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| Fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) |
One of many clumps of this and other choice peonies that are popping up all over the Snyder garden. I am astonished I have only featured her garden once before, since Sandy has been perhaps my closest partner and collaborator in gardening for over 40 years, and she and her garden are a never ending source of inspiration to me.
I know I bent the law a tad by visiting (we kept social distance the whole time I can assure you): this is a typical load of Sandy's spring cleaning for a few days (mind you she has a few years on me, and I've just tiptoed into my 8th decade!)
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| Paeonia kavachensis |
More species peonies--she must have a dozen kinds: the dark foliage on this one struck me in particular. This is the garden that invented bulbs in buffalo grass, the first true crevice garden in Colorado, and she has pioneered a tremendous variety of garden techniques, introduced new plants and showcased plants others struggle to grow...
Her bermed rock garden in front of the house has no end of treasures self sowing, like Draba hispanica that found a friendly hollow in a rock to colonize.
She not only grows rarities, but bulbs like nobody's business! Here 'George' has clumped up nicely in front of Juniperus communis 'Echiniformis'--Paul Maslin's favorite dwarf conifer (Sandy's one of the few local gardeners who's been around long enough to have known Paul well--my other best friend of my youth)
She has snowdrops here and there all over her garden (as one should!)
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| Helleborus niger |
And lots of Hellebores--I particularly admired this one...
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| Orostachys spinosa |
I'd hate to count all Sandy's troughs--you'd never come up with the same number--they're all over the garden and each full of something wonderful!
The original crevice garden--designed many decades ago: the manzanitas, daphnes and dwarf conifers provide year around green among all the little things that pop up and down. The flattering front view graces the cover of Joseph Tychonievich's Rock Gardening, see below:
This garden is really full of no end of goodies!
Iris aucheri scrunched up a tad but happy nonetheless.
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| Cynodon 'Dog Tough' |
Sandy has a questionable habit of listening to my suggestions: three or four years ago I warned her a severe drought will occur from 2021 to 2024 and her swath of thirsty bluegrass would suffer: why not try our new "Dog tough turf" which is soft as velvet and very drought tolerant? Well she did...and it looks great!
She's very photogenic, if I don't say so: and resilient. Twice in the last decade she's had mishaps (dogs, bikes) that broke bones in her lower body that would have crippled most mere mortals--but she's bounced back both times. Incredibly.
Probably the biggest Draba rigida in town (if not the country) casually tucked along a path.
Her eye for design and placement throughout the garden is a match for her plant choices: that conifer in the center is a dwarf Abies concolor of considerable age: I know nothing like it in our region.
Her original rock garden on the Southwest corner of the house--a treasure trove of plant rarities.
And a somewhat better view of the crevice garden in front.
A massive manzanita ('Panchito' I believe) in full bloom in March,
Who else has a healthy Shepherdia rotundifolia in Denver? Not me!
More Draba hispanica in back--but look at that enormous Dasylirion texanum behind.
We had a tough winter with a cold snap in October that killed all the early Magnolia buds and scalded Austrian pines---but that exposed, south Texan desert spoon is unscorched!
More happy hellebores casting artistic shadows on a bleach-blonde late winter day: oh--for a few clouds that would have shown the garden so much better!
A glimpse of the living room/ kitchen combo with spectacular views of the Rockies. She intends to put this fantastic home and garden (five bedrooms, three baths, new metal roof, solar panels, not one but two wondeful patios and no end of good karma) on the market. I was shocked at the low sticker price her realtor suggested. I have enjoyed this home and garden as a friend for forty years--I can't begrudge Sandy and Bill's decision: as usual, she's going out in style (the home and garden have never been better). She retired from Denver Botanic Gardens on the day she said she would in 1997--but gave me word she would three years earlier! I've learned to take her at her word.
The garden alone was worth that price. I hope real gardeners buy it: they will be ecstatic from day one!
How wonderful, to garden with such expertise and joy -- then say, enough! And out with a bang to new and easier? pastures. (I have a feeling my own gardens are going to go out with more of a whimper... which is why I carefully call them "meadows".)
ReplyDeleteIris histrioides 'George' is one of my favorite reticulated irises. It has a nice purple color, wide flowers, and grows vigorously. It blooms at the same time as daffodil 'Topolino.' They would make a great combination together. I would love to dig up my plants, divide them, and combine them in a bed that would showcase them together. So many ideas. So little time to make them happen. Gather ye spring bulbs while ye may...
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