Jon van Allen, RLA, ASLA has brought his award-winning landscape design talents back to his Texas roots and back to Austin-based TexaScape’s Landscape Architectural Design / Build Department. Jon began his highly successful career in Landscape Architecture after graduating from Texas Tech University in 1986 and has, since that time, enjoyed working in many facets and locales that encompass the landscaping profession – with his true love being estate and residential master planning.

As Vice President of Design for TexaScapes, Jon will be focusing his talents on designing unique and creative outdoor living spaces that incorporate the homeowners’ desires with eclectic themes and hill country vernacular. Jon also will continue to develop TexaScapes’ Greener Grounds maintenance program, which uses environmentally beneficial methods and products in maintaining commercial grounds. Finally, some of Jon’s work will be featured by TexaScapes’ President, Richard Fadal, on episodes of the Green Gardner on Austin’s KEYE-TV Channel 42.

The 22-year landscaping veteran’s first stint with TexaScapes was from 1994 until 2004. During this time, Jon was featured in several publications and television programs including Austin Home and Garden Magazine, Organic Gardening Magazine, and the PBS programs The Central Texas Gardner and The New Garden. Jon also was involved in many small and large scale estate garden designs, including but not limited to ones featuring Mayan, Italian, contemporary, and English themes.

The Mayan-themed design, as featured in Wildflower Magazine, is a residence owned by Bill and Bette Nowlin based on their love of the Mayan culture and architecture. The landscape incorporated several planting pallets ranging from peripheral, site-specific native plantings to the lush tropics of Mexico as evident in the large interior courtyard. The architectural elements that inspired the diverse and interesting planting schemes included replicas of stone Mayan buildings, monolithic granite columns that form a giant solar calendar, a pool designed to replicate an ancient Mayan game court, and a rooftop garden that surrounds an observatory.

The Italian-themed design involved a multi-terrace property adorned with arid plantings reminiscent of a Mediterranean villa. The estate, owned by the former CFO of Dell computers James Schneider and his wife Debi, includes an informal swimming pool with an island that was built within the existing formal pool shell. Italian Cypress, Mediterranean Fan Palms, and Rosemary were some of the plants used to capture the feel of Tuscany and still work with the climate and topography of Austin.

Prior to his return to Texas, Jon was a Landscape Architect with McHale Landscape Design, an Estate Design / Build firm in the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. areas. The Landscape Contractors Association awarded Jon their Grand Award three years running for his work on three high-end residential projects in those states. These award-winning projects incorporated swimming pools, pavilions, pergolas, outdoor kitchens, and mature plantings.

While working in Virginia, Jon also was the winner of Home and Design magazine’s Outdoor Living Space Design Competition where his design was built at the Vitoria Stone Fair, which is a global stone fair held in Brazil. Jon’s highest recognition thus far came when he was honored with the Oasis Award, which is a nationwide outdoor kitchen design competition sponsored and judged by Garden Design magazine and Kalamazoo Grills.

Up until Jon joined TexaScapes in 1994, he worked in Southern California for a firm that designs commercial projects, community park systems, and golf course developments. Jon also worked with Clark Condon Associates in Houston, Texas doing commercial work for BP and the Compaq computer campuses, as well as park systems for Cinco Ranch and other large communities. Finally, Jon worked for the Brossard Group in Austin, Texas on commercial campus projects for Advanced Micro Devices and Applied Materials.