Betty Ford Alpine Garden and Cottonwood Pass

Wednesday was a day full of amazing plants! We set out in the morning from Denver and picked up Mike Bone on the way to Vail. We met with Nick Courtens, Senior Horticulturist and Nicola Ripley, Director of the Betty Ford Alpine Garden for a tour of their 4.5 acre garden. We also got a sneak peek of their new education center and alpine house, which will open next Wednesday.

From Vail, we drove to Crested Butte through Leadville and Cottonwood Pass. We made several stops for roadside botanizing!

Nick points out some interesting plants.



The crevice bed at Betty Ford Alpine Garden. Nick would like to renovate the garden to add more rocks and reduce some of the overgrown plants.

The new alpine house



Roadside botanizing

 

Near Leadville, we found Calochortus gunnisonii in a high-altitude sagebrush steppe. This is one of only two species in Colorado.

Calochortus gunnisonii

Cottonwood Pass was our last stop of the day. We stayed until after the sun set. The Dryas octopetala glowed in the twilight!



View from Cottonwood Pass
 



Dave climbed the nearby peak.
 

Meanwhile, Mike, Inna, Vladimir and I explored lower down the slope. The snowmelt area below this persistent snowfield had several interesting species, including Rhodiola rosea, Rhodiola rhodantha and Aster alpinus.

The coolest plant at Cottonwood Pass was Eritrichum nanum, the arctic alpine forget-me-not.

 

A natural crevice garden!