece NY, Victor NY, Henrietta NY, Irondequoit NY, Rush NY
Acorn Ponds & Waterfalls
585.442.6373
http://www.acornponds.com
4