Houston Landscaping Design: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Custom Garden Design Adds Beauty & Value To Your Landscape

Custom gardens are one of the hallmarks of Exterior Worlds. Many times, for whatever reason, a strictly formal, traditional European, or noticeably contemporary garden simply will not work. This can be due to any number of mitigating circumstances ranging from the style of home architecture, the size of the property, or the dimensions of the lot.

In these cases, however, there is always a way to create superb garden designs in even the most challenging environments.

One of the areas where we often build a custom garden is in an oddly shaped and unused portion of a yard.
Many homes have a garage that extends into the back yard. The space between the home and the garage is often very small, and it is also often oddly shaped. Most homeowners simply resolve themselves to leaving this part of their yard untouched. They assume, because of its proportions, and the fact that it typically receives less sunlight than other areas, that it is totally useless.

Such an area is prime real estate for a custom garden

Courtyard Garden Design With Garden Elements --

Courtyard garden design, by definition, is the creation of special garden elements in one or more spaces within a courtyard. Because courtyards themselves are the most individualized form of outdoor rooms, courtyard garden design features a high level of customization and affords you a tremendous freedom of personal expression.

Such a garden lends life and vitality to what otherwise would be nothing more than a sterile hardscape enclosure. Sitting in a garden makes you feel like you are connected to the landscape. Your patio, fountain, and ornamental masonry also begin to look like they are part of the landscape as well—especially when enhance with landscape lighting at night. Nothing stirs the moment better than luminescent leaves gently stirring in the shadows in the corner of your eye. Nothing brightens up the day better than greenery and color intermingled with the stone and bricks of masonry.

It is easier to participate

Children’s Gardens Give Kids A Place To Play --

Children’s gardens are designed to give young people a place to play and learn. Exterior Worlds develops certain aspects of the garden design around the specific interests of the children in the home. We meet with the kids and the parents to discuss what interests of the kids may also work for educational purposes.

One of the first things that we determine in this process is what type of play area we will build in to the garden. Play areas are essential for many reasons. From the child’s perspective, they make the garden fun.

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What Are The Elements of Asian Garden Design? --

The elements used in Asian garden designs are the same elements used in Western gardens. These elements are arranged very differently, however, and they are often much smaller in size. The West longs for the sublime, the monumental, and the larger than life. In the East, serenity and the quiet contemplation of simple beauty is preferred, so gardens here are built to calm the mind rather than impress the imagination.

Water is always a part of an Eastern style garden. Even in a very traditional Zen garden, which uses only rocks and sand, the etchings in the sand are actually symbols of waves of water. Most Eastern gardens, however, use water itself as a major element. Waterfalls, streams, and ponds appear in both Japanese and Chinese garden forms.

The intent of Asian garden design is to release the mind of all sense of self, so that the True Self can be experienced without thought through intuition alone. This state of mind is known as consciousness awareness, or Nirvana. Water symbolizes this desirably state of pure Being freed from the limitations and suffering of individual form.

What are the best drought resistant plants

What are the best drought resistant plants
Drought resistant plants are those that in one form or fashion have evolved the ability to withstand longer periods of time during which there is no rain. All classifications of plants contain species that have these qualities, making it possible for Exterior Worlds professionals to develop an entirely drought resistant landscape consisting of ornamental grasses, ground covers, flowers, shrubs, and trees.

Plants that are marketed as possessing this resilience are often described as either “drought resistant” or “drought tolerant” by garden centers, which often use the terms interchangeably. This can confuse do-it-yourself landscaper who may not have the time to research the exact botanical quantities of the vegetation they wish to add to their yard.

Working with a team of professionals will ensure that the drought resistant plants that are used in your Houston landscaping design will perform as you expect them to without losing their vitality or curb appeal in the event of an extended dry spell.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Why Shade Garden Design Is A Good Investment




Shade Garden Designs You may have beautiful trees in your back yard that are so large than nothing can grow under their branches. This leaves unsightly dead zones in your yard. Exterior Worlds can fill these no grow areas with bright color and vibrant life when you invest in shade garden design. While there are many plants that grow well in the shade, there is more to creating a garden than simply finding a plant that will go in a particular spot. Considerations such as how much water plants need, how quickly they grow, how much trimming they require, and what patterns of color that their leaves and flowers produce have to be taken into account. Trees also have to be continuously pruned in order to create a filtered lighting effect. There is a difference between shade and total darkness. While some plants will grow under a very dark canopy of leaves, you greatly reduce your choices if you let the trees completely block the sun. Many species that you plant will initially do very well. However, when the light dims past a certain point, they will wither and die, creating another no grow zone.

