My practical approach to landscape design is based on over a dozen years of hands-on experience maintaining gardens in Central Texas. Through many droughts and deluges, hard freezes and hot summers, I’ve come to believe that a well-designed landscape is one that offers visual interest and ecological benefits in all seasons, can thrive over time with minimal maintenance and irrigation, and doesn’t require the use of herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers. The key to success is correctly matching native and adapted plants to soils and site conditions.

I offer residential landscape design services in Austin specializing in:

  • Climate-resilient native plants and ecologically sustainable practices.

  • Wildlife, pollinator, and bird-friendly gardens.

  • Wildflower meadows and pocket prairies.

  • Rainwater harvesting, dry creek beds, and rain gardens.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Consultation

We start with an onsite consultation to discuss your scope and objectives, assess challenges and assets in the landscape, and cover how you want to manage your timeline and budget. After our meeting, I will create a design proposal.

Step 2: Concept Plan

Next, I will create a concept plan. This “macro” visualization depicts your existing site conditions (microclimates, light patterns, location of utilities, stormwater flows, problem areas, and views you wish to emphasize or screen), along with proposed placement of new features (planting areas, pathways, destinations and other “must-have” elements). The concept plan is like a rough draft, assigning a general function to every portion in the landscape before diving into granular detail. See examples of concept plans here.

Step 3: Final Plans

After we meet to discuss the concept plan and agree upon the general layout, we will proceed to the Final Plans, in which I’ll flesh out the concept with specifics. Depending on the complexity of your project, your final plan may be a single diagram or may contain a set of drawings showing layers of information for various phases of the installation, including:

  • Hardscape - A hardscape plan maps out proposed walls, stairs, paths, seating areas, parking spaces, and other construction elements, specifying material types and quantities and instructions for installation. See example.

  • Trees - A tree plan facilitates the protection of existing trees during planting and construction, specifying critical root zone (CRZ) information based on the City of Austin’s Tree and Natural Area Preservation guidelines. CRZ mapping indicates where it is safe to disturb roots or change the grade around tree trunks without harming the health of trees. Tree plans may also include proposed locations for new trees. See example.

  • Rainscape - A rainscape plan illustrates proposed redirection of stormwater from roofs and other impervious surfaces to mitigate flooding and capture rainwater through berms, swales, dry creeks, rain gardens, and cisterns. See example.

  • Planting - A planting plan includes locations, species, quantities of trees, shrubs, and perennials. See example.

In addition to drawings, the Final Plans come with an illustrated spreadsheet of plant materials listing quantities and information about seasonal interest and optimal planting times for each species.

Step 4: Presentation: I will present the final plan documents to you and discuss revisions. You will receive hard copies and digital files in a shared Dropbox folder. With documents in hand, you are now ready to install the design. You can chose to hire your own contractor or choose from a list of my trusted installers. Please note that I do not have a dedicated crew and do not offer installation and build services.

Requirements

Please provide a copy of your title survey or plat map and any information about HOA rules that may impact the design.

Pricing

Pricing is dependent on the size and complexity of the project. The sample prices below are for full design packages that include concept, hardscape, and planting design drawings, plus an illustrated plant schedule listing species, quantities, and information about bloom times/seasonal interest. Hard copies of drawings and two in-person meetings are also included.

  • Small= 1,500 square feet or less, such as a side yard, patio, or portion of front or backyard.
    Starting at $2500

  • Medium = 1,500-3000 square feet, such as the front or backyard of an urban lot.
    Starting at $3000

  • Large = 3,000-4,500 square feet, such as a full urban lot or the front or backyard of a suburban lot.
    Starting at $3,500

  • Extra large = over 4,500 square feet, such as a full suburban lot or larger.
    Starting at $4,000