Hi GPODers!

Today we’re heading to the Rockies and checking out a sensational alpine garden. However, Holly Culp didn’t always garden at high altitudes and a lot needed to learn a lot to transition from lush cottage gardens in Ohio to a xeric design in Colorado:

I am originally from Ohio, where I had three quarters of an acre of cottage style gardens. My color scheme featured white, pink, blue and purple flowers with a mix of sun and shade loving plants. I prayed for the sun to shine and the rain to stop but my plants always thrived!

Now I live with my husband in Denver, Colorado. I’ve switched to a yellow, orange, and purple palette of alpine, native and xeric plants. A totally different style of gardening. I pray for rain, hope the hail storms miss our house ,and am thankful for the occasional cloudy day!

Extreme heat and lack of rainfall have caused me to lose more plants than I have kept alive, so I have gotten into propagation from seeds and cuttings which I love. Alpine plants are also difficult to find, so propagation offers me a wide variety of plant options. My seed source for alpines is the North American Rock Garden Society and our local chapter offers amazing sales of hard to find plants. For xeric plants I have found that Plant Select, an organization that promotes plants that thrive in challenging and dry conditions, to be a valuable resource.

I converted the “Devil’s strip” into a crevice garden for alpine plants. The display in this bed starts in March. The rocks allow the plants to put down deep roots which help sustain them during hot and dry summers.

Wow, Holly—I absolutely love how you embraced your new climate and conditions to create a garden that is the epitome of alpine beauty! Without your preamble I would have assumed you gardened in Denver your whole life.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

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