The Big One: Mountain magic

January 4, 2021 - By Christina Herrick

Company: Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes
Location: Edwards, Colo.

Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes installed this residential project in 2004 and has been maintaining it ever since.

The main challenge for the maintenance team is the abundance of deer and a short growing season. Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes applies Liquid Fence animal repellent at every maintenance visit during the growing season.

Perennials on the property’s half-acre of ornamental garden beds must be hardy enough to resist or sustain damage from deer feeding, says Lauren Crary, gardening account manager for Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes.

“Over the years, the deer tend to prefer different plantings, even plants they’re known to not typically eat,” she says. “Our perennial palette is constantly changing.”

The perennials must also pack a year-round punch with color, too, with a growing season that typically runs from late May to late September. Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes selected plantings such as crocosmia, ligularia penstemons and asters.

“We find plants that are hardy and colorful and stagger them to bloom at different times throughout the property, making sure that every part of the garden has something interesting at all times,” Crary says.

This project earned Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes a 2019 Gold Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Awards of Excellence program.