The property has a view. It also has a 15-foot grade change, exposed limestone where the soil should be, and a water budget that makes a traditional lawn unrealistic. Welcome to Austin. The raw material here is beautiful, dramatic, and entirely uninterested in cooperating with a landscape plan imported from somewhere else.

Custom landscape design in this market starts with the site because the site demands it. The terrain, the soil, the water availability, and the sun exposure are not minor variables to accommodate. They are the primary forces that determine what the landscape can be. A design that works with them produces a property that feels like it grew out of the land. A design that fights them produces an irrigation bill and a maintenance headache.