A Dallas Landscape Japanese Style

This week we completed the final touches on a contemporary Japanese garden in the Dallas Prestonwood area. The landscape relied heavily on traditional Japanese garden elements but were simple and bold to introduce a modern look that required lower maintenance.

Vertical living elements include Tanyosho Pine, Weeping Bald Cypress, Weeping Yaupon Holly, and 4 varieties of Japanese Maple. I also introduced some Basalt Columns and Slim Vase Fountains for vertical features.

An Oklahoma chop stone border with random Mossy Boulder inserts separate the lawn from the planted spaces. Within these planted spaces include shrubs like Spreading Plum Yew, Variegated Pittosporum, Japanese Spirea, Autumn Rouge Azalea, Cast Iron Plant, Gold Dust Aucuba, Japanese Cleyera, Japanese Holly Fern, and Chinese fringe Loropetalum.

Drip Irrigation was used throughout the project to create a water efficient landscape.

Willow Bend remodel in Plano, Texas

Here we have a home in a Willow Bend neighborhood in Plano, Tx. The homeowner was in the process of remodeling the inside of their home and wanted to update the curb appeal.

The existing landscape was overgrown and tired. We began fresh by removing nearly all of the existing landscape elements. Because the mature Live Oaks were limiting the sunlight, some areas of the lawn were thin and bare. By incorporating the trees into the landscape beds we were able to creatively overcome this challenge.

The landscape sprinkler system was updated with Line Source Drip Irrigation that will save water, and eliminate water damage on the woodwork. Plant materials such as Spreading Plum Yew, Japanese Maple, Gold Dust Aucuba, Carissa and dwarf Yaupon Holly, Variegated Liriope, Moon Bay Nandina, and Pittosporum were selected to thrive in the mixed light conditions. A border of Oklahoma chopstone and Mossy Boulders ties everything together.

A McKinney Cul-de-Sac

This McKinney home was purchased by a long time customer. This home's unusual lot sits in a cul-de-sac, with the left side facing into the circle. The existing landscape is overgrown and needs to go.

Garrison Gardens completed this project last fall in late September. The first three photos illustrate a section of the landscape before we started, after completion in the fall, and the same bed six months later in the spring. There is something about a winter's sleep that makes a new landscape just jump.

Of course, our premium bed preparation is key to this phenomenal growth, tilling in Canadian Peat Moss, expanded shale, and a Mycorrhizae fungal inoculate. Most of this plant material has doubled in size since its planting half a year ago.

Front yard corner lot

This Plano residence was in need of a front facelift. A few established ornamental tree forms would be saved, but everything else needed to be renovated. The homeowner had some existing Oklahoma tumbled stone that would be used to border the new bedlines.

The new bed lines helped to capture the Red Oak on the right side of the front door. Behind the tree is a slab flagstone shortcut path with a place for a bench. The color bed on the left side of the doorway was brought out to take advantage of the sun and it also provides some visual weight to the short side of the home.