Time to Shine

Flowers are the best way to create color in a landscape. These come in the form of annuals and perennials. Because there are millions of different types of flowers that come in a rainbow of colors, heights, textures and sizes, the decision of which to plant can be very overwhelming. This decision is made easier when you know when you need your garden to shine, and for how long.

It is a good idea to start by deciding when you want your garden to be at its best. If you are only in town for the holiday, then you want to consider only plants that bloom early to mid summer. For the folks that are here full time, or visit several times over the course of the summer, a mixture of early, mid and fall blooming plants, will give you constant color as the season progresses. You should space out your plants based on their bloom times throughout the garden, so your whole garden is always blooming, even though all the plants are not.

Any flower regardless of when it blooms can have a prolonged blooming season if they are “Deadheaded.” This is the process of pruning off the old flowers, when they are finished blooming and starting to die back. This encourages the plant to continue re-blooming. If you have annual containers deadheading will keep your pots looking their best for the entire summer. The job of deadheading spent flowers is fairly easy. There are a couple “rules of thumb” to easily accomplish this task. The first rule is to deadhead tall plants by cutting the stem at the base of the plant. The second rule is to deadhead bushy plants with a pair of shears or pruners, and trim them back, as if you are giving them a haircut.

In the Rocky Mountains it is not uncommon to experience snow and below freezing temperatures into June, and starting again in September. Because our season can be so short, we recommend giving the plants some help by fertilizing. At local garden centers, there are several options to boost plant growth and promote blooming. This is especially helpful if you are hoping to see significant color and growth by the 4th of July holiday. Before planting the correct plants, fertilizing, and deadheading, the most important thing you can do to ensure a colorful garden whenever you see it, is proper water amounts. Every time you are in your garden, we recommend checking to make sure your soil is not too wet, or too dry. If these steps are taken, the results will give your garden vibrant color any time during the season.

Landscape Architect v Landscape Designer

I’m often asked about difference between Landscape Architecture and landscape design.

Regardless of their professional arena, Landscape Architects use their artistic talents and technical training to plan and design built environments. They formulate graphic and written criteria through drawings, construction documents, and specifications to control the means of arranging and building land forms in conjunction with the manipulation of water resources. Currently, 49 states require a form of licensure for Landscape Architects. Of those, 45 states require a license to practice the art and science of Landscape Architecture. The remaining four states, with title acts, allow the practice of Landscape Architecture regardless of qualifications but require licensure to use the title of ‘Landscape Architect’.

Landscape Designers also create drawings and many times have the in-house capabilities and resources to construct what they’ve drawn, specified and manipulated. The disparity between Landscape Architecture and Landscape Design may be the result of a higher level of education, license and liability insurance. According to Columbia University’s program in Landscape Design, the primary difference between Landscape Design and Landscape Architecture is the required level of education and licensing.

To confuse matters further, the level of education varies quite dramatically from curriculum offered at one college, to the next. Landscape Design programs vary significantly. Some schools offer certificates of varying lengths, while others offer full 2-year to 4-year degrees. Many times the graduate of a Landscape Design program will pursue an undergraduate degree in horticulture or agriculture. The standard Landscape Architecture programs consist of a minimum 4-year undergraduate degree; (BLA) Bachelors of Landscape Architecture or (BSLA) Bachelors of Science in Landscape Architecture. Upon completion of an undergraduate 4-year Bachelors degree in the Landscape Design or Landscape Architecture program, a student can enter into a Masters of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program. Students with an undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture typically earn their MLA in two years while the undergraduate from an ‘accredited’ school who earned their 4-year BS in Landscape Design, my take three years to earn the status of MLA.

