Rain Garden & Side Yard Restoration Project

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Priorities: – Drainage Resolution – Foundation Protection – Tree Root Safety – Ground Cover Establishment
Challenges: – Deck Area Pooling – Drainage Issues – Foundation-Level Soil – Mud-Prone Areas
Solutions: – Rain Garden Construction – Site Regrading – Paver Path Installation- Strategic Gravel Placement

This landscape renovation focused on transforming a water management challenge into a thriving ecosystem by creating a 200-square-foot rain garden. Designed to naturally filter and redirect water, the garden utilizes native plants and specialized soil layers to support local biodiversity while resolving drainage issues near the deck.

Sustainable soil management was a priority along the home’s east and north sides. Through strategic regrading, we established a natural water flow that safeguards both the foundation and local groundwater systems, reinforcing our commitment to working with nature rather than against it.

walkway around rain garden

Emphasizing preservation, we repurposed existing limestone pavers into a permeable pathway surrounding the rain garden. This approach protected the mature oak trees’ critical root zones, minimized construction waste, and maintained natural water infiltration patterns.

The eastern section underwent a significant transformation, replacing bare, erosion-prone soil with a diverse mix of shade-tolerant native grasses and perennials. This resilient ecosystem now manages rainfall naturally while providing valuable wildlife habitat.

In the final phase, we replaced outdated gravel around the western deck with locally sourced, permeable granite aggregate. This choice ensures proper drainage, reduces environmental impact through lower transportation costs, and enhances water filtration.

rain garden beside deck with outside table and chairs

This project highlights how ecological landscaping principles create resilient, sustainable solutions that harmonize with natural systems. The result is a balanced landscape that effectively manages water, protects structural elements, and enhances biodiversity—all while preserving existing natural features.

Austin Backyard Garden & Kitchen Collab

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Striking the right balance in a multi-use back yard was a big priority for this client. A young family and a passion for dinner parties guided their landscape needs. And a scenic but complex property that plunges two stories down to nearby Shoal Creek created project guidelines.

 
 
 
 
 
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The multi-pronged install is the product of a partnership between Maas Verde and Eischen’s General Contracting, LLC. The Eischen crew first installed the awning, deck, and outdoor kitchen. Maas Verde finished the space with the steel-edged gravel landing, rain-absorbing garden bed, and turf lawn.

Choosing the right materials and building to last were Maas Verde’s priorities. Signals that this landscape would be well-loved were everywhere — from the client’s energetic young pet Weimeraner to the packs of neighborhood kids who swarmed through the job site daily!

3/16″ custom welded steel edging retains the gravel pit against a concrete curb. The material will stand up to heavy foot traffic over time, and limit gravel from spilling away downhill.

The same edging separates the mulched bed from the lawn. Maas Verde chose attractive, easy-going Webberville sedge (Carex perdentata) for the bed. The shady area and location right below a gutter and downspout will suit its tolerance for wet roots. But in a drought, it won’t give up.

Shade-tolerant Emerald Zoysia was the clear choice for the lawn. A small paver walkway provides easy access to the firewood rack.

End result: one of Maas Verde’s most versatile and cohesive residential landscapes.

Custom Limestone Patio with Steel Edging, Natural Shade

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Priorities: Broad, Consistent Surface for Outdoor Seating, Garage Access
Challenges: Contour Seamless Edges Around Central Tree
Solutions: Plan Ahead – Cut Stone on Site

The comprehensive services for this residential overhaul were guided by three main objectives.

    1. Design and construct an expansive, stable space for seating and a specialty gas grill under a shade tree.

    1. Link a covered porch and detached garage with a smooth walkway for stroller access.

    1. Refresh plant beds with new natives and permanent edging.

To meet the needs, Maas Verde planned a masonry patio with 2’x4’ Lueders limestone slabs. Our crew would cut the blocks on site to create aesthetic edges and perfect seams.

Grading with attention to detail would be pivotal to facilitating the even surfaces the clients needed. Rattly stroller passages to the alley-facing garage were not an option.

Finally, Maas Verde would pull up generic plastic bed borders and replace them with long-lasting steel edging. After cutting and welding on site, Maas Verde would fill and plant the beds accordingly.

