Living in Colorado, we sometimes drive right by or take for granted places people travel thousands of miles to enjoy. The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is one such place. These incredibly beautiful gardens are located at the Gerald R. Ford Park in Vail.

Being 8,250 feet above sea level, these gardens are the highest botanical gardens in the United States. Volunteers and docents give more than 3,500 hours each year to support the five-person staff and to ensure the gardens’ more than 3,000 species of high-altitude plants remain healthy and stunningly beautiful during the brief high-Colorado growing season.

The gardens comprise 28 distinct areas, including a children’s garden designed to serve as an outdoor classroom. The children’s garden gives children of all ages the opportunity to experience a simulated climb along Gore Creek to the summit of the Gore Range at 13,000 feet. A winding path leads visitors through cottonwoods, aspens and firs, past ponds and wetlands to a krummholz zone inhabited by aspen that have been stunted and deformed by the harshness of the climate there. Footprints of local mammals crisscross the path, teaching visitors about the inhabitants of the habitat they are in.

One garden is dedicated to the plants native to the Alps of western Europe. There is a dryland mountain garden, a Rocky Mountain alpine garden, as well as a specific area committed to alpine plants from around the world. Waterfalls, ponds and pools are scattered throughout the gardens to cool and refresh you. Meditation gardens give you the opportunity to
partake in horticultural therapy. The Alpine Theatre is busy with educational activities and presentations.

August is a good time to view Hemerocallis Betty Ford, the Betty Ford daylily. Created in 1974, the hybrid honors the first lady whose successful battle against breast cancer inspired women around the world. David Kirchoff, a member of the executive committee of the American Hemerocallis Society and partner in Daylily World (based in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky), helped monitor the lily’s performance during its establishment in the gardens. “To have a daylily that will grow in Vail, high in the Rocky Mountains, reaching across such extreme conditions of heat and cold, long days and short days, is indicative of the qualities of Mrs. Ford,” Kirchoff said. “The Betty Ford daylily blooms in unique shades of shimmering garnet to cardinal with a blue-red overlay, red veins coursing through the flower, colors intensifying above a clear apricot red watermark halo and yellow to citron green throat. Blooms are as large as 6 inches in diameter; stems are up to 30 inches tall.” This beautiful lily can be viewed in the gardens’ entry perennial border.

This year the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens celebrates its 20th anniversary. Numerous activities celebrate the beauty and life that are these gardens, including art shows and a Spirit of Betty Ford gala. Visit www.bettyford alpinegardens.org for information.

The gardens are open from dawn to dusk. There is no admission fee, but donations are accepted. Be sure to bring water, sunscreen and a hat when you come, for you will find yourself delighted and captivated for hours by the serene beauty.

To get to the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, travel to Vail via Interstate 70. From east or west on I-70, take the main Vail exit 176 to the South Frontage Road. The Gardens are located at 530 S. Frontage Road in Ford Park.