Lifescape Colorado uses demonstration garden as a sales tool Email
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Wednesday, November 12, 2014 10:00 AM
LifescapeGarden

“We used to take clients to nurseries and suppliers to select plants and hardscapes.  Now it’s mostly one stop,” says Troy Shimp, designer with Lifescape Colorado, Denver.  

He and the other designers bring most of their clients to view the demonstration gardens alongside the Lifescape office.  “It saves a lot of time and we get decisions made pretty quickly,” says Shimp. The Lifescape office located north of downtown Denver in an industrial area is not where you would expect to see a variety of plants and hardscape options showcased along a narrow strip between a high fence and the curb.  It’s an unexpected sight in a part of town almost devoid of any landscape whatsoever.

The challenge says Shimp was to create a space within a small area “that shows what we do, that beautifies and area and can be a useful sales tool.”  ALCC members toured the demonstration area at Denver Chapter Facility Tour and Happy Hour in October and were notably impressed.

The gardens are within a narrow strip of land between a tall protective fence and the curb.  The gardens are built into a serpentine of patios and seating walls constructed of different materials – both hardscape and plants.  Clients can meander through the space to see vignettes constructed of different types of hardscape that include paver patios, concrete surfaces and natural stone.  The seating walls each demonstrate one type within a cumulative variety of materials that include colored stucco, stone clad, corten steel, brick, dry stack and paver/block.  Clients can also see different kinds of gravel and wood mulch.

What do clients think?  “They love it,” says Shimp.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
2015 HR alerts: changes in contribution limits
Sustainable Partner update: The Brickman Group helps area farmer
Who’s taking our labor: oil and gas or food?
ALCC Volunteer Awards