5 Easy Ways to Transform Your Denver Landscape Design

Many of our gardens appear to be divided into several sections. What if our spaces flowed together seamlessly, creating one homogenous space? Are you telling yourself that anything like this will never occur? Here, we’ll learn the art of mastering Colorado landscape design.

• Reimagine your hardscape and bed lines.

Serpentine lines have a calming impact on the psyche while stimulating the imagination. This curve is known as the line of beauty in art theory. As opposed to straight lines, which represent death or inanimate items, it gives a composition of life.

Maybe your hardscape is well-established and difficult to modify. Not to worry. Your area will gain the fluidity and excitement you’ve been missing if you redesign your bed lines to include more graceful curves, allowing for a comfortable transition from one space to the next.

• Repeat key elements.

A garden has a serene continuity when a recurring main element is used. When the essential element crosses a passage into the parallel bed, moving the eye back and forth across the room, this strategy is very powerful. 

Observe how the eye is drawn through the area by this dark blended border. Although hostas make up a substantial portion of the attraction in this garden, it is the broad-leafed hostas (Hosta CVs, USDA zones 3 to 8) that punctuate the area and draw the viewer’s attention toward the pathway.

Repeatedly displaying large-leafed hostas makes it possible for pockets of various plants to transition peacefully.

• Become reacquainted with the color flow.

Think back to science class in middle school. Do you recall studying Roy G. Biv’s biography? The rainbow’s natural color flow, which includes the hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, was made simple by this initialism. The transition in the garden can be made naturally and peacefully using the same color flow. 

Take note of the colorful development in this well-designed prairie-style garden, which is both lively and serene. Orange smoothly transitions into yellow after flowing into red. A pink or violet bloom would be an unwelcome intrusion, wouldn’t it? 

Re-acquaint yourself with ROYGBIV. It will make your garden a better place.

• Mix up your materials.

You might already have a patio or be thinking about building one, but you’re not sure how to make it seem like a natural extension of your garden. 

Consider this backyard as a model. The patio’s bluestone surface matches the gravel lining the path leading to it in color. The pathway has been divided into bands of bluestone, providing continuity and a serene transition. 

The designer also created a distinctive and dramatic area by laying out the pathway in a yatsuhashi, or Japanese zigzag, pattern.

• Create different levels. 

A place can have logical and dramatic transitions by using terracing. More variety in themes and activities may be accommodated in a small area thanks to the third dimension that has been added. This yard has an incredible variety of surfaces, from the turf to the tan gravel to the gray concrete pads. What prevents this from being too overwhelming? The various heights, expertly braided together with bands of Cor-Ten steel that perfectly match the home siding color, are the key.

Bonus: Bring in the birds and the bees

Here’s a story Denver Water featured in their news column. 

Elie Zwiebel and his partner Laura knew they had a lot of work ahead of them when they moved into their home in the Athmar Park neighborhood of south-central Denver in 2019. 

Unwanted constructions, concrete, outdated fences, and wilting grass patches littered their property. They decided to start over by tearing everything apart. 

The couple declined to fill the area with grass by planting it. Instead, because they enjoy watching birds, bees, and butterflies, they decided to construct patio areas, grow a vegetable garden, and purchase several Garden In-A-Box kits. 

“We are very concerned about the environment. Therefore we wanted a yard that used little water,” Zwiebel continued. The Garden In A Box kits featured a ton of native, drought-tolerant, pollinator-attracting plants from Colorado, which was exactly what we needed. 

Zwiebel emphasizes how little water his landscape uses by using his Denver Water Outdoor Water Use Report. He spent about 8,000 gallons of water on his yard in July 2021, which is 19,000 gallons less than what Denver Water deems to be an efficient amount for his lot.

Conclusion

In some circumstances, bold transitions are preferred to create dramatic remarks. When two radically different garden places are adjacent or when a garden is too predictable and needs to be given some excitement, gates can be visually useful.

In either instance, why settle for a standard, uninteresting gate when you might add something special and unusual with a little extra effort? When your landscape has been transformed, you can then start working on an outdoor kitchen design to fully transform your entire yard. Searching through architectural salvage yards, import shops, and antique shops might turn up a wealth of opportunities.