A custom steel planter box with a trellis put the final touch on the design.

Cutting and welding precisely were the key requirements. Setting “fences” for cuts and laying materials with care made progress methodically. So to keep the timeline efficient, project managers made sure to stay at least one step ahead of the crew.

This way, progress stayed focused, and cut men stayed busy.

Native plantings suited to their sun/shade conditions completed this brisk install.

Retaining Wall Demo/Build

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Priorities: Permanent Solution For Failed Retaining Wall

Challenges: Maintain Integrity of Walls on Adjacent Properties, Safe Uninstall

Solutions: Methodical Tear-Out Techniques, Sequenced Install

The general contractor that built this client’s neighborhood had graded each backyard by installing a retaining wall several feet high with railroad ties.

After thirty-plus years, that structure had failed.

Our client’s 63-foot section of the wall had collapsed, creating an unsightly mess and allowing the wildflower garden they had planted above to seep through the resulting cracks.

failed railroad tie wall details

Maas Verde designed a new cut limestone block wall with a buried deluge drain pipe to permanently resolve the issue. The solution required our team to tear out the 63-foot segment without affecting the adjacent properties. The team would then build the wall to match property grade on top of a poured concrete footer.

Tear-out and construction took only two days.

failed railroad tie retaining wall (top) and rebuilt stone block wall (bottom)

Safety was a primary concern in removal, since the existing structure was tied together with rusted nine inch nails and potentially harbored ground hornets. Maas Verde cut the ties inside our client’s property line strategically, to avoid overburdening ties that were stressed beyond the fence line. Existing fence posts provide backup support for these adjacent walls.

Efficiency was key to the construction process. To seat the wall most securely, our team needed to pour the footer and lay the first course of 6” limestone blocks simultaneously. While one crew operated a mixer and shuttled loads of mixed concrete, another tooled the mixture in the trench, then laid and leveled blocks.

The first course of stones set overnight, and the team returned the next day to complete the perforated drainpipe and finish the dry-set wall. We added tie-backs for structural security, backfilled the terrace, and finished the work with topsoil for planting.

Our team also worked carefully to preserve a Baccharis shrub (B. neglecta) — a native pollinator favorite. An irrigation diagnostic and repair completed the job.

 
 
 
 
 
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Side Yard Overhaul with Deck, Fence, and Seating

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Priorities: – Functional Seating – Aesthetics Match – Access For Elderly Parents
Challenges: – Heavy Shade – Compromised Deck 
Solutions: – Steel Fixtures – Shade-Tolerant Natives – Stone Walkways

This project was featured on the 2023 Austin Outdoor Living Tour

Our client approached us with a compact side yard, in need of a comfortable outdoor living area that also complemented their recently-built home. A multi-trunked live oak shaded the small space, which had minimal other plantings and a builder-grade wood deck. The overarching priority was to ease access for the client’s aging parents. 

Consultation resulted in a comprehensive landscape design that centered around enlarging the deck and adding a raised seating area executed in welded steel. The construction plan integrated carpentry for the deck expansion with custom metalwork. The landscape design surrounded the structure with steel planting boxes and trellises, while the construction team added Lueders stone pathways to connect the dots. This project seamlessly blended landscape design, construction, and carpentry to create a cohesive outdoor living space.

Right off the bat, our crew ran into trouble: extensive wood rot under the deck. Determining the structure lacked the quality and staying power we wanted to see, rebuilding it from scratch became the only option. New concrete footings, posts, joists, and decking all went in. 

The crew then installed fencing along new lines that would create more enclosed space — and open the design for the client’s pets with a hog panel-wired doggie window. A new gate completed the access plan. 

Maas Verde selected tough, shade-tolerant native plants like Webberville sedge (Carex perdentata), inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), and turkscap (Malvaviscus arboreus) to foot the live oaks. Coral honeysuckle vines were interlaced into the trellises to soften the edges and create habitat for pollinators like honeybees and hummingbirds. To help the plants get used to their new home, Maas Verde added a simple drip irrigation system. 

