Panayoti Kelaidis Quince Garden

The garden was begun in 1994, and the current lay of the land would startle the previous owners: almost every square inch has been reworked. The theme is biodiversity: it contains more than 6,000 kinds of plants, from giant trees to tiny alpine cushions, and is home for the widest spectrum one can shoehorn into a half-acre. The garden is never the same from day to day. This garden on a hill has magnificent views of the Front Range; from Pikes Peak to north of Longs Peak, one can see nearly 200 miles on a clear day! The soil is sand, not sandy loam, and it has been amended by additions of large quantities of humus. The soil of the vegetable garden, the most highly amended, has a pH of 7.9, so acid-loving plants are not too happy here without some serious soil amendment. The dryland ridges, shrub border, and sub-balcony border (roughly half the total area of the garden) are all designed to be unwatered. Here you will find extensive plantings of steppe plants (East Ridge): tulips, aril iris, acantholimons, and veronicas, while West Ridge is filled with Western American penstemons, buckwheats, cacti, and unusual shrubs. A small blue gramma prairie boasts a large collection of mariposa lilies, which should be starting to bloom right now. The lawn, vegetable garden, and perennial triangle, most of the rock garden, and the propagation shade frame and growing-on area are all under automatic water. Despite the automatic sprinklers, many spots must be given water by hose in prolonged hot weather. Here you should see lots of peonies, tall bearded iris, and classic perennials in full bloom, as well as early season interest in the large vegetable garden. The most intensively planted part of the garden, however, is to the east of the house, where one of the largest collections of rock garden plants in America is concentrated around a waterfall and on a series of berms filled with literally thousands of cushions and mat plants with bulbs emerging everywhere in the springtime. The rock is Pikes Peak granite, a rusty orange granite delivered from Colorado Springs where it is used in rip rap. We think this is a more dignified way to use it! The plantings throughout the garden reflect my love of succulents (such as the hundreds of pots filled with cacti!), African plants, any plant in the mint family, and the rich steppe flora of Central Asia and the American West. This garden is proof positive that a collector can indeed have a garden that is still beautiful.

Open Days 2024:  Saturday, June 1
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.