Landscape Design in Colorado Springs

We design around water first

Most of the yards we design sit on heavy clay that absorbs water slowly, in a region that gets roughly 16 inches of precipitation a year and then takes most of a month's worth in a single July or August monsoon storm. A plan that ignores that is a plan that washes out. So before we talk about plants, we work out how your property sheds water — where it grades, where the downspouts let go, and where it is going to pool when the storm comes.

What the plan actually covers

You get a plan you can build from and price against, not a mood board. Depending on the property that usually includes:

• Grading and drainage — where water goes before anything is planted.
• Planting zones grouped by water need, so one irrigation setting is not drowning half the yard and starving the other half.
• Plant choices sized for what they become, not what they look like at the nursery — most pruning work exists because something was planted where it did not fit.
• Hardscape: patios, walkways, retaining walls and the transitions between materials.
• Where rock makes sense and where mulch does, bed by bed.

Sun, wind and the south wall

Exposure decides a surprising amount here. Rock against a south-facing wall makes a heat trap that will cook anything not adapted to it, and Colorado Springs wind moves loose bark nuggets into your neighbour's yard, which is why we specify shredded cedar or hardwood that knits together as it settles. Natives and adapted species that want our sun, alkaline soil and thin water budget will thrive without babysitting; the wrong plant needs constant intervention just to survive. Designing to that is most of the difference between a yard that eats your weekends and one that needs a few hours a season.