Pet-Friendly Back Yard, Lighting, and Native Beds

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Priorities: – Prolific Front Yard Beds – Dog Run in Back Yard – Shaded Outdoor Seating
Challenges: – Tricky Sunlight Conditions – Damaged Landscape
Solutions: – Light-Matched Planting – Custom Steel Edging – Resilient Surfaces

Two critical concerns for our client guided this residential project. The first was a marginal frontyard garden bed that refused to flourish — either the side in deep shade or the one in constant sunlight.

The second (and more important) was a high-energy family dog named Fargo. Or, more accurately, what Fargo had done to the back yard.

Over the years, the shepherd mix ran a deep trench into his favorite stretch of the property and had reduced a lot of his humans’ landscaping efforts to dust. The challenge was to create a stable solution that could still accommodate the vigorous pet.

In front, a new bed with robust, custom-welded 3/16” steel edging would need to trace the profile of the house and hold plants better suited to their sun exposure.

A final objective: Create a backyard seating space in the shade of a big pecan tree.

Maas Verde pulled up the existing front yard edging, designed new pattern, and sank the new material.

For Fargo’s run, we chose a bocce court filled with a heavy layer of 5/8″ granite gravel. A standup limestone patio and commercial-grade low-voltage lighting framed the back yard seating area.

We placed native plants stragetically in the front yard beds. Turks cap (M. arboreus), sea oats (C. latifolium), and beauty berry (C. americana) went into the shady side and flame acanthus (A. quadrifidus), multiple salvia variants, and Gregg’s mistflower (C. greggii), in the sun.

As a finishing touch, Maas Verde revitalized a rear trellis where a maladapted star jasmine had died in the 2021 winter storm. Star jasmine is a non-native species that doesn’t tolerate cold weather especially well, and can be water-consumptive.

Instead, Maas Verde installed coral honeysuckle — a native climber that attracts pollinators with its beautiful red fluted flowers.

Rain Capture Sanctuary

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Priorities: Rainwater Catchment – Outdoor Seating – Native Plantings
Challenges: Expansive Grass Lawn
Solutions: Channel Rainwater to Cistern and Rain Garden – Install Patio – Terrace and Grade Area

This cistern, rain garden, and patio project functioned as an example of mutual inspiration. Maas Verde’s nature-centric client helped us reframe our own thinking about rain gardens. And in turn, we helped her vision become a lush, rain-collecting, native planted reality.

A small shady spot below a tall pecan tree overlooked a gently sloping turfgrass lawn. It was a natural seating area, and the installation would revolve around it. 

The plan incorporated a 20’ x 10’ rain garden swale with berms, native karst limestone boulders, a 1,000-gallon galvanized cistern, and 317 native plants representing 17 species. This and a honed limestone patio would partially replace the Zoysia grass lawn. Advantageously, we were able to repurpose some materials from the site: ¼” steel edging and part of a limestone block wall encircling the tree.

Maas Verde built an 8’ x 8’ CMU (concrete masonry unit) pad for the cistern to stand on. To match the block walls to the house foundation, the crew finished the surfaces with stucco. A 5-foot pony wall helps divide it from the side yard. A galvanized pipe trellis helps screen and cool the tank, once native coral honeysuckle plantings are established.

The rainwater catchment system works via collection and cascade. First, piping funnels rainwater from the roof into the tank. When the tank overflows, it disperses into the rain garden below. Finally, a gentle channel cut into the garden and adjacent limestone wall allows any water still moving downhill into the lawn. 

The system handles a surprising capacity of water. Together, the cistern and garden can hold 1,980 gallons. That’s enough to fill about 45 bathtubs to the brim. In a 1” rain event, the client’s roof would collect 840 gallons of rainwater.

Maas Verde’s system only needs to capture a fraction of that to sustain its hearty native plantings. The outdoor seating component adds novel functionality to the space.

“Most people don’t think of rain gardens as landscapes that are particularly geared toward humans. They’re considered more like ecologically-focused elements than practical spaces for people to hang out,” Maas Verde project manager John Harris explained. “But this design proved, any rain garden can be both at the same time.”

Clarksville

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Priorities: Level, usable front yard – Preserve neighborhood character – Space for community gatherings
Challenges: Steep downhill slope – Limited functional lawn area – Managing sump pump outflow
Solutions: Reclaimed stone retaining wall with integrated steps – Yard grading – French drain and rerouted outflow

This client engaged Maas Verde to construct a retaining wall to raise and level his Central Austin front yard. The existing yard sloped severely downhill and left very little usable flat space. With its commanding view of downtown, the house is often the scene of community fundraising parties, yet the slope limited the usability.

