By Catherine Hudgins
As summer takes hold of South Texas, spending more time outdoors becomes almost irresistible. And when the outdoors you’re spending time in is your own yard, a few improvements can greatly enhance the enjoyment of your surroundings.
If you’ve decided to upgrade your outdoor living space, the process can involve professional design and construction or some personal creativity backed by a little “sweat equity.” Either way, new materials must be purchased and metro San Antonio has a plenitude of sources for individualizing your newly purchased home or revitalizing an existing landscape.
A Master Plan
If the project is a major one, working from a plan makes life much easier. Most nurseries and garden centers can help you access a landscape designer or a landscape architect, the latter being more fully trained in technical and engineering issues such as site drainage, soil stability, and grading requirements. Dave Shows & Associates Landscape Architects, Blue Heron Designs, Inc., and Keith Creel Garden Concepts are just a few of the experts to consult. Non-profit organizations such as the San Antonio Botanical Center and the Cibolo Nature Center also hold helpful seminars, tours, and lectures by experts to guide you through the process.
Whether your landscaping plan involves a deck, patio, pool and/or other water features, the “structural” plantings that create the setting for this gathering spot are important for several reasons: to minimize negative or ungainly aspects of the landscape, to anchor the pool or patio into the landscape, and to enhance a sense of intimacy to encourage relaxation.
These structural plantings, Dave Shows believes, should be native if you want your space to fit into its surroundings. If, however, your heart is set on creating an ambiance other than the natural Hill Country setting, Shows suggests you isolate the area with large exotic plants or architectural structures, so that it doesn’t look out of place.
“Pool design in particular,” says Shows, “should be approached carefully. Find someone who speaks a design language that fits the kind of area you want and keep in mind that you may face choices between what is more interesting or what is easier for the builder to do.”
Plants and Garden Décor Items
Our climate, like any other, has unique pros and cons when it comes to plant selection and care. With plenty of soil additions and generous watering, many lush tropicals can be used in San Antonio—though the further into the Hill Country you go, the more growing assistance and winter protection these plants will need. Fanick’s Garden Center is a well-known local source for hybrid roses, fruit and nut trees—some developed by the Fanick family itself—and other unique plants. Shades of Green on West Sunset and Hill Country African Violets and Nursery in Boerne also carry a variety of unusual tropicals.
For many area gardeners and designers, the region’s naturally arid climate and nutrient-poor alkaline soil have led to a landscaping approach called xeriscaping. This involves the use of native and other hardy plants that, once established, need very little water to survive and even flourish.
“Selecting plants that are site appropriate and self-sustaining,” notes landscape architect and one-of-a-kind pool designer Shows, “can add to the enjoyment of your landscape. Imitating nature has a soothing effect.”
Locally owned nurseries encourage water conservation with xeriscape plant selections that add beauty to the landscape while reducing maintenance and expense.
Schumacher’s Hill Country Nursery, between Bulverde and New Braunfels, has been instrumental in developing many xeriscape plants; their emphasis remains on growing and selling “domesticated” native plants ideally suited for this area. The Antique Rose Emporium has been instrumental in saving and propagating old roses and other beautiful plants hardy enough to survive South Texas’s extreme conditions.
In addition to plantings, décor items ranging from mischievous concrete rabbits to gazing balls to a sculpture grouping can add new life to an established landscape. Rainbow Gardens, for example, carries a wide variety of plants—and the accessories to go with them.
Patios – Materials/Furniture
Large or small, permeable or not, a patio or deck can be just the addition that brings the family into its landscape. Whether it’s a flagstone terrace with a built-in barbeque area, a pergola for morning meditation, or simply a set of stepping stones over the poor-drainage spot on the way to taking out the trash, your hardscape choices have a real impact on your ability to enjoy your yard.
Should you choose to lay stone for your patio, two of the best places to select the perfect flagstone are Keller Materials on SE Loop 410 in San Antonio and Garza Masonry Stone on the IH-10 access road near Boerne.
Once your outdoor “room” has a floor, furnishings make it functional. Home & Patio and Patio Haus are two of the premier sources for outdoor furnishings, accessories, and barbeque equipment to enhance your enjoyment of the space.
For those with a taste for real San Antonio ambiance—and a healthy checkbook balance—one-of-a-kind “faux bois” pieces created by Carlos Cortés provide the crowning touch. Continuing his family’s 100-year-old tradition, master craftsman Cortés produces truly unique sculpture and functional furniture that look as if molded from living trees.
Delightful concrete statuary, garden benches, and round tables are available at Alamo & Silers Concrete Statuary on 181 heading toward Floresville, Concrete Art on IH-10 just east of San Antonio, Texas Statuary Patio & Garden Center on west 1604 south, or Alamo Cast Stone in Fair Oaks.
Pools and Water Features
For many, enjoying the long South Texas summer is only possible with a pool. Custom builders such as Clear Springs Pools, River Oaks Pools, or Pools Unlimited can give homeowners a pool perfectly suited to their needs.
Keith Zars Pools, a well-known local pool designer and installer, has years of experience in creating beautiful spas and pools that enhance their owners’ lives. And Gary Pools, perhaps the premier San Antonio pool designer and builder (and winner of 46 international awards), has been locally owned and operated for 48 years.
Other types of water features, including spas, waterfalls, fountains, and manmade streams— used alone or incorporated with a pool—also enhance the beauty and value of a landscape. Water Garden Gems is a good source for ponds as well as the fish and plants to stock them. Garden Works Landscape Water Designs can provide waterfalls, ponds, fountains, and even streamlets to raise your enjoyment level.
