Falling for SummerHome Garden, Part 2
In my last post I shared the genesis of SummerHome Garden, a privately owned garden and public park in Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood. I visited in late September and spent a couple of hours early one morning taking pictures. The garden was so beautiful that I couldn’t squeeze all of my photos into one post, so here’s Part 2 of my visit.
SummerHome Garden is owned by Lisa Negri, who in 2019 bought the house next door to hers, tore it down, and created a waterwise garden in its place, to which she allows — and encourages — public access. Designed by horticulturist Kevin Philip Williams of Denver Botanic Gardens, the garden is filled with plants from Colorado’s Front Range and other steppe regions around the world. Steppes, for the unfamiliar, are semi-arid grasslands with cold winters and warm-to-hot summers.
Check out the plant list at SummerHome’s website for specific plant IDs. For now, let’s simply stroll among the beautiful plants.
A quick video tour of the front half of the garden
Ambling toward the back now, through the soft colors of autumn
Lisa isn’t a fan of Russian sage. She thinks it’s overused in Colorado. Nevertheless, it appears throughout her garden, she told me, because Kevin says it’s a gateway plant. For people unused to this kind of garden in a neighborhood setting, who feel it’s too wild, the presence of familiar Russian sage helps them accept the less-familiar plants too.
The tans and golds of autumn
The garden is an oasis and stopover for wildlife and pollinators like this bee.
A patinaed wind bell by Cosanti Originals hangs low over silver-green stems that echo its coloring.
Wide gravel paths offer easy access through the full, end-of-summer garden. But just as important, they make the garden “legible” to visitors.
Anyone can see this is a tended garden, with comfortable paths, boulder benches, water features, and thoughtfully chosen sculpture.
Grassy plumes bending over the path offer an invitation to run your fingers through them.
Snow-on-the-mountain euphorbia
Snow-on-the-mountain thrives in a crevice garden built alongside Lisa’s garage. Its heat-reflecting brick wall makes a warm microclimate for a pair of white desert willows and other marginally hardy plants.
Purple prickly pear clusters along one of the bigger rocks, as upright and peaked as a mountain.
Smaller cacti are tucked into crevices between vertical stones. At the back, a large rocky berm shows off yuccas, prickly pear, hesperaloe, and more.
A small saucer pot hosts a spiny cactus adorned with fallen petals.
Hesperaloe, cactus, and other heat lovers soak up the sun here in the hottest part of the garden. The sharp drainage keeps them from rotting during winter snows.
Diagonally layered rock
A smaller crevice garden made with blocky stone edges the path.
Apache plume
Another video view
The sun on this cloudy morning was finally peeking through the trees.
Shafts of light started slanting into the garden, incandescing the grasses.
Two fountains run in the morning and evening, turning off during the heat of midday to conserve water.
Ceramic totem by Rita Vali
‘Sucker Punch’ chokecherry, a non-suckering variety, adds burgundy foliage to the medley of silver-green and tan. They’ll eventually grow into small trees 20 to 25 feet tall.
A last look at SummerHome, such a beautiful garden
My thanks to Lisa for sharing SummerHome with me, and for showing how to turn a garden into a public park that inspires, soothes, and preserves green space for human and wildlife visitors.
To see Part 1 of my tour of SummerHome Garden, including how the garden was conceived, click here. Up next: Golden aspens and bugling elk in the Rockies.
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What a lovely garden/park Lisa has created! And how wonderful to share it with her community. Love all of it, but especially the crevice gardens. I’d be interested to hear about the maintenance requirements throughout the year. The pathways make this meadow seem more approachable, more garden like. Smart move!
Thanks for sharing, Pam.
Thanks for reading and your comment! You’ll find some information about maintenance in Part 1 of my tour of SummerHome.
Well that might just be my favorite crevice garden yet! Did Lisa share the story on how it came to be? (I’m assuming she didn’t wrestle those stones into place all by herself)
That’s a good question, Loree. Maybe Lisa will chime in to give us the story.
