Texas Best — Residential Landscape Architecture

Selected Work

Designed once. Enjoyed for decades.

A landscape architect draws the plan before anyone breaks ground — which is the whole difference between a finished property and a pile of stone.

The Engagement

A landscape architect draws it before anyone digs.

Every project runs the same nine steps, whether it is a single terrace or a full master site plan. You always know which one you are in.

01

Contact

Share your goals and your property. We start the conversation with work samples and general cost ranges, so nobody's time is wasted.

02

Initial Consultation

Walking and evaluating the site, and establishing the scope of work — the goals and objectives the design has to satisfy.

03

Design Proposal

A written contract setting out scope of work, scope of services, design fees and payment terms.

04

Field Work

Recording existing site elements, flora and grade elevations, transferred to an AutoCAD base sheet. Any survey or architectural documents you already hold feed straight in.

05

Conceptual Design

Where your goals meet the natural environment. Function, safety, privacy and aesthetics are worked together, with review sessions so the plan answers to you.

06

Final Plans

The drawings the installation is built from — legends itemizing planting and lighting, with detailed notes on every proposed improvement.

07

Construction Documents

Section and elevation drawings with dimensions and notes, so the crew builds what was drawn rather than what they assumed.

08

3-D Modeling & Perspective

Computer-generated models and freehand perspectives, so you see the finished space before a single stone is set.

09

Build & Construction Proposal

On request, bids are obtained on each component of the design, and on acceptance the installation is overseen from first cut to final walk.

The Principal Architect

Ryan T. Colwell, RLA

Registered Landscape Architect

A passion for art and the outdoors is what drew Ryan to landscape architecture — and it is still what the work is judged on.

He completed a five-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree, including a semester studying abroad that changed how he saw design entirely, and left his department with its honor award for excellence in the study of landscape architecture.

After graduating he developed his craft in the design/build field — drawing the plans and then standing on the site while they were built, which is where most of what he knows actually came from. He became a Registered Landscape Architect in 2007 and founded Texas Best in 2009.

The firm builds sustainable, one-of-a-kind design work around each client's goals, serving Central Texas and the Hill Country.

Ryan T. ColwellFounder & Registered Landscape Architect

The Design Studio

Principal & Associates

Every blueprint that leaves this office has our signature on it.

Cole Bennett

Joined February 2021

From East Texas. BS in Architecture, with minors in Business and Sustainable Planning. Studied abroad in Italy, and spent two summers on volunteer builds improving local living conditions.

Maya Renfro

Joined May 2021

From North Texas. Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. Came to the firm with two and a half years of commercial landscape design behind her, and now works closely with residential clients.

Elias Ortega

Joined November 2023

From South Texas. Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. Three years of residential landscape design, plus a background in agriculture, construction and ranch management — he likes the hands-on end of it.

Recognition

Sixteen consecutive years.

The Texas Landscape Excellence Awards are judged each year by the state landscape and nursery trade association — the body every licensed landscape firm in Texas belongs to. Work is entered by category and judged by other professionals. The firm has won something every year since 2009, and Best of Show twice.

Scroll — every award, and the job that won it