When retaining walls make the most sense for your space
Regardless of size, if your outdoor space has sloped grades or a lackluster entryway, retaining walls add depth and functionality to your landscape design. 

Some of our past clients have come to us out of frustration maintaining a lawn that is hard to mow on a steep incline, or wanted to maximize a small space by adding perennials or raised garden beds. 

Just like any project, we start by visiting your space, hearing how you want to enjoy your time outside your home, and then crafting a hand rendered design customized to your space and needs. 

​We often work with individually selected river rock to create grand steps and entryways for rustic homes in the Front Range, and also have a wide variety of paver stones to choose from when creating retaining walls for modern and cottage homes, gardens, raised flower beds, and more. ​

Email us today to schedule an appointment for your free consultation and estimate. ​

The perfect deck or patio invites you to relax and restore outside after a stressful day. 

If your outdoor spaces need revitalizing, we can help. Offering more than 18 years of experience creating custom designs for the Front Range, our award winning licensed landscape architect takes the uncertainty and guesswork out of your project with proven expertise. 

Arterra delivers excellent customer service and high quality workmanship while serving as a general contractor to reduce communication between builders. 
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Whether you want a new wood or composite deck, stamped concrete walkway, or brick inlaid patio, we’ll create the perfect design to suit your home's needs and see that it is built to last. 

Request a free consultation for your project today.

What kind of statement does your property’s perimeter make, and how do you feel seeing it when you come home? Fences and gates add personality and safety to your home. Check out the custom fence gate we designed and constructed for a Denver homeowner here.

We are here to help you wade through a sea of options and consider what fencing style fits your needs and budget. Here are a few the residential fence styles we like best:

Why We Enjoy Fire
Coloradans love outdoor living, and any patio in the Front Range is made complete by an outdoor fire feature to warm your morning coffee time or make sunset watching even more cozy and enjoyable. 

Outdoor fire features add comfort, style, and function to home. Whether you pride yourself in creating warm and welcoming spaces, or simply cherish personal time outside with something to drink and a good read, the perfect fire feature helps you enjoy outdoor living when morning and evening temperatures dip low. 

There are a variety of ways to safely incorporate fire elements into your outdoor oasis. For instance, patio fireplaces can be built into your permanent landscape or stand-alone features can be easily incorporated in your design plans. 

​Here are a few of our favorite outdoor fire features for Front Range homes:  

Designing deluxe landscapes
Arterra not only specializes in designing spaces with fire features, but also low-voltage outdoor lighting, water features that wow, dog friendly spaces, and drought-tolerant xeriscapes and gardens. 

Ask for a free consultation for our licensed landscape architect today. ​

Dogs and great designs bring a lot of joy to our lives. 

Your Pup Deserves A Space to Enjoy
We at Arterra believe that homeowners deserve to come home to (or in these times, staycation in) an outdoor space that offers you relaxation, rest, and peace.

​This belief holds especially true for our fellow dog lovers. We take great pride and joy in designing landscape spaces that are dog friendly, beautiful spaces for your four-legged friend to frolic in without destroying plants and flower beds. 

Arterra’s owner and principal, John Majeski, is a long time dog lover and owner. He understands it can be challenging to create a space that is both beautiful and suited to the needs of your canine companion. Your four-legged friend probably needs to enjoy the freedom of taking a few rowdy laps around the yard, chasing a ball, and playing freely without causing worry that he or she could destroy delicate landscape elements or accidentally escape your yard for a neighborhood adventure. 
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Conceptualizing and designing a landscape that truly considers your dog’s behavior and needs is something we delight in. In fact, we’ve brought joy to a number of our furry friends and their humans throughout the Denver metro with our unique designs. 

In general, dog friendly landscape designs tend to include turf grass, well built fences, trees and pergola structures to create shade, discreet places okay for your pup to dig in, and protection built around your plants and garden beds. 

