Tag Archives: Denver landscape design

Stunning Driveway Design Ideas

Source: Lifescape Colorado

Why have a nondescript and serviceable driveway when you can design and build a stunning one that enhances your home’s curb appeal? Not to mention, the same features that create a more visually appealing driveway — like pavers and stones — will also make your driveway more likely to withstand the constant freezing and thawing we experience here in the Colorado Rockies.

The size, slope and layout of your property will often determine which type of driveway is best for your home. Use the following examples from Lifescape Colorado’s gallery to inspire your driveway design ideas.

Curved driveway. To avoid a very formal or abrupt look, you might incorporate a meandering driveway that creates a relaxed entrance to your garage and front walk. Pavers come in a range of sizes and colors, and the small gaps between them allows your driveway to expand and contract according to temperature changes without cracking or breaking apart.

U-shaped driveway. The U-shaped driveway is a popular design, making it easy for you and your guests to get in and out without having to back out into the street. For this particular driveway, we installed a series of small concrete slabs to prevent competing with the home’s beautiful stone exterior. A combination of lawn, border landscaping and containers filled with blooms, bridges the gap between formal and casual.

Formal driveway. By using raised hardscaping materials to form the borders of your driveway, as well as your plant beds, you can create a more formal look intensified by the well-manicured plants contained within. Here, we selected darker-colored pavers with distinct textures to contrast with the expansive, lightly-colored stucco walls that form the exterior of this home.

Lifescape Colorado is offering a winter discount for projects scheduled between Nov. 2014 and Feb. 2015. You can save up to 8 percent on total project costs! Signing your contract in 2014 will protect you against project construction costs expected to affect Colorado contractors through 2015. So, contact us today to design a driveway that beautifully complements your property and architecture.

Celebrate the Holidays with a Festive Container Garden

During the fall and winter season, holiday decor can add a warm, cheerful ambiance to your home. You can even enhance this festive vibe by expanding outdoors with classy, beautiful holiday container gardens. These gardens can welcome visitors dropping by for holiday gatherings and add a splash of color to a stark winter landscape. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Tips for Starting a Beautiful Container Garden

Source: Lifescape Colorado

Create a colorful fall holiday display. Gold, red, and orange are traditional fall colors found in mums and pansies that are great for container gardens. Mix these colors in one planter for a compact festive statement, or assign one color to a separate container and place them close to each other. Remember, you don’t have to limit your fall containers to these colors. For example, adding blue flowers next to bright orange foliage or flowers can really make these colors pop.

Texture adds charm. Adding different textures to your holiday container improves visual interest. Incorporating a variety of patterns can even make a monochromatic display more exciting. However, mixing textures doesn’t just mean adding in fuzzy-leaf plants or tall grasses. Combining flowers of varying sizes and shapes can also add textural interest.

Use evergreens for festive winter containers. When winter arrives and your landscape grows barren, evergreen trees and shrubs offer a welcome splash of green. You can combine various evergreen dwarf conifers in a large planter, or plant a single native tree, such as the Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine, to replant in the ground at a later date. Then, just drape festive lights around these plants for a dramatic effect after sunset.

Accessorize your containers. Adding holiday cheer to a planter can add a lot of charm and warmth. For fall containers, nestle a pumpkin or gourd amidst the plants. When winter rolls around, a pinecone, holiday ornament, colored bows or similar items, can draw the eye and help highlight a beautiful holiday display.

Our professionals at Lifescape Colorado specialize in creating gorgeous container gardens for the holidays. Contact us today to let us know how we can help you design the perfect garden for your needs.

Common Gardening Mistakes to Avoid in Colorado

Here in Colorado, gardeners often face difficult weather patterns and variations in soil types from region to region. But no matter which area you call home, gardening requires patience and knowledge as even skilled gardeners can make mistakes. Here are a few common gardening mistakes to avoid this season.

Source: Colin McGuire via Country Living

Not preparing soil well enough before planting. Soil should be tested for acidity and alkalinity. It’s better to amend soil and meet your plants’ needs instead of having to fix the problem later on. Remember to work the soil, break up clumps and add your amendments to a depth of 12 inches.

Source: Colin McGuire via Country Living

Mistaking your plants for weeds. Before many types of plants start budding, they may resemble weeds. Avoid a case of mistaken identity by placing identifying tags in the soil. If don’t have any tags, make your own with hard plastic pieces and a waterproof marker.

