The Renaissance Masters of Houston’s Most Beautifully Landscaped Homes: How Lanson B. Jones is Transforming the City’s Most Prominent Neighborhoods

This article is part of a promoted series and not produced by the editorial staff.

 In 1978, when Houston native Lanson B. Jones visited Europe as a landscape architecture student at Texas A&M University, he was awestruck by the continent’s formal landscaping.

If the historic gardens of Italy, France and England were still so beautifully relevant hundreds of years after they were planted, why couldn’t some of their guiding Renaissance design principles — symmetry, proportion, geometry — be adapted for the Texas yard?

Jones opened his eponymous landscape architecture firm in 1994 and, in the 25 years since, Lanson B. Jones & Co. has transformed the aesthetics of Houston’s most prominent neighborhoods, one project at a time.

The firm relies on Jones’ trademark philosophy of the European Scaled Garden for ambitious residential and commercial clients.

“We believe we have a unique design style and client approach,” Jones says. “We want as many people as possible to experience it.”

The design process starts with a unique site visit to determine project needs and to study the home or building’s architecture. The firm’s team of landscape architects, project managers and design associates then develops a design that places equal importance on the architecture of the structure and of the landscape, as well as a comprehensive master plan to ensure a cohesive final product.

Nothing is cookie cutter. Each individual home is treated as its own special project — with the full resources of a powerhouse team trained on it.

“It’s all about the people we work with and for,” says Jones, who has assembled a team of more than 20 professionals who have completed hundreds of projects in River Oaks, West University Place, Memorial and beyond.

The True Architect Difference

Jones and Jim Jech, the firm’s other lead landscape architect, are adept at any style, whether Italian, French or English, modern or contemporary. Their painstaking artistry and expert craftsmanship means that the placement of each boxwood shrub, flagstone step and seating area is carefully considered.

Every completed project becomes a perfect marriage of classical art and architecture and practical functionality.

“Because we are a passionate multidisciplinary firm with multiple services, we focus on client experience,” says Jones, whose “friends first, business second” approach to client interactions has dominated the firm’s business philosophy for more than two decades.

In addition to design and construction, Lanson B. Jones & Co. offers ongoing maintenance including application for disease, pest control, minor adjustments and updates, irrigation installation and repair, and seasonal color.

This team has the talent and experience to handle any scale landscape design project, from a backyard revamp in River Oaks to a lavish and mammoth country estate.

Start your perfect garden and landscaped home retreat here.