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We are currently working on a very large, even spectacular landscape design project. One landscape feature we have already created is a rock feature involving boulders weighing up to 24 tons.
 Here is one of the massive boulders for this landscape design before installation. The installation was a technical challenge. We weren’t even sure if we could get the crane in there, and we had to demolish part of the house before the crane could get through. Fortunately, the house was going to be demolished anyway. The crane had to lift the truck carrying the boulders over a bridge because the truck was too heavy to cross the bridge. We also were not entirely certain how deep we could dig without hitting the water table, but fortunately we had no problem with that.
Below you can see one of the giant boulders being set into concrete. Whenever you see a really massive boulder in a landscape, if it is properly installed, generally about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rock is under ground so that it is securely planted in the earth. In this particular case, we added concrete underground, connecting the rock to the concrete foundation with heavy rebar, grounding the rocks securely even though there is less than 1/3 of the rock underground on the side away from the house. In this way, we are preserving the looming height of the rock which juts dramatically upward 14 feet from the ground on that side.
We handled these 24-ton rocks very gingerly because they are moss rocks and the client really wanted these mossy surfaces to be undamaged by the installation process.
 Here is the same boulder being set into concrete re-enforcement. And in the picture below we can begin to see what the final product will look like from the house. From this side, they present a much more modest six foot tall form, which is something of an optical illusion. As you walk around the rocks, you suddenly find the rocks are 14 feet tall on the other side.
Not only will this provide a main focal point from all aspects of the property, but it will also provide a backdrop accenting different forms of the garden.
 Here is the final product as seen from the house. I always enjoy projects that involve inclusion of massive boulders that incorporate the surrounding landscape and nature with what has been created within.
This is a new project I am working on, which I have dubbed the “Boulder Shangri-la”. It is a project that could not be built today, because it’s very large, and Boulder does not allow building that size anymore, but as a renovation it can be done. It’s right up against an extraordinary cliff rock formation, so when you step out of the back of the house, you are 30-35 feet from a sheer vertical rock wall. In Feng Shui, this formation is called a “dragon’s back” and usually monasteries are located in such places. The cliff ridge forms the back edge of the property. It’s very dramatic. Much of the rest of the property is on a steep slope. Coming up the driveway to the house, you get an amazing overview of Boulder and the plains. As the driveway goes up the steep slope, it makes a hairpin turn and doubles back, and then you see above you the house along the cliff. From a distance the house literally looks like a Tibetan monastery up there against the cliff. There are also some very large, beautiful Ponderosa pines among many smaller ones for which we will be doing fire mitigation.
I am really excited about this project. I was fortunate to be introduced to the general contractor at a friend’s party, and it just happened that he had also looked at some landscape design work I had done near Chautauqua in Boulder. This is the first of several posts I plan to write about this project.
Here is a photo of the entrance to the property as it is now:
 "Boulder Shangri-la" Entrance Before Design Changes We want to create an entrance that is really in keeping with this remarkable piece of property and the whole of the building and landscape architecture, which will be even more remarkable once we’re done with it! Here is a sketch I’ve done on tracing paper for the entrance design. In the background, you can see the same photo as above showing through the tracing paper, with changes and additions sketched on top:
 Entry Gate Design for "Boulder Shangri-la" More to come!
This landscape design on the Denver Country Club golf course was the first of four Denver projects we did with Bryan Pulte, renowned interior designer. It was a major, major remodel. For starters, we completely tore out the whole existing driveway and part of the related retaining wall, and changed the elevation and grading in major ways.
Before it had been very awkward driving in, as the whole driveway was a straight shot down, creating a very, very poor sense of arrival. Instead, we created a winding, meandering flow that brought you to the arrival plaza. In this photo, you can still feel the curvature of drive behind you, and get a sense of that from looking at the photograph.
 New driveway for Pulte project on Denver golf course Now, instead of the old straight shot driveway that took you immediately to the left side of the house, we created a driveway that curves in such a way that it initially blocks the house from view and then reveals it, giving different glimpses of the house as you enter the property. It’s a long driveway.
We tore out a very large planting bed in front of the front door to create the arrival plaza. In doing so, we sunk the area down by at least 18″ to 2 feet, creating a level plaza. In the photo below, on the right you see both part of the original brick retaining wall and also a new dry stack retaining wall in front. We wanted to keep some of the brick retaining wall for aesthetic reasons, because it reflects the brick used on the house itself. The dry stack wall accomplishes two goals: it is visually attractive and it also covers the foundations of the old brick retaining walls, preventing a frost heaving of those foundations. In some places, we tore out the preexisting retaining walls, building huge freestanding walls to hide the neighbor’s garage doors. This was very tricky in a technical engineering sense.
