The Big One: Where the garden grows

Location: Houston

Company: Grow & Co.

Grow & Co. has maintained the project since its installation. Goals for the residential installation project included creating a lush garden with plants acclimated to the Houston climate.

Kyle Cahill, founder of Grow & Co., says the space backs up to a heavily wooded area with a lot of shade. Danny McNair, lead designer for Grow & Co., needed to address runoff and irrigation of the terraces to create the lush gardens the client desired.

“We really feel like you get a botanical garden experience walking through the space with all of the different types of plants. Throughout the season there are plants that go dormant in the winter that come up through the ground cover in the spring that you just didn’t know were there,” Cahill says. “The homeowner gets to experience the garden throughout the year as it changes and grows.”

Other challenges include significant shade in the backyard from a large oak tree and scale issues on the property’s camellias.

Grow & Co. won a Gold Award from the 2022 National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Awards of Excellence program for this project. 

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

Grow & Co. continues to maintain this property following installation. The client wanted the property to have lush plantings and feel like a botanical garden.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

Hedges and creeping vines line the front of the house.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

The client also wanted the design to showcase hedges and colorful plantings.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

These landscape beds reflect a similar pattern in the backyard.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

The property’s landscape beds reflect the geometrical shapes of the front yard.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

Grow & Co. maintains the garden, which features a mix of regionally appropriate plantings best suited for the Texas heat.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

The large oak tree’s shade makes it a challenge for crews at Grow & Company to maintain the diverse plantings on the property.

(Photo courtesy of Grow & Co.)

Plantings on the terrace transition the property from a backyard to a wooded area.