Source: Colin McGuire via Country Living

Planting diseased or pest-ridden plants. A diseased or infested plant can wreak havoc on a garden quickly. Check plants carefully before adding them to your landscape. Look for yellowed foliage, brown spots and any suspicious marks that could indicate a diseased plant. When checking for pests, remember that aphids and spider mites are small and hard to find. Don’t forget to look beneath leaves, where many pests like to hide. If you don’t spot any bugs, remember to look for other common signs of infestation, such as webs or blisters.

Source: Southern Living

Overwatering or underwatering. Moisture requirements vary among different types of plants, as well as whether or not they’re established or newly planted. Familiarize yourself with your plants’ needs and group those with similar requirements next to each other. Consider also investing in a smart controller with a rain sensor.

One of the best ways to avoid these gardening mistakes is to seek expert help. Our professional team at Lifescape Colorado can answer all of your questions and keep your landscape vibrant and healthy. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you design a beautiful garden.

Colorado Landscaping Tips

While the summer solstice has passed us by, our state’s magnificent wildlife continues to abound. There are still a couple more months before the weather shifts into fall and winter mode. You can use this opportunity to design and execute a few ideas percolating in your visions lately while keeping your Rocky Mountain location in mind.

Design by Lifescape Colorado

Colorado Landscaping: Design by Geography

Where you live in Colorado plays a large part in your landscape’s design and function. The wrong layout will result in struggling vegetation, an unreasonable demand for water and using excessive amounts of energy and labor to make things work. On the flip-side, an intelligent landscape design will yield an attractive outdoor palate with relatively minimal effort on your part.

Design by Lifescape Colorado

The Great Plains. Normally, we think of the Great Plains as “out east.” In truth, 40% of our state is comprised of the same geography that stretches from Colorado’s eastern region through Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma. Temperature fluctuations are vast, water is minimal and a high-mineral content produces alkaline soil. Fortunately, drought-tolerant plants do well here and the arid climate keeps pests and diseases at a minimum.

Rustic Landscape by Denver Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Lifescape Colorado.

Design by Lifescape Colorado

Postcard Colorado. Otherwise known as the Front Range, this is the region of our state that comes to mind for most of the U.S. It’s a landscape filled with steep mountain slopes, white aspens and lots of snow. As a result, landscaping in the front range requires an experienced hand. Working with a landscape designer and maintenance team will help you determine which plants will thrive the best in our climate.

Design by Lifescape Colorado

Out West. From plains and mountains, we move down into the desert where xeriscapes are a must. Without a xeriscape approach, desert landscaping requires large quantities of irrigation. Stick with plants that do well in exceptionally dry climates and keep in mind that broad-leafed trees and shrubs will require irrigation.

Contact Lifescape Colorado to design a geo-centric plan for your landscape today.

Indian Paintbrush

If you’ve spent any amount of time gazing at our beautiful Colorado landscape, no doubt you’ve noticed a couple fiery spots of color dotting the hillsides and valleys from March through September. If so, there’s a good chance you’ve spotted stands of Indian paintbrush (Castilleja ssp).

Upon closer examination, the Indian paintbrush is a small to medium-sized plant with stalks of linear leaves topped by bright red bracts. Fortunately for you, these Colorado plants are easy to add to your own landscape and will thrive happily year after year.

Source: Weather Pics

Looking For a Colorful, Drought-Tolerant Perennial? Meet the Indian Paintbrush

There are over 100 species of Indian paintbrush, but one of the most common and best adapted to our climate is colorful Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia). This perennial plant prefers dry, loamy soil and plays host to a wide range of pollinators, making it a great plant for backyard designs. Colorful Indian paintbrush grows between 4- to 22-inches high on average.

Here are some other interesting characteristics to note:

Source: Grow Native

It’s considered hemi-parasitic. Indian paintbrush intertwines its roots with other plants to leach nutrients and water. However, this relationship doesn’t do any damage to unsuspecting neighbor. Consider planting stands of blue gamma grass or sage brush nearby to help the Indian paintbrush thrive.

They don’t have red flowers. That gorgeous red color we so often admire is actually bracts, or specially modified leaves, as opposed to flowers. The plant’s true flowers are actually smaller, slender green growths hidden amongst the bracts.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

You’ll attract pollinators galore. Because the Indian paintbrush doesn’t have any branches or strong stalks for birds to perch on, they are a favorite food source for hovering pollinators like butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. In fact, they are a preferred nectar source for broad-tailed hummingbirds and a favorite host for Fulvia Checkerspot butterflies, both of which are common in Colorado.

Are you interested in introducing the Indian paintbrush into your garden? Lifescape Colorado’s landscape maintenance team can do it for you. Give us a call at 303.831.8310, or contact us online.