There are many acclaimed and successful licensed Landscape Architects who got their roots from an education that is a derivative of the Landscape Design programs, coupled with good old hands-on experience. The father of Landscape Architecture and designer of New York’s Central Park, Frederic Law Olmsted, was a farmer without any relevant educational background. Yet Olmsted’s research and brilliance transformed the profession of Landscape Architecture across the world. It would be interesting to know if the value which Mr. Olmsted brought to this industry would hold its same level today, or would he be scrutinized since he only had the rudimentary training comparable to that of Landscape Architects?

Regardless of the written formality to differentiate those who provide Landscape Architectural services from those who provide Landscape Design services, the diversity in both fields greatly overlap as opposed to showing exclusivity. So what does that mean to the consumer?

Prior work experience, referrals and references along with an understanding of your needs should be the basis for choosing a Landscape Architect or Landscape Designer. Many highly professional firms offer both disciplines. When making your selection, make sure that the firms that respond to your inquiry for proposal have construction oversight capabilities, understand and enforce local regulations and can provide site engineering relative to building techniques. Above all, make absolutely sure that they have the professional liability insurance to properly cover their services and assurances.

Regardless of what your needs are, Land Designs by Ellison and A Cut Above Landcare has you covered. We employ two Licensed Landscape Architects and two designers who are working towards licensure. In addition to our Landscape Architecture division, we offer an informal design process for less complex projects or garden designs that still require regional horticultural and construction knowledge.

There is a wealth of knowledge and information available on the internet regarding the profession of Landscape Architecture. Here are a few of our favorite resources:

www.asla.org/

www.clarb.org/

www.thecela.org/

Enhance Your Garden

As the snow begins to melt, and the trees and shrubs start to show their spring green it is time to think about summer. Mountain alpine summers are short, so to make the most of our gardens, it is important to start early. For those with existing gardens, you can enhance them by freshening them up. There are a few things we can do to renew our existing gardens, by using annuals and perennials, or to completely renovate and start over with a brand new and improved garden.

Adding annuals to enhance a garden is quick and easy. Examine sun exposure, water requirements, and space to determine the best annuals for your space. Annuals have almost instant color and maintain their color for the entire growing season. This will give you a lot of bang for your buck. But the downside of annuals, is that they die at the first frost, and will need to be replaced yearly.

Many gardens have existing perennials that just need sprucing up. Larger perennials tend to develop a “flopping” look, due to their size. With these, it is best to divide the plant, and then transplant it, to make larger groups with smaller plants. This will encourage the older plants to stand up and bloom sooner and longer. This is especially necessary if you have older perennials that have stopped blooming altogether. It is best to do this during the spring. Re-grouping existing plants into larger groups, helps to give the plants you have more “pop.”

After you have divided, transplanted, and re-grouped your existing perennials, you can then evaluate what types and what quantities of new perennials you will need to add to fill your spaces. After taking into account light exposure, water and space requirements, you will be able to choose the best plant options. The benefit of perennials is they continue to come back year after year, to help avoid large expenses each spring.

For the gardens that are too far gone to revive, a total renovation is the best option. These gardens generally will have more weeds than plants, existing plants that are not performing, and often have poor soil quality. A complete renovation will remove all the weeds, but most importantly, will amend the soil by adding much needed nutrients. Planting new plants in poor, weedy soil will increase the chance of the plant’s failure. After amending the soil and adding plenty of nutrients, we can add new perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees to make the perfect bed.

For any of the enhancement ideas above, proper irrigation is a must. While many plants have lower water requirements, all plants do require consistent water. During the first two weeks of a new plant’s life, this is especially important.

Land Designs by Ellison and A Cut Above Landcare offer a free consultation on the quality of your irrigation system, as well as what plants will work best in your space. We can help to get you started to ensure your best chances for success.

Get Instant Color for Vibrant Spaces

Planting flower pots and boxes is one of the most effective and easy ways to dress up a terrace or balcony. A dull outdoor living space instantly becomes brighter and more interesting. Harsh corners can be softened and vacant areas can be filled. Your gardens become more dynamic and new elements of interest and beauty are displayed by adding vibrant living plant material to containers surrounding your gardens. Who better to help you achieve this than us?! After all, we are the most trusted and experienced team of garden experts in the Colorado Mountains.

