A 105-year-old home tucked into one of the oldest neighborhoods in Denver is no place for a modern, sleek backyard garden.
So one of the first goals Terry and Mary Beth Gorrell had when they hired Randy Randolph to design their backyard haven was to be sensitive to the historic nature of the house.
“Our whole yard needed some help to start with,” Mary Beth Gorrell says. “We moved a garage that was in bad shape, so that gave us more room — sort of a blank slate.”
For his work filling that blank slate, Randolph, founder and president of Lifescape Associates, earned the 2010 Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado’s Excellence in Landscape Award.
“The challenge was to take a small space and make it feel like it was larger than it is, but still cozy and comfortable,” Randolph says.
To accomplish this, he created an outdoor living space with a fireplace as a focal point. Vines trail up a pergola that leads from the kitchen to the outdoor space.
Containers rest on the flagstone and bluestone surface of the quiet garden, located in Denver’s Seventh Avenue Historic District.
“We wanted something easy to maintain and colorful,” says Terry Gorrell. “Randy really met every challenge and did a great job.”
An automatic sprinkler system helps the Gorrells care for the small grassy area, as well as their pear and crabapple trees. Containers are filled with colorful annuals, and broadleaf evergreens and ground covers don’t require a lot of water.
“They wanted to use high- end materials,” says Randolph, who started his business 34 years ago. “Do it once and do it right — that’s a great philosophy.”
Trees, structures and plants created privacy in the backyard, where the couple, who have four sons ranging in age from 21 to 24, often gather with family and friends. The Gorells say the outdoor area feels like an extension of the house.
“We wanted an area out there that felt like a private city garden, and he created it,” Mary Beth Gorrell says.
It was rewarding to create the backyard oasis out of a nonfunctional space, Randolph says.
“They did a great job in directing the project,” he says. “They knew exactly what they wanted. It’s not at all overdone. It’s a simple, classy space.”
Freelance writer and editor Maria Cote gardens in Erie.
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