As our tour bus of 40+ bloggers arrived at the Louisville, Colorado, home of Jean Morgan, one visitor reached down to pick up a stray piece of trash in Jean’s garden. Only the crumpled Hershey bar wrapper wasn’t trash. It’s part of a cheeky vignette — Happily Dying of Chocolate, complete with chocolate daisies (Berlandiera lyrata) — tucked in her streetside garden.

You can see Miss Chocolate Lover at bottom left, awaiting discovery by passersby. She is just one of several laugh-inducing displays in Jean’s garden of passalong plants and repurposed objects, which we toured on Day 2 of the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling.

Jean popped out to greet us and charmed us all with her enthused excitement for our visit. Here she is hugging Denver Fling planner Judy Seaborn.

Jean’s tiny home has history. A designated historic landmark, it was built in 1942 by a local miner, measuring a whopping 266 square feet. Jean has since added on, but it’s still a modest-sized house surrounded by a xeric (waterwise) garden that is a much-loved and personalized part of her home.

Situated on a corner, lot, the garden wraps around the house and is surely a favorite of neighborhood children. Castoff objects, like this old bike leaning against a split-rail fence topped by cat silhouettes, become garden accents in Jean’s creative hands.

An old buckboard wagon has seemingly come to rest — and rust — in the curbside garden, surrounded by prince’s plume.

Prince’s plume (Stanleya pinnata), a Western U.S. native

Every square inch is densely planted, resulting in a tapestry of groundcovers through which narrow paver paths gingerly lead. You are meant to progress slowly so as to enjoy what Jean calls “The Spectacle of the Garden.”

Sempervivums

Past the wagon you glimpse Jean’s back garden, equally crammed with plants and homemade garden art.

Here a tiny pond entices birds, and a silvery groundcover takes the place of thirsty lawn. Castoff objects like a screen door, outhouse seats, sleds, and an old wringer washer (complete with clothing!) line the board fence.

There were so many of us balancing on narrow paths through the back garden that I couldn’t get many photos. On the way out, I spied a ceramic bunny in a patch of orange geum.

You exit through a mini-meadow of love-in-a-mist, iris, and other flowering plants, accented with the ghostly stumps of trees. That’s Heather of Just a Girl with a Hammer in a love-in-a-mist-coordinated hat.

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)

Jean’s yard has deep hellstrips, that challenging space between street and curb, and she’s turned them into richly planted gardens, complete with wagon wheels that nod to Colorado’s pioneer past.

I enjoyed the color echo of blue flowers and a faded blue bike leaning against an iron bedstead. Because why not?

Believe it or not, in the hellstrip garden with the buckboard wagon, two bikes, and wagon wheels, there is also a hippo planter cobbled together from an old bathtub, snow shovels (maybe?), and faucet handles. So freaking adorable! Barney Bazooka DeChomp III gobbles packets of Bazooka chewing gum in his gaping pink maw. (He would be a perfect addition to the hippo-adorned garden of Donna and Mike Fowler, from the Austin Fling.)

Honestly, if you were walking by this garden and saw a bathtub hippo grinning at you from a frothy bed of blue fescue, wouldn’t you smile?

Next up: A peek at the garden-with-a-mountain-view of Jim and Laura Strouse. For a look back at a behind-the-scenes tour of seed company Botanical Interests, click here.

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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