Denver Landscape Design: Which Of These Three Universal Errors Is Most Important For You To Avoid?
One of the few major investments that gives us joy, year after year, is a beautifully designed garden. According to Tom Altgelt, an acclaimed Denver, Colorado area landscape architect, “When you’re designing a landscape or garden, or having a landscape designed, it’s very important to avoid mistakes that can be costly, yield a less satisfying result, and even be counterproductive.” He lists three major errors that he has seen again and again, in the Denver/Boulder area where he currently practices, as well as across the country and in Europe. These “universal mistakes” include designing a landscape that is optimized for only half the year, starting the landscape design without first creating a master plan, and failing to assemble a great team.
In Altgelt’s words, “The first mistake that is commonly made is designing only for spring and summer. It’s pretty easy to design a garden that works for spring and summer, and then people get a little lazy when they think about how it’s going to look in fall and winter.” However, in the Denver, Colorado area, giving too little attention to the fall and winter can mean the landscape doesn’t really look as well as it could during those long, cold months! According to Tom, even experienced professionals often make this error, although of course the best designers will create a design that’s beautiful for the whole year. During the cold months, we could still be appreciating a well-designed landscape, both through the window and stepping outside.
In Tom Altgelt’s experience, the four elements that create a beautiful landscape year-round are “artistic sculpting of the land, creating rock formations that grow out of and accentuate the sculpting of the land, incorporating evergreen plants, and utilizing deciduous plants which retain interesting colors and shapes after the fall of the leaves.” Naturally, it’s important to combine these elements artistically for a garden that is beautiful all year round.
The second common error is to design in a piecemeal fashion without having a master-plan from the beginning. “Especially if a person has a limited budget and can only do a small project this year, it’s important for that small project to fit in with the long-term vision for the landscape.” This common error can be very costly for the homeowner in the long run.
“A good design can be executed initially with very inexpensive materials if the master plan is thought through in detail,” says Tom. For example, a patio or walkway can be put in with crushed rock and then later changed to sandstone, brick, or precast concrete pavers. If you intend to add a different surface material in the future, then initially you would be wise to take into account that you’ll be adding three or four inches of height down the road. So, you initially set the patio lower so that later you can raise it up without creating a problem 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 first have to undo a bunch of work, making the end result more expensive. 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 Altgelt sees, for those who hire a team to assist 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.
For Tom, really listening to the client is the first step in creating this teamwork. “The client should be considered part of the landscape design team, so the client’s greatest desires for their garden can be manifest.” Even if a homeowner isn’t sure what he wants, a design professional needs to help him discover it. “The landscape designer or landscape architect, in particular, needs to be committed not only to making suggestions but also to really engaging the client in the design process.” The landscape contractor is another essential team member. For new construction, the best outcomes can be achieved if the architect is part of the landscape design team, to create a big-picture plan for the property even prior to the design of the house.
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 wonderful way for an investment to pay off!
Don’t make the same common landscape design mistakes most homeowners make! Consult with Thomas Altgelt for professional Denver Colorado landscape design. Get more FREE Denver/Boulder landscape design tips here! Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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