Southwest Gardens: Denver's secret garden [center]

Cary West, owner of Southwest Gardens

Since practically every tree, shrub and herbaceous plant in the Denver metropolitan area has been planted deliberately [except for weeds], we have a LOT of garden centers. But only one specializes ALMOST exclusively in succulent plants. 

Okay, they do have a few orchids, and occasionally some annuals (especially if they're a tad succulent!). By and large, Cary limits himself to plants with crassulean acid metabolism, if you catch my drift!

I drop in regularly--and have known Cary for longer than either of us care to admit--somehow I'd missed a chance to enter the inner sanctum where his treasured collections reside. I suspect being in the tourist mode (showing the nursery to Sean Hogan, of Cistus Plants in Oregon), I sought out the often reclusive owner, and he escorted us to where the really special stuff was!

I was surprised to see Sinningia leucotricha in bloom: mine are late winter bloomers.

Every plant was riveting (to plant nerds like us)--get a load of this golden haworthia!

Sinningia eumorpha

No end of cool plants like this (I think) peperomia that blooms non stop. Forgot to photograph the label...

I can't resist photgraphing Cary--his "rugged good looks" are point and shoot-worthy. Impossible to take a bad picture of him.

But poring over bench after bench of perfectly grown treasures: my idea of bliss!

More bliss: as I travel more and more through Western and Southern South Africa, I recognize more and more of these from seeing them in the wild...

I always get a kick at how all Haworthia flowers look the same on utterly different plant bodies!

Another glimpse of my photogenic friend of many decades...thank you for a wonderful tour! I shall be back!

And some plants in production for sale: don't they look just like candies in a box?