At 8,200 feet above sea level, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado, claims bragging rights as the highest botanical garden in North America. It’s named, of course, in honor of the former first lady, who along with her husband, former President Gerald Ford, was a beloved part-time resident of Vail for many years.

As the crow flies, it’s only 40 miles to Vail from Aspen/Snowmass, where we’d rented a condo in mid-July. But to drive there through the majestic (and mudslide-prone; it’s currently closed to traffic) Glenwood Canyon takes about 2 hours. My daughter and I made the scenic drive one day after a mudslide in the canyon had been cleared, while David was off scaling two fourteeners (14,000-ft. peaks). We arrived at the garden just before midday.

The 5-acre garden is squeezed between a public park and the Ford Amphitheater and reached via a downhill walk of about 5 or 10 minutes. The noonday light made photography a challenge, but I’ll show you a few of my favorite scenes.

By the way, there are several entrances to the garden, which is free, and I entirely missed the pollinator garden and visitor center because of the unusual layout, stretched across the park’s play fields. If you go, be sure to look at a map of the garden before you arrive. I should have!

An exuberant flower garden greets you at the main entrance. I love these pink, hollyhock-like flowers.

And bottlebrush eremurus

Sweet pink columbine

And more comet-tailed columbines in a variety of colors

This purple and white columbine is the official state flower of Colorado, I believe?

Red poppies glowing in the sunlight

Pink Jerusalem sage (a plant I covet) and a tall red flower I didn’t get an ID for.

A closer look

I’m a sucker for blue spruce or whatever this is. The closest we can get to that look in Austin is ‘Blue Ice’ Arizona cypress, which is pretty good but still. Aren’t they stunning with purple flowers in the foreground and a cloudless blue sky overhead?

Multiple waterfalls throughout the garden emphasize the elevation changes of this Rocky Mountain garden.

As do large boulders cropping up in the planting beds.

At the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling a couple of years ago, I saw many crevice gardens made of vertical slabs of rock fitted tightly together on gravelly berms, with tufted alpine plants spilling from the cracks. It felt like visiting an old friend to see this one.

I love the weathered old tree that’s been left standing at the top of a small hill.

The garden rises as you walk from the main entrance toward the rear, and you move from bright sun to shade. A small aspen grove surrounds a rocky pool fed by a broad waterfall, and the coolness of this space was welcome on a hot day.

This dog clearly agreed. Yes, dogs are welcome in the garden, and this one had plopped itself down in a stream to cool its belly.

Kids were enjoying the stream too.

A rustic stair leads to the highest section of the garden.

Wild blue flax (Linum lewisii)

You can’t have a garden in the Rockies without lots of rocks.

A rushing mountain stream flows here, with bridges crossing above and below.

In Austin I’m used to seeing asters blooming in the fall — October usually. Here they bloom in summer.

Owl’s claws (Hymenoxys hoopesii), if I have the ID right. I saw these growing wild at Maroon Bells near Aspen.

I adore eryngium, aka sea holly.

Those spiny bracts, pincushion cones, and steely blue color — love!

It’s even more fabulous with pink boulders and flowers.

Children’s Garden

Outside the main entrance to the garden, a children’s garden beckons with a bamboo A-frame trellis.

A wine-red ‘Schubert’ chokecherry (Prunus virginiana ‘Schubert‘) shelters a hidden fox ornament.

Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) harmonizes with its rosy-pink flowers.

A wider view of the ‘Schubert’ chokecherry

A shallow pond supports wildlife, as well as a spouting frog fountain.

The garden path at a mile and a half above sea level — a Rocky Mountain high, for sure.

Up next: Bighorn sheep and an alpine wildflower meadow. For a look back at a scenic hike amid alpine wildflowers at Maroon Bells, 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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