August 22, 2026
The Mount Vernon Garden in Denver’s Washington Park just turned 100 years old. One hundred years and still going strong! Amazingly, it’s not even the oldest garden in Washington Park. That honor goes to the Big Garden at 109 years old.
The Mount Vernon Garden has a freshness of design that defies its century-old origins. The one-acre garden at the edge of Wash Park’s Grasmere Lake is a replica of Martha Washington’s garden in Virginia.
I bet for most of the past century it was planted out in rigid rows of bedding annuals and roses with a bit of lawn. For evidence, check out historical photos from Denver Public Library. By today’s standards, the garden in those photos looks overly formal, flat, staid, and water and labor intensive.
Contrast that with the garden today: a naturalistic tapestry of flowering perennials and annuals and effervescent grasses, providing habitat for insects, birds, (yes) rabbits, and other urban wildlife. It’s dynamic.
It’s also an important part of Wash Park’s Pollinator Corridor, which anyone in the Denver area can join, by the way.
Credit for the garden goes to Jane Packard, Mount Vernon Garden’s horticulturist, and her team of volunteers. During her tenure, Jane’s been revising the planting beds with Colorado-tough prairie plants that are better suited to Denver’s semi-arid climate and absolutely gorgeous.
To celebrate the garden’s centennial, Jane and FANS (Friends and Neighbors of Washington Park) held a public garden party at the end of July. Bonnie Sutherland, board president of FANS, opened by reading a tribute to the park and the people who’ve cared for it.
Lemony cupcakes topped with edible flowers and champagne were served.
I ran into a number of new friends, like Callae Gedrose of Honeywood Garden Design and Bonnie, who does so much for the Washington Park neighborhood.
Idelle Fisher, owner of Pickle-Wix Web Design, whom I first met years ago at the Denver Garden Fling, arrived too.
(By the way, I encourage any Coloradan with a public social media presence about gardening to join the Fling. It’s the best annual garden tour — these are your people. The 3.5-day tour is held in a different city each year, and next July it heads to Portland, Oregon, a gardening paradise. I’ve noticed that few Colorado gardeners seem to know about the Fling, so I’m working to change that right now. Come join us!)
Skyler Smith, horticulturist for the Big Gardens at Washington Park, was on hand to celebrate too, pictured here with me and Callae.
Other folks were enjoying the garden in their own way…
…like this man getting his portrait made among the flowers.
At the golden hour, Jane led a tour through the summer-full garden.
I chased the light with my phone camera.
Sunflower
Cleome
Sunflower and giant sacaton
A blue grama mini-meadow reveals flowering bulbs in springtime, if I remember right.
One guest had a summery bouquet tucked under her arm.
And in the distance, I spotted two people prostrating themselves in a bed of flowers. Sniffing or worshipping, I don’t know.
Speaking of, there are still several rows of annual beds, for which Jane chooses a new theme each year. This year it’s “Inorganic Organics,” an homage to Colorado’s native gemstones and minerals. The long beds are planted to represent the colors of aquamarine, amethyst, rhodochrosite, rose quartz, and spessartite garnet. How fun is that? You can see the plants she chose in a PDF on the FANS garden page.
Jane raved about this cute little plant, twinspur (Diascia integerrima), and I immediately added it to my list of potential plants for a future garden.
Jane is such an asset for Washington Park and those who love its gardens. Be sure to pop over and check out Mount Vernon Garden for yourself this growing season, if you live nearby.
As the party was wrapping up, a hawk arrived and plucked a rabbit dinner out of the garden.
One less rabbit. One well-fed hawk.
It’s part of the circle of life you can observe in almost any garden, an endlessly fascinating place if you take the time to look.
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On September 12, tour three private Denver-area gardens through the Open Days Program. Details and tickets at the Garden Conservancy.
All material © 2026 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
