A yard at this elevation lives on a short summer and a long, cold winter, so landscaping work splits into building the place and putting it to bed. Four of the 14 listings are based in the valley. The other 10 come from Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, Laporte, Longmont and Boulder, and several are design-build firms that do patios and walls more than lawns.
Spend on drainage and retaining walls before you spend on flowers. Water goes downhill whether you planned for it or not. And book the sprinkler blowout before the first hard freeze, not after.
Based in Estes Park
Flagstone patios and full backyard rebuilds are the projects that come up most with this Longmont and Berthoud landscape company, along with front lawns replaced and sprinkler systems finally sorted out. Alex Tanner runs it, and crews work across Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties.
Boulder walls, erosion control and irrigation are the jobs that keep coming up for Park Landscaping, which works out of Saddleback Lane, about a mile from Mary's Lake, and covers Estes Park and the surrounding area. Mountain lots bring wind and runoff, and the drainage work, downspout drains and grass seeding are aimed squarely at that.
When the sprinkler system needs blowing out before the first hard freeze, Higgins Lawn Care is one of the outfits to call. Weekly mowing is the core of it, but the list runs to the small seasonal jobs that pile up on a mountain property: bark and mulch installs, gutter cleaning, backflow testing and those fall blowouts.
When fire season talk starts each summer, Summit Forestry & Landscape is the kind of crew people call to thin trees and cut defensible space around a house. Forest management is half the business.
Serves Estes Park from the Front Range
Three generations of Markhams have grown sod on the same farm in Berthoud, starting with five acres Glenn Markham planted; Shane Markham runs it now. The turf is cut fresh, and the delivery area reaches up to Estes Park, so this is a Front Range farm that comes up the hill rather than a local outfit.
Out of Loveland, TruGreen's local branch handles fertilizing, weed control, aeration and overseeding on care plans, an organic one among them, plus tree and shrub work and mosquito, flea and tick treatments. Aeration and fertilizer are the jobs people mention most, and technicians tend to explain what they're doing.
Down in Fort Collins, Alpine Gardens has been designing, building and maintaining landscapes since 1978, and it lists Estes Park among the towns it comes up to work in. Front yards and sprinkler systems are the jobs that come up most, along with drip lines, sod removal, mulching, plant replacement and the odd fence.
Patios are what this Laporte design-build outfit does most, in pavers, flagstone or stamped concrete, with xeriscaping a close second. Fire pit areas, pergolas, fencing and retaining walls are part of the regular work, and the company runs its own equipment for grading, gravel driveways and hot tub pads.
Irrigation is the work that comes up most with this Fort Collins landscape company, from drip system expansions to keeping a big sprinkler layout running. The larger projects are outdoor living builds: paver patios and walkways, decks, retaining walls, outdoor kitchens, fire pits and water features, several of them winners of Hardscape North America awards.
Polo fields are on Flatiron Sprinkler's resume, along with city and county parks and a lot of ordinary yards. The Longmont company has been designing, installing and repairing sprinkler and drip systems since 1978, and it carries plumbing licenses beyond what most irrigation outfits have.
If watering a lawn at a mountain house feels like a losing fight, this Fort Collins crew puts in synthetic turf instead: front and back yards, pet areas, playgrounds, putting greens and commercial or sports surfaces. The turf is UV-resistant, lead-free and pet-safe, built to last about 15 years in Colorado weather.
Mike Bradley spent more than a decade with national landscape design firms before starting Naturescapes in Loveland. He studied landscape horticulture and design at Auburn and runs the company with his wife, Holly.
If your lot backs into the trees, the first five feet around the house are where Plains to Peaks starts. The company builds defensible space across all three wildfire zones using low-flammability native plants and careful spacing instead of a ring of bare gravel, and it has mitigated more than 20 homes.
James Zarka trained as a landscape architect at Michigan State and has been designing landscapes since 1978, and One Earth, his Boulder design-build company, still leans on that training. The work favors xeriscape, native plants and drought-tolerant layouts that keep thirsty bluegrass to a minimum, with boulders, water features, masonry, and low-voltage or fiber optic lighting on the build side.
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Match the firm to the job. Park Landscaping in Estes Park handles design, native planting, retaining walls and drainage, and Summit Forestry & Landscape does forest management, defensible space and mountain landscaping. Higgins Lawn Care keeps to mowing, mulch and gutter cleaning, with sprinkler blowouts before freezing weather. If you want turf or sod, Green Hills Sod Farm in Berthoud sells pickup, delivery and installation.
Water and fire come up on mountain lots. Drainage fixes and retaining walls are on several lists, and Plains to Peaks Landscaping in Boulder County offers wildfire mitigation with defensible space, native plants and xeriscape. One Earth Landscape in Boulder also leans toward xeriscape and native planting. Two listings carry a free estimate flag, Park Landscaping and Waterloo Turf, so ask the others whether they charge for a site visit.
Plan the shutdown as carefully as the planting. Irrigation has to be blown out before the first hard freeze, and the busy firms book up in early fall. A written scope helps too, since a small yard and a sloped lot with a retaining wall are very different jobs.
Higgins Lawn Care in Estes Park lists sprinkler blowouts before freezing weather, along with backflow testing, mowing, mulch and gutter cleaning. Book early in fall, since every irrigation system in the valley needs the same thing within a few weeks.
Park Landscaping in Estes Park lists native planting and drainage work. Plains to Peaks Landscaping and One Earth Landscape both lean toward xeriscape and native plants, though they work out of Boulder County and Boulder. Ask how they handle elk and the short growing season.
Summit Forestry & Landscape in Estes Park lists defensible space and forest management. Plains to Peaks Landscaping describes defensible space across the three zones around a home. Tree companies in the Tree Service category also list fire mitigation.
Green Hills Sod Farm in Berthoud grows and cuts its own turf and offers pickup at the farm, delivery, or installation by a crew once the ground is prepped. Ask which grass variety suits your elevation before you order.