Planting Gardens Is The Fun Part Of Landscape Design --

Planting gardens in your Houston landscape is a critical and fun part of your total landscape design. Critical because gardens, whether a bed of bushes, flowers, trees or combination thereof, add texture, interest, variety and dimensionality to your yards. And fun because planting gardens allow you to show your creativity and preferences.

Modern Garden Design Enables Functional Landscape Elements --





Modern garden design enables functional elements of the landscape such as walkways, motor courts, and patios, to work as integrated portions of the landscape rather than typical stand alone elements. We see this a great deal in contemporary landscaping, where features are characterized by very stark geometry and abstract forms. Inorganic themes define the yard, with the organic only serving as a frame or connector of significant geometric design elements and outdoor forms. Gardens are kept to minimalist proportions so they may serve a master plan that whose design promotes human consciousness over the aesthetics and free-standing forms of nature.

Houston Gardening Is A Expression Of Lifesytle --

Houston gardening supports the chosen expression of the lifestyle of the client by reflecting the primary emblem of the lifestyle: the home itself. The geometry and size of the garden, along with its content, reflect the architectural features and stylistic attributes of the house. Cultural and historical forms are used in Houston gardening when the architecture of the home calls for a specific historical period or human culture to be clearly represented on the landscape.

Garden Walls Make Landscaping Architecture Come Alive --

Garden walls is a type of landscape architecture, outdoor walls naturally provide a visual transition between your house and the yards. These outdoor walls create beauty and value in your surrounding grounds, a statement that is true whether you put them to work as a sturdy retaining garden wall or use a living garden wall to give your space vibrant, and maybe even blooming, definition.
Our clients at Exterior Worlds have enjoyed them in other ways, too. Our clients’ outdoor walls function as the dividers to encircle an outdoor room or close off part of a patio to provide a quiet retreat. We have used them to create micro-climates; for instance, building a wall facing north or east and then planting species of plants that like shade. Likewise, we have turned the wall into a support for climbing roses and other vines.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Garden Walkways Immediately Adds Curb Appeal --

Adding a garden walkway to the landscape immediately adds curb appeal to the entire property. Paths and walkways are an integral part of formal garden design. Less formal types of gardens also rely upon pathways to bring guests into their interiors or to lead them alongside their borders.

Without these carefully planned and constructed transit spaces, we would not be able to experience a garden from the perspective of its interior. Lawns would also suffer, because people would be forced to walk on the grass rather than a surface that is designated specifically for foot traffic.

Houston Landscape Design, Residential Garden Design Texas -

A carefully devised and consistently executed garden services plan is the best way to protect the health, beauty, and vitality of your investment in professional landscaping services. It is important to keep your landscape clean and vibrant, because it makes a powerful statement to surrounding residences. It tells people you care about your property, and that you wish to emphasize its preeminence from every possible vantage point imaginable.

It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to invest in professional landscape design and then let your carefully designed and planted garden take a pounding from the vicissitudes of Houston weather and suffer from the agonies of neglect. The Houston climate is brutal, to say the least. Most of the plants in your garden come from other places in the world, and they are not used to the combination of heat, humidity, and inconsistent heavy rains. It is essential that you spend the money to protect them with a garden services plan that will give them the best chances of survival during both the hot dry months of summer and the temperamental cold snaps of Texas northers and chilly, wind-driven rains and sleet.

Formal Garden Adds Style To Backyard Landscapeing Plans

A formal garden is distinguished by order, neatness, geometry, and symmetry. This style of garden design is one of the oldest in the world, tracing its origins back to the beginnings of recorded history. This is because formality is a common and honored tradition in all Western, Middle Eastern, and Eastern Cultures.

Everyone has heard of the gardens of the Greeks and Romans, and of how the Hanging Gardens of Ancient Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In the East, China and Japan have also perfected formal gardens as expressions of Taoist, Shinto, and Buddhist ideals.

Houston Landscape Design, Residential Garden Design Texas -

One of the most important things that a contemporary garden designer does is to create opportunities in challenging landscapes. Contemporary design, as we call it, is not always a clearly defined or immediately recognizable form.

Many custom homes with very unique architecture could be seen as contemporary, depending on one’s point of view. Developing a landscape design that supports eclectic home architecture requires the utmost professional knowledge and skill.

This becomes even more challenging when we realize that Houston is very diverse when it comes to the size and symmetry of the lot. Not everyone has a yard that is a perfect square or perfect rectangle. We sell all kinds of property lines and easements in our city.

