Rocky Mountain Cozy

A Brand New Space From Nothin'
Eddie and I have been in our house for almost two years. The first summer I was in countdown mode to our wedding. The second summer I spent recovering from an accident. While our renovations are well under way on the inside of our home, we've done little with our neglected landscape except beat back the weeds. . . until now.


Our side yard was a funky, derelict space with summertime weeds that grew more than 10-feet tall and a pollen count that prevented us from opening our bedroom windows. Set off from the rest of our yard with a chain-link fence, it had been some sort of planting bed at sometime in its history. Cosmos and sunflowers were the only signs of once was. My husband and I decided to take on this outdoor space first since it was wholly unusable to us. While focusing first on curb appeal may have been a more obvious choice, the beefy estimates we received scared us away from that project for now. Also, while our two dogs have the backyard, my husband and I didn't have an outdoor space where we can leave some comfy cushions without becoming dog toys for our younger dog. We decided to create a grown-up space just for us, with dogs allowed by invitation only. Thus our serenity garden was born.


At first, our vision included planting beds for homegrown veggies and herbs as well as a lounging space, maybe with a little water feature. In the weekends while the snow cleared and we waited for our landscaping crew to help with demolition and re-grading of the space, my husband and I walked the yard, letting our vision emerge. I took photos, we placed chairs where we envisioned our lounge space and we laid sticks where we thought the various elements might be placed. Here is the sketch I first drew for planning purposes.

The Starting Vision

We placed a small water feature in the corner, a patio for lounging, guest seating, some raised planting beds, and something to occupy the central area--either some containers or a fire feature. As we laid out our sticks on the ground, our priorities became clearer. Apparently, a tranquil lounge area was more important to us for this space than the planting beds. Rule #1 of design for any space for me is function. We found room for our potager in an unused dog run. Discussing our plans with the landscaper, he suggested we proceed with demolition and let the cleared space guide us in finalizing the details of our design. We could all get a better look once the scrabble was gone. Thankfully, we were early enough in the season before the weeds took over. We just had some overgrown bushes, trees and other debris to remove.

A Pile of Tangled Mess

And so the demolition began . . . 

Demolition with Many a Machine

And then the rain began. After receiving very little snowfall at our elevation (we're just outside Denver at somewhere around 5,600 or 5,800 feet), it rained and rained. Our backyard became a mud pit and our schedule flew out the window. As the mud dried, the landscaper and I sloshed through the backyard to finalize the design. We expanded the patio and he suggested a slightly larger water feature to screen any street noise. As our house sits on a corner that provides access to a popular trail for horses, cyclists and pedestrians in one direction and a path to the community pool in the other, the larger water feature was a go. With the augmentation of the patio, we decided to add a path to our front gate that eliminated the practicality of a fire pit in the side yard. For this year, we'll stick with our chimenea in the backyard until we redesign that space down the road.


The finished side yard matches and exceeds our initial vision, with the final details falling into place beautifully. As with any new outdoor space, the Serenity Garden is more about the raw space and furniture than the actual plantings. The plantings are wee, and the photos do not do the space true justice.

The Serenity Garden Patio Now

Little touches are still pending completion, like the planting of our climbing flowers on a series of trellises and the completion of the electrical to put the water feature on a switch and provide some lighting. Overall, we are delighted with the results.

Water Feature

As for our water feature, though bigger than we originally planned, we love it. The sound of the waterfall is so soothing. When we open our bedroom windows at night, instead of being gagged by pollen spores, we hear a gentle babble reminiscent of a mountain stream.

Wall Art for a Vertical Element

Now as we recline in our chaise lounges or sit in any of the additional seating, we have a polished, playful space with the bones of an excellent garden. We've dubbed our side yard the Serenity Garden because of the peacefulness and pleasure this wonderful, formerly useless space evokes.


The creation of this space has inspired my husband, Eddie, and I to plant a bed in our front yard and to create the beginnings of what we've named our Cheer Garden in our backyard.

The Cheer Garden

This one bed symbolizes the beginnings of overhauling our backyard. Filled with native perennnials, we included a couple of East Coast favorites like the delphiniums and tree rose as a nod to our Eastern roots. The sculptural flowers are a nod to building our home in the Rockies. The flowers are made from recycled horseshoes. They add a quirky element to the newly planted bed and will keep us from kitsch as long as we don't add gnomes, butterflies, gazing balls, penants and the like. 

Rocky Mountain Flower--Horseshoe Style

This is a case where one accessory suffices. Anything more anywhere in our backyard would likely be too much.


The Cheer Garden bed isn't quite finished. We still need to convert the existing irrigation to drip before mulching, as well as capping off the retaining wall Eddie built. It's a small step for our backyard, but it's an important starting point. The Cheer Garden fills our view as either of us stands at our kitchen sink. As we dine from our gazebo, there are now two great views in either direction--one of the water feature and the other of our Cheer Garden.


Now we finally have an outdoor space where we can kick back to recharge us for tackling those other indoor projects.

Copyright 2011. Rocky Mountain Cozy. All photos and content are copyrighted and not to be reproduced without permission.