Adding flower containers to your outdoor living spaces will help create the feeling that nature is creeping into straight-lined structures. Containers can also be filled with an “herb recipe” to give your home-cooked meals that fresh from the garden taste. To ensure that you get the most out of your container gardens, Land Designs will start growing your plants in a greenhouse in April and deliver them in June. You get overflowing pots while your neighbors flowers barely peek over the top. You can awe your guests and ease your mind by having living color surround your home not only in your gardens but also on your relaxing outdoor spaces.

Getting Your Garden Ready for Spring

The landscaper’s first task in the spring is to clean up, and prepare the landscape for optimum growth. While there may not be much going on above ground, there is an incredible amount happening underground. It’s important to complete spring clean up and maintenance early so you don’t have to work around new growth.

Gardens
We start by removing any leftover growth from the previous year and lay down a top dressing of composted cattle manure and cotton burrs. Typically fall cut back has left 4-6 inch stems and some low lying foliage. These materials can harbor disease pathogens so they need to be removed along with any remaining tree leaves or debris from the previous year. The compost provides a fresh source of nutrients to encourage new growth and can be tilled into the soil once it has served its purpose. This compost helps to break up difficult, Rocky Mountain soils. In addition, it provides an attractive texture and neat appearance as we wait for plants to come up and fill our gardens.

Shrubs and Trees
We prune any dead, damaged, or broken members, evaluate any support stakes, remove old mulch and replace it with fresh. Care must be taken when pruning as it is possible to unknowingly transmit disease by not disinfecting tools between cuts. It is also easy to stunt growth and flowering by accidentally removing buds on spring flowering shrubs.

Turf
If you have turf, it’s time to de-thatch. Dethatching severs rhizomes and stolons (underground stems) promoting new growth resulting in a more dense, lush lawn. Dethatching must be timed with irrigation start-up or else risk damaging your lawn. You should apply a pre-emergent herbicide with a little fertilizer mixed-in at the same time as de-thatching to help to minimize weed growth and give the turf a boost of energy. Our Plant Health Care Division applies a precise blend tuned specifically to our Rocky Mountain soil conditions.

While it is fine to repair damage from snow plows, pests, or otherwise in the spring, true overseeding, should be performed in the fall. If you overseed during spring at the same time that you are applying a pre-emergent herbicide, the herbicide will hinder the growth of the new seed. Pre-emergent herbicides are designed to prevent the germination of weed seeds. They cannot discriminate, however, between weed seeds and sewn grass seed. Applying grass seed in combination with a pre-emergent herbicide (or most any herbicide) is a recipe for disaster.

Most importantly, spring is a time to plan. It’s a time to look back at your garden and consider what you liked and disliked, what worked and what might do better elsewhere in the garden. Once everything is growing and full, it becomes harder to see beyond what’s in place. Spring clean up provides a beautiful, blank canvas upon which one can imagine endless possibilities.

Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC) Grand Award Winner

Perched high above the valley floor in the Cordillera Valley Club, the Juniper Lane residence rises from the arid hillside as if set in place from above. Design considerations included preservation of existing junipers with sparse under-story vegetation, respect for ravines directing water during rain events, and views focused within the site and beyond. This unique design/build landscape is characterized by careful limitations of disturbance, thoughtful circulation, definition of space, superb stone work, and a plant palette that blends arid garden spaces with the sparse native condition. Program elements include an entry sequence, natural water feature, site circulation, garden spaces, dry streambed, and barbeque terrace.