Custom Contemporary Garden Design Adds Unique Landscape Look --

Your home does not have to be contemporary per se in order for you to have a contemporary garden design. You home simply has to look unique. Contemporary landscaping of any kind is a highly subjective aesthetic. It is very easy to customize and personalize to individual tastes, provided the basic principles of the art are followed.

The following summary touches on these principles and can be used as a guideline for developing your own preliminary ideas for a garden design prior to meeting with your professional landscape designer.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Contemporary Garden Design With Emphasis On Hardscape --




Contemporary Garden A contemporary garden is distinguished by its emphasis of hardscape and geometry over softscape. Vegetation is minimized in favor of a deliberately Mentalist view of the world. Gravel, stone, sculpture, water, and art take the place of vivacious colors, and mind-oriented design take precedence over passion. All of this is done to establish the sense the world has now become a place where Man dominates and controls his environment through the power of thought.

Waterfall Design can Make Your Pool the Focal of Home Events

If you are looking to make your home the centerpoint of entertainment and outdoor events, consider how waterfall design by Exterior Worlds can make your swimming pool so appealing that your family and friends would rather spend their evenings with you than in public venues out on the town.

Waterfalls have a deep, romantic allure that speaks of adventure in faraway places. They are also some of the most beautiful landscape elements you can add to your swimming pool so that events in your backyard become the essence of special memories for all that attend.

If you have a natural pool, waterfall design is

Custom Water fountains & Features Add Value & Beauty

The art of water is the use of water features to beautify and magnify the elements of a landscape. There are several things that distinguish the art of water, as we would call it, from water itself. In some instances (but not all) water that we would call art relies on movement to generate aesthetic. When mobile and fluid, water gives the mind a feeling of being freed from form and rigid constructs. To maintain a sense of artistry, however, fluidity must be focused. Some type of geometric boundary or structure is necessary to lend aesthetic to the scene at hand.

At other times, the art of water works better from a perspective of stasis, as we see in reflecting pools. The surface of the pool becomes a mirror that reflects both organic and inorganic landscape elements. Vegetation looks more supported by the very stuff of life itself, and architecture becomes more dynamic and preeminent as it is reflected from a variety of angles that magnify its preeminence and sense of proportion.

Garden Waterfall Design & Fountain Water Feature Insatallation

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 elements in Japanese Garden design, natural swimming pool design, pond design, and certain types of custom fountains.

The visible features of garden waterfall design are the same as those we find in Nature. We see boulders strewn in high places at the top of the falls, and we find rocks scattered along the both banks of the stream. Some of these boulders are actually planters in disguise, containing a variety of grasses and flowering plants to make them appear like wild vegetation growing around rock formations along a river bank.

Tips, Tricks & Ideas For Backyard Pond Design --

A backyard pond is a self-contained ecosystem that maintains its vitality with hidden circulation systems, plant life, and natural materials lining the bottom that help filter pollutants from the water. Decorative elements such as waterfalls, rock formations, and gravel beds are also typically added to create a back to nature look that is becoming very popular with many Houston landscaping clients as more and more people in our city become conscious of going green.

Water ponds can be illuminated as well so that homeowners can enjoy them at twilight, late at night, or early in the morning before sunrise. Large flat boulders can be laid along the shoreline to create a natural stone patio that looks just like the rocky shoreline of a mountain lake. These rocks can be arranged in a way that creates a superb, stable surface on which to mount lawn furniture for comfortable seating.

Batting Cage Lighting Fixtures

A baseball travels at very high speeds inside a batting cage. Players need to see the ball clearly without distracting glare. Creating a uniform field of illumination within the perimeter of the cage is the most important objective in batting cage lighting. Photometric analysis software has consistently demonstrated that optimal light levels need to be around 50 foot candles.

This is very similar to the lighting conditions of a recreational level infield. To create these conditions for players, we have developed a custom sports lighting kit that consists of a set of highly specialized fixtures and poles. This preconfigured system, developed with the best photometric 3D modeling software, has been field tested and proven to consistently concentrate the light in the cage without spilling behind the pole or shining beyond its perimeter.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Carpet & Rug Roll Ram Forklift Attachment

Carpet Pole Ram Rolled Material Handiling Equipment

A rug ram is a forklift attachment that is used to move long, heavy rolls of carpet. This is far more efficient and ergonomic than trying to move a very bulky and cumbersome load of carpet with manual transport tools. Moving a roll of carpet on a platform based transport leaves the ends extended to either side of the platform. This can easily cause an injury to persons standing to either side. Moving the roll with the end pointing forward allows it to be maneuvered into position with a high level of precision in any space wide enough for a fork truck.

