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seldom has there been a more unprepossessing mickle for an extensive residential landscaping project : a scrubby two - acre parcel shaped like a Proto-Indo European slice and dominated by a outrageous J. J. Hill ring a busy and loud thoroughfare in Austin , Texas . When designer Rick Scheen went to analyze it for the first time , large culvert pipes stuck up through the ground in a ditch , trash was strewn everywhere , “ and there were some really bad views of tear - down house , ” he think .
A crepuscle aspect looking across the lawn planted withZoysia japonica‘Palisades ’ , a drouth - tolerant and disease - resistant turf , into the sitting room of the menage . A live oak tree is planted in a raised bottom constructed of limestone with a basis cover of Mexican beach pebbles . Photo by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
It seemed all traces of the natural world were obscured . “ So , we asked ourselves , ‘ How are we going to make this look rural ? ’ ” say Scheen , owner and laminitis of Austin ’s LandWest Design Group . It was an odd enquiry , look at the mess at hand , but as it turns out , it ’s one that predate many a wonderful garden design . “ You get to a web site and there ’s an enormous sense of potency — what this could be , what you could build here , ” he says . Fortunately , Scheen had worked with the couple who purchased the land on several other projects . The confidence and comfort of a longtime relationship came in handy for this extensive renovation , which eventually have more than two old age to nail .
The result is a dramatically tiered , lushly immature outdoor space that feels like it ’s in the middle of the country , circumvent a New house of Oliver Stone and glass that ’s rest on the side of a hill . Scheen is a former specialist with an Army National Guard locomotive engineer whole , and that experience came into play ofttimes . “ From the bottom of the site to the top there ’s an altitude change of 60 feet , ” he says . “ That ’s a vast challenge , but it also creates a dynamic property . ”
Major base was ask , beginning with the addition of retaining walls . Scheen usedCorten steelto build a series of implant terraces . He left luck of the metal visible , a spectacular tinge he used with other client , include Laura Rulon - Miller , an home house decorator who worked with Scheen on two houses , including her own .
“ Rick is not only good at the aesthetics but function too , ” say Rulon - Miller , who lives on a slenderly slop parcel , for which she needed maximal employment . “ He fulfill that with tiers . The blade of the borders ages spectacularly . ” Indeed , the orangish - brown surface on the metallic element make an extra style of color to this Austin landscape painting .
Water is everywhere — this is no dusty Texas Hill Country . The showstopping have on the property is definitely the waterfall feeding into a brook behind the mansion ’s back patio , everlasting for the political party - giving clients . “ We wanted a Fallingwater feel , ” says Scheen , referring to Frank Lloyd Wright ’s masterwork in Pennsylvania , which is cantilever over a falls . “ It ’s a real wow factor for entertaining . ”
Cor - Ten steel retaining walls act as planter along the brook bank . stiff winds blow through this surface area , so Rick Scheen decided onMuhlenbergia dumosaandNassella tenuissima ( Mexican feather green goddess ) to show movement . Photo by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
fabulously , the water feature was added on three - quarters of the way through the project — after much work had already been done , the clients decided they really want it , despite the delay and extra costs . “ So we spent a twelvemonth creating a 500 - foot - long brook and falls for it , ” say Scheen . The self - contained cobalt blue - closed circuit United States well water and can push up to 1,200 gal a mo through a series of pumps , flowing over Texas limestone boulders and into modest ponds .
That might vocalize trespassing , but Scheen says , “ It created a flourishing ecosystem where there was once nothing . ” The tilt of newfangled species now hold up there plump from mosses , lily , and fern to turtles , Pisces , and Crane .
The bench design was further rarify by the fact that a local ordinance capped the height of each new level at 6 foot , but Scheen find out the limitation as a chance to layer the landscape painting with even more verdure — but only types that made sense for Austin . “ The idea was to utilize primarily native plant but not that many unlike species , ” he say . The limited number was partly an aesthetic selection so the designing was n’t visually noisy .
But the challenges puzzle by the local ground and climate also narrowed the field — Austin and its environs are subject to huge ranges of temperature ( scalding summertime to coolheaded winter ) and rain ( from drought to deluge ) . In the end , only about 15 species were planted on the integral two landed estate . “ Whatever we pick , it had to be capable to withstand those changes , ” says Scheen , not to bring up a esurient local universe of ashen - tailed cervid .
Leyland cypresses were the first lodge of business — some 100 of them , in fact , especially along the mete of the engaged route . The trees selected had to help make buffer zone , say Scheen , since screening out the 18 - wheelers driving by was predominate ( Leylands grow in full and thick ) . The indigenous denuded cypress tree ( which turns bull red in the fall ) were also implant , particularly down at the brook , to give it “ that indolent Texas river feel . ” Both trees add together a strong erect ingredient to the landscape gardening , which is overlook by the horizontal lines of the house ’s architecture .
A tradition - aim Cor - Ten steel fire pit by LandWest Design Group is situated on the kids ' playing airfield , one of the few savorless areas of the property . picture by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
superbia of seat was have to dwell oak , which Scheen call “ our Texas lifeblood . ” The native wraith tree make out stony grease , so in addition to dotting the lawn with them , Scheen also plant one side by side to the house in a straight - anatomy gravel plot . “ When you grow them in the rock , it gives them a twisted shape , ” he say . “ Stress gives them quality . ”
No one likes a stressed - out - looking lawn , however . Scheen favors a hearty turf grass called Zoysia japonica ‘ palisade , ’ which was developed at Texas A&M University , on many of his task . “ It can take the heat , ” he say . “ It ’s disease - resistant and wanton to take care of . ”
racy - color agave , the spiky desert - dweller that thrives locally , looked keen against the limestone of the house , so Scheen planted about 100 of them . He also plant silver crib ’s groundwork , the perennial with a similar , silvery casting . Bright majestic Mexican bush salvia provided an ecphonesis point of color . “ It ’s all about line , ” he says .
Scheen had the aural experience of this project in mind at all times . Inland ocean oat and Mexican feather Mary Jane act as profound buffers and make a “ soothing rattle in the wind , ” he says . Combined with the babble of the creek — and the blocking of traffic dissonance bring home the bacon by the cypresses — the choices make hear to the landscape painting a delight .
The glass and stone of the house are fairly minimal , and they contain the clients ’ bold collection of contemporary art . But LandWest created a soft cocoon for this potent architectural statement . One outdoor walkway in exceptional , leading from an upper terrace down to the water , struck Scheen as form the perfect gesture for the property : “ It ’s like the house is reaching out its branch into nature . ”
Ted Loos is a New York - establish writer who cover intent forThe New York Times , Vogue , Architectural Digest , and other publications .
