Invitation to a voyage: Japan!

Pinus parviflora 'Miyajima'

I always make a bee-line to this 400 year old bonsai gifted to the United States by Masaru Yamaki in 1976 whenever I visit the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. (the gemstone in the diadem of that great public garden.) It survived the atom bombing of Hiroshima and dates back to 1620. This encapsulates just one of innumerable touchstones throughout my life, and you too likely have had a sort of distant love affair with Japan as I have. It dates back at to when I was at least ten years old as I relate in another blog post, when a beloved relative gave me a book of haiku. It launched my lifelong love and study of East Asia, including eight years of studying both ancient and modern Chinese. And writing a lot of haiku too, come to think of it!

Chaenomeles japonica

Of course, as a life-long gardener, the extraordinary richness of Japan's flora is one of the chief reasons for wanting to visit Japan. I did a quick search of my plant database, and dozens of plants with "japonica" showed up, this flowering quince exemplifying how spectacular these can perform--even on our Continental steppe climate!

John Shors

Then I met this gentleman--an author of a dozen or more novels translated into dozens of languages who is CEO of his namesake travel company which conducts tours worldwide. John lived in Kyoto for three years, and elsewhere in Japan as well--and has conducted many tours to that country. He offered to do so for Denver Botanic Gardens as well, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to finally visit the islands I have studied and yearned to see all my life! John has designed a tour to visit the finest Japanese gardens, staying at fine venues at the very height of fall color in Japan. 

Acer palmatum at Denver Botanic Gardens

Every autumn I make a point of visiting our small grove of Japanese maples in Plantasia to admire their fiery color. This November I expect to see whole mountains ablaze--and hope you will join us on this quest! Click here for more information about this trip: Travel to Japan with Denver Botanic Gardens
 

Cody: my sweet Wyoming home! [a special opportunity to check it out!]

One of many dazzling routes out of Cody, Wyoming

 FIRST of all, that's not the Beartooth in the distance at all: it's Pilot Peak. You can spy the real  Beartooth in a previous blog I wrote...(the turnoff to get there is just to the right around the bend from this picture above).  I shall come clean and let you know, rather than my usual "information packed" blog posts that you're used to (although I promise some pretty good dope herein as well!) this is a shameless piece of promotion for a trip planned for this July led by none other than Mike Bone, Associate Director of Horticulture at Denver Botanic Garden--and Curator of Steppe Collections to boot. Mike and I have led tours to Cody many times, most recently last summer....

A freshly sprinkled Mike Bone in his native Propagation habitat

I am lucky to work with over 300 dedicated and talented staff--and Mike has been exceptional among them (I have sung his praises in an entire blog post devoted to him.) Mike is in Lesotho (for the 3rd or 4th time I believe) as I type this--he has been the most devoted plant explorer on our staff: I would go with this man anywhere: he has extraordinary skills of organization, logistics--and fantastic knowledge gained from his long tenure in our Green Industry and worldwide plant travels. He is also a people person: anyone who meets him will be won over by him. He and at least one other of my colleagues will lead this trip.

Primula pauciflora (I prefer Dodecatheon watsonii!)

Of course, as a flower lover, the floral displays in the Bighorns, Beartooth and Absoroka mountains of Yellowstone National Park are second to none. Each day of this tour will bring a whole new suite of plants, and let's not even talk about the scenery! (I have many blog posts about this area--check THIS one out to get a taste.)

I have conducted at least a dozen tours to this area for the North American Rock Garden Society, Denver Botanic Gardens, our local chapter of NARGS and for the Ratzeputz gang--an International group of keen Plantsmen. And I've botanized here on my own at least that many times. I believe this is the premier destination for anyone to really get to know the best of the Rocky Mountains.

The Retreat Center which provides home base for the trip is elegant and impeccable--and the food delicious. The views of the Cody Valley from the Center are stunning

View of Cody from the TAC Retreat Center at sunset

My recommendation? Just do it! Registration will open in the next week or so, but Click here to let Mike know you're interested n coming

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

An alpine plant nursery is born!!!

Lewisia cotyledon (compact form)

It's not hard nowadays to be discouraged...global warming, political divisiveness...you name it. And we gardeners always have things to complain about--mostly about how all the best nurseries are closing down. Well, new ones are opening up nowadays as well: I have blogged about Michael Barbour's amazing garden before: I am posting pictures of it I took two years ago.  I will leave these unlabeled for a few days (too much work in my hopper right now)...but they do speak for themselves. And HERE is the link to his nursery: Rock Alpines great prices and superb plants. I'm putting an order in pronto! You better do so too!           

