Time to tour!! A garden extravaganza....

This is a season for touring gardens in Denver: next weekend will be an especially busy one (my garden included: check here), but last week I conducted my own tour. I FINALLY visited the gardens of James Marquez (right) and David McCreedy (on the left)--who have created an extraordinary display I have driven by possibly thousands of times (I've driven east on 14th Avenue weekly for decades--their home is a few houses down the cross-street facing East it's not visible from 14th, otherwise I would have seen it and stopped by years ago!)... Their garden is well nigh perfect--every plant seems to grow its best, and the combinations are artful and endless. I could tell that this is a four season garden--worth visiting again and again throughout the year. Which I intend to do!

I asked the proud creators to let me take a picture: I was so distracted, I didn't take nearly enough pictures--especially of views. But I think you'll get the drift that this is a genuine masterpiece.

A Phlomis unlike any I have seen before. One of my favorite genera (ok I have a lot of favorite genera). I've grown a dozen or more taxa--this one is distinct in flower and foliage color. I NEED it!

One of far too few vistas I took--this from the street: I think this shows the artful way the plants gently rub shoulders with one another.

A champion Salvia that they believe rose as a seedling. It seems to have Turkish ancestry--slightly pinnate foliage like S. recognita which grew nearby. But much bluer...I think this is a winner!

Closeup of the flowers on the mystery Salvia, which has risen to the top of my wish list!

Phlomis monocephala

Yet another Phlomis--this one resembling the common P. fruticosa, but proving to be much hardier. Theirs looked much better than my two specimens!

Oenothera canescens

I have failed to establish this local endemic evening primrose. They have it in several spots! Not that I'm jealous or anything!

This looks like 'Paint the Town Magenta'--which I think would be better described as 'Paint the town Vermilion'

A stunningly perfect specimen of Pinus edulis 'Farmy' (or suchlike)--one of Jerry Morris' countless miniature pinon witch's broom selections.

Salvia lavandulifolia showcased perfectly.

More of that dang O. canescens! Just rub it in fellas!

Rosemary. Now Salvia rosmarinus, looking very happy indeed! 

A view toward the street with a robust fireweed in front that must be spectacular all summer...

They have numerous Spuria irises dotted here and there--blooming a month earlier than usual. I am especially fond of this group of irises that doesn't like my sand. They garden on clay, the lucky guys!

One of countless troughs dotted around their garden.

A strange variation on Love-in-a-mist, Nigella damascena--one of my favorite annuals scattered here and there!

Verbascum chaixii and Dianthus knappii

I just realized my yellow "pink" has died out. I want it back! They share my love of mulleins!

Closer look at Dianthus knappii looking very compact.

A glorious Eryngo (variation on alpinum?) Every plant seems to stand out and yet combine with the next--real plantsmanship!

My mother's first name was Artemisia, so I have a vested interested in the genus (yes, I confess...I was a "mommy's boy". Here's one I never saw before (I have to beg a piece come to think of it!)

Ligusticum scoticum--with a bizzare distrubution across the Atlantic--is one of my favorite shade lovers. This is the only other garden I've seen it in!

Another of the innumerable troughs...

Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance'

The picture doesn't do the plant justice: and believe me the fragrance was overwhelmingly sweet!

I believe this is Pinella pedatifida--although my form looks a tad different. A terrible weed in Maritime climates, James and David find it manageable (as do I).

Maybe the finest specimen of Lonicera floribunda 'Blue Velvet' I have ever seen: they planted it themselves--so it is not as ancient as it looks!

They had several 'Itoh' peonies--this one was a new one for me. 

Trifolium rubens

I thought I was the only one growing this in Denver! Mine isn't blooming yet this year--interestingly...

They've joined in on the crevice revolution..

We're in the backyard now--altogether different mood here.

A distinctive trough with an oak leaf inlay

Monardella macrantha 'Marion Sampson" nicely complements the miniature columbine. Their success with trumpet gentians in troughs inspires me to try doing the same...

Now THIS is a true dollhouse yucca (Yucca nana): is that cute or what?

Wonderful edgings of bricks, and compact groundcovers...

I was astonished to see Epipactis gigantea 'Serpentine night' thriving in one of the Woodland beds...

A slightly closer view of this Coastal California form of our native chatterbox orchid. So jealous!

Wonderful troughs full of cacti here and there all over their property,

A venerable clump of Dianthus anatolicus in a trough. They grow EVERYTHING!