The driveway was sited to curve and ascend between existing clusters of trees; the arrival at the home is introduced by boulder retaining with arid plantings rising to meet with structural walls extended from the home. An open bridge between the driveway and front entry allows the existing ravine below to stay intact, offering a unique tree-top view passing by the most sculptural juniper on the site, while an on-grade path provides access to the tree’s gnarled roots and the water feature below. Just beyond the juniper, an interior bridge at the home’s entry foyer crosses over a native ravine that became the framework for the water feature. Prior to construction of the water feature, a mock-up was built to illustrate the close connection between soil, plants, water, and stone. Subtle, stepping weirs constructed of layered stone, with shallow intermediate pools and opportunistic planting were inspired by the washed out character of the site’s ravines. Stonework used to form the water feature was phased out to gently deconstruct back to natural conditions.

In the backyard, where the water feature originates from a dry stream bed constructed with a similar stacked appearance, site circulation and an intimate barbeque terrace are nestled between the hillside and the home to provide respite from highway noise below. Xeric plant material was deftly layered to start with dense plantings near the home transitioning to enhanced revegetation areas that blend into site specific revegetation at outlying areas; all of which was done with consideration of site microclimates.

The Juniper Lane Residence draws inspiration from its surroundings to evoke a strong sense of place. The design/build team met the project’s challenge, to integrate a complex program into the native hillside with a thorough design process and careful construction phasing.

High Country Character Interview with Glen Ellison from Vail Colorado

When you leave a conversation with the words fair, honest, hard-work, responsibility, quality, family, and friends resonating in your mind, you feel grateful to have that person as a part of your community. These values combined with Glen Ellison’s passion for creating wonderful outdoor spaces for people to enjoy, has grown Land Designs by Ellison into one of the largest landscape companies in the region. The Vail location created a niche: landscape design, build and maintenance in high-elevation resort towns throughout Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

When did you arrive in Vail?

Starting in 1972, every winter, spring break and summer vacation seven of us would pack into the family station wagon and drive 24-hours to Vail. I grew an attachment to Vail during those years and interned here the summer before graduating college. In 1980, after marrying my high school sweetheart, I made a permanent move to Vail and began my career.

How did you end up founding a landscape architecture business?

I’ve had a passion for the business since I was 14 and worked at a landscape/nursery operation in Mansfield, Ohio. That job eventually gave me hands on and practical experience to create client drawings. After putting myself through college at Ohio State, earning a Horticulture degree but lacking start-up capital, I managed deposits from three small jobs to buy the tools and product that I needed to get started. In those days I regularly worked 24-hour days out of my Toyota pick up truck, only coming home for a dinner break.

How has your business grown?

In the 1980s Vail was a winter town without extensive landscapes, so local landscape architecture matured with the development of Beaver Creek and their design guidelines. We worked on one of the first Beaver Creek lots that included architectural landscape design plans of the level not yet seen here. Architect Jim Mortar asked me to help develop the Tyrolean Inn’s landscape. That led to more architects including us in their projects and our initial growth. More recently, we have reorganized into seven business units, each with their own business plan. The Landscape Design unit has seen the greatest change with the addition of talented landscape architect David Berg, who has transformed the business by implementing progressive technology. We now provide CAD drawings for seamless integration with the architect’s drawings. I’m now learning from those whom I mentored, and am able to get back to where it all started—into the community to continue relationships with clients, architects, and contractors, many of whom have become friends over the years.

Is there a project of which you are most proud?

This work is so fascinating and challenging because each project is different, starting with a unique piece of land and completely new pallet to create upon.

Two (out of 20+ ) award-winning projects stand out for different reasons. One is the Gerald R Ford Amphitheater. We had the opportunity to create and build this landscape originally and then again with the renovation. This is a special place because of the alpine spirit we captured in the outdoor setting, and because it is a place where community and visitors come together to enjoy something very unique to the area—a stimulation of all the aesthetic senses. A green roof we created in Steamboat Springs also stands out. This was the first time that the ALCC (Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado) ever awarded a perfect score to a project. They created the presidential award specifically because of this project. And, just this month we won another ALCC Grand award for a recent project in Cordillera.