The UN-Delospermas...

Stomatium agninum Giant Form

While Delosperma has gone and become a household name, practically, sold in box stores and practically on every street corner, there is another large genus of ice plants--one that is largely restricted to the colder parts of the karoo--most of the species of which are very cold tolerant. This is the genus Stomatium...which suffers a tremendous inferiority complex. For one thing almost all stomatiums are yellow (except for a few rebellious white species that can be even be pinkish). Pretty much the same shade of butter yellow to boot. Then there's the problem that their flowers open only at night. These are clumpers--not big mats like so many Delosperma. although these clumps are incredibly variable in their shape and the toothing of the leaves. Worth growing for that alone. And their flowers often smell like Juicy Fruit gum. I kid you not! I obtained the one above from the Huntington Botanic Garden, where it was once featured many places in their incredible Desert Garden. I find it to be one of the hardiest mesembs. Those leaves are BIG!
 

Stomatium NOT mustellnum ex Naude's Nek E.C.  (probably S. gerstneri)

I'm not sure how this got the wrong name. I'm quite sure it's actually S. gerstneri. If possible, it's even hardier than the LAST species. I obtained it as a gift from John Lavranos collected this on Naude's Nek in the East Cape, where I have seen it subsequently. It makes some of the biggest and densest clumps in the genus.                                                                                                                             

Stomatium NOT mustellnum ex Naude's Nek E.C. (probably S. gerstneri)

And here it is in bloom!

Stomatium lesliei

This was a real stunner: was being the operative word--it wasn't hardy where I grew it. I'd like to try it again in my crevice garden. I was surprised that I-Naturalist had no records of this species...

I think this is the same as the Stomatium in the next picture...a pretty tough one I lost the data for. This reminds me a bit of Faucaria--Tiger jaws. Only smaller--how's "Kitten jaws" for a common name?

Kitten-jaws in bloom. I can almost smell the Juicy-fruit fragrance

The next six pictures I took over the three extraordinary August/September visits I took to South Africa in 2022, 2023 and 2024. I wish I had gone in 2025! The areas we traversed were at the margins of the genus' main distribution in the Great Karoo: how I would love to see them there! Localities and dates I took them are shown next to the names. 

Stomatium difforme Laingsburg to Calipzdorp

Stomatium mustellinum ("pyrodorum")Akkerendam Calvinia 

Stomatium mustellinum ("Stomatium pyrodorum' Calvinia nat. res. 08-30-2022)

Stomatium sp. Laingsburg 09-14-2023 

Stomatium suaveolens Dankbar dam 09-13-2023

Stomatium villetii Dankbar dam 09-13-2023 

And now I have a sad tale to tell: Stomatium grew in Denver gardens long before anyone knew anything about Delosperma. There was a remarkable Danish perennial grower named Alf Jensen who had greenhouses in Arvada just south of where Ward Road abuts into 44th Avenue near the great curve of I-70. For decades he was the only source of unusual perennials--especially alpines--I remember how he would bring long wooden crates filled with hundreds of tiny clay pots full of Campanula portenshlagiana or Globularia or Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Tiny Rubies' or one of dozens of his other treasures to our sale, and sell them pots and all. The cost by current standards was absurdly low--well under a dollar (including the tiny pot!) I'm sure he bought the pots by the thousand from Colorado Clay works back when they actually were a factory that made pots. No fancy soil-less mixes back then--Alf used SOIL! And boy, did his plants grow. His real love, however, was succulents. He had hundreds--probably thousands, in some of his greenhouses. I heard the people who bought his property (some time in the mid 1980's I believe) when he retired were selling off his plants, so I went and was shocked to see huge specimen aloes, and all manner of beautifully grown tender cacti selling for pennies on the dollar. I was sorry I never got to visit while the nursery was active. I heard he had an enormous Yucca brevifolia var. jaegeriana he grew in his garden that he transplanted to Canyon City when he sold his home and nursery. I've always wondered if it made it.

