"ln the cool of the garden" is a phrase with deep roots back into my childhood. Our family always had gardens to tend to and a dear elderly neighbor, Mrs. Ruth Bruerton, was a great source of a small income for a little boy, as she would pay me to take care of her flower gardens and yard.

So, I grew up with gardens.

There is just something I would suggest is deeply rooted in all of us, if we go back far enough, when it comes to gardens. This evening, I would like to present you with a brief look at the most amazing garden I have ever seen.

Actually, it is a park - Yampa River Botanic Park. And it is full of gardens.

_{Image Source}

Great! So, to get us started off, where exactly is this park? It is in north central Colorado, just south of the town of Steamboat Springs. And as you begin to get an idea of how impressive this park is, I'll let you know right up front there is no charge to see it. It is free to the public!

Oh, sure, probably funded with taxes from a pretty well-to-do "winter playground" for the "rich and famous" right? No! As you read on their website, the park receives no tax money.

Brief History and Location Details

On the park's website, you learn:

"The Park sits at an altitude of 6,880 ft in a cool valley at the foot of Mt Werner, the Steamboat Ski Mountain. In winter, cold air flows down the mountains into the Valley so that temperatures can reach as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (and Celsius). The Park gets an average of only 60 days a year without a killing frost."

How did this park get started, under such formidable conditions? The credit goes to a single couple - Bob & Audrey Enever - and their vision for what could be.

It all started with the town wanting to put a trail in along the Yampa River. In the early 1990s. There are some complicated details on their website, but the gist of it was this couple working together with the town and others in a partnership. The first gardens were planted in 1997. So, the park is over 20 years old.

What had once been a horse pasture and mobile home park became a combination of a soccer field for the town's youth (next to the park) and this great park!

Experiencing the Park

You barely get through the gate, when you are presented with this incredibly intricate rock garden, with a wonderful path flowing through it:

You can spend hours alternatively looking around and enjoying the constantly changing views, sitting on one of the many comfortable benches to just soak it all up, or getting down real close to admire how all of these plants are so intricately woven together.

The pond at the center of the park is a particular favorite of most everyone. There is a watercourse feeding into it, with a little waterfall. Then, it flows on from there, ultimately leaving the park and becoming a little tributary to the Yampa River, which is just outside the park.

Given the rich diversity of all the plants in the park, here was a display talking about active research underway on plants under the Plant Select program:

"Plant Select® is the country’s leading brand of plants designed to thrive in high plains and intermountain regions, offering plants that provide more beauty with less work so gardeners of all levels can achieve smart, stunning and successful gardens using fewer resources and with a more positive environmental impact."

"Plant Select® is a nonprofit collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens and professional horticulturists. Our mission is to seek out and distribute the very best plants for landscapes and gardens from the intermountain region to the high plains and beyond."

This is the Peter sculpture. On the plaque, it states:

"Peter"
"Sculptor: Hill Blackett, Jr."
" A gift to the Yampa River Botanic Park"
"1998"

As you take in all of the incredible amount of work needed to maintain this park in its current condition, just think about all of the additional work to properly identify and label all of these plants!

At every turn, along the various trails, you have these wonderful views. So peaceful ...

Pink flowers along one of the many trails.

Another example of how intricately woven together these master gardeners have placed these flowers and plants.

Another of the many peaceful resting places. Perhaps, while sitting there, you will notice the many birds in the park!

Birdwatching

People aren't the only creatures which enjoy gardens. We noticed a number of people strolling carefully through the park with binoculars. Hoping for the sighting of some rare birds, as well as just enjoy seeing "old friends" again.

_{Image Source}

Having spent some time years ago with an almost "professional" birdwatcher, did you know these people don't necessarily need to see the bird to identify it? They can be readily identified by their distinctive bird calls!

_{Image Source}

It takes a lot of work to be a professional birdwatcher. During my brief exposure to it, I learned about the challenges of needing to properly identify both the male and female, mature and immature, and then, as if that wasn't enough, their seasonal variations. And, after all that, as stated above, you may not see them at all, but need to be able to identify them by their calls ...

A special treat, if you are there at the right time of year, is a nesting pair of osprey, just outside the park, along the edge of the Yampa River. We didn't get to see them, but saw where they nest, once they return to this area.

The Garden List

Beyond what you've seen here, to give you an idea of how extensive the effort has been to make this wonderful place what it is to today, just "scroll down" through this listing of the various gardens inside this park:

Blue Garden (Rainbow Neighborhood)
The Crevice Garden (Hummingbird Neighborhood)
Lily Garden (Sundial Neighborhood)
The Medicinal Herb Garden (Wind Neighborhood)
The Coreopsis Corner (Green Neighborhood)
Garden for All Seasons (Wind Neighborhood)
The Hidden Garden (Reflecting Neighborhood)
Penstemon Garden (Reflecting Neighborhood)
Jeff's Garden (Trillium Neighborhood)
Carol Fox Garden (Trillium Neighborhood)
Spring Bulbs Garden (Foliage Neighborhood)
The Foliage Garden (Foliage Neighborhood)
Sascha's Rock Garden (Kiosk Neighborhood)
Annuals Garden (Pond Neighborhood)
Fairy Garden (Kiosk Neighborhood)
Rose Garden (Kiosk Neighborhood)
The Members' Rock Garden (Members Neighborhood)
Dorothy's Garden (Members Neighborhood)
Doris' Arbor Garden (Sundial Neighborhood)
The Stumpyland Fairy Garden (North Neighborhood)

Wow! That's quite the list @roleerob. Is that it? No! There are more than 50 gardens!

Hopefully, this post has helped you appreciate a truly unique gardening experience. Steamboat Springs is a pretty famous destination for vacationers - summer and winter. But to do what? Visit a garden park? Who knew?

Ending where I started, "in the cool of the garden," I want to share with you this great little plaque inside the park. I cannot come up with better words than these:

For some of us, the story of man's origins begins in a garden - the Garden of Eden. Whether you may believe in this or not, I would like to think a visit to this delightful park gives us just a glimpse of what that might have been like.

In this fascinating time in our history, we are now linked together through our Steem blockchain. So, for my readers who maybe "on the other side of the world," perhaps you will never have the opportunity to see this garden for yourself. In that case, then, you at least have seen a bit of it through the eyes of one of your fellow Steemians.

Closing

If you have even the remotest interest in gardening, you definitely want to visit the Yampa River Botanic Park, if at all possible. It is truly an amazing place. The peace and tranquility you experience there will be with you for a long time.

Hope you have enjoyed this post. I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build our Steem Community! 👍 😊

Respectfully,

Steemian @roleerob

Posted using Busy.org and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Thursday, 20 September 2018!

_{Image sources, unless otherwise noted: My trusty smartphone!}