A different botanical garden.

While vacationing in Colorado, I visited the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Located at the base of Vail Mountain in the Colorado Gore Range, this Alpine Garden celebrates the incredible diversity of high mountain flora.

The perennial garden has over 1000 varieties of traditional and unusual perennials. We visited very late in the season but locals told me that early in the summer the garden is an explosion of colorful blossoms nurtured by the mild warm sun.

A wall of Colorado blue spruce, offering a place of peace and tranquility, surrounds the meditation garden.

The rock garden imitates the dramatic cliffs and water falls found in the Rocky Mountains.

The alpine tundra garden, located at the highest point of the botanic garden, has a collection of mountain tundra from all over the world.

The children’s garden is a fun place for kids to learn about their local surroundings. Hopefully, these young visitors will become future gardeners!