August 05, 2026
Continuing with the gardens on the Denver Open Days Tour in June, let’s visit the garden of Steve Aegerter, owner of Garden Guy Designs. Even before I stepped out of my car, I was wowed by a rainbow of flowering prickly pear cactus.
Orange may have been my favorite.
Ka-pow!
Pollinators were digging it too.
Yellow tinged with rose and carnation pink are also lovely.
And how about this magenta one? Worth a few spines in your gardening gloves to have flowers like that, right? No extra water needed.
Speaking of spines, Steve has a majestic ‘Snow Leopard’ cholla in a rocky raised bed, which glowed like a torch in the afternoon light. Next to it, a fuzzy mullein adds greenish white flower spikes.
‘Snow Leopard’ cholla, globe thistle, and a small grass make a wonderful, dry-garden combo.
But back to those prickly pears…
They pair well with creeping sedum.
Red yucca was flowering beautifully, reminding me of my former Texas home.
A lemon-yellow prickly pear is backed by another variety with spines so thick it looks furry.
Another angle
Flowering yucca — Y. pallida, maybe? Between this flower and the red yucca flower, I can tell Steve doesn’t have to worry about deer. They devoured these flowers in my old garden.
A rock garden’s small plants thrive in the reflected heat of the neighbor’s driveway
Cuties
Denver gardeners always have a hypertufa trough or three filled with winter-hardy cacti and succulents. I’ve already acquired a few troughs of my own and look forward to planting them.
Mullein
An allium’s globe-like flower cozies up with a tiny pine tree.
In back, larkspur turns the fence line purple-blue, while Steve’s watering can collection adds color higher up.
Raised beds offer space to grow vegetables and flowers.
And a shade-loving crevice garden adds beauty under a big tree.
Up next: The personal garden of Denver Botanic Garden horticulturist Mike Kintgen. For a look back at Marilyn Raff’s garden of fragrant roses and wildflowers, click here.
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