Why Get A Koi Pond Design Plan Before You Buy? --

All over Houston, koi ponds are becoming increasingly popular. Architectural features in their own right, koi ponds are highly unique in both design and construction. They tend to occupy a very significant position on the property, and they function as prominent elements within the overall theme of the landscape.

Koi ponds are named after the fish that inhabit them. Koi are a hybrid species of carp produced by cross-breeding brown German carp with Asian carp. They are very colorful and have very soft mouths. They are a benign and docile species that will literally eat right out of your hand. Because koi are very sensitive, the ponds that koi inhabit have to be designed with maximum life support and safety for the fish in mind. The water hast to be carefully filtered and aerated so the koi always have plenty of oxygen. The pond must also be built with a specific depth that will keep them out of the easy reach of predators. Also, the stratum of water at the bottom of the pond is cooler than the water near the top, so in the summer months the fish have an additional comfort zone available to them. In as much as aesthetic constraints on design permit, special structures can also be built to provide the fish with additional shade and refuge.

Contemporary Koi Ponds & Water Features --

Houston Landscape Design, Residential Garden Design Texas -

People with a passion for nature can invest in Houston landscaping plans that center around gardens consisting of indigenous plant life and water features such as bird ponds that attract native Texas and migratory birds to their yards. Birds seek out bodies of water for the same reasons humans seek them out. They use ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes as sources of food, water for drinking, bathing, and recreational play.

The best way to attract birds to your back yard is to have your Houston landscaping specialist design a pond that emulates a natural lake in a number of ways. This is because birds of different sizes require different types of structure, varying degrees of water, and sources of food. Creating a pond that pleases the eye and also caters to the interests of birds requires careful consideration of a number of details that go far beyond the installation of a simple body of water in the back of one’s yard.

The ideal bird pond will vary in depth, topography, embankments, vegetation, and surrounding landscape elements. This will allow birds of different sizes to make comfortable use of the water. Smaller birds, like the English Weaver Finch, colloquially known as Sparrows, prefer to hop around in very shallow pools of water that barely cover their feet. These little birds require the equivalent of wading pools that form in rocks that touch the water’s edge.

Stone Water Fountains Add An Elegant Touch To Backyard Landscaping --

Stone Water Fountains Add An Elegant Touch To Backyard Landscaping -
Stone water fountains add an elegant touch to any Houston landscaping design. Stone is a natural substance that blends well with vegetation. It is also a substance that can be sculpted into very sophisticated forms. This makes stone suitable for any style of landscaping ranging from those very close to nature to the more minimalist, contemporary landscape designs.

The rocks used to make these fountains are either igneous or metamorphic rock. Igneous rocks are formed by volcanic activity. Metamorphic rocks are formed when igneous rocks or sedimentary rocks (rocks created by layers of silt) are subjected to extreme heat and pressure underground. Both igneous and metamorphic rocks have hard surfaces and unique color patterns. This makes them ideal for building a decorative structure such as a fountain.
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Natural Waterfalls Add Authentic Beauty To Your Landscape --

Natural Waterfalls Add Authentic Beauty To Your Landscape --
Natural waterfalls do many great things for a property. They add a unique, authentic form of beatify to your landscape design, and they increase the curb appeal of your property value. On an emotional level, they represent something everyone can enjoy because they bring tranquility to the mind. They can be built in a wide range of sizes, and they can be built in almost any location in the yard.

The most common location for a natural waterfall is by the side of a natural pond or natural swimming pools.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Why Invest In A Modern Fountain Design Plan?

Modern fountain designers often take elements from previous styles of design and reduce them to their most fundamental components. This is practice is known as minimalism and it is a core values of all things contemporary and modern.

Reducing forms to their basic geometric elements enables designers to arrange these shapes into new combinations to create specific moods for backyards, entry gardens, private outdoor art collections, and contemporary gardens.

Outdoor Water Wall Fountains Adds Vallue & Backyard Beauty

Exterior Worlds frequently builds wall fountains to expand hardscapes into new dimensions, add decorative flair, and establish a serene sensibility. People hosting special events in their yards often find that the wall fountain becomes the instant favorite of the majority of the guests. For private moments, homeowners equally love the sense of peace and contemplation these fountains add to special areas of the landscape that we have designed as set apart just for them. These custom-built fountains are very different from the retail versions sold in home and garden stores. They are constructed with superior-grade materials, and compliment surrounding landscape elements as well as elements in their own respect.