Feature Garden: Perfectly, Naturally Peaceful
06 Mar 2018
A serene garden that's interactive
By Carol Brock Photos by Paul Hartman/Changing Landscapes Weeks before architect Charles Haertling sketched a design for the Lawrence Caldwell house in south Boulder, he camped on the property with his son, Joel. The Flatirons loomed footfalls away and certainly inspired Haertling’s organic, midcentury modern design. “There’s more excitement and movement in curves than in straight lines,” Haertling has said. So when the home’s current owners, Ofer Shaul and Troy Tate, wanted the landscape to embrace Asian motifs that reflect the home’s circular shapes, they turned to acclaimed Boulder landscape architect Tom Altgelt.“We wanted the garden to be very interactive, very natural, very peaceful.”“Because of the shape of the house, we wanted a feeling of movement” in the landscape, says Shaul, who collaborated closely with Altgelt on the design. They envisioned the house as a giant ship sailing through the landscape (although Asher, Shaul and Tate’s 12-year-old son, sees it as the Starship Enterprise).
Asian motifs abound in the stunningly serene landscape.“The garden lines outside parallel the lines of the house,” Shaul says. “You see the midcentury lines repeated in the landscape elements, but with a Zen feeling.” Asian motifs and midcentury designs go hand in hand, he adds, as midcentury borrows from nature’s organic forms. When it came to reshaping the landscape, Paul Hartman of Longmont’s Changing Landscapes, was up for the challenge. His crew moved tons of soil and rock, recycling much of it into the new landscape. The stupendous hardscape leads to places for resting and contemplating the voluminous mountain views. The project was two years to fruition. “It’s a unique landscape,” Hartman says. “Amazing, really.” The resurfacing, rockwork, lighting, irrigation and drainage systems had to be installed before any planting could begin. Changing Landscapes still maintains the property, switching out plantings and endlessly weeding in the growing season. Shaul is pleased with the results. Reflecting on the garden’s aesthetics, he says, “It’s the energy that I live my life by, the quietness, the peace. It’s just how I want to be.”
