Drought resistant grasses can be used to form the entire surface area of the lawn, or they can be used to accent important zones of interest in your Houston landscaping design. Our article on this subject dealt with how different kinds of grass can be used to replace standard lawn species and drastically reduce the cost of maintenance in the process.  Now, we turn to various ways to use these unique, resilient grass types as accent elements for the most significant parts of your yard.

Drought resistant grasses can be used to accent walkways and patios.
One of the best ways to draw attention to your custom hardscapes is to plant an attractive green border around its edges.  This is typically done with a blend of very small shrubs and ornamental grasses.  By using drought resistant plants, we can make certain that your borders retain their color and vitality even during the hottest and driest times of the year.

Drought resistant grasses can also be used as garden design elements.
Gardens use all kinds of plants as parts of their design.  There are many styles of garden designs that call for unique geometry, vertical impact, and variations in color.  Ornamental grass species can be used to create all of these things if they are planted in the right places in soil that has been properly amended in advance.

Typically, such soil contains a minimum of fertilizer so the plants will grow slowly and consume less water.  Mulch is added several inches down so that water will be retained within the soil and put fewer demands on the irrigation system.

Drought resistant grasses are ideal accents for front yard landscape elements.
The front of your house creates the first impression that your guests have of your property.  It is very important that we prevent dry patches of lawn from diminishing your curb appeal.  Using a blend of drought resistant ground covers and grass types is an excellent way to accomplish this.  The ground covers create variation at the very base level of your lawn which transfers appeal and interest directly to your home’s façade.  Grasses resistant to heat and dry weather can then be used to accent flower beds, trees, and paved areas with ornamental vertical impact.

Drought resistant grasses are ideal for modern gardens and contemporary landscaping designs.
These styles are based on minimalism and use more inorganic elements than organic elements.  Planting grasses that do not need a great deal of water is the best way to add just a touch of green and still keep the project low maintenance.

What is the benefit of using a professional Houston landscaping designer over doing the work myself?
Time is one factor.  We meet people all the time who have many of the same skills as our employees and can create landscaping elements of equal quality.  Most of these people, however, simply do not have the time to build the more advanced hardscape designs and garden designs that characterize our type of work.

Another challenge to do-it-yourself landscaping is the wall you typically run into when working with contractor specialists.  For some reason, most contractors work better for a general contractor than they do with individuals.  Even those that do work well with homeowners run into challenges of their own when interacting with other specialists on the same project.  You do not want the hassles of trying to be both a general contractor and a client at the same time.

Perhaps the most important advantage to working with a Houston landscaping designer is that you have the convenience of working only with our company as a point of contact along with the assurance that other entities involved in the project will stay on task and work as a team with all other parties involved.

What areas do you work in?
Houston landscaping designers from Exterior Worlds work in all parts of Houston and surrounding areas, including River Oaks, The Memorial Villages, West University, Rice Village, The Heights, Sugar Land, Bellaire, Meyerland, and The Woodlands.

How does a landscape designer learn his trade?
We constantly study landscape theory, architecture, modern and contemporary art, and classical designs in order to find new ways to apply them on behalf of our clients.

How closely do you work with your client on a landscaping project?
Houston landscaping designers work as consultants who take the raw material of client ideas and turn them into forms and features in relationship.  Clients can participate as much or as little as they.  Some want us to take the lead in generating ideas for their project.  Others already have concrete forms in mind that they simply want us to fine tune and implement.  We work equally well along the entirety of this spectrum of personality type.

With the recent drought and also the flooding in our area when there is a heavy rain I would like to know your take on drainage systems?
Our Houston landscaping designers build custom, integrated, and concealed drainage into all of our projects.  We also build irrigation systems into softscape areas.

Can you incorporate my present hardscapes with your landscaping design or will I have to buy new ones?
Let’s develop a comprehensive Houston landscaping design that best accents your home and maximizes your curb appeal before we make any firm decisions on what to do with existing structures.  In many cases we can remodel, in others, when honestly necessary, we recommend replacement.

