Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Perennial Walk and Romantic Gardens
January 12, 2025 With orange spines on its leaves and bright purple flowers, porcupine tomato (Solanum pyracanthos) looks like it’s from another planet. I spotted this one at Denver Botanic Gardens. This is Part 7 and my final post from my visit last September. Japanese anemone Crossroads Garden Let’s start ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Monet Pool, Japanese teahouse, and bonsai
January 11, 2025 The Monet Pool at Denver Botanic Gardens is the largest of several ponds at the garden. Dark-dyed water makes a mirrored surface, reflecting orange canna blossoms, reedy papyrus, and cloven waterlily pads. This is Part 6 of my tour from my visit in late September. Monet Pool ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Pond, prairie garden, and Victorian garden
January 10, 2025 One of my favorite places within Denver Botanic Gardens‘ 24 acres is the naturalistic Gates Pond. Half-hidden in a back corner, the pond is bordered on one side by a prairie garden, on the other by a piney woodland bluff. This is Part 5 of my tour ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Perennials, conifers, and Rock Alpine Garden
January 09, 2025 After exploring the Birds and Bees Walk at Denver Botanic Gardens, I found bees hard at work among fall-flowering asters and other perennials. This is Part 4 from my visit to DBG in late September. The asters were lit up in the strong morning sunlight. The bees ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: PlantAsia and Birds and Bees Walk
January 08, 2025 Pines with fragrant needles and cool shade welcome you into June’s PlantAsia garden (who’s June, I wonder?) at Denver Botanic Gardens. This is Part 3 of my tour from my visit in late September. June’s PlantAsia A Chinese pavilion offers a cool spot to rest under the ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Steppe Garden, ornamental grasses, and woodland garden
January 07, 2025 The Steppe Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens delights with three large crevice planters on a stone plaza. They’re intricately constructed. The central one reminds me of a loaf of bread or those old-fashioned wooden puzzles that fit together in a certain way. Or maybe a wheel of ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Entry and Water-Smart Garden
January 06, 2025 As much of the country, including Texas, tucks into flannels and wool socks to stay warm this week, let’s float back in time to the golden days of a Colorado autumn. In late September last year, I made two visits to Denver Botanic Gardens, one of my ...
Exploring the Gardens on Spring Creek in fall
December 01, 2024 I always look for gardens to visit when I travel, and our fall trip up to Denver included quite a few. Happily I was able to squeeze in another during a day trip to Fort Collins, where we spent a couple hours at The Gardens on Spring ...
A collector’s garden of rare palms and cactus
November 21, 2024 Amber and Jason Schoneman, owners of garden design biz Dwarf Palmetto Design, nurture a fascination with palms, cactus, and other low-water plants. Avid collectors, they know the provenance of every plant in their garden. They also propagate plants for their private plant sales. In short, they are ...
Fall garden stroll at the Wildflower Center
November 18, 2024 Being able to visit a garden at the golden hour — just after sunrise or before sunset, when the light is soft and warm — is a garden photographer’s fervent wish. So I am grateful when a botanical garden offers early or late visiting hours. Austin’s Lady ...
Cynthia’s home and garden with heart
November 14, 2024 Last month I visited my friend Cynthia Deegan’s home and garden, this time with Jennifer Jewell of Cultivating Place, who was in town to give a Garden Spark talk. I wanted Jennifer to meet Cynthia and see the soulful, joyful retreat she’s created at her Tarrytown bungalow with ...
Cold-hardy cactus and more at plantsman Kelly Grummons’s garden
November 12, 2024 While in Denver this fall, I found Colorado gardeners to be warm and generous about sharing their creations and eager to make introductions to other gardeners they admire. That’s how I came to meet plantsman Kelly Grummons, co-owner of specialty nursery Prairie Storm Nursery. How, exactly? After ...
After derecho devastation, a garden blazes beautifully
November 08, 2024 The derecho in Houston last May snapped in half a tall tree that shaded my sister’s tiny Heights backyard. Miraculously, while it caused some damage, the broken tree didn’t take out the house, swimming pool, or patio seating on the way down. And now there’s a bonus ...
Heidi Harris’s Denver dry garden, inspired by David Salman, outshines any lawn
November 07, 2024 I love a good chain of inspiration, seeing how one gardener’s efforts can fire up the imagination and determination of another, and so on and so on. Heidi Harris, aka Denver Dry Garden, is a great example. She bought her home in Denver’s Regis/Berkeley neighborhood in 2018, ...
Sculpted berms at Bouldin Castle inspired by land art and Kauai
November 04, 2024 If you’ve ever driven past Bouldin Castle in South Austin, you probably hit the brakes and craned your neck for a second look. Crenellated towers, a windowed turret, layered limestone, and wattle made of shaggy cedar posts give this former Catholic church — built in 1940 and ...
Boots on the ground in Mike Kintgen’s Denver garden
October 30, 2024 Cactus-planted boots in Mike’s garden I met Mike Kintgen, curator of the alpine collections at Denver Botanic Gardens and a super nice guy, when he came to Austin a few years ago. Mike must have a LOT of energy because he manages not only the large Rock ...
