Tarpon Springs hands us two briefs no other Pinellas city offers. Down on the bayous, yards slope to brackish water and every design decision is also a drainage and erosion decision. Up in the historic district, hundred-year-old houses and a living Greek heritage ask for courtyard gardens with Mediterranean bones. We design both, and the overlap — salt-smart plants that look at home against old masonry — is where this town gets fun.
Waterfront design, staged by elevation
Bayou lots get plant palettes in bands: rushes and cordgrass holding the waterline, a mid-slope of sea grapes and palmetto doing erosion duty, and the tender, showier layer up by the house where salt and flood reach last. Grading is designed alongside — storm water gets a route, not an excuse.
Courtyards with Greek and Mediterranean bones
For historic-district homes we draw courtyards the town’s heritage suggests: gravel underfoot, citrus and rosemary in the sun, a fig against the wall, bougainvillea earning its structure, water in a basin rather than a pond. Climate-wise it’s a natural fit — the Mediterranean and the Gulf Coast agree on more than they argue.
Old houses, honest materials
Near the Sponge Docks and through the district, we spec materials that age like the neighborhood: shell, gravel, clay tones, weathered stone. Bright-white contemporary hardscape reads wrong against 1910 brick — and resale buyers here are paying for right.
