Valedictory

Gentiana paradoxa

Few plants have given me such pleasure as this stunning gentian from the Caucasus: I was a hundred or so miles from its native range last spring, when it wouldn't be in bloom of course. I've grown it for over 30 years and like to think I'm one of the first to have done so: I've told the story of how and when that happened in a previous blog,. Meanwhile, I've had it blooming modestly in my various gardens, and thought I'd done a pretty well by this plant.  Until this past August when I dropped by Sally Boyson's remarkable garden and found a half dozen huge clumps

Wowza! What can one say? Sally had suggested I drop by with Zdenek Zvolanek (as was her wont when a terrific new plant was blooming in her garden). Zdenek was impressed. What none of us knew was that by the time the seed on these plants had ripened, Sally would have passed away. As much as I love the Autumn gentians, there is a foreboding in their blossoms--winter and the end of the season is near at hand.

I took this picture of Sally nearly 20 years ago--when she was still spry and mobile. She was a long time member of Denver Botanic Gardens and had taken some classes from me. We'd come to know one another enough that she asked me for a recommendation to apply to be a Master Gardener--which I did, and she took the course, and continued to volunteer hours for both Denver Botanic Gardens and the Extension service despite her increasingly tenuous health. Despite her pain and frailty, she continued editing the newsletter of our local rock garden chapter to her last days, and I remember seeing her answering calls at the "Dr. Green" desk at DBG a few weeks earlier. She sat front and center at this autumn's Steppe Summit--although her posture and frail progress should have given me pause.

A series of operations over the past decades (and an apothecary's worth of medicines) accelerated her physical deterioration. During those difficult years, I believe her garden did much to boost her spirits. It certainly boosted mine! I have brought no end of visitors here, and even tours from the Gardens. She took great pride (as she should have) in having it photographed several times for the local papers.

I am distressed that having written nearly 800 blog posts, with thousands, maybe tens of thousands of images, I've never done justice to Sally and her garden. I'll make amends now--too late for her to enjoy, I fear.

The threadleaf Caucasian gentians are certainly a fitting memento, but here are a few pictures I took this afternoon as I stopped by (half way between my work and home) to say goodbye yet again to my friend and her stunning garden.

Aronia melanocarpa blazing in late Indian Summer light

Berberis thunbergii contrasting with Silphium perfoliatum turning color

Cotoneaster apiculatus

Origanum libanoticum

Crocus speciosus contrasting with Verbascum bombyciferum

I remember how much Sally admired the Verbascums in my garden: several years in a row I gave her seedlings, and now she has five or six rosettes scattered throughout both front and back gardens.

 

Sally has the most exquisite planted pavement: the Elfin thyme and all manner of rock garden plants blend perfectly. Along one corner, Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' is growing to perfection--looking for all the world like purple Ajuga (only not spreading by stolons, of course). I would grow this and it would bloom and die in various gardens. I learned it liked pavement and growing flat (rather like the Monardella macrantha I pictured a few weeks ago). One of many lessons I learned from Sally!

Honest, Virginia It's not Ajuga. It's 'Purple Knockout'!

Perfect blend of Antennaria 'McClintock' and Thyme.

Wonderful contrasts on the rock (Cerastium candidisimum and Semps)

A last glimpse. This garden is about as perfect as a small garden could be. Let's hope the new owners (whoever they will be) will appreciate it. Vale, Sally.