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Bluegreen

Aspen, Colorado
970-429-7499
bluegreenaspen.com   

What’s your style?
Our work tends to be rather contemporary and minimalistic, but always warm and engaging. We think of our designs as art grounded in function. It’s an idea that we carry out through plant material and other sculptural elements that can function as art, like a pool, for example.

We love working with cast-offs from the building site that can be reused—stone veneer can be incorporated into stream beds or walls, timbers can be repurposed as benches and leftover pieces of reclaimed wood can create stairs —and we do some cool things with really cheap materials, too. We once used simple rebar to create a striking perimeter fence.

You’ll also notice plant compositions that are unique. We’re always looking for plants that may not be perceived as ideal for this climate but that do in fact work. 

How does your design process begin?
We’re known for our collaborative design process and we achieve the best results when we’re involved from the very beginning, so typically, our first visit takes place before the home is even constructed. Initially, we’re thinking about siting the house to take advantage of views and solar gain, and we also consider the microclimates that might exist on the site and the animal habitats and existing plants that we’ll want to work around. We also talk extensively with the client to determine their priorities. What degree of maintenance and regeneration are they hoping for? Do they want a water feature? A spa? Or are they looking for a more natural, minimal approach?

How do your designs connect a home with its natural surroundings?
Lately, our clients are very interested in creating outdoor rooms; places to entertain or just hang out in. So we’re always looking for opportunities to extend interior living spaces to the outdoors. It’s easy to see why collaboration with other members of the design team is so important at this stage. We need to know how a water feature or pool might relate to interior spaces so we can create material or textural connections between those spaces.

These days, many homeowners have less to spend, so where is a good place to start to make the most impact?
The best value is in site preservation. At the outset of every project, we create a preservation plan to identify the limit of our work. A master plan like this covers all the big ideas so that you’re always working toward a singular, clearly defined vision, even if you only have the budget to implement a few things each year.

Embellishing nature--working with elements that already exist on the site—is another smart way to save money. We once designed a site that had to be cleared of several gambel oaks before construction of the home could begin. The trees were cut into firewood and stacked between some of the remaining trees for practical reasons, but it ended up looking like art, so we left it. It’s about working with nature and letting the design unfold.

You’re known for being very “green” as well. Tell us why.
Sustainability is embedded in all of our projects; we think about it from the very beginning. It starts with all the elements of good site design. We like to condition outdoor spaces passively, so we look for opportunities to create terraces that can benefit from being on the sunny side of the home and protected from wind, and we think about where trees should be positioned to provide shade.

Limiting turf is always a goal, so we incorporate a lot of native grasses into our designs. When the site is initially cleared for construction, we save as many plants as possible, often keeping them in onsite nurseries until they can be replanted. When clients request a lush landscape, we search out substitutes that use less water, like low-growing perennials that can provide the same experience as grass. And, rather than planting the most lush plants on the sunniest side of the house where they’ll require more water, we plant them in the shade. In places where irrigation is necessary, we install smart irrigation controllers that monitor weather conditions, including temperature, wind and soil moisture, to carefully manage irrigation timing and duration for each zone, which conserves a substantial quantity of water.

Do you choose materials with an eye toward sustainability, too?
Each material we specify is chosen with sustainability in mind. For example, we’ll incorporate 100% recycled and recyclable glass tile in a water feature or a screen wall. For hardscaping, we often choose “greened” concrete, which contains higher percentages of fly-ash, as well as earth-based pigments and locally sourced aggregate, and requires less steel rebar or mesh structure. We use bitublock, which contains high percentages of crushed glass, sewage sludge ash, and/or steel slag, for masonry units or pavers, and we incorporate ‘old but new’ retaining and site wall methods, from rammed earth to gabions filled with rock sourced from the site. And of course, we always try to repurpose construction or demolition materials—timber, stone, crushed concrete, recycled concrete and asphalt—outdoors as well.

What’s hot now in landscape design?
Incorporating technology into the landscape is a growing trend. This ranges from security systems and lighting to outdoor entertainment centers and workspaces. Many clients want to be able to project images, film clips and light displays onto screen walls that serve as dividers between outdoor “rooms,” so we’re working more frequently with audio/visual companies, too.

The concept of “less is more” is also becoming increasingly popular. A client may have the rights to build a 10,000-square-foot home, but he’s choosing to build a 3,500-square-foot home instead. Outside, this concept means creating less of a disturbance to the natural environment, creating more flexible spaces that can be used in multiple ways, and using simpler materials that may be less expensive but offer detailing that’s unique, like that rebar fence.

Top Perennial Picks
Included in this list are a few perennials—lime green coral bells, lightning flash tickseed and gold heart bleeding heart—that beautifully illustrate the current trend of incorporating foliage with bright, acid or electric hues.

• Blue switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Prairie Sky’): Tight-growing upright columns of sky-blue foliage are topped by sandy-colored flower spikes in the fall
• Sundown Big Sky coneflower (Echinacea x ‘Evan Saul’ PPAF): An intense orange coneflower with fragrant blooms
• Kobold gayfeather (Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’): Low clumps of grassy looking leaves bear spikes of bright magenta-purple flowers beginning in midsummer
• Jose Select tall wheatgrass (Elytrigia elongata ‘Jose Select’): Adds winter interest with a tall, stiffly upright habit and straw-yellow flower stalks that aren’t flattened by heavy snow
• Lime green coral bells (Heuchera ‘Pistache’): A robust grower with large, light lime green to chartreuse-yellow leaves and, in summer, cream flowers
• Lightning flash tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris ‘Lightning Flash’): Striking gold foliage with light yellow flowers in late summer
• Gold heart bleedingheart (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’): Chains of pink and white locket flowers on a plant with stunning bright yellow foliage