What can you offer in regard to privacy issues?
Houston landscaping designers can build anything from decorative walls to organic boundaries of trees, shrubs, or vine-covered structures to politely screen out the curious eyes that may be looking into your yard too often.

I'm interested in low maintenance designs. How would you help me?
Houston landscaping designers can plant slow-growing plants, drought resistant plants, and/or native plants. Slow growing plants do not need to be pruned as often.  Drought resistant plants cut costs on watering, which can really skyrocket in the summer if you do not have drought tolerant plants and end up having to water every day.  Native plants are resistant to the diseases and insects of this area and typically require less fertilizer and pesticides than do transplanted species.

Mid century modern landscape design offers you a chance to live outdoors in special spaces created around a blend of formality and abstraction.  If your home was built in the mid-20th Century style of architecture, or if it features the basic elements of this style, your entire property can be transformed into an extension of its interior that is simultaneously comfortable and blends with the organic energies of nature.

Mid century modern landscape designs achieve this unity by the simplest of means. It is often a matter of mixing materials in just the right proportions.  A patio courtyard, for instance, can be a blend of stone, ornamental grasses, small shrubs, one or two trees, and a linear run of crushed gravel to add texture, color, and form.  This intermingling of the organic and the inorganic is one of the many ways mid century modern landscape design challenges the traditional adherence to strict adherence to rigid principles of design.

At the same time, this style is very orderly.  This is not abstract landscaping the way you might picture a yard looking if it follows the purely subjective expressions of contemporary abstract art. There is a very clear sense of the mathematical here that reinforces the concept of an orderly universe.  At the same time, the blurring of traditional boundaries and the mixing of living space with nature challenge the perception that we know everything there is to know.  There is always an element of subtle surprise in a mid century modern landscape design when something you expect to look a certain way takes a sharp turn in a new direction that you would never have imagined it to go.

As esoteric as these descriptions may sound, they really are far more concrete than many people would imagine. The simplest of shapes like a rectangle or arc can be rendered challenging and eye-catching simply by introducing varying levels of vertical impact.  Terraced planting areas, steps that climb, two, or even three, level patios, and walkways that sweep through several zones of interest in an arc are all based on shapes we learned as children, and played with in equally innovative ways.

Perhaps it is the desire to return to a childlike freedom to play with form that mid century modern landscape design continues to remain popular well into the 21st Century.  There are basics to the style, but there are no strict rules.  This allows homeowners the freedom to envision landscapes that express who they are, and it gives Houston landscaping designers the freedom to build those forms custom to the clients they are made for.

If you are like most people, you probably visualize vegetation when you think about Houston landscape design.  If you want to come up with some of your own mid century modern landscaping ideas, you can do an online search on some of the more popular plants used with this style.  Remember, however, that much of your Houston landscaping design consists of various types of hardscape elements that create the structured environment you need to comfortably enjoy time outdoors.

When brainstorming different hardscape environments that you your like to have in your yard, think beyond stone and concrete.  The abstract tendencies of mid century modern landscaping ideas allow for a lot more creative freedom than this.  Think about how gravel can be used to line walkways, surround water features, or even create a special seating area inside a modern garden.  Examples include Mexican pebbles, river rock, pea gravel, and decomposed granite.

Think about how different types of vegetation can be used to accent your hardscape designs. Remember, most mid century modern landscaping ideas tend to carry hardscapes through from the front yard to the back to create the impression that living space has been extended from the interior of the house into the yard in all directions.  The geometric progression of hardscape elements reflects the movement of various motifs evident within the home’s architecture.  Adding shrubs and trees in different locations will create multiple levels of vertical impact that will compliment your home from many different vantage points within your yard.

You only need a few species to make this work. mid century modern landscaping ideas depend greatly on geometry, so repetition of plants is more common in this style than a great variety of plants. If you look through pictures of trees like Japanese Maples, Smoke Tree, Weeping Cheery, Black Pine, and Weeping Atlas Cedar, you will quickly see two or three that you like the most that can be used throughout several different zones of interest with great aesthetic success.

