The busman's holiday: a mountain retreat in Colorado

"Wildflower Ranch" in Routt County, Colorado

,Most professional gardeners will maintain a pretty nice garden at home. It takes a super gardener like my colleague Mike Kintgen to not only maintain a sizeable public garden (the Rock Alpine Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens), but a gem of a garden at his house in Denver, and then over four hours away in Northern Colorado, he has created a truly epic garden at well over 8000' around his family's montane elevation mountain home. I've had the privilege of visiting a few times over the decades--most recently last July 17 on a trip I took to Salt Lake City.

Primula florindae

Mid July isn't usually a very good time to visit rock gardens (and of course I missed the wealth of saxifrages, androsaces and primulas that bloom for Mike the weeks after snowmelt). But this idyllic spot with spectacular views in all directions enjoys a cool summer--so plants bloom on and on. And gems like Primula florindae are in peak bloom. I'd seen this in Tibet blooming a few weeks earlier in 2019--for me one of the great pleasures of rock gardening is finding the plants I grow in the wild and vice versa! Mike has the added bonus that there are dozens of choice flowers growing naturally on the family ranch. Some of us call this cheating!

Erodium manescavii and Sempervivum wulfenii

These two happen to be two of my personal favorite work horses in my Denver Garden, where I fancied I grew them well: but I never thought to plant them together--and they seem to grow even more happily up in Routt County than they do for me. Grrrrrr.

Mike's midsummer gardens are full of happy combiatons like this hybrid Verbascum, a fine Eryngium and a lovely daisy--none of which I can identify by specific name (I'm hoping Mike may be able to provide those--I'd check back in a few days: I have a hunch he can and will!) Clarification from Mike Kintgen: "- Eyngium Big Blue, Helianthus quinquinervis local form, Verbascum hybrid that has shown up several times in my garden from V xanthophoeniceum and something that came as V oreophilum and maybe chaixii (maybe yellow chaixii x xanthophoeniceum makes the most sense."

Here a choice Dianthus is blooming alongside what looks like Sedum hybridum in bud: both of these would be in seed in Denver by mid July: what a treat it must be for Mike to experience multiple springs every year at work and in the mountains!

The garden goes on and on with outcrops if this kind of rock he'd imported from elsewhere here, some tufa over there, a crevice garden on yet another slope. Late July is late for Porophyllum saifrages, but you can see the encrusted Saxies are still blooming away!

I believe this is Aster haydenii, a plant I've not seen in a garden before--growing out of a rock. (M.K.: "ex Bighorns")

Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) blooming in the Southern Rockies.

Sensitive fern seems to be very happy in Routt County: found only once in Colorado (by Bill Weber in Douglas County where it's never been found again), I believe Mike brought this back from a relative's property in Michigan (he shared it with me: mine doesn't look quite this robust!) M.K.: "The sensitive fern is a form I found in the Sandhill of Nebraska between Valetine and Therdford  in High School although its very common in the UP.   I should get a form from there and compare."

 

An enormous cushion of Dianthus anatolicus blooming like it never does at lower altitudes. This is absurdly miss-named Dianthus simulans by the few nurseries in the USA that have sold it (the correct name denotes its origins in Western Turkey, while D. simulans is a very small tuffet confined to a small area in the Balkans that never makes these magnificent mats.

I was obviously there in Dianthus season--they were everywhere! I shan't try guessing specific epithets!

I'm tempted to guess this is Dianthus neglectus (a.k.a. Dianthus pavonius-a much prettier and more appropriate epithet) a classic European alpne that obviously likes growing in Routt County!

One of many literal "ROCK" gardens--a whole garden on a rock. In Denver a garden like this would require copious watering, and still not look this good!

I believe this is a form of Paeonia anomala with colorful calyces persisting after the petals fall.  M.K.: "P veitchii var woodwardii from Heronswood circa 1998"

And of course lupines grow at altitude far more happily than they do on the Great Plains!

More danged Verbascums dancing with a lovely columbine: there were so many happy combinations in the garden--how many designed and how many happy accidents?

Geranium x magnificum

Either Geranium magnificum or G. ibericum (I confuse the two)--hopefully Mike will weigh in. M.K. weighed in: it's x magnificum.

