Resort-Style Living In Your Own Backyard
Outdoor kitchens offer convenience when entertaining and are a way to simplify everyday living. (Photo courtesy of Don King Landscaping).
By Emily Kemme
B
eautifying your backyard can expand living spaces into Colorado’s great outdoors and create a private get-away, just steps from home. With well-planned designs and the involvement of experts, turning your backyard into a resortworthy oasis is a project that adds value to your home while offering a space to play and regenerate. Modern day landscaping projects are most successful when they balance components, incorporating not only plants, but hardscapes, water features, lighting and enough electrical outlets to provide juice to whatever high tech cooking and entertainment gadgetry you can dream up. Don King has been in the Colorado landscaping business for 46 years. When pulling a landscape design project together, King tries to impart a natural, organic Colorado look as the end result. “We try to make it look like a glacier left the plantscape there, including artistic placement of focal boulders.” Before digging into a project, Don King Landscaping
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uses CAD designed layouts to conceptualize ideas for their customers. Taking client lifestyle preferences into account helps guide the planning stage. King believes the plant palate is what’s most important. “The design takes into account bloom factors of all the different plants, moisture levels, type of irrigation and best growing location. Through a modern site survey, we incorporate the hardscape, patios outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, shade covering, or whatever the customer needs in their outdoor living space.” Hardscapes are design elements that don’t change over the years as your garden develops. They can include rocks, pathways, retaining walls, patios, and the driveway. While trendy outdoor kitchens might seem to up the luxury factor, the ability to cook and entertain outdoors offers convenience and a way to simplify everyday living. One standard King Landscaping feature is a sitting wall — a spot constructed of stone or concrete where people can gather for conversation around a fire pit or fireplace. King also believes a water feature is a nice accent element. “It gives a backyard
