One great reason to start the design process in the autumn is to have better choices of landscaping contractors. Spring may be too late to hire the very best ones. Additionally, in Tom’s experience, “Winter is the slow season for landscape contractors, and they want to keep their crews busy.” This can translate into a better deal for their client.

Backyard Landscape Design Can Start in the Autumn

“Next, we can get a significant jump-start on the actual landscaping, depending on the location and exposure of the project,” says Altgelt. In the Denver/Boulder area where he does much of his work, the weather is often mild enough to do much of the messy “hardscape” construction, especially if there is a southern exposure. This means that come spring, the major earth moving can be completed, the rocks can be in place, with the paving laid and retaining walls built.

“In the late fall, I usually head up north to tag my really big boulders, some of them up to 20 ton, so I can get them out of there before they’re all snowed in until spring.” Altgelt drives into the mountains of Wyoming to find his biggest boulders, often found off-road on someones ranch. If he misses his window of opportunity in the fall, he’ll have to wait until the mountain snow has melted.

For most trees and shrubs, a fall planting gives them a chance to put down roots over the winter. Then in the spring they can enthrall us with their foliage and flowers. “Often, many of the plants that we can get in the fall are available at a discount, and specialty plants can be ordered during the winter so that we can find the creme de la creme plant material.”

“People who start in the fall will often have a landscape that is blooming and starting to look beautiful in the spring. Those who wait until spring may end up with a big ugly construction mess, with back hoes and mud for much of the spring and possibly into the summer months.” I don’t think I’d want to look at bare earth outside my window when I could be seeing a lovely garden taking shape.

Then there is the design itself. Ideally, a landscape will be beautiful for all four seasons. However, according to Altgelt, “Most landscapes are designed for the spring and summer, because that’s easy with so many plants that are just extraordinary those times of year. When a landscape is designed in the fall, it is easier to envision the effects of plantings that are beautiful in the fall and winter.” He mentions the pinkish or reddish Sedum of Autumn Joy, which perfectly complements the deep purple Salvia in the fall. The bright gold black-eyed Susan adds to the fall palette, along with many other spectacular autumn plants that are sometimes overlooked when the fall season is not in the designer’s awareness.

Designing in the autumn can also inspire greater winter beauty, so the landscape will still be interesting after the leaves fall. “The evergreens, of course, come into their glory, and there are also evergreen grasses like the Blue Avena and Festucas, which beautifully reflect the blue of our Spruces. Our deciduous ornamental grasses are also very beautiful during the winter, keeping the structure of the garden alive until spring.” Deciduous yellow twig and red twig shrubs display their colorful stems all winter long. “The winter is also a good time to envision the rock formations, how to give flowing form and shape to the land, especially by using dry stream beds to direct the run off from storms.”

Tom finds the “contemplative” fall and winter to be a good time for listening. “In any good design, that’s what it’s all about: are you a good listener and can you recognize the opportunities being offered to you? As a landscape designer, I begin by listening to my clients, their needs and wishes. Then I listen to the land and what it has to offer and what its needs are. Finally one has to become conscious of how all this can come together in ones heart as well as ones mind, and then begin to give form and shape to the garden. This way one can realize the opportunity to co-create together with ones client, with nature and finally the people who actually do the physical work. The finest of gardens can be created in this way.”

“It is wonderful that the practical aspects of saving money and enjoying a beautiful garden sooner go hand in hand with the soulful aspects of co-creating with nature and each other.” For Tom Altgelt, combining the practical with the spiritual allows an exceptional outcome to be achieved.

To learn more about the possibilities for your landscape design, contact Tom Altgelt, award-winning Denver, Colorado landscape architect. Visit http://www.altgelt.com to view Denver landscape designs, as well as landscape and garden designs in other areas.