Guest Post: Tribute to Jerry Morris by Betsy Baldwin-Owens

Elton Jerry Morris passed away on March 29 of this year. I saw Betsy at Jerry's funeral last Saturday, and we reminisced about that remarkable man: I told her how much I regretted  never taking pictures of the fantastic nursery filled with his plants that they managed together on her land. I also didn't have pictures of the spectacular Aspen garden he created: she had both. I asked her if she would contribute these to Prairiebreak: two days later she sent me these pictures and text. I am deeply grateful for this!

Betsy on left, Jerry Morris on the right taken on the spectacular Starwood in Aspen garden

My name is Betsy Baldwin-Owens, owner and grower for Sun Chaser Farms (formerly Sun Chaser Natives). I had the pleasure of knowing and spending significant time with Jerry Morris from 1999 until 2010. I was running my wholesale regionally native plant business in Arvada and he rented space from me. 

Vintage photos of Jerry's plantings and nursery on Betsy's property

In the beginning of our time together he was grafting conifers and coming up with interesting ideas for unique way to be creative with plants. Some of his creations were as follows. We had the ‘Bonny Boon’ collection. These were small, maybe 10”, containers with small conifers or some small native sage, or other deciduous shrub planted in the center. I supplied some of the plants for him. They were attractively placed with pieces of interesting, gnarled, aged wood, cleverly placed near them. Others would have interesting rocks that he collected of all shapes and sizes, all creating miniature  landscapes. The surface of the soil would be mounded up, bonsai style, and covered with small grit or moss he collected. They were beautiful and lovely. He wanted me to help him sell them, but I was up to my ears in work and did not take the bait, though I was very tempted.

Some of the thousands of Bonsai and character trees Jerry grew on the Baldwin property

  His projects seemed to lead him forward. So in the gathering of mosses for the ‘Bonny Boons’ he began learning about them. How to grow mosses, what the different ones were, and where they grew. He and I would discuss  all of these things at length while I potted my natives and worked in the greenhouse. I had to get good and working and talking to him, as he was a talker and I found I could not get things done if I stopped. This was not an easy task and if you knew Jerry, you would know he could talk at length! The thing is, I liked to glean information from him and he from me. Though at times I was exasperated, I was glad to have him there. He would also get frustrated with me, but we were both kind and always worked it out. I would not trade the time for something else.

More views of the Baldwin property filled with Jerry's treasures

He had opportunities to travel all over the west in search of brooms, trees and unique plants. He would always bring back seed and sometime Arctostaphylos cuttings. A plant genus that I specialized in growing. Each trip would find me behind his truck upon return helping him go through bags of plants and seeds collected interspersed with unique stones and pieces of wood.

Some of the hundreds of giant, narrow spruces destined for the Aspen property being held over on the Baldwin property

He would tell me stories of his adventures. I remember he came back one time, after being gone a long time, with his knee all wrapped up and a pretty good limp. He said he was up in the mountains far from any town and dusk was falling. As he was driving the dirt road down the mountain he spotted a broom on a tree up the steep rocky face of the upper side of the road. He climbed up to it with a chain saw and found he had to shimmy out on a limb to get the broom; with a live chainsaw no less. He slipped when he made the cut and chainsaw came down and got him in the knee. Needless to say it was not good. He had to try and get out of the tree, wrap his knee enough to get down the slope, blood coming out quickly. He was afraid he would pass out. He got himself wrapped up as well as he could at his truck and got himself off the mountain somehow. In my mind I think he said he also got the broom, but I can’t be certain. In some way Jerry was larger than life, a real Paul Bunyan. 

More vintage views of the holding areas for spruces and propagules

After  Jerry was hired by Bill Ziff, with whom he became a good friend, and had more space to grow at my greenhouses things really took off for him. The Ziff properties in Aspen wanted to bring in the most amazing trees and plants to recreate a wild habitat over 200 acres. Jerry played an integral part in this. He found and acquired native rock formations as big as tiny houses cut from hillsides that ended up trucked into the property so it looked like it was always that way. There were unique, specially selected trees of blazing colors, unique shapes, and special species included. Also ‘The Ancients’, conifers that lived long before manifest destiny was an idea and even before the birth of Genghis Khan. All incorporated to look completely wild and natural. You can see the rock formations and trees in the images.

A few of the "ancients" being pampered with frequent misting

Jerry built special set ups to do further experiments with conifer and oak grafting. He incorporated the learning from his previous creations and added them to his current endeavors. ‘The Ancients’ as they called them were specially dug Limber Pine and other conifers from ranches all over where Jerry had received permission to dig them. They took two years to prep. Jerry would tell me at length about the methods used, the timing, and moving these fragile beasts. To accomplishes this with so few dying was really amazing. You can see many of them in the photos in the wild landscaped mountain and at the greenhouses too.

Some plantings of mature dwarf conifers

In 2010 my Mom’s dementia brought me to close the greenhouses and Jerry and I had to find homes for all of the plants we acquired and grew together. You can see his collections in the images. His grafting and collecting endeavors we prolific. I found in Jerry a kindred spirit. A bit of that maverick thinking that sparks the creative mind. Many of the plants that he released into the world will live life times after we who read this are long gone. Jerry would always say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago or today. We best get planting!

One of the prop houses (there were many)

More and more bonsai

And even a rock collection (destined for bonsai pots)

One of many tours that came to see Jerry's collection (hundreds came for the Conifer Conference)

More glimpses of Jerry's plants at the Baldwin property

The view from the top of the spectacular garden Jerry planted for Bill Ziff in Starwood in Aspen

Views of Ziff garden in Starwood in Aspen

Cliff brought in from Utah border for Ziff garden in Starwood in Aspen

One of the "ancients' planted on the cliff

A small part of the cliffs brought in from Gateway for the Aspen garden

One of the "Eleven Ancients" on the Gateway cliff

Another view of the cliff at Starwood

Betsy Baldwin-Owens

 Betsy has explored for native plants and operated a native plant nursery for many years. The manzanitas propagated and sold by Plant Select all derive from collections that Betsy made in the last part of the last Millennium. She continues to offer native wildflowers grown organically, propagated and sold in bio-degradable pots so as to minimize the horticultural impact on the environment. I am deeply grateful for her providing this unique glimpse of Jerry Morris' work: I regard Jerry as the preeminent Horticulturist of the Rocky Mountain Region of my lifetime. Betsy was instrumental in facilitating his work at the height of his career. 

Click here to visit Betsy's Website: Sun Chaser Farms