Campanula cochlearifolia 'Alba' blooming away--these thrive a few years for me in Denver and fade away--up here I believe more of these classic alpines stick around.

Telesonix jamesii

Blooming in late July just as it does on Pikes Peak. But in Denver it would be over by now.

Saxifrages love growing at altitutude

A few persistent flowers on an enormous tiny Androsace--I believe it's Himalayan. I hope Mike will provide a name! This inspired real envy in me--they don't grow like this for ME. M.K.: M.K.: Androsace muscoidea from Wrightman Alpines

Wonderful combo of purple Lysimachia ciliata and a European columbine (alpina? vulgaris?)

I'm not sure which plant is happier looking, the robust pink form of Saxifraga paniculata on the left of Rhodiola rhodantha on the right. I have to grow the Rhodiola in bog conditions for it to persist in Demver!

Local form of Helianthus quiquenervis. I know I want to grow it (I pity people who dislike DYC's) 

Mike Kintgen: Aquilegia flavescens pink form from the Wasatch collected by Ron Ratko.   Comes fairly true form seed although my columbine has been in close enough proximity that they are forming hybrids and I seem to get less pure seed as time goes on.   I think the hybrids back cross back to the parents.   Until I started getting hyrbids my seed seemed to come fairly true.

The variety and quantity of columbines all over this garden was spell-binding: 

Ditto here: Mike? HELP! M.K.:The red columbine is either elegatula or formosa,   It came from a source where it could be either.   At one point I had them figured out but I have forgotten

A wonderful cortusoid Primula in a trough: P. polyneura I'm guessing? I saw that species on Shika Shan in Yunnan looking like this. M.K.: The primula thing Is  Kaufmannia semenovii which has lived here too at DBG.  Flowers small and green

More fantastic combos of folkiage and flower: I THINK that's a golden leaf form of Tanacetum vulgare in the middle--presumably not as thuggish as the plain green form? M.K. Yes, Tanacetum 'ISA Gold' is the cultivar; it generally doesn’t flower in Steamboat and it well behaved.

Eriogonum compositum: a personal favorite of mine I just realize I've lost. Grrrr.

I'm guessing this columbine is a hybrid: I'll take it anyway!

Some sexy Himalayan rhubarb on the crevice garden. Not sure which one. Just realized I never got a picture of Mike's Rheun alexandrae that was in bloom elsewhere in the garden! M.K.: Rheum moorcroftiana from Czech seed.  It didn’t like DBG and I am not sure Vail or Yampa planted there I gave them. But Rebecca did in Parker so maybe it lives there.

Mimulus lewisii, that actually grows natively in the mountains to the east of the Kintgen ranch. I forgot to ask if Mike's big colony derives from Zirkel Dome area...M.K.: Mimulus lewisii is form the Sierra Madre the continuation of the Zirkles across the Wyoming border where it paints the roadside ditches some years on battle pass which is a nice paved pass that gets to 9500 feet but feel like alpine in one spot because its so exposed.

 

I believe Mike was the first to build classic Czech style rock gardens in the Rockies (inspiring Kenton Seth in the process--which Kenton acknowledged in the book he co-wrote with Paul Spriggs) and there are lots on this piece of Routt County!

Mike is very much a devotee of native plants--this is defiitely one of the caespitosum/fremontii/viscossisimum agglomeration. Mike should tell us which.  M.K. says Geranium viscossisimum

More crevice gardens....

More rocks in crevices--Calceolaria (filicaulis?) looking very happy here! M.K.: Calceolaria mollissima from Paul Krystoph in BC.

A spectacular clump of a Turkish Tanacetum I would LOVE to have in my garden.

Masses of many kinds of poppies everywhere...There was far more happening than I could capture on my brief visit. Mike escapes the hot Front Range summers most weekends in summer by wafting up to his Routt county aerie...not a bad gig if you can get it!

 Finishing by re-visiting that daisy in a niche: 

Thanks, Mike, for letting me visit! Next time I'd like to come in June or Maybe even May. Or August--heck any time the thermometer surges into the 90's in Denver to be honest!