And apparently he grew other succulents in the ground including Stomatium fulleri. He's sold this to a volunteer at DBG who told me about it--she'd been growing it in her garden in Littleton for years. For years before I ever saw a Delosperma or dreamed how this Family (Aizoaceae) would utterly transform my life. I'm embarrassed to relate that when she told me that I didn't believe her....

But Alf was still selling plants, and I got one and grew it in my parents garden before I had my own. She was right--it was hardy. I need to get it again--and apologize to her now that I think of it!

Wisest of gardeners...and much more!

Keith Funk alongside his incredible garden

 After a long Colorado winter, even the most sophisticated colorist yearns for color--and the day I visited Keith and took this picture is proof of that statement: a garden with all the subtlety of a Tuba orchestra performing Souza. Don't be fooled, this fella has myriad arrows in his quiver, as you'll see!

I praised my friend of four decades calling this display "festive": now that I think of it, our friendship could  well be described as a festival of fun, mutual respect and learning.

Brace yourself, sweetie: this is that very same slope taken three months later: Keith is nothing short of being a garden magician! His garden morphs from week to week, and every corner reveals new dazzling vignettes.

A slight change of pace from the festive rock garden I think you'll agree: Keith and Retha's outdoor living room is an incredible verdant oasis: what a wonderful place to sip lemonade on a hot summer's day (although I'm afraid we tend towards slightly higher alcohol content in our drinks there...)

Every year the oasis transforms: Keith grows no end of fantastic annuals and perennials under lights and other monstrous tropicals that he overwinters like these bananas and cannas...he propagates these and much more and has a modest little nursery space where you can buy these for a fraction of the price you'd pay elsewhere if you come on garden visiting days...do note the alpine trough bottom center: he does it all...speaking of which I realize I forgot to photograph his vegetable beds!

Here the "festive" front rock garden is morphing into the summer Rembrandt colors in late afternoon...

Keith and Retha have opened their garden for years for the Garden Conservancy--from Spring to Fall: I guarantee you, every time you visit it will be a different garden!

Iris sintenisii var. urumovii

One of the countless treasures in Keith's gardens: I have lusted over this (I'm a nut for wild iris) and he's given me both seed and propagated divisions for me: a better friend one couldn't have! Multiply this plant by thousands and you have nothing less than a first class private botanic garden!

A view of one of several sweeping borders...

Rudbeckia cv. ('Goldsturm'?)

Black-eyed susan along a path on the West side of the house--more treasures beyond...

Pinellia pedatisecta and Asarum europaeum

Just look at the sweep of wild ginger on the bottom right and the aroid in the middle--one of the pests he obtained from me. In maritime climates many Pinellia are regarded as terrible invasives. In my very dry garden they are well behaved. In Keith's lush garden they are somewhere in between...I think Keith is wavering on this one...

More wonderful views of the peaceful back yard on Garden visiting day.

Wonderful container extravaganzas--different every year!

Indoors Keith maintains a wonderful assortment of gems--like these sexy begonias...

And many benches groaning with orchids--one of Keith's passions. He has a premier collection of all manner of orchids (he's a mainstay of the Denver Orchid Society and repeat past officer including president). I can't imagine how many ribbons he's won!

Another simple, elegant cluster of containers. I have taken hundreds of pictures in this garden: I'm trying to give a taste: It is impossible to capture all its facets in a short blog post...

I'm not a huge fan of garden sculpture, but I admire this serene Flora garlanded with recognizable foliage of Monstera, Manihot and possibly Marihuana as well as a daisy whose Latin name I hope begins with an "M". I know the Mother goddess treads his lawn when no one's looking...

What pictures cannot convey is Keith's enormously winning personality: he and Retha glow with love for one another, for their family, friends and the entire community. They possess restless intellects, integrity and a social conscience. For three decades Keith has shared his wisdom, wit and wonderful humor from 7:00-9:00AM on Saturday mornings that you can watch on Facebook at this link. Or on radio if you are in the Denver area at 810 KLVZ radio (or if you click the Station letters you can also listen to him on your computer).

If you haven't deduced it yet, I am a big fan of Keith's (not uncommonly calling into his program). I think he has the most beautiful and diverse private garden in the Front Range, and believe he's the best horticulturist in our region (OK, along with Kelly Grummons!). Do check him out if you haven't!

And if you're on Facebook you can see a short movie clip I did a few years ago of his festive front garden by clicking here!

And he now has a brand-spanking new website!  The Garden Wise Guy