From the 2013 Flood’s Mud and Mess to Nice and Fresh
24 Sep 2017
This couple lost their entire landscape to the 2013 flood, but they lovingly restored it keeping Mother Nature in mind.
By Lisa Truesdale Like most gardeners, Mary Stewart has always enjoyed getting creative with her yard—scouring the seed catalogs that arrive each spring, browsing at the garden center, trying out new plants and rotating existing ones, and adding unique decorative touches. As an active Boulder Garden Club member and former Master Gardener, she’d spent more than three decades making small changes in her Niwot garden at her home just south of Left Hand Creek. Changes aren’t quite as fun, though, when they’re not your choice.


New Perspective
When designing the new landscape, “we had to think differently,” Mary says, explaining that the design is meant to mitigate future drainage and flow issues. Some dirt and mud deposited by the rushing water was left in place to create berms to help divert water if it ever floods again, and a new dry river-rock channel courses through the property. “Kirk has always wanted texture,” Mary adds, “so those elements give him that.”