Home Sustainability Solutions
So many of us make resolutions at the beginning of the year to make better choices around our health, finances, relationships and living our best life. But how often do we consider the opportunity to make improvements that benefit our finances, quality of life, and environmental impact through our home and its surrounding landscape? 

If finances and sustainability matter to you, Xeriscape renovation should be a top consideration for homeowners in Colorado's the Front Range.  

What Is Xeriscaping?
Xeriscaping, also sometimes called “smart-scaping” or “drought-tolerant landscaping,” is a set of landscape design principles to benefit areas susceptible to drought or concerned with water conservation. This style of landscape utilizes water conserving techniques such as the inclusion of drought-tolerant plants; ground covers such as bark, mulch, or rock; and efficient irrigation to create sustainable beauty that also lowers water bills. 

Designs can range from rustic alpine to vibrant xeriscape garden to minimalist zen meditation aesthetics and anything in between. 

Rooted In Colorado
Did you know that the Water Department of Denver is credited for coining the word “xeriscape” back in 1981? Really! Denver Water combined "landscape" with “xeros” (the Greek word for “dry”), to make it easier to talk about a style of landscaping suited to the Front Range and other semi-arid regions. 

How It Works & What To Use 
Ask your landscape designer to select plants adapted to the Denver metro’s general weather patterns. (If you have lived near the Mile High City for at least a season or two, you’ll notice how quickly the weather can turn from 70 degrees one day to snowing or below freezing the next!) Your plants need to be adapted to withstand these extremes. 

A skilled landscape architect will create a beautiful plan for you that is aesthetically pleasing with more than just a sea of sand or rocks replacing your lawn. Ideally you want to enjoy a beautiful space that is designed to require minimal water consumption and minimal maintenance. 

Arterra owner, John Majeski, approaches xeriscape designs considering your area’s average rainfall and what grows indigenously in your area. Instead of expansive sod lawns, he incorporates natural materials like turf grasses, native plants like deciduous shrubs or pine trees, and wildflowers that are hardy enough to sustain the varied temperature swings seen in our region.

Some of John’s favorite plants to work with include roses, ornamental grasses, boxwood, and certain cacti. 

When Should I Install A Xeriscape?
While spring is always the most ideal time to install and renovate gardens and lawns, you can generally install xeriscapes anytime throughout the year (weather permitting).

Work With Us
Arterra is now booking landscape design and construction projects for the spring and summer on a first come, first served basis. We give you accurate, fair, and custom quotes based on a site visit to your property with your personal lifestyle and home’s features in mind. 

We specialize in custom landscaping design. 
Great landscaping starts with intentional and creative design work. At Arterra, our licensed landscape architect takes great care in the process behind envisioning your outdoor oasis. John Majeski visits your space to assess things like the land’s grade, existing structural features or trees, weather elements, irrigation needs, and more. 

How do we imagine a space?
First we connect with you to learn more about how you want to use your space. Need a dog-friendly patio, low maintenance space, outdoor sanctuary to read books in the cool mornings and evenings, or want to entertain family and friends while you cook and dine outside? All of this factors into how we conceptualize your landscape design. 

We also consider the style of your home and any challenges or factors (such as privacy from bordering property lines, sloping grades, soil type, sun exposure and wind factors) for your unique location. 

After talking about your dream vision and ideal outdoor space, we assess your property, and chat about your budget before creating a custom, hand rendered landscaping design with built and natural elements. Many of our renovation and new construction projects include hardscapes such as stamped concrete walkways, patios, pergola shade structures, garden beds, water features, fences and, of course, automated irrigation systems (less work outdoors equals more relaxation in it, right?).

​Another signature look in Colorado is the Aspen tree, beloved for their subtle bark color and delicate leaves. While this native species thrives naturally in the mountains, we do not recommend planting these seedlings unless working with a sizable property that provides ample space for these invasive root systems to sprawl. Planting saplings near homes and in smaller spaces can lead to plumbing and foundation disruptions over time. The variety of Aspens that flourish at the Denver metro elevations are also limited.  

