Creativity is the name of the game, especially in the outdoors, where this year’s whim and fancy can be scrapped and recreated next spring.

Here are ideas from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC). Each year, its members identify the top landscape and garden trends. This year’s trends involve keeping things local – from the food you grow in your garden to the entertaining you do in your backyard.

1. Eat locally – out of your own backyard. The momentum for kitchen gardening that started a couple years ago is even stronger as more plants and ways to grow them are available. Plant vegetables throughout your landscape as long as their needs for water and sun are compatible.

2. Insert Your Address Here – is your most affordable vacation destination. With the current economy, many folks are choosing the cozy comforts of home over expensive getaways. Enjoy the tranquility of an Asian garden or the formality of an English estate. Turn your backyard into your own stay-cation. With Colorado’s 300-plus days of sunshine, outdoor living areas can be enjoyed all year as places to kick back, entertain, enjoy and escape.

3. Greening up your landscape. Earth-friendly landscape design and maintenance are stronger than ever. Homeowners want less area to water and maintain and are installing sprinkler systems that operate only when water is needed.

4. For annual color, vast, opulent displays are long gone. For trends in container gardening, look for strategically placed annual flowers for maximum pop. Also look for flower varieties in new combinations that are planted in attention-grabbing containers.

5. Water features are now for everyone. Once a luxury, it is common practice for homeowners to request water features. Coveted for their practicality as much as their aesthetic qualities, water features buffer street traffic, provide ambience and can feature plants that only grow in water – like water lilies. With proper design and installation, they also serve as a water conserving element.

6. Whether it’s your wardrobe or your yard, fashion basics never go out of style. Lush grass that is well maintained through aeration, fertilizer and regular mowing is a timeless standard, as are neatly pruned trees and shrubs.  A colorful palette of flowers and foliage — like any good accessory — makes an eye-catching statement.

7. Light it up. Night lighting that highlights your house and landscape is one of the fastest-growing landscape innovations. Not only does it look great, but it increases home security. And new fluorescent and LED lighting options mean using less electricity. LEDs even come in multiple colors, adding variety.

8. Save money by doing it right the first time. Homeowners who are watching dollars closely are wary of quick, cheap fixes that are short lived. Find the right professional contractor for the job and use durable products that enhance property values, provide ease of maintenance and save money.

9. ‘Curb appeal’ gives your home a competitive sales advantage. According to a home sale study in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture, high-quality landscaping increased home sales prices anywhere from 5.7 to 10.8 percent. Research shows that every $1 spent on landscape returns $1.35. Smart sellers know first impressions are crucial and the best way to improve the first impression is to improve its curb appeal.

10. Gardening with a purpose. Whether planting a kitchen garden to harvest varieties of herbs, creating a meditation garden or designing a yard to attract more wildlife or to be more user-friendly to the family dog, gardening with a purpose is here to stay.

11. Mother Nature’s AC is A-OK. Trees are nature’s canopies for providing shade. An investment in trees provides many returns, including cooling our homes, reducing summer energy costs and improving landscape aesthetics and curb appeal. Before planting a shade tree, be sure to pick one that grows best in Colorado’s arid climate and check that you have enough space as the tree matures – including space for roots.

With more than 700 members across the state, the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado is the premier organization for Colorado’s landscape contractors. ALCC has been at the forefront for more than 40 years of helping the landscape industry address Colorado’s unique climate. To find a landscape professional or subscribe to ALCC’s lawn and garden “tip of the week,” visit www.alcc.com.

Photo cutline:
Lindgren Landscape & Irrigation created this gorgeous setting at a Windsor home, providing comfortable outdoor space day or night. Photo by Steve Glass of Glass Photography.

His observation stuck with me because everything about our Colorado climate is like the precipitation — there is rarely an average year and nothing is predictable. Every new season brings either feast or famine, droughts or floods, scorching hot summers or early September winters. And when it comes to fall garden preparation, there are certain important considerations that relate to the unpredictable seasons.

Dave Graham, president of Phase One Landscaping in Denver, tries to anticipate the special seasonal needs of his clients’ gardens when fall rolls around each year.

“The main challenge is that we never really know when fall is here, or when winter has arrived,” explains Graham. “Many trees will lose their leaves, while others are holding on.”

No one with a garden wants to throw the towel in too early, but putting off fall yard work until the last minute can also be frustrating. Some even wait until the following spring, but doing so creates lost opportunities and possibly even some consequences for the home landscape.

“Fall preparation is important for the health of the plant material, to avoid spring diseases, and provide a tidy look to your site and garden for the winter,” says Graham.

