Bonick Landscaping Receives 3 Gold Awards from the TNLA for Excellence in Landscaping

The Bonick Landscaping team is proud to again strike gold – with not one, not two, but three Gold Awards! The Texas Nursery and Landscape Association has awarded us the prestigious Gold Award for Excellence in Landscaping for Residential Design & Build, Residential Installation, and Residential Maintenance.

The prestigious Gold Award for Residential Design & Build from the TNLA was awarded to us for a University Park residence where our client, an artist, wanted us to transform the outdoor space surrounding her traditional brick Tudor home to have a more inspired and modern feel while being mindful of creating a harmonious balance between the two. We fulfilled her desire by mindfully designing strong landscape elements that would meld both art and function

Beginning at the front entry, we positioned a modern weathered steel address blade off-center in relation to the front doors that cuts through a bed of purple winter creeper and disappears into a stand of inland sea oats.   The large bands of purple winter creeper and inland sea oats are laced with Autumn Blaze maples, redbud and dogwood trees, and Rose of Sharon, creating a living barrier between the drive court and street. The repetition and vertical lines provided by the inlay of trees brings the massive brick facade of the home into human scale.

The formality of the home’s windows and symmetrical facade were subtly mirrored with mass plantings of soft native grasses and shrubs such as Mexican feather grass and gray cotoneaster. Yewtopia® yew and Chinese indigo were used under the shade of the existing trees to provide soft texture and color. The unexpected plant pallet and varied textures bring a fresh perspective to the traditional brick home.

The layout and use of materials throughout is clean and modern while the materials themselves remain classic. Natural hardscape materials, including the crushed marble drive and Pennsylvania bluestone walkway and drive court pavers, help tie the landscape to the home. The mix of textures and deep blue/gray color pallet compliment and coordinate with the rich red brick and gray trim on the Tudor home while adding elements of charm and sophistication.

A major design opportunity was mitigating the visual discord of a large stucco home constructed closely next to the residence. Working with the limitations of an existing pool located 3 feet from the property line, a custom woven rebar wall was created and installed. A focal point was created by adding a back-lit water feature made of a galvanized steel gabion cage filled with blue slag glass and featuring stainless steel scuppers. Together, the rebar wall and fountain create modern art that contrasts nicely with the formal setting, providing light, ambient sound, texture, and function. In late spring and summer, crossvine blankets the rebar wall, displaying an abundance of tangerine blooms.

The backyard landscaping was designed to reinforce the tranquility of the setting while taking into account the shade of a large existing live oak tree located in the center of the backyard. Walkways of oversized rectangular bluestone step pads placed in crushed marble, an elevated synthetic turf terrace banded by steel, and mass plantings including variegated sedge complete the successful melding of traditional and modern in an artistic manner.

Bonick Landscaping received two other TNLA Gold Awards for Residential Installation and Residential Maintenance were awarded for our outstanding work in collaboration with Hocker Design Group on a sprawling 4-acre mid-century modern estate located in Fort Worth’s Westover Hills. The Hocker Design Group’s design for the landscaping of the Westover Hills estate posed complex construction and installation opportunities, and is also a large and varied maintenance challenge.

We were also one of three firms from across the nation to receive the prestigious 2016 Judges Award in addition to a Grand Award of Excellence for construction and installation by The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) for our expertise in tackling this same Westover Hills project.

More information and photos of the Westover Hills project.

Update: August 11, 2017

Big News:
We were honored to attend this year’s TNLA Award Celebration on August 11^th at the Omni Dallas. In addition to accepting our Gold Awards, we were also presented with Best in Show Awards for all three of our entries! Congratulations to our talented team!

For over 30 years, Bonick Landscaping has served Dallas area clients with the highest standards looking for out-of-the-ordinary luxury landscape design and pools by offering the best in service, workmanship, and plantings. Services include hardscape and landscape design, pool designs, pool construction and installation, lawn care services and garden maintenance, pool maintenance, and more. For discerning clients in Dallas who want to express their own distinctive style through their landscaping, Bonick Landscaping can help you realize your dream. For more information, call us at 972-243-9673, email us,

or visit our website at www.bonicklandscaping.com.