 This is the arrival plaza for the Bryan Pulte project on the golf course in Denver, Colorado In the arrival plaza above, what we have here initially are some concentric circles, spiraling out into vortical movement. We utilized hand-smoothed colored concrete made to look like natural stone slabs, alternating with precast concrete split-faced cobble. The cobble looks very much like natural stone, with lots of modulation and color, and it also provides a real grip for tires coming down the steep driveway. So it both looks good and it provides a very important function. As the pavement flattens out, it goes into stamped colored concrete. We were working around a lot of mature existing trees to preserve them, another big technical challenge.
 Here is a view of the decks and paving for the Pulte project In the back, up on the left side of the photo above, you see the preexisting deck which had no connection to the ground, so we created a staircase coming down with intricate carpentry bringing people gracefully down from this deck which had been isolated. As one comes down the stairs, one walks around a water feature that is the focal point for this small garden space. The upper pool of this water feature finds its source underneath the staircase coming down. As one gets down to the ground, there is sandstone paving, and then one goes back onto what looks at first glance like a bridge in the photo, but it’s simply a lower deck where one can put a table and chairs. From that deck we look down into the lower pool of the water feature. The lower pool is a deep pool with the deck cantilevering over it. We brought in massive rocks, so it’s a very intense rock and water feature. Again, we were working around huge existing trees, and we had to work these 5-6 ton boulders carefully so as not to damage the roots of these trees. We were really pushing the limits, and had to work very carefully.
From the decks, one looks to the north for a view of the Denver Country Club golf course.
 Entry to Longmont Prairie-Style Landscape Design To show the range of what I do, here is a landscape design project in Longmont, Colorado, that is much more subtle than much of my work. This open, spacious garden has a large arrival plaza that also serves as a paved play surface for kids. There’s a nice combination of precast concrete cobbles and concrete flatwork. A row of trees give a touch of formality, both accompanying the driveway and framing the arrival parking plaza opposite the house and garage.
 View of Plaza, Perennials, Low Wall in Background Another feature that is not very noticeable in the photos is the use of a lot of stone walls to echo the architecture of the house and give definition of the arrival plaza area. These walls form a circumference around the arrival plaza on the north and west sides, set back from the plaza the same distance as the house is set back from the plaza.
 Longmont Garden: Dry-Stack Pillar, Wall These walls are of dry stack sandstone, picking up the architecture of the house. Perennial beds below and on top of the walls add to the subtle yet strong spacial definition of the entry garden area. I’ve incorporated perennials that bloom in a progression, spring through fall.
 Gate with Perennials This garden makes broad, sweeping gestures, with some big boulders of the same materials as the walls here and there in the rest of the landscape. I’ve used more low, long stone gestures of rock rather than upright, vertical ones to fit the lay of the land. The home is a prairie style home with low, sweeping roofs and an open wraparound porch. Just as the architecture picks up the prairie setting with the mountains in the background, the landscape picks up these gestures of the architecture, relating them even more to the gestures of the given surrounding landscape. Taking my cue from these forms and colors, my aim was to further harmonize the architecture with the setting, using the landscape design to accentuate and weave them together even more.
I was describing this landscape design in these terms to a friend of mine, who commented, “You know, Tom, if I were actually sitting in that garden, I believe I would just have such a peaceful, contented feeling and have no idea why. I could pick out certain plants or rocks that I would think are pretty, but I really wouldn’t have a clue about how the whole thing flows together to create this sense of harmony. Now having your explanation of how the various elements all work together, I can get a little glimpse of how you understand and appreciate the landscape, the building architecture, and the surroundings.”
Here is a sketch of a landscape design I did for a very unique property. This land was a little piece of untouched prairie until a couple of years ago, up against the flatirons with killer views, north of Chautauqua Park in Boulder. The project was a collaboration with the developer, the architect, and myself, from the earliest design stages. It is a spec home that will be on the market very soon.
 Landscape Design Plans for Boulder Flatirons Residence The landscaping involved bringing in hundreds of tons of stone. It’s on enough of a slope so that we could create very interesting combinations of moss rock walls with huge boulders. A soothingly geometric water feature, paving, benches, and a naturalistic rock garden combine sculpturally alongside expanses of wildflower and native meadow. It’s an example of how to set a very large single family residence into a prairie setting, with harmonious transitions from ultra-modern elements to a natural prairie landscape. If you’re curious to see the finished landscaping, check back in a few months. I expect to have some photos in the late spring, perhaps the end of May.
The house itself is extraordinarily modern looking. The architect, Sam Austin, is very creative and does a wide range of architecture. I consider him one of the best architects in the area, and it was a real pleasure to work with him on this project. He designed a rooftop terrace, which provides even more spectacular views.
We’re expecting it to be finished in a couple of months. It’s really one of the Denver area’s few remaining spectacular lots with no previous development. Since the recent reworking of the building codes in Boulder, I don’t know whether anyone could even build a house as large as this one anymore.
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