Many landscaping companies, such as Phase One, are happy to help their clients with the end-of-season cleanup and prep work. However, for homeowners who find solace and enjoyment working in their yards, Graham has a list of tasks that will ensure a healthy, robust lawn and

garden the following year.

One thing that most people have been pre-conditioned to do in the fall is rake up the fallen leaves. Not only does this keep the lawn looking clean and kempt, but it also takes away a place for pests and plant diseases to hibernate over the winter.

The soil must be turned over in vegetable gardens at the end of the season. This will help remaining organic matter break down over the winter, enriching the soil with nitrogen and other organic nutrients.

In native sod lawns, it is important to plant your warm season grass seed, such as blue granma or buffalo grass, in the late fall so that it can benefit from the snow cover and early spring precipitation. The lawn should also have a “winterizer” fertilizer applied and be aerated.

Wrapping the trunks of young ornamental trees will prevent sunscald. This is necessary for deciduous trees that have a thin layer of bark, such as locusts, fruit trees and ashes. Also taper down the use of fertilizers on trees and shrubs in the fall so that they can go into dormancy.

Lay down mulch around roses and other tender perennial plants that have to be dug up and moved to a frost-protected location.

Some benefits of fall garden preparation can be more immediate. Graham emphasized that even with early freezes, the gardening season doesn’t have to end.  “These conditions create a situation where if we protect our annuals and irrigation systems against overnight freezes, we can enjoy a very extended summer season,” said Graham.

If the cold, wet unpredictable spring of 2010 is any indicator of the fall that will ensue, Graham and other landscaping pros will be in great demand.

Casey Cisneros is a freelance writer from Lyons.

First photo provided by Phase One Landscapes

Because water is a limiting factor in Colorado, the native plants and animals have had to evolve in order to survive on very little precipitation. Luckily, the landscape design industry has also adapted to the low water climate of the Front Range and offers various alternatives that can be even more aesthetically pleasing than the traditional lawn.

“I don’t ever want people to think that by conserving water on their landscapes that they are only limited to a few Yuccas and rock beds,” explains Amy Bales the owner of Bales Custom Gardening Services in Denver. Bales recognizes the negative connotations that may arise when people begin discussing landscaping alternatives such as Xeriscape or the use of grey water.

Bales Custom Gardening Services provided the photos in this feature. The Denver project won an Award of Excellence from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado.

Landscapers and government agencies share a common goal of educating the public about Xeriscape and water-conscious gardening. Some municipalities try by appealing to pocketbooks and billfolds. Some homeowners who install timers and water regulators in their irrigation systems can receive rebates. The city of Denver has a list of appliances that are eligible for the rebates at www.denverwater.org.

“The Colorado State Extension service is also a great resource for information on choosing the right plants for our climate and ways to minimize water use,” says Bales. To further her own education, Bales took advantage of the Colorado State University master gardener program to hone her skills in landscape planning and native plant knowledge.
Rather than planting exotic plants that require additional resources to cultivate, the Colorado State Extension office teaches that natives — plants that are fully adapted to the arid climate — can be used to fit into almost any design niche. Buffalo grass is a native sod that, because of its natural resistance to drought conditions and visual appeal, has begun to replace traditional types of yard sod such as Kentucky Bluegrass. Buffalo grass is also a popular choice because it does not require mowing. If a groomed look is desired, Buffalo grass can be mowed, but it won’t have to be done often.
“When designing a standard landscape, I try to use ten percent grass to keep the yard from looking sparse,” says Bale. Then the other 90 percent is plant beds, shrubs, perennial flowering plants, wood chips, rock mulch or other materials.”

Bales prefers to plant as many perennials as possible. She suggests that all perennials, ornamental grasses and trees be planted in the spring by mid-April. Annual plants should be put in the ground around Mother’s Day.

Colorado plays host to such a wide array of native flora that knowledge and experience with these plants is paramount for building a colorful, fulfilling, and conscientious outdoor living space. Depending on the scope of the project, a landscape designer might need to be consulted. When working with professional agencies it’s important to take enough time to create a list of goals and special considerations.

“One question I always ask a client is what colors do they not want to see in their yards,” says Bales. “Sometimes without thinking people will say they like all colors, and maybe forget that they hate yellow until a yellow flower begins to bloom in one of their flower beds.”

During her years in landscape design, Bales has worked with many clients, and every one had a different vision. She has witnessed the paradigm shift toward responsible water values. Bales said the industry will continue to move in that direction. Sure, environmentalists are a big part of the reason for the shift, but Bales knows that there is more to it.

“People move to Colorado because they enjoy the beauty of the outdoors here,” says Bales. “So why not have the same outdoor qualities that attracted them here in the first place in their own backyard?”

Casey Cisneros is a Lyons-based freelance writer.