The mile-high city of Denver is home to both many professional sports teams and a population that loves outdoor endeavors. It is a hiker's and skier's paradise with the Rocky Mountain Front Range to the west for winter snow sports, and the plains spread out to the east where ranches flourish. Such a strategic location is ideal for the lifestyle and a convenient jumping off point for air travel to both coasts.

Communities within the greater Denver area include cities that sprang up in the twentieth century as the demand for housing spread far from the city center. Westminster homes are newer, many from the post war building boom that are remodeled and expanded to include comfortable outdoor living spaces for the summer months. With high end developments springing up in Aurora, custom homes feature such amenities as heated paving to limit snow removal and icing. Here too enclosed pool structures or outdoor kitchens created by local contractors who know what it takes to make them beautiful, comfortable and intimate in three seasons.

Historic Colorado is what makes Littleton so appealing, along with its proximity to McLellan Reservoir for summer water sports. This small community offers a strong western aesthetic that is carried into its architecture and landscapes. Here the ability to design for historic homes or create new ones in the old style gives contractors a special edge for creating projects with a strong sense of place.

To the east is Golden, nestled in the forested foothills, where homes are contemporary rustic designs that bring stone into building and landscape. Here views and natural habitat are important outside the protected decks and patios of residences. The outdoor fire pit is a perfect fit for the nippy evenings of higher elevations and planting design can be entirely composed of mountain plants that blend into adjacent natural areas.

The extreme cold and dry conditions of the Front Range make planting a landscape challenging. The design trends known by quality landscape architects depend on regionally native plants that can stand up to these conditions without special care. Local contractors understand the difficulties of irrigation and problem clay soils. They know the wind patterns and that of snowfall to create projects that stand up to the rigors of Colorado and still look great.