June 26, 2026
Last week Heidi Harris, aka Denver Dry Garden, invited me over for a morning garden visit, and it was all so pretty that I took a million photos. Her garden was inspired by the late David Salman of High Country Gardens, and it’s a pollinator’s paradise with flowering perennials, succulents, yucca, and even a little crevice garden. Not a blade of thirsty turf grass in sight!
Mojave sage is one of my dry-climate faves (I first admired it at Santa Fe Botanical Garden), and it’s ever better paired with ‘Raspberry Delight’ salvia.
Her Thompson’s yucca (Yucca thompsoniana) is flowering right now. This yucca is similar to Austin-beloved Yucca rostrata but with better cold hardiness and a shorter stature. Also it tends to branch more than rostrata.
Another view
Tweedy’s fleabane (Erigeron tweedyi), so cute with an equally cute name!
Famed crevice-garden maker Kenton Seth — whom I met recently at Denver’s Plant Select Conference — built this crevice garden for Heidi. It’s a distinctively Colorado addition to her garden.
Heidi’s planning to move some of the groundcovers that are outcompeting her other crevice plants. It’ll be fun to see how it evolves.
So much in flower right now…
…including these two Texas natives: Engelmann’s daisy (Engelmannia peristenia) and mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea).
New Mexico agave (Agave parryi v. neomexicana) is one of the few agaves that can handle Colorado winters.
Sempervivums, aka hens-and-chicks, are popular here — and bulletproof in winter. I love the way they nestle up against rocks.
Planting different ones together creates a striking tapestry effect.
Gorgeous!
Hairy golden aster (Heterotheca villosa)
Cobweb sempervivum and ‘Blut’ ice plant
Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca)
One more of the yucca
Heidi made an eye-catching arrangement of round pots, some painted turquoise, by stacking them on tree stumps. Cactus and succulents make them easy to care for without excessive watering.
Platinum sage (Salvia daghestanica) and hymenoxys
More hymenoxys with mountain-evoking rocks
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Tweedy’s fleabane
‘Poncha Pass Red’ sulphur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum ‘Poncha Pass Red’) and butterfly weed. I can’t wait to grow buckwheat in my future garden.
Red valerian (Centranthus ruber)
Another angle with the Thompson’s yucca
Desert penstemon (Penstemon pseudospectabilis)
Mojave sage (Salvia mohavensis)
Closeup of Mojave sage and ‘Raspberry Delight’ salvia
Engelmann’s daisy and mealy blue sage
Sempervivums ‘Traci Su’ and ‘Onyx’
Hymenoxys
Prairie winecup, commonly called poppy mallow here (Callirhoe involucrata) — another Texas native I used to grow
Chocolate daisy (Berlandiera lyrata) — yep, another Texan in Heidi’s garden
A northern flicker dropped in for a visit. I see them in Denver’s parks all the time.
Crevice garden path
Here’s a quirky, new-to-me plant: potato cactus (Opuntia fragilis var. denudata) with creeping goldenaster (Heterotheca jonesii).
One more overview
Along the house, a shaggy-trunked tree (can’t remember what kind) shades a patio with a container garden that Heidi’s enclosed wiht corten planters.
Strings of glass catch the light, and hanging planters seem to float on nearly invisible wires.
Pretty details everywhere
Pots galore add more plant goodness to enjoy in the shade. Thanks for the lovely visit, Heidi!
Readers, if you’d like to see more of Heidi’s garden, click to see photos from my fall visit in September 2024.
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