LOCATION: Bozeman, Mont.
COMPANY: Blanchford Landscape Group
The client contacted Blanchford Landscape Group (BLG) after seeing the company’s advertisement in a local publication. The client wanted to ensure the design fit the multilevel home and the foothills of the nearby mountains.
Mason Shaffer, garden designer with BLG, says the company strived to not disrupt the native surroundings. This meant working from the back to the front of the house and installing all softscapes and hardscapes in each section, start to finish.
“We had to commit to what our equipment needed to do before we got out of there because we couldn’t take the equipment back in after it was done,” he says.
Noteworthy features include a native boulder transformed into a propane-powered fire feature and a multilevel patio. The company also installed a fire perimeter as part of the irrigation system, where Rainbird 1812 spray bodies with Hunter MP rotator nozzles at the edge of the perimeter point outward to form a protective border to keep smoke and heat away from the home when they’re on.
“Interestingly enough, this home was in a forest fire last year,” he says. “We got to see how that fire perimeter worked. They didn’t receive any heat or smoke damage like all their neighbors did.”
This project earned Blanchford Landscape Group a 2020 Gold Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Awards of Excellence program.
A look at the completed front entry area, which features mossy boulder rock ledges, sandstone stairs, a sandstone patio, container plantings and bed plantings.
A look at the completed back outdoor living space, which features a native sandstone patio, a gas fire pit cored into a mossy boulder, overflow boulder seating, boulder retaining walls and a pergola.
The stone stairs on the left in the upper seating area connect to the front entry area.
The home’s front entry before construction.
Container plantings and mossy boulder retaining walls accent the seating area with a stone patio.
Railing, boulders, containers and rock stairs highlight the entry to the house.
Blanchford Landscape Group approached installation in sections so it would disturb the natural surroundings as little as possible.
The mossy boulder retaining walls and stone stairs appear to be part of the natural surroundings in the multilevel dining and sitting area.
