Special spots blur boundary from home to garden

By Rose Macalister
Larimer County Master Gardener

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Spring is an exciting time, a season of anticipation and growth. We find ourselves stepping outside early in the morning to breathe deeply and take in the wonderful smell.

This time of year, take advantage of your creativity while it is at its peak. Use this time to create your own garden space, a "room" to enjoy beauty in its natural form. The concept is simple: instead of growing grass right up to each door, think about extending your living spaces to the great outdoors. Take a look at patios and back doors as possibilities for creating these delightful spaces. In Colorado, with lots of sunshine and little rain, it seems like the logical thing to do!

The creation of a garden room is easier than you think when you consider the basics of what a room is: ceilings, walls, floors, furnishings, activities and a door or portal to enter. Consider these six steps in the design and construction of your garden room.

• Enclosing your garden room: Garden walls can be whatever you choose to define your room space. They can be fences, screens, columnar junipers, a pergola or lilac bushes. Dividers within the room can be containers filled with colorful annuals or herbs. Create a sense of enclosure within your outdoor space, and you have the basics of a garden room.
• Floors: If your garden room will include a concrete patio slab and you would like a splash of color, consider painting the concrete, or hire a professional to stamp or stain it. If you are creating a space within another part of the yard, the materials can be flagstone, brick, gravel or wood mulch. Find colors and textures that create warmth. This will give your garden room a feeling of coziness.
• Ceilings: Some prefer a ceiling of sky, others might want a structure that protects the room from the weather, still others might want to grow grapevines or other hardy vines up the walls and over the top of their space. The use of your garden room will directly impact your choice of ceilings, so think about this detail carefully.
• Climate control: Cooling of your outdoor room is essential. Your location and choice of walls or ceilings will have the biggest affect on temperature variations within your room. In general, find a location that gives you some afternoon shade in the heat of the summer and allows for air circulation.
• Furnishings: In an outdoor room, these can be extravagant or one-of-a-kind flea market finds. This is your opportunity to be whimsical, formal, funky or serene. The choice harks back to your original intent or purpose for the garden room. If it is your private sanctuary, include favorite photos or sculptures that have special meaning. If you use the garden room for entertaining, you will need places for guests to sit and places for their food or drinks. If it is a place for relaxing or reading, a hammock, garden swing or rocking chair would be inviting.
• Entrance: Like the front door of a home, the entrance to a garden makes a strong first impression. Your garden room entrance can be an arbor, a rose-covered trellis or a meandering path made from river cobble, flagstone or dirt. Whatever approach or entryway you decide upon, it should complement the existing structures and overall theme of your garden space.

The possibilities are endless when designing a garden room. You are limited only by your imagination and budget. Embrace the balance an outdoor space can add to your life. Know that when you complete your garden room, it will be uniquely and distinctively yours.