In keeping with the 1930s character of the neighborhood, we constructed about 90 linear feet of “bric-a-brac” wall using a combination of natural and reclaimed stone, and found objects, including oyster shells and native fossils.  We included a prominent set of stone steps. Hidden in the construction are steel deadmen and stakes to hold the wall in place, as well as a French drain to prevent water buildup.

 

After all the masonry was completed, we leveled the yard with high-quality landscape soil and laid 2 pallets of Zoysia sod. We also rebuilt a small screening fence at the property’s edge. An unusual challenge was the presence of an outflow pipe connecting to the basement sump-pump of the house. At fairly regular intervals, the pump would empty the sump into the area of our project. We rerouted the outflow (and French drain) to pop out unobtrusively near the street-side stone landing.

 

Pool with Privacy Wall and Fence

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Priorities: Resort-Inspired Pool – Privacy – Safety
Challenges: Elevation Change – Multi-Trade Coordination
Solutions: CMU Privacy Wall – Boulder Terraces – Iron Safety Fencing

This Southwest Austin client wanted to build a pool with surrounding landscaping influenced by the Line Hotel in Downtown Austin. The client obtained construction drawings from a local designer and brought in Maas Verde to complete three key phases of the project.

 

During Phase One, we constructed concrete footers for the CMU Wall and pool deck, which required precise measurements and careful coordination with the pool and deck builders to ensure everything connected properly.

In addition, we constructed a CMU Wall on one side of the pool to provide privacy from the neighbors and support an Accoya wood deck. The CMU Wall was constructed with custom-welded steel cubbies to store towels and clothing for friends and family enjoying the new pool!

 

Phase Two included using masonry to create boulder terraces leading up to the pool from the client’s house, using 85 cave blocks, each weighing 2,000 pounds. The pool is at a higher elevation than the house; therefore, when looking from the back porch towards the pool, the boulder terraces are all you can see, which creates an experience of a “hidden pool”. During the next planting season, the client wants to install native plantings in each level of the terraces to create a natural swimming pool experience.

 

During the final phase, Phase Three, we installed 290 linear feet of code-compliant, 5-foot tall, iron safety fencing with three, 4-foot-wide gates around the pool.

 

Anderson Mill

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Priorities: Stormwater Management – Native Hill Country Landscape – Reduced Maintenance
Challenges: Sidewalk Pooling – Heat-Exposed Yard – Invasive Plants
Solutions: Rain Garden Swales – Limestone Masonry – Turf Removal and Native Plantings

This Northwest Austin landscape renovation addressed chronic stormwater pooling along the front sidewalk while revitalizing an aging, sun-exposed yard. The removal of a mature Arizona ash had left the landscape bare and overheated, while invasive nandina and ligustrum dominated the remaining beds. The clients envisioned a native Hill Country aesthetic—lush flowering perennials nestled among limestone outcrops—and shared images to guide the design.

The project focused on three core goals:

  1. Resolving the sidewalk pooling issue.
  2. Refreshing overgrown and unsightly areas.
  3. Reducing maintenance by removing turf grass.

To manage stormwater, Maas Verde excavated two rain garden swales totaling 330 square feet on either side of the front sidewalk. Front downspouts were redirected into the swales, allowing them to capture runoff from both the roof and sidewalk. Together, the rain gardens can hold approximately 1,270 gallons of water, capturing nearly 990 gallons during a one-inch rain event. This stored moisture improves soil health and supports plant establishment while preventing runoff from reaching the sidewalk.

Masonry elements played both functional and aesthetic roles throughout the project. Hill Country limestone was used to line the rain gardens, and strategically placed stepping-stone paths improve access while reinforcing the natural character of the landscape.

To further reduce maintenance, 1,905 square feet of St. Augustine turf grass were removed and replaced with mulched planting beds. The renewed landscape was planted with 640 native plants representing 29 species, creating a resilient, water-wise front yard that reflects the clients’ Hill Country vision while solving long-standing drainage issues.