Low maintenance garden re-make including, red cedar screening, round shape hardwood decking, sloping artificial turf, and trellis. Positive Garden Ltd

Steve Lambert,Winner Beautification Award for Small Landscape Design - Build Small Country-club Project, with courtyard deck, low maintenance, Bitter root walls,

Jo Fenton

An under-performing lawn is replaced by this contemporary floating deck which creates indoor-outdoor flow and an outdoor room for dining and relaxing. Plantings are structural and low maintenance with the ability to add seasonal colour for an easy change of look. Planting below the deck adds to the feeling that the deck is 'floating '

Karl put together a garden design that met all their wants and needs. Removing the massive storage unit gave back over half of the garden space. This left behind a concrete pad that made a perfect base to install the no maintenance Trex composite decking. Karl is a TrexPro making this Trex Deck warrantied for 25 years. Following the low maintenance theme, Karl chose to use Namgrass artificial lawn around the decking. This grass even has a 10mm foam layer underneath to make it really comfy underfoot.

Planter and seat design for small wedge-shaped patio.

Photography: Gerardine and Jude Vargas

Photo: A Darling Felicity Photography © 2015 Houzz

Pour se caché du voisinage, de grands murs bois ont été installés tout au tour de la parcelle. Ils entourent le jardin suffisamment grand pour conserver une sensation d'espace tout en le rendant plus cosy grâce à la chaleur du bois.

Espace détente près de la maison

Blackened larch cladding references the industrial heritage of this former Miner's cottage. The wildflower meadow reaches out to the countryside beyond. design storey architects

The simple lines of this attractive contemporary home disguise a remarkable aspect of its construction: it received the coveted Gold Star rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. This rating, granted after a third-party inspection, serves as the premier mark in green building achievement. LEED-certified homes cost less to operate, reducing energy and water bills by as much as 40%. Designed by the Houston firm Murphy Mears Architects (www.murphymears.com), the house earned the LEED Gold Star award because of the firm’s expert use in areas such as water efficiency, sustainable materials and energy strategies. Both principals of the architectural firm hold LEED AP credentials which affirm their knowledge of advanced green building expertise. To solidify their efforts to win the Gold Star certification, the firm hired Exterior Worlds to design the landscape using techniques that minimize the impact on ecosystems and water resources. Our charge was to employ drought-resistant plants, reclaimed materials and other green hardscapes to help Murphy Mears earn points within the LEED rating system. In the front yard, we created a rectilinear garden covered with black star gravel. The bed’s straight lines pay homage to the house’s design while the dark gray gravel extends the color palette. In this zone of interest, we planted six ornamental Japanese blueberry trees and contoured them into conical shapes to contrast with the linearity of the house. The homeowners had found reclaimed marble from a torn-down building and so we used these rectangular forms for the sidewalk. A border of gravel connects the sidewalk to the larger garden bed. The marble, which is striated white and black, also adds an interesting element of movement to the yard. We planted the rest of the yard with Zoysia grass since it possesses exceptional wear tolerance and good drought resistance. Gravel garden beds extend to the sides of the house, a choice that is both aesthetically pleasing and earth-friendly. In sustainable landscaping, gravel is prized because of its durability, minimal maintenance requirements and because, being inorganic, it requires no watering. For the back yard, we planted more Japanese blueberry trees and Zoysia grass to continue the theme begun in the front. Other plantings, requiring little water and pruning, were picked from the LEED-approved list. We also laid another pathway using the reclaimed marble, which leads around the property to the grill, patio and a potting table with reclaimed sink in the far back. We built a patio using synthetic decking material in the same light gray color as the house. The decking material requires no staining and is particularly durable. The patio creates a transition between the interior and exterior, with the glass doors of the house feeding out into the back yard. It is uncovered, playing up the openness of the house’s design and making the most of Houston’s golden morning light with the house creating deep shade in the hot afternoons. Perhaps the most striking thing that can be said about the property and its LEED rating is this: you’d never know it. That is, the innovative and far-ranging green techniques are woven so beautifully into its design all you notice is a superb house with an appealing landscape.

Concrete planters, patio, and stairs accentuate the front of this stunning west coast contemporary build.

Create your ideal summer retreat with a vibrant vegetable garden project! Utilize raised beds and drip irrigation to cultivate a lush, organic oasis in your backyard. From juicy tomatoes to crisp cucumbers, savor the flavors of summer with homegrown produce. Embrace the sun-kissed season and embark on your green journey today!

Traditional freestanding glass greenhouse. Photo: Henry Heinen

A simple wooden boardwalk passes through the forest. The stone sculpture is by Aaron G. Edwards

built over a storm water channel, we created extra usable metreage by installing modular floating landscaping components, enabling is to bridge over the top of and completely disguising the drainage channel. It was done quite economically and it certainly created more valuable usable site meters.