Garden featured in national magazine
Louisville woman uses native plants and humor in her garden
Abundant with native Colorado plants and wildlife, Louisville resident Jean Morgan’s garden is an attractive display for all who come to visit. Dozens of bushes and flowers sprout from the ground surrounding Morgan’s home, each receiving the utmost care.
Morgan’s dedication to suppor ting native plants and animals has caught the attention of several organizations over the years, including the National Wildlife Federation, the North American Butterfly Association, the Audubon Rockies and the Colorado Native Plant Society. Morgan said she has received an award from each of them.
This year, Morgan’s garden was featured in the Green Prints magazine for the autumn 2020 edition. The magazine publishes four times a year, one for each season, and includes stories about people’s gardens across the nation, according to Morgan.
“Through the years, different people have come in and seen value in what this garden represents,” said Morgan. “To me it’s not only just a great place to be sitting, it’s an example of what we all can be doing to help support our natives. So I’m very honored when somebody will cover this garden and put forth the philosophy of suppor ting what we already have here.”
Taking root in the early 1970s when a neighbor gifted her a couple of hens and chicks, a type of small succulent plant, Morgan’s love for gardening began to grow. As time went on, Morgan began to truly appreciate local natives by planting more and more in her yard.
“They feed the insects and the birds that are native and they grew up and evolved with them,” said Morgan. “So I’m really all for natives and they take less water.”
Bush morning glory, false indigo and rabbitbrush are just some of the plants that can be spotted in Morgan’s garden. She takes pride in the size of her bush morning glory, which measures at 100 inches with over 700 blooms for the season.
“This is huge,” said Morgan gesturing to the plant. “Normally they’re like a third of this size; never gets watered. They call it ‘man root’ because the roots are like the size of a man. It grows in southern Colorado and it’s getting rarer and rarer as we develop things.”
Morgan will have what she refers to as, “The Spectacle of the Garden,” which is a new area in her yard that catches a visitor’s eye. The type of plant that becomes the spectacle changes every couple of weeks.
When walking through the xeric display, there are notable characteristics that can be described as whimsical and playful. The addition of gifted figurines and other miscellaneous items placed around the yard help show off Morgan’s sense of humor.
A bar of soap has been placed at the edge of a birdbath, a ceramic woman surrounded by wrappers accompanied with the phrase, “Dying for chocolate,” sits near the chocolate flowers and a hippo constructed out of a bathtub and other materials named Barney Bazooka Dechomp III can be found guarding the entrance of the eastern gate into her backyard.
“People give me stuff because they know that I’ll put it on display,” said Morgan. “To tell you the truth, I put quite a few things away for winter already. I just find charm in all this old accoutrement.”
Morgan is always delighted to give tours of her garden to those interested. So far, she has had four tours of her garden this year and has taken precautions due to COVID-19. She has her guests wear masks and people will stand 6 feet apart from one another.
If one were to ask for Morgan’s advice for gardening while on tour, she will tell them to find their climatic life zone and go with the natives of the area.
Anyone is welcome to visit as long as they shut the gate to keep the rabbits out, said Morgan. Often she will give plants and seeds away to those who want them as she feels it’s a way for people to remember each other.
“When someone gives you a plant, it’s always so nice because you remember that person,” said Morgan. “I always enjoy getting a gift of a plant from someone’s yard and when I give a plant, I know when they see that then they think of me.”
Working three to four days a week for a couple of hours at a time, Morgan says she sees herself working in her garden for the rest of her life. She says she doesn’t see it as work.
“I can’t believe when people say they have to work in a garden,” Morgan laughed. “I’ll just do it to the end, I’m not taking any time off soon.”