Clean lines are very important elements of mid century modern landscaping ideas.  That being said, softscape accents have to also be clean in the sense that they retain their form throughout the year. Drought resistant ground covers and native drought resistant grasses are preferred because they are more likely to retain their color during long, hot, dry spells.  Many of these plants are quite colorful and bloom perennially, making it possible to compliment any outdoor building, room, or seating area with just the right combination of subtlety and color.

The most important thing mid century modern landscaping does is to make full use of all of the available space on the property.  Hardscapes typically carry through from the front yard to the back, creating a series of adjacent zones of interests defined by multi-level patios, steps, and ornamental staircases.  Water features are typically built in key locations where they can add unique dimension and aesthetic to the scene.  The sharp boundaries between hardscape and softscape are often blurred as well to make the basic geometry used to create these areas more interesting, dynamic, and appealing.

In other words, there is no wasted space after a mid century modern landscaping project is finished.

This style also has a way of expanding interior living space consistently through the entire property.  Mid-20th Century homes were built to look outward onto nature through large windows.  This blends the feelings of being outside with those of being inside.  In reciprocal fashion, mid century modern landscaping makes you feel like you are still, to some extent, living in the comforts of home while surrounded by the expansiveness of nature around you.

This does not mean that there is no sense of order to this style of landscaping design. Actually, there is very much a feeling of order, but it is not the rigid order of formal or classical landscape design.  Traditional styles like these have very strict, objective rules of form that must be followed, no matter what.

Mid century modern landscaping is much more subjective.  It takes the basic shapes of simple geometry and then arranges them in accordance to the unique architectural motifs of the home.  Each project is noticeably different than the next due to this highly individualized approach to development.

One of the ways this differentiation occurs is through the intermingling of organic and inorganic materials.  Plant life is intermingled with concrete, stone, gravel, or some other material to blend life itself with geometry.  Variations in building materials, combined with changes in elevation, take the most basic of forms and turn them into something eye-catching and mind-engaging.

This touch of the abstract is nevertheless controlled by clean lines, sweeping arcs, and proportional angles. Mid century modern landscaping has too much regard for nature and its simple beauty to be ostentatious to the point of extreme forms of art that favor asymmetry over symmetry and recognizable form.  Though the mind may have its assumptions challenged, it never feels shattered by one of these landscapes.  This accounts for the continuing popularity of this style well into the 21st Century now.

No.  What matters are the principles that the home architecture follows. Homes built in the middle of the 20th century featured a “futuristic” look for the time.  Abstract concepts were blended with formal ideas of order and symmetry.  What resulted were homes that were often characterized by rectilinear shapes, large windows, sharp angles, and portions of the home that rose in multiple stories.  The intention of these designs was to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces and open up the home interior to the outside world.

Fast forward, now, to the second decade of the 21st Century. The novelty of the “Space Age” has long since worn off, but the abstract is still with us more than ever before.  Many contemporary custom homes follow the same mathematical and geometric principles as homes built over 60 years ago.  Mid century modern landscapes work very well around these homes because they continue the trend to blend indoor and outdoor spaces into a single unified living environment.  Front yards and back yards are unified into integral zones of interest where repeating patterns of hardscape and vegetation continue from the front of the lawn, around the sides of the house, and into the far reaches of the back yard.

This makes sense from both an aesthetic perspective and a financial perspective as well. If you live in a custom home that measures with at 5,000 square feet in area,  you can maximize the curb appeal of your home by hiring Exterior Worlds to design a mid century modern landscape.  This design will make use of every square foot of property in your yard.  Although the geometric shapes that emerge are the basic forms we all learned in elementary school, there will be plenty of variety and an abundant sense of controlled warmth.

Mid century modern landscape designers achieve this variation by using a mix of materials to create zones of interest. Stone, gravel, grass, drought resistant/slow growth shrubs and trees, wood, water and even ornamental glass are combined to transform basic patterns into eye catching and challenging designs.  Due to the blend of abstraction and formality, each Houston landscaping design developed in accordance with mid-20th century styles will be highly customized to the home it surrounds.