I know I missed half the plants that were blooming and a few weeks later there will undoubtedly be a whole new suite of plants blooming (and so on through the seasons). Inexplicably, this garden has never (yet) been featured by the Garden Conservatory. I hope that will be rectified next year...

But I assure you there are a fantastic suite of gardens you can visit the next few weekends in Denver, then Boulder and more beyond (including my own, he says blushing) Just click on this link to find out more: Garden Conservancy tours

Touring gardens is the most benign form of industrial espionage! And totally legal (and moral). Just do it!

Come visit the "Land of the Rising Sun"! 日本

Anemone japonica 'Splendens'

 I am pretty confident that if you join us on our trip to Japan next November, you'll be apt to see some of these--one of the countless gems that stud our gardens that hail from Japan. Japan has almost 6000 species of native plants--40% of which grow nowhere else naturally.. Compare Great Britain, which has only 1692 kinds of plants and few endemics. Japan is twice as species rich per acre than Great Britain.

Of course, it's not merely the plants (Hepatica nobilis var. japonicus in this case) that makes Japan extraordinary--it's the vast history of human-plant interaction. The Japanese have raised the art of pottery to new heights, and the great gardens of Japan are revered for their perfection and sophisticated design. The Denver Botanic Gardens' trip planned for November will be visiting the finest of these in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Click here for details.

John Shors

I (Panayoti Kelaidis) will be along as Botanical and Horticultural leader (I studied East Asian languages, civilization and culture for 8 years at the University of Colorado and Cornell). We are especially lucky to have the Principal of John Shors travel along: John has lived in Japan for years and has even written a highly regarded novel inspired by Japan: Beside a Burning Sea. Both of us are seasoned travelers who love to share our experience on tours such as this. 

Higo iris at Denver Botanic Gardens' Japanese Garden

A glimpse back in time: these iris have gone--but there was a time when DBG boasted a stunning display of the giant Japanese iris that had been bred for over 500 years! Japanese gardens admit Azaleas and a very few other flowering plants into their gardens. but with such rich biodiversity at hand, Japanese gardens don't even try to challenge nature in the flowery department. Instead, they focus on forms and shapes and an attempt to capture the dynamics of great landscapes in miniature, as it were. The trip is designed to hit fall color at its peak in the regions we visit--it's usually a time of year with great weather. Click here to find out more--and please join us!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

A new rock garden (and succulent) nursery! Desert Blooms

Justin and Christen Ruiz

I have become a HUGE FAN of this incredible couple, who took this selfie in one of four huge greenhouses they soon FILLED with rock garden and succulent (and yes, some non-cannabis grass too) treasures... They are the proprietors of Desert Blooms--the most exciting new kid on the block of North American rare plant nurseries...[do click on the highlighted link to see their informative and beautiful website]

Random selection of gems

I snapped this picture of a randome assemblage of their plants: all PERFECTLY grown, all choice and special plants, most sold no where else in the Metro Denver area. Or further than that!

View from afar

Here's their amazing site (alas, not open to the public). 

Lots of treasures

Remember that big empty greenhouse in the first picture: this is what it looked like a few months later!

Arenaria alfacarensis

A fantastic cushion plant from Southern Spain. They grow it (and everything else) to perfection!

Rosularia muratdagensis

I have a long and even personal connection to this plant (a story I shall save for another blog post): what a treat to see this rare Turkish gem grown by them...

More goodies

Everywhere you look, more awesome plants!

And more: I can't speak for all botanic gardeners, but many of us are frustrated nursery peeps: we can't imagine how they grow so much, so well, keep tabs on them and get them sold: we botanic gardeners have it easy by comparison!

Delosperma x 'Red Mountain Flame'

Of course they had lots of my favorite Delo. I guess they're all my favorites...but I can't resist the vermillion of this one! David Salman's greatest hybrid.

They grow indoor succulents too...

Dog Tough Grass

And the Ruiz's host the primary production of what has to be the most underappreciated and most promising turf grass ever.

Just LOOK at how robust things grow for them!

I want them all!

Who else sells white flowered Zauschneria ("California fuchsia")?

Wouldn't you like to have a batch of these for your garden? Well, you CAN: they sell mail order! Just click here: https://desertbloomsplants.com/

 I took this less than a year from their first selfie shot: those greenhouses are HOPPING! They sell at many venues so you'll have a chance to meet them for sure: two o the most thoughtful, talented and and wonderful people I've ever known. Desert Blooms!