Native & waterwise landscape design · Denver & the Front Range
We design and build native plantings, dry creek beds and waterwise gardens across the Front Range — sized for hail, drought and a Denver August, not for a catalogue photograph.
The part nobody shows you
A finished garden is pretty. A before and after is evidence — and it is the one thing almost nobody in this trade puts on their website. Drag the handle.
Before · April
After · 14 months
Arvada, CO · 1,900 sq ft of bluegrass removed, replaced with buffalo grass, little bluestem and a dry creek that takes the roof runoff. Irrigation converted to drip on the same visit.
What the neighbours said
180 reviews on Google
Our water bill in July went from $210 to $86 and the front looks better than the lawn ever did. They gave us a plan with every plant named so we knew what we were getting before anyone dug anything.
I was worried a native garden would look like a vacant lot. It does not. It was the hailstorm in June that sold me — the neighbours lost everything and ours came back in a fortnight.
They handled the HOA submission themselves, which is the only reason this ever happened. Two seasons on they still come out each spring to cut things back and replace the two shrubs that did not take.
How it goes
The thing people are really asking when they hesitate is what actually happens after they call. This is all of it.
We read your soil, slope, sun and where the water already goes. About an hour, on your property, free.
A drawing with every plant named and a price against it. Change it as many times as you like — it costs nothing until it is built.
Turf out, beds shaped, boulders set, irrigation converted to drip, then planting. Most front yards are four to six days.
We come back through establishment — cutbacks, watering checks and any plant that did not take, replaced.
Recent work
Every photograph here is a garden past its establishment period. A native planting in its first summer tells you nothing.
What we do
We do not mow, we do not plough snow and we do not build decks. This is the whole list.
Anyone can plant a garden. The work is making it survive its third winter.
Why us and not the other quote
Not "assorted perennials". You get a drawing with species, quantities and a price against each, so you can price it against anyone else honestly.
Everyone on the Front Range designs for water. Far fewer design for the June hailstorm, which is what actually kills a new planting here.
A xeric planting still on spray heads wastes most of what you saved. We change the system in the same visit rather than leaving it to a plumber.
Front Range covenants are the single most common reason a project stalls. We prepare and file the packet ourselves, at no charge.
Where we work
One crew, one region. We do not travel past Fort Collins, because coming back for two seasons of establishment care only works if you are close.
Not on the list? Ring us anyway — if you are within about forty minutes of Arvada the answer is usually yes.
The questions we actually get
This is the first thing almost everybody asks. The difference between a native garden and a vacant lot is structure — repeated masses, a clear edge, boulders and paths holding it together. Look at the Littleton border in the work above: that is entirely native planting.
Across the gardens we have metered, the average is 58% off the outdoor portion of the bill once established, and establishment takes two seasons during which you will water more than you expect. We will tell you the honest number for your yard at the site walk rather than the brochure one.
No, and we often argue against it. If you have children or a dog, keeping a small well-shaped patch of turf and converting everything around it uses less water than a large thin lawn and looks deliberate rather than half-finished.
A typical Front Range front yard conversion runs $9,000 to $22,000 depending on square footage, how much turf has to come out and how much stone goes in. Back gardens with drainage work go further. You get a per-line price on the plan before anything is committed.
Almost always, and Colorado law now limits how far covenants can restrict waterwise landscaping. We prepare and file the submission ourselves — plans, plant list and photographs — because a rejected packet is the most common reason these projects stall.
We replace them for two full seasons, which covers the period when losses actually happen. It is in the contract rather than in a sales conversation. Beyond that we will still come and look, and tell you honestly whether it was the plant or the watering.
Free design visit
No charge and no drawing produced until you have seen a price. Most people hear back the same afternoon.
Would rather talk to somebody?
Monday to Friday, 7am–5pm
Saturday mornings by
arrangement
We will ring you on the number you gave to arrange a time. If it is urgent, (303) 555-0148 reaches the crew directly.