The Takeaway
Include the right trees for your space to reduce wind, dust, excess heat, and street visibility in your outdoor space. We can help you hand select the right varietals to thrive in your space and the best design placement to help you enjoy your space whether you want comfortable patio time during the summer months or an added layer of privacy between your home and property line. 

After winterizing your irrigation systems, you’ll also want to ensure that you have a plan for giving your plants and grass enough hydration to stay alive and healthy between rain and snowfall. We recommend adding a recurring reminder on your calendar to hand-water your greenery, especially if you recently installed a new landscape that hasn’t had time to develop a hardy root system. 

Let us worry about your watering
Arterra is now offering watering services at a reasonable rate. We'll set a schedule for your space's needs and take the hassle out of this chore for you. Contact John Majeski for more info. 

Water Savings Evaluations
For older irrigation systems, now is also the time of year to evaluate whether your entire irrigation system is working properly, replace edging, install new light fixtures, and get ahead of any issues before they arise this spring. 

Arterra’s principal, John Majeski evaluates water systems to help reduce monthly water bills and consults on how to make spaces more Xeriscape-friendly for low-maintenance, highly usable, and attractive spaces. 

Free Consultations
Call John Majeski today to discuss your seasonal landscape maintenance needs: (720) 436-6340.

People never forget to consider their home’s interior lighting options for style and practical needs, but when it comes to a home’s outdoor space, the details of landscape lighting often go overlooked. 

Cost-effective landscape effects with maximum impact
Low voltage landscape lighting is a highly cost effective way to put the finishing touches on a home for added elegance and safety. As you’ve likely seen from some of Denver’s striking neighborhoods, adding a number of well placed spot lights effectively highlights the key features of a well-designed space while also adding a warmer welcome when coming home after dusk and during the shorter days of winter months. Step lights can prevent trips and slips in the dark, and spot lights can also deter would-be prowlers from nearing your home in the wee hours. 

The results of landscape lights are dramatic, offering maximum impact from whatever budget you have. From LED spot lights to deck lights, flood lights, path lights, and submersible pool lights, we consult on how to elevate your space to the next level. 

How outside lighting works: 
Arterra and most professional landscape companies now primarily recommend installing all LED lights over the halogen bulbs previously used. Landscape lights run on a low voltage system in the same way that conventional car batteries do. A small transformer plugs into an outdoor wall socket and converts your home’s 110 volt electric current into the needed 12 voltage rating necessary to safely keep your home lit through, clouds, clear skies, rain, snow or hail (hooded or capped light fixtures are a great option in hail prone regions like the Front Range). 

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More efficient lighting
While typically more expensive to purchase upfront, LED bulbs utilize less energy (just around 3 watts) and offer much greater system efficiency with brighter, more effective lumens, and a longer lifespan. You can operate more fixtures on a lower wattage transformer. 

 Unique and custom offerings
While outdoor lighting may not provide quite the same myriad of options as indoor lighting fixtures, homeowners can still easily customize their outdoor living space with unique lights. (See what we did to highlight elements of a Tudor-style Denver home recently in this  photo album and explore Pinterest for more ideas).

Save on landscape lighting today
Arterra offers consultation in outdoor lighting design and also offers installation services. For those interested in a full landscape renovation project of a space, Arterra is extending a limited time discount of $500 off a landscaping project that includes low voltage lighting. Click here to learn more.

Get help with your holiday lights
Are you thinking about the holidays? Arterra is also offering special packages for holiday lights. If you want to install decorative outdoor lights in October, November or December but don’t have the time or willingness to risk working on ladders to create the perfect twinkling adornment, we can help.
From simple plans to grand treatments, we consult with you on what you want and we’ll take care of the rest, from design inception, to supply shopping, to installation. 
Contact us today to schedule an estimate for your project.