Nothing will make your home look even more distinguished than a unified outdoor living environment that extends its custom interior into the outside world. If you are looking to get the most from your investment in a new custom contemporary home, call Exterior Worlds to discuss how mid century modern landscape ideas can be used to ensure the lasting curb appeal of your home.

1.    Develop a clear picture of what drought resistant perennials actually are.
Research this term with a Google image search.  You will immediately see that most drought resistant plants are not what you would colloquially refer to as “desert plants.”  They vary in size, leaf pattern, and bloom color like all other classifications of plant life, so you are free to choose as many interesting types as you like to discuss with your Houston landscaping designer.

2.    Consider using drought resistant perennials that are native to Texas.
You do not have to, of course, but it is always good to let us use indigenous plant life when possible.  Not only is this a restorative act that works for the local ecosystem which was previously devastated by agriculture and urbanization, but it also works in your financial favor.  Plants from this area have their own natural resistance to diseases and bugs and require far less maintenance than exotic species from other parts of the world.

3.    Consider adding a unique element to your Houston landscaping design that uses only drought resistant perennials.
One such element that is sure to win rave reviews from adults and children alike is a butterfly garden.  You really want perennials here because you want the garden to retain its form even plants are not in bloom.  Due to the fact that there are several types of plants that bloom at different times of the year, you can provide a natural habitat for butterflies that will last as long as they are present in our area.  Even in months of the year when there are no butterflies out and about, you can have winter blooming plants in your garden to retain a measure of color that adds to the curb appeal for your property.

4.    Think beyond typical garden design when researching drought resistant perennials.
While color is important to some garden designs, such as the English garden, many other styles, such as the French, rely more on varying shades of green.  This means that blooming plants may not always be appropriate for a garden, but can have even greater impact on your Houston landscaping design if you think about how the blooms look in relationship to surrounding structures.

Drought resistant perennials are sure to do well when planted as borders around hardscapes, decks, and along the façade of the home.  The blend of color, variegated greenery, and geometry helps fuse the manmade with the natural and blend the inorganic with the organic.

What elements are common to drought resistant landscaping?
First, a well-developed master plan is essential before we make choices in plant life.  Since up to 80 percent of a Houston landscaping design may consist of hardscapes and outdoor architecture, it is important to establish the basic dimensions, geometry, and forms of these structures prior to planting any vegetation.

Secondly, a custom irrigation system will need to be built.  Drought resistant landscaping minimizes the need for water, but it does not eliminate the basic needs that all plant life has for moisture. The systems that we build are intended to deliver economically in controlled amounts that are optimal for plant health.  Waste is avoided by developing underground, drip, and custom sprinkler mechanisms that deliver water only when it is needed and only at required times.

Third, a great deal of soil amendment is required to make drought resistant landscaping truly effective. The typical yard uses a lot of fertilizer to maintain constant plant growth.  In a yard built to withstand longer periods of time without rain, the opposite is the case.  Limiting the amount of fertilizer helps encourage slow plant growth.  This, in turn, helps plants retain more moisture because they consume more water during periods of rapid growth.

How many plant choices do I have if I invest in drought resistant landscaping?
Luckily, you have far more than you would think.  Drought tolerance is characteristic of a number of species in every major classification of plant life.  There are native and ornamental grasses that grow well in hot, dry, sunny conditions.  There are shrubs ranging from a few feet in height to over twenty feet tall.  Many species of trees have evolved a tolerance to dry weather and will retain their leaf color in the heat of summer.  There are also a number of ground covers and flowering plants that can be used for both foundational and accent landscape designs.

Is drought resistant landscaping expensive?
Not really.  There may be some costs associated with developing custom irrigation systems, but the lower maintenance that these plants require immediately starts saving you money once the installation is complete.  Using native species can sometimes save you money too because it costs less money to transport them, and/or the cost of the plants themselves is lower.  You also get a return on investment in the form of lasting curb appeal that can take the worst of summers and still look healthy, green, vibrant, and colorful.

