November 12, 2024
While visiting Denver this fall, I found Colorado gardeners to be warm and generous in sharing their work, and eager to share their work with other gardeners they admire. That’s how I met Kelly Grammons, a plant manager and co-owner of Prairie Storm Nursery, a specialty nursery. How exactly? One afternoon, after I visited my new friend Heidi Harris’ garden, she arranged a tour of Kelly’s garden in nearby Lakewood.
Kelly is a respected horticulturist and cactus breeder who has introduced many plants into the Plant Select program, “the nation’s leading brand of plants designed to thrive in upland and mountainous regions.” He also runs a home mail order retail store of hardy cacti and succulents. My husband tagged along and took a photo of Kelly, Heidi (aka Denver Dry Garden on Instagram), and me. It was fun to join these two gardening friends as Kelly gave us a complete tour and Heidi told us what was new.
But first we were greeted by Baby who rubbed her tummy.
What a cute fufu!
As Kelly led me through the garden, I stopped to admire a magnificent sea kale (Crambe maritima) with its undulating silvery-blue leaves spread around pockmarked red rocks. Seafoam pots reflect the eye-catching color of kale while complementing interesting cacti.
prickly texture
Kelly also uses hypertufa pots throughout her garden.
Along one path, potted agave and yucca plants await buyers.
What beautiful symmetry, color, and spines this agave has! Kelly sells an amazing selection of cold-hardy products in Colorado.
Blooming agave trees towered over us. The agave blooms only once over many years and then dies, but it disappears without a show.
Rabbitbrush softened Kelly’s spiky garden, displaying almost fluorescent flowers.
This is an interesting plant that I had never heard of. Bells of Ireland (Molucella laevis). This looks a lot like an octopus’s sucked arm.
The plums were ripe and Kelly invited us to sample them.
Kale and eupatorium (I think) make a very autumnal combination.
Hummingbird trumpets and creeping silver junipers are fire and ice.
The golden yellow of Rabbit Blush pairs well with silver juniper.
We were actually holding a show at the end of September.
Autumn classic “Aster”
Yucca and juniper add a silver-green color.
A lion’s tail rose near the fence, covered in tiered orange flowers.
Agastache looks gorgeous. This is a dry-loving plant that would be nice to grow in Austin, but it doesn’t like our constant moisture. Trust me, I tried.
A bumble bee with an orange belt caught my eye while relieving pain.
pretty handsome
I also witnessed a second failure.
One of Kelly’s potted succulents, a study of silver and copper.
beautiful silver-blue yucca
You can see that this is a dog lover’s garden.
A metal arbor marks the entrance to Kelly’s vegetable garden…
…where a cheerful garden sign hangs from an old ladder.
The vegetables are grown in large tubs (think tree seedling pots) that act as raised beds.
harvest of the day
tomato flower
A succulent dish is placed at eye level on a metal grate.
Next we walked through a greenhouse filled with prickly pear cacti. Kelly grows a truly amazing variety of prickly pear cacti, from green to purple to silver, spineless to hairy, upright to sprawling.
I love prickly pear cacti and wish they had more sun and no destructive deer with antlers so I could grow more of them.
Hairy!
Everyone is very good.
Chora also has a place here.
Back in the garden proper, I admired the fluffy pines perched on the dog run with lavender-tinged rocks and pink salvias all around.
The rocky Inuhashiri is mostly planted with mounds and creeping plants that prefer good drainage.
I love this raised square hypertufa pot. This is the work of Domenic Turnbull near Colorado Springs. I had admired Domenic’s planters at Summerhome Gardens and the Denver Botanical Gardens, so I immediately recognized his work at Kelly’s.
Along the foundation of Kelly’s house, he planted a bold assortment of yucca, cholla, and agave, accented with containers with stones and fire sticks.
A potted agave stands out against the electric yellow rabbit brush.
More beautiful agave, one of them is dying
Thank you to Kelly for the wonderful garden visit and the opportunity to learn more about the wonderful hardy cacti and other plants he grows in Colorado.
Next up is a fall hike in El Dorado Canyon near Boulder. Click here for a look back at Heidi Harris’ Denver Arid Garden.
We look forward to your comments. If you want to keep one, scroll to the end of this post. If you’re reading the email, click here to go to Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. By the way, someone forwarded this email to you and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered straight to your inbox.
__________________________
dig deeper
Learn about gardening and design with Garden Spark! Several times a year, I host in-person lectures in Austin by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners. These are attendee-only events that sell out quickly, so join Garden Spark’s email list to be notified in advance. Just click this link and request to be added. Check out the Season 8 lineup here.
All materials © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. All rights reserved.
