A crescendo of color, high in Colorado - horticultural exhibition in Breckenridge - Brief Article

Sunset, August, 2000 by Marcia Tatroe

* Breckenridge may be best known as a winter skiing resort, but in summer this Victorian-era mining town puts on one of the grandest flower shows in the Rockies. Residents and shopkeepers fill gardens, hanging baskets, and window boxes with a profusion of hardy annuals and perennials. This colorful display is all the more amazing when you consider that Breckenridge sits at 9,600 feet and gardeners here can count on only 27 to 33 frost-free days each growing season.

The jewel of Breckenridge is the 20-year-old garden in front of Dodie Bingham's gift shop, the Bay Street Company. Flowers command the entire front yard of the charming 100-year-old cottage-style house in the town's historic district. Due to the short growing season, spring and summer flowers bloom together in a crescendo of color in July and August. To jump-start the season, Bingham plants 1,000 tulips each fall for late spring color. When the tulips are finished, she pulls them out and fills the gaps with cosmos and foxgloves.

The trick to creating a successful garden at such a high elevation is choosing flowers hardy enough to thrive in these conditions. The bright days and cool nights are exactly what many perennials enjoy--delphiniums have survived in Bingham's garden for 20 years. Her favorites are listed in the box at left.

Dodie Bingham's favorites

* Annuals: Cosmos, godetia, lobelia, pansy, petunia, rose campion (Lychnis coronaria), salpiglossis, Shirley poppy.

* Biennials: Foxglove. * Bulbs: Asiatic lily, Darwin tulip.

* Perennials: Alpine aster, catmint, columbine, coreopsis, delphinium, gaillardia, Jacob's ladder, 'Johnson's Blue' geranium, lamb's ears, lupine, Maltese cross, meadow rue, mountain bluet, painted daisy, peach-leafed bellflower, Oriental poppy, Shasta daisy, Siberian iris, yarrow.