Although we started out thinking in terms of mistakes made in the Denver/Boulder area, these turned out to be universal errors, in that I’ve seen these same mistakes made all over. Anyway, here’s the article:

Denver Landscape Design: Which Of These Three “Universal Errors” Is Most Important For You To Avoid?

by Bonnie Driscol

There are few large investments that can yield great joy which endures and grows through time, and one of these is a beautiful garden. Because it is such an important investment, it is essential to avoid common mistakes that can be expensive and can reduce the “return” on that investment, which is the joy and delight that can result from a truly inspired landscape. According to acclaimed landscape designer Tom Altgelt, “In my sixteen years as a landscape architect and designer in the Denver/Boulder area, there are certain errors that I have seen over and over, which can easily be avoided with good planning. I’ve seen these universal mistakes made in New England and Europe as well, during my many years of practice there.” These mistakes include designing for the warm seasons while neglecting fall and winter, beginning a small project without having a master plan, and assembling a group of professionals which lacks good teamwork.

First, even many seasoned designers make the misstep of designing only for the warm seasons. It’s an easy error to make, because people typically pay most attention to the flowers in a landscape. However, if the fall and winter|winter and autumn seasons are overlooked in the design process, the garden may appear bleak and desolate through those cold months, which may be just when we need beauty and joy the most. Altgelt explains, “This is especially problematic in our climate here in Denver, Boulder, and throughout Colorado, with harsh weather off and on for almost half the year. Many of these winter days we could actually derive great joy from a beautifully designed garden, not only by viewing it from indoors but by being in it.”

Altgelt lists four elements for creating a beautiful four-season landscape: sculpting the earth itself; creating rock formations as though they are emerging naturally from that sculpted earth; utilizing evergreen plants; and also including deciduous plants which show interesting colors and shapes after they’ve lost their leaves. Altgelt says, “Combining these four elements artistically will create a beautiful fall and winter garden, while synergistically adding to the spring and summer interest!”

“The second mistake I often encounter is that people typically design in a small-scale, fragmentary way, rather than creating a master plan first.” If a homeowner only has a budget to do one part of the landscaping right now, that one piece needs to fit with the long-term vision. Otherwise, it could end up being very expensive.

“A good design can be executed initially with very inexpensive materials if the master plan is thought through in detail,” says Altgelt. For example, a patio or walkway can be put in using crushed rock and later changed to brick, sandstone, or precast concrete pavers. If you want to add a different surface later, then initially you would be wise to take into account that you’ll be adding three or four inches in height down the road. So, you initially set the patio lower so that later you can raise it up without creating an issue of the patio being at a higher level than the doorway. However, if you didn’t think it through in advance, when you are ready to upgrade your patio you would have to first remove a bunch of work, making the end result more costly. Tom points out, “With good planning, you can save money by starting with a cheap solution, and then later you can still do a beautiful expensive patio without paying extra to remove the first solution.”

The third most common mistake Tom sees, for those who hire a team to help them, is assembling the wrong team. “To assemble a good team, of course you need to see samples of each individuals’ work and get references, but it doesn’t end there. The key ingredient, which is often missing, is teamwork.” How they communicate and work together, how they inspire each other – their “chemistry” – is crucial.

How do you know whether a team has good teamwork? “One key to good teamwork is: do the professionals truly listen to their client?” The design professionals may need to help the client express his desires for his garden, in a spirit of co-creation. “Without that co-creative relationship with the client, the landscape designer is more likely to fall back on standard solutions that he has done multiple times in the past, rather than designing a truly inspired work of art that is specific to the people and place the landscape is being created for.” For the best outcome, the landscape contractor and the architect (for new construction and major remodeling) also need to be involved with the landscape design process. Ideally, this team is put together at the very beginning – even before the house is designed.

Altgelt sums it up: “By avoiding these three common mistakes, not only can the homeowner save money, but the end result can be an artistic expression of the homeowner’s deepest dreams for his or her garden.” What a great way for an investment to pay off!

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.