Altgelt & Associates » water feature

Private Back Yard Garden Near Chautauqua

Tom Altgelt — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:27:55 +0000

Chautauqua Area Garden Design

This landscape design is a tiny little garden near Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado. The Chautauqua area has been a great area for us: we’ve done at least a half dozen garden designs, ranging from really big to very small, in the Chautauqua neighborhood. A big part of the garden is water, and we also put in a nice arbor.

In the foreground above on the left side of the photo, you can see a portion of a very interesting bridge-like construction across the water with three panels, perpendicular to each other, with the big panel going crosswise. It’s kind of a Japanese motif of crossing water. The owners cross the water at least a couple of times every day, when they go from their house to their garage, and when they come home.

And here’s another shot of this special private garden:

Garden Design Deck Photo

From Primitive to Peaceful: Boulder Landscape Design Featured in Boulder County Home & Garden

Tom Altgelt — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:47:31 +0000

A garden I designed for the Mahaffy residence in Boulder, Colorado is featured in a very nice article in the current issue of Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine. This landscape design was a complete transformation of a mostly wild landscape into a serene landscape with natural themes and plenty of entertainment spaces. Here is just one photo of this residence.

Mahaffy residence, landscape design featured in Boulder County Home & Garden

What makes this article especially interesting are several “before” and “after” comparison shots, so that the reader can really get a sense of that transformation. Mahaffy himself had unique needs for his garden: A successful entrepreneur who recently sold his bio-tech company for $2.9 billion, Mahaffy now travels the world and values his garden as a refuge to come home to.

The Mahaffy landscape design features patios, a stone path leading to a koi pond, a man-made stream as well as a major natural creek, rock features involving large and small boulders carefully placed, and plenty of beautiful low-maintenance plants that thrive in Colorado.

The Home & Garden article also gives a nice expression of my some of my philosophical ideas:

“If I were to pick a theme for this garden–for any garden–it would be the idea of coming to our senses,” Altgelt says. “The garden is a place to feel your own soul in a much larger context of a soul-filled world.”

Here is the Boulder landscape design article, in PDF format.

Vail Valley, Colorado Landscape Design in Mountain Living

Tom Altgelt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:01:44 +0000

Back in February, one of my landscape designs was featured in Mountain Living magazine in their article, “Anatomy of a Green Dream Home”. This home, located in Cordillera in the Vail Valley of Colorado, exemplifies some of the ways I like to work in harmony with nature. I felt that nature was my co-creating partner as I designed a landscape that provides a series of experiences as you walk through from one space to the next, featuring rock, fire, water and plants.

To view the article, which includes some nice photography of the landscape, here is Part 1 and Part 2 in jpeg format. Part 2 is especially focused on the landscape design, and some of the thought that went into creating it. Alternately, here is the whole Mountain Living article in pdf format, with best resolution.

Prospect Garden in Longmont, Colorado

Tom Altgelt — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:32:04 +0000

Prospect Garden Design

The Prospect Garden is a small garden in New Urbanist setting of Prospect development in Longmont, Colorado. This is a small, contemplative modern version of an Oriental garden. Here we are interacting with the reflective nature of water. There is a nice interplay and contrast between a matrix “grid” pattern and the naturalistic rock, plants and water to bring out the best in both.

Entry Landscape Design on 14th Street, Boulder

Tom Altgelt — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:38:53 +0000

14th Street Garden

An entry landscape design that draws the eye to the front door making use of both a small water feature and a spiraling paving pattern constructed out of both a precaste concerte paver and slabs of sandstone, in a context of boulders, perennials and other plantings.