The thick blanket of snow this February makes gardens and courtyards, be they lavish or plain, look the same.

But photos snapped last summer of two landscaped Longmont spots caught the eye of judges reviewing 136 entries submitted by Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado members statewide.

ALCC in January declared the Pratt Family Memorial Garden and the Snell Courtyard in Prospect New Town, both in south Longmont, winners during its annual Excellence in Landscape Awards banquet at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

The Pratt Family Memorial Garden — located on the west side of Sunset Street between Ken Pratt Boulevard and Pike Road — won the Award of Excellence for use of colors in the perennials category.

The Pratts in 1995 dedicated the half-acre garden to memorialize patriarch and longtime Longmont developer Ken Pratt. A 40-acre business park surrounds it.

However, the private garden — which is open to the public — needed refreshing, said Bob Howey, a horticulturist and landscape designer with Denver-based CoCal Landscapes Construction Co.’s Longmont branch.

He began by ripping out the old vine-and-trellis feature and focusing solely on color — pastels that include pink and white petunias, blue lobelia, purple fountain grasses and lavender, which also emits a subtle fragrance.

The Pratts spent an extra $10,000 to add non-fruit-bearing pear and crab apple trees; Russian sage shrubs; and red, yellow and white rose bushes, Howey said.

“We’ve kind of gotten into a day and age when people don’t spend the time, money or energy to plant a beautiful garden. People do it for commercial purposes, but not just for the sake of beauty,” he added. “(The Pratts) wanted it to be special and well done. But I don’t think many people know it’s there.”

Prospect New Town’s Snell Courtyard, at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 287 and Pike Road, won ALCC’s Grand Award in the special areas category with a design by Boulder-based Robert Howard Associates.

This 25-by-30-foot courtyard reflects New Urbanist tastes for making tight spaces fulfill practical and aesthetic purposes.

Herb beds border the thick flagstone patio, while columnar evergreens make the courtyard feel more vaulted.

“No space is too small to be turned around into something that’s more usable. And we’ll be seeing more of extending outdoor living spaces as lot sizes get smaller,” said Richard Wilbert, Robert Howard Associates’ general manager.

Changing Landscapes Inc. of Longmont also won an ALCC Special Areas grand award and an Excellence in Landscape grand award for remaking two tiny Denver backyards with plans from Altgelt Associates in Boulder.

Changing Landscapes owner Paul Hartman noted that for these respective projects, he added boulders — a 2 1/2-ton load in a 1,000-foot space and a behemoth 11-ton boulder for a water feature in an 830-square-foot space.

“They made more of an intimate space in a crowded neighborhood,” Hartman said. “And the client is an interior decorator, a very creative man. He wanted the outside to look as good as the inside.”

Pam Mellskog can be reached at 303-684-5224 or by e-mail at pmellskog@times-call.com.

source : www.longmontfyi.com