Lisa has replied to your question, Loree. See below.
It’s a wonderful plan, beautifully rendered. I also like the crevice gardens.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Kris.
Oh my goodness, that crevice garden…the flowy grasses and pops of color. What an amazing place. I imagine a haven for pollinators too. It is so generous of Lisa to share this with the world and thank goodness she had the vision. The power of plants is strong and healing.
So true, Tamara. Lisa has amazing vision. Thanks for your comment.
the fact of this garden’s existence has lifted my weary spirits and given me hope for the future…forever grateful to ms. negri for both her amazing vision and equally amazing generosity: a triumph over the negativity that threatens to overwhelm us!
and, oh yeah, it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! i’m especially taken with the crevice garden, somewhat surprisingly, since i normally find them a bit too jarring and fussy for most places…this one made perfect, glorious sense to me!!! thanks so much for sharing this gem !
Thanks for sharing that, LCP. I too was blown away by the beauty of the garden, the community support for it, and Lisa’s intent behind it.
Beautiful crevice garden! She chose a great color for her buildings, too. The stark white of her neighbor’s buildings distracts from the softer, natural colors in her wonderful garden. Man-made white is a harsh color in the landscape. Maybe her neighbors will realize that and repaint
I agree the big white house next door doesn’t blend in with the garden. Lisa’s gray-green house makes a wonderful backdrop for her sagey plants.
Hi all. Lisa Negri here to hopefully answer your questions. We have one big maintenance day each year in March cutting back everything except trees and shrubs. 3 crews of 2 people with electric hedge trimmers make short work of the cutback. From April to November, there is one volunteer day per month to do some maintenance that usually is done in less than 2 hours.The crevice garden was built in 2 days using a bobcat with an arm on it by me, Kevin and a few landscapers (very strong men). What a fun process!! We placed and moved those huge rocks several times until we felt we had a good configuration. Then we planted 500 cold hardy cactus. Every May the crevice garden pops off with 1,000s of blooms making for quite the show. Thanks to Pam who has thoroughly captured SHG in words and pictures and to all of you who provided such warm and loving comments. If you are ever in Denver, reach out to me for a tour. I love gardeners and this garden.
Thanks for sharing more info, Lisa!
A beautiful garden, I especially love the crevice garden. Such a beautiful gift to the community!
I agree, Tracy. Lucky neighbors!
Lovely, inspiring, generous, creative, brave. Lisa and her garden are a gift to Denver.
I couldn’t agree more, Janet.
I’m with Danger Garden: I’ve seen many posts of the Denver Fling -and others, this is the best crevice garden, none is better.
I think what appeals to me is the accessibility: instead of a massive ‘lump’ of a structure, it’s in a lower, eye level, somewhat meandering and curvy… Excellent!
It’s so well designed and takes advantage of that hot, dry corner of her garden.
That crevice garden is absolutely inspiring! I love the scale and the varying rock elements. And I love the way it has been integrated into the garden as a whole. I’m planning a crevice garden in my CA garden, so I’m especially grateful for this idea-filled post.
I look forward to seeing your crevice garden as it evolves, Jane!
Well, I of course love the rock garden filled with lots of little cactusy gems. This whole venture is fabulous and inspirational. A real spirit lifter when I needed it most. Thank you!
My pleasure, Jerry. Thanks for commenting!
I think these are the most beautiful photos of Summerhome that I’ve seen . . . and I’ve seen a lot of photos of this garden. Incredibly well done!
Thank you, Mauri. That is very flattering, as I’ve seen wonderful images of this photogenic garden. I’m glad to know you enjoyed my post!
Hers’ is one of the better crevice gardens I’ve seen – rock setting to planting selection / design! I’m glad you took multiple photos in that stunning area. Though I also appreciate the contrast to the looser plantings elsewhere.
Isn’t it? I really enjoyed finding this “secret” crevice garden at the back of a more naturalistic garden.