Modern Landscaping
Revamped Contemporary Landscaping in Memorial-Houston: Transforming a Modern Home’s Outdoor Space
The Memorial-Houston homeowner faced a dilemma with her stunning contemporary home, a striking ensemble of interconnected white stucco, black steel, and glass cubes. Despite its architectural brilliance, the home lacked a complementary landscaping frame, resulting in a mismatched scale. Imagine Robert Motherwell’s “Black on White” painting without the expansive white walls of the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston. Magnificent, but somehow…off.
Recognizing this issue, the homeowner intuitively sought professional landscape designers. After interviewing about 15 designers, she chose one but was disappointed with the results. Fortunately, a neighbor introduced her to Exterior Worlds, and she hired us to rectify the problems and fully realize her landscaping vision. “It’s not unusual for us to step in and fix a mess. Sometimes homeowners are overwhelmed with managing everything, or the design simply misses the mark. Listening to what clients mean, not just what they say, is crucial,” explains Jeff Halper, owner of Exterior Worlds.
Given the house’s sheer size, our primary task was to scale the garden to match the home. Additionally, we aimed to soften the home’s severity by extending its presence into the landscape. Our concept involved creating an interplay between the landscape and the house, using the black-and-white palette of the home with various materials and textures. Strategic greenery enhanced the design’s interest, density, height, and function.
We began by installing a pathway of crushed white marble around the house, paying homage to the white facade. At intervals, 3/8-inch steel-plated metal strips, painted black to echo the house’s structural elements, were embedded in the pathway, forming a loose maze.
Along this metal edging, we planted succulents, whose unique shapes and mild colors contrasted beautifully with the hard-edged steel. These plantings included Gulf Coast muhly, a native grass with pink-purple plumes in the fall. These plants are low maintenance and thrive in Houston’s summer heat.
Next, we introduced trees for scale, preventing the impressive architecture from appearing too imposing. We placed trees at the front corners of the house. On the left, a multi-trunk live oak, transported from a field, was planted in a custom-made square of crushed marble. On the right, where the house forms a 90-degree alcove, we planted a mature mesquite tree.
For the front entry, we fashioned black steel into large squares and planted grass to create green islands, or giant lawn stepping pads. This look was echoed in the back, off the master suite, where concrete pads of black-stained concrete served as stepping pads.
We retained the foundational plantings of Japanese yews, adding green, earthy mass for balance. Japanese boxwoods were contoured into small spheres to enhance the interplay of shapes and textures.
In the large white planters at the front entrance, we repeated the plantings of succulents and Gulf Coast muhly to reinforce symmetry. An additional planter was built in the back using black metal, filled with crushed white marble, and planted with Texas vitex, a hardy choice with purple blooms.
To complete the landscaping, we addressed the ravine behind the house by constructing a retaining wall to prevent erosion. The wall was designed with a sharp upper edge, creating a modern motif where the landscape meets the land.
