Steppe garden evangelist Panayoti Kelaidis's garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Steppe garden evangelist Panayoti Kelaidis’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 18, 2019 Despite its Mile High City moniker, Denver is not a mountain town. True, the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies loom on its western horizon, but Denver sits on a relatively flat, semi-arid, grassy plain — aka a steppe, one of the 4 vast steppe ecosystems in the ...
Children's Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 17, 2019 Part of the Mordecai Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens, which I visited during the Denver Fling (June 2019), sits atop a parking garage, making it one very large rooftop garden. A pretty alpine garden, including this crevice garden, greets you as you enter, and it surprised ...
Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 16, 2019 Continuing with my visit to Denver Botanic Gardens during the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), here is my favorite installation in the ongoing Human | Nature exhibit: Lights by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Five impassive, rough-hewn figures stand amid the grasses of the Plains Garden. Small holes punched ...
Steppe garden, foxtail lilies, and sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Steppe garden, foxtail lilies, and sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 16, 2019 All 80+ bloggers had lunch under a pavilion at Denver Botanic Gardens on Day 3 of the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), and then we were set loose for about an hour. One hour is not enough time to see DBG, of course. One day hardly ...
A fusion of nature and art in Scott Deemer's garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

A fusion of nature and art in Scott Deemer’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 11, 2019 A “designer showpiece” garden conveys a grand gesture, expensive hardscaping, and maybe not much in the way of plants. At the home garden of Scott Deemer in Niwot, Colorado, a grand-gesture fireplace and beautifully designed hardscaping create a wow moment as soon as you step onto the ...
Bowled over by Linda Boley's garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Bowled over by Linda Boley’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 07, 2019 A copper tree, its muscular branches devoid of leaves, stands as an organic sculpture in the Boulder, Colorado, rock garden of Linda Boley. The painted Japanese lilac caught my eye as soon as our bus arrived during the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling tour (June 2019). It signaled ...
Crevice gardens to crave at the garden of Carol Shinn: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Crevice gardens to crave at the garden of Carol Shinn: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

June 28, 2019 Colorado gardeners are crazy for crevice gardens, and no wonder. When the Rocky Mountains peek over your back fence, creating a miniature mountain range in your yard makes perfect sense. Alpine plants that thrive at high altitude and require excellent drainage love these rocky niches. Crevice gardens ...
Jan Devore Garden under the pines: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Jan Devore Garden under the pines: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

June 27, 2019 The first private garden on the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling tour (June 2019) was located in Fort Collins, about an hour north of Denver. From the street, cottage garden favorites greeted us. Owner Jan Devore planted the small front garden with Rosa glauca and purple irises — ...
Rocking it at Gardens on Spring Creek: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Rocking it at Gardens on Spring Creek: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

June 25, 2019 On a road trip to Devils Tower last August, I passed through Fort Collins, Colorado, and took the opportunity to visit The Gardens on Spring Creek. Construction was underway, doubling the size of the gardens, and so only some of the spaces were open: a flowery entry ...
Visit to Denver Botanic Gardens: Plains Garden, Rock Alpine Garden & Dryland Mesa

Visit to Denver Botanic Gardens: Plains Garden, Rock Alpine Garden & Dryland Mesa

July 18, 2012 The more naturalistic, dryland gardens were my favorite parts of Denver Botanic Gardens, which I visited earlier this month. By naturalistic I don’t mean, of course, that these gardens are any less designed. They are beautifully designed, and the high-country plants growing in them sparkled in the ...