These bushes have leaves that have evolved various types of leaf variations and root systems that promote the circulation of water through the plant.  These adaptations minimize dehydration by protecting the leaves from direct sunlight.  The leaf may have a small covering of hairs, may be very small in size, or may have a variegated design that is slender and exposes minimal amounts of its surface to direct light.  This, combined with better circulation, causes the shrub to retain much more of the water it absorbs than do other kinds of plants.

Where do they grow?
They grow all over the world.  There are many kinds of drought resistant shrubs native to Texas, so you can do something good for local ecology and for your landscaping maintenance budget by growing indigenous species in your yard.

There are also plants that grow in many other parts of the world that can be used for any type of garden design or landscaping design that features European, early American, and modern designs.

How often do they need to be watered?
The ones that we use do not need to be watered with a hose or sprinkler system.  They can either handle normal August heat in Houston, or their natural resistance to dehydration can be strengthened with custom irrigation systems we build into our Houston landscaping designs.

How large are drought resistant shrubs?
Some are only 2 feet tall.  Others are 25 foot trees that somehow picked up the nickname “shrub” along the way.  We are talking about a wide range of species here, not a formal classification, so there is a great deal more that you can do with these plants than simply use them to plant hedges in your yard.

Will it look obvious to my neighbors that I am only using drought resistant shrubs?
If you are worried about your yard looking too much like a desert, don’t.  Most of these plants, as we have already seen, aren’t desert plants.  While many do work very well for contemporary landscape designs, there are also many shrubs that look equally attractive with traditional European and American landscaping styles.

We have all seen shrubs with variegated foliage in gardens, and we probably went to a school that had a hedgerow made of shrubs with waxy leaves.  These are just a few everyday examples of how prolific and common drought resistant shrubs actually are.  They are literally right under our noses and we often do not even notice them even when they are blooming.

What drought resistant plants should I buy?
We recommend you avoid trying to plant your own because the term “resistance” actually refers to specific abilities that a plant has evolved to manage the threat of dehydration.  The ideal plants to use in Houston landscaping design feature of blend of dehydration avoidance and a low dehydration quantity.  In simple terms, this means they can go a longer period of time without water than normal plants can, and they require less water than do typical plants.  Trying to find these two characteristics combined in one plant can be a laborious and time-consuming task.  Our team offers plant selection as a part of our Houston landscaping design services.

Are there any native drought resistant plants that we can use?
In fact, there are many kinds of vegetation native to Texas that can be used in your Houston landscaping design.  This includes drought resistant flowers, drought resistant shrubs, drought resistant trees, and many kinds of flowering and non-flowering drought resistant ground covers.

How much maintenance do drought resistant plants require?
Drought resistant landscaping is intended to reduce maintenance across the board.  Plant types are typically slow-growth species that consume less water than plants that grow more rapidly.  Also, because slow growth is desired, fertilizer is either not used or minimal in amount.  Shrubs and trees need far less pruning as a result because they will maintain a desired height and shape for longer periods of time on their own.  If you use native varieties, you can also cut costs on weed control and pesticides because native Texas plants tend to be naturally disease, insect, and weed resistant.

How much watering do drought resistant plants need?
While exact amounts and times are specific to individual species, it is safe to say that many drought resistant landscapes can thrive when watered every other week.  To further conserve on the cost of doing so, Exterior Worlds builds custom, concealed irrigation systems and custom sprinklers (when necessary) to make sure that only the necessary amounts of water are given to plants when they are needed.

This not only saves money, it also keeps one in good standing with the city of Houston if a severe drought calls for the city to limit the use of water in yards.

Will Houston soil support drought resistant plants?
Yes.  Our soil is very fertile, but it does require amendment.  Typically we till the soil to break up the clay content, and then we mix it with mulch as far down as one foot.  This creates a very nutrient rich soil, moisture retaining soil where roots can easily penetrate and branch out.  Soil like this retains what water it receives longer, which further reduces both the need for constant watering and the amount of watering that plants require.