Castle Rock Teach by Example Final Report

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TOWN OF CASTLE ROCK "Teach By Example" Program Summary Page 7 designated for exterior retrofit was conducted. Plans were derived to make the most of not only the characteristics of the area being worked with, i.e. exposure, soil type, slope, wind, or existing features, but to include what the desired future function of the area was to be. One of the main concerns from all the homeowners was that they wanted to decrease the amount of time they spent mowing the lawn. Each home had well established areas of blue grass for children and outdoor activities. And, since nothing puts up with heavy use like blue grass, the necessary areas were maintained in blue grass or replaced. This reduced maintenance, and water consumption, thus making the area more practical. Proper care and maintenance of the remaining or re-installed blue grass areas can help curtail current water demand requirements. The Hopkins: 200 Johnson Drive Initially, the landscape consisted of 7,690 square feet, made up mostly of bluegrass, and a garden area. Right off the bat, the exterior retrofit eliminated over 4,000 square feet of blue grass. No mowing to speak of, and little maintenance. The automatic irrigation system, mostly drip, takes care of the rest! The function of the front yard was mainly aesthetic. The back yard had a recreational area for the children, and was used for outdoor activities. There was no desire to maintain a grassed area in front. There was a definite slope to the front, so to add interest, as well as make the area more usable, a dry stack rock wall was used to delineate three leveled areas, an annual bed, and two areas for deciduous and evergreen shrubs. Decorative boulders and a large ponderosa pine were used in a lower lying "natural" area to tie in with a neighboring aspen grove. A wildflower bed was added as a highlight. Along the sidewalk, creeping flowering ground cover was planted. This helped reduce erosion from runoff in the sloped area. There was a traffic area between the driveway and the front porch, so a flagstone walkway was introduced. Near the driveway a couple of existing aspen were severely diseased. These were removed and replaced with a honey locust. Already present was a crabapple tree. The area was tied together with a wildflower bed. Donna had a rock garden with several perennials that she wanted to maintain, so we highlighted it with low growing junipers along its perimeter. Compost was used to amend the soil, which was a good mix of loam and clay. Robert had his work cut out for him with his rototiller! We really feel all the hard work was worth it! The Hargroves: 1766 Foxfield This landscape had initially been installed by the home builder, as had most of the ! landscapes in the area. Basically, modifying the front yard, and leaving the back yard in "-.,.-,