This special property of over 80 acres finds itself at an elevation of almost 8,500’ on a remote mesa and amongst a diverse community of piñon, juniper, oak and aspen. The value placed upon this property by the homeowners could not be made more apparent by a modest 750 square foot cabin serving as the homeowner’s only indoor living space with the emphasis on the outdoor spaces making up the places where they intend to spend most of their time from May through October.
In the distance, the landscape of the mesa is accented with mountain peaks, a Centennial Ranch, and horses at pasture. Expansive old growth groves of Gamble’s Oak blanket swaths of land with large clusters of aspens dipping in and out of the ravines. The objectives for this landscape were to not obstruct views or natural ambiance while creating several outdoor spaces each with a specific purpose; an office patio, a main patio with a wood burning fire pit, a cold plunge, a grill area, and functional thoughtfully lit pathways connecting it all.
The single most important request amongst all the others, was to eliminate the large parking area just in front of the entry (a formidable eyesore to the homeowner) and to re-design it to effectively bring the native grasses and contours of his land back to the cabin. To do so, we imported native topsoil and contoured the area, tucked sandstone boulders in a few key locations, and planted native shrubs and perennials. Later in the fall, we broadcast native grass and wildflower seed over the entire area whereby it will eventually return to the natural grassy gently sloping meadows that make up most of his property.
The second most important request was to transplant the existing spruce and aspen trees that had been planted in a very unnatural manner on one side of the cabin (by the previous landowner) to select areas in the landscape. After some discussion of the likelihood these transplants would succeed, the homeowner decided it was worth the try. We worked closely with an arborist to transplant twelve trees as well as one native oak.
Locally sourced sandstone lichen boulders were placed as visual guides to each outdoor room. A forklift was required to position these boulders, some over two and a half plus tons. The former composite deck was replaced with a flagstone patio flanked with the boulders to form the periphery and formed stairs with recessed step lighting for friendly access to the other patios below. The pathways were made from large pieces of flagstone and lit with custom landscape lighting that we designed and constructed. This lighting needed to be solid enough to withstand winds, drifting snow, and wildlife meddling, so your typical path light would not suffice. As the homeowner loved the look of cedar, and wanted a cedar cold plunge, we thought to play off this material and manufactured 20” tall posts from 6” x 6” cedar timbers, embedded powder coated LED light fixtures to each, and offset them along the paths. This proved to be a fun and effective way to achieve repetitiveness in the landscape.
Another beautiful and effective way to repeat elements in the landscape was to plant various species of conifer. Species like Bristlecone pine, Southwest white pine, Scotch pine, Pinon pine, and Gamble’s oak were strategically planted in and around the cabin and patios as specimen trees. This idea really added to the uniqueness and character of the landscape. Additionally, we planted groupings of aspens, Douglas fir, and Ginnala maple in and around existing spruce to provide contrast and privacy between the office and main patios.
After the hardscape, lighting, and trees were installed and transplanted, we turned our focus to the entry area that would be transformed from parking to meadow. We contoured the area, added a few sandstone boulders for balance, planted with native shrubs and perennials, and then seeded the entire area with native grass and wildflower seed.
