Betty Ford Alpine GardensBetty Ford Alpine GardensBetty Ford Alpine Gardens
Habitats provide homes for all living things, from the tiniest ant to the tallest tree. The exhibition Habitat explores the critical need for varied habitats, how interconnected and fragile they are, and what we can do to protect them. The experience showcases the unique habitats throughout Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Habitat was developed by Smithsonian Gardens and is made available by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
The Bug B&B exhibit, located in our vibrant pollinator garden, invites visitors to discover the vital role insects play in supporting healthy ecosystems. This Garden provides food and shelter for beneficial insects like bees, butterflies, and beetles, all of which are essential for pollination and plant health. Learn more about how pollinator-friendly gardens help support biodiversity and sustain the delicate balance of life. Visitors are encouraged to take inspiration from this exhibit and create welcoming spaces for pollinators in their own backyards!
“Key to the Montane” explores the transformative impact of beavers in mountainous ecosystems. As keystone species, beavers engineer their environment by building dams that create wetlands, which in turn support diverse plant and animal life. These wetlands improve water quality, mitigate floods, and provide habitats for countless species. This section highlights the beaver’s crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and the importance of conserving their habitats.
In the “Nests” section of the exhibit, visitors can marvel at replicas of bird nests created by local students! Learn more about the diversity and ingenuity of avian architecture. From the intricate weaving of a hummingbird’s nest to the sturdy construction of a hawk’s abode, these structures provide shelter, protection, and breeding grounds for birds. The exhibit underscores the significance of preserving natural habitats that support bird populations and the ecosystems they inhabit.
The “Homes” exhibit demonstrates how our personal gardens can serve as vital habitats for wildlife. By incorporating native plants, providing water sources, and creating shelter, gardeners can attract pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects. See what our gift shop has for sale that can transform outdoor spaces into thriving ecosystems, contributing to biodiversity and environmental health right at home.
“Dead Wood Is Life” challenges the perception of fallen trees as mere debris, revealing their essential role in forest ecosystems. Decomposing wood provides habitat for fungi, insects, birds, and mammals, while enriching the soil with nutrients. This exhibit, located in our Stumpery Garden, showcases the life-giving properties of dead wood and emphasizes the importance of leaving fallen trees in natural areas.
Enter the “Back to Nature” area of the Gardens to delve into the fascinating world of fungi and their indispensable functions in nature. Fungi decompose organic matter, recycle nutrients, and form symbiotic relationships with plants, aiding in nutrient absorption. Through mycelial networks, mushrooms facilitate communication between plants, enhancing ecosystem resilience. This section highlights the critical contributions of fungi to soil health, plant growth, and overall ecological balance.
Explore the link between birds – living dinosaurs – and their extinct ancestors. The next time you watch a Red-tailed Hawk circling in the Colorado sky or spot a Ptarmigan while hiking in the high alpine, know that you just had an encounter with a modern dinosaur. Dinosaurs never really vanished from Earth. Most did go extinct, but their evolutionary legacy lives on all around us, in birds. The exhibition Dinosaurs Among Us highlights the unbroken line between the charismatic dinosaurs that dominated the planet for about 170 million years and modern birds.
Organized by the American Museum of Natural History with support from North Museum of Nature and Science,; Philip J. Currie Museum; Museo de Ciencias; and Universum Museo de las Ciencias de la UNAM.
Do you miss alpine plants while they are covered with snow? Their beauty was displayed in the juried exhibition Rocky Mountain High, by the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists. Betty Ford Alpine Gardens partnered with the RMSBA to illustrate 40 examples of Colorado’s smallest and toughest plants in amazing detail. The exhibit was on display at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Education Center during Winter 2023-Spring 2024.
Recording and collecting plants from the world’s coldest and highest places. The outdoor exhibit focuses on the science of phenology, simply the study of nature over time. Illustrations of the world’s longest phenological plant series data demonstrate the great acceleration that has occurred since the 1980’s.
Inside the Education Center, family friendly activities follow Arctic Explorer Knud and his sled dog team as he heads for the Ultima Thule -the furthest north!
A juried collection of 36 artworks from the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists. Featuring flora and fauna from the American West.
Celebrate the Alpine, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens’ outdoor exhibit, features photographs or rare and unique plants and animals of the fragile alpine ecosystem.
Family can become alpine conservations and step into the boots of researchers in the Education Center. The Disappearing Alpine exhibit and activities encourage exploration of mountaintops and riparian streams tiny tiny plants and hardy animals that live in the alpine ecosystem.
Presenting illustrations of plant species collected 200 years ago by botanist Edwin James during Stephen H. Long expedition. James collected 700 plant species, 140 which were entirely new to science.
This exhibit, organized by the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists, intends to honor and celebrate the explorers that discovered these species.
Each scientifically accurate piece is created in traditional botanical illustration media: watercolor, graphite, pen and ink, colored pencil or hand pulled prints. The resulting renderings are exquisitely detailed, able to illustrate far more detail than found in photographs.
Plants are an answer to climate change. They are nature’s reservoirs for absorbing carbon dioxide as they grow. Practical plant-based solutions to a warming climate based on today’s technology are highlighted in the Education Center. The exhibit is inspired by Project Drawdown, a plan of eighty solutions developed by a coalition of researchers and scientists to reverse global warming.
Outdoors in Ford Park, a Plants Are an Answer exhibit and family scavenger hunt will demonstrate how a plant-based diet is one of the big ways we, as individuals, can positively impact the climate.
The harsh alpine ecosystem is too brutal for trees to live. Explore intimate photographic portraits of survivors, from lichens to pikas, that have evolved strategies to endure in the world’s toughest environment.
2020 was the 200th anniversary of the Long Expedition, the first scientific exploration of Colorado that included botanist Edwin James. He, and those that followed, opened up the stunning world of plants unique to Colorado. This outdoor exhibit explored the impact of these scientists and what the botanic world can attribute to their early discoveries.
A juried exhibition of contemporary botanical illustrations featuring the majesty and mystery of trees. The 31 original works of art, presented by the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists, encourage an appreciation for the wide diversity of trees and meet criteria for scientific accuracy, aesthetics, and technical mastery.
The Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists (RMSBA) is an open and diverse group of artists, collectors and admirers who share a love for the practice and perpetuation of botanical art and illustration with a fond focus on plants in the Rocky Mountain Region.
RMSBA encourages and participates in educational outreach, juried and non-juried exhibits, lectures, workshops and regular chapter meetings. They are proud to be the very first chapter affiliation of the international organization, the American Society of Botanical Artists.
A photographic exhibit of women farmers around the globe displayed in all 4 local Eagle County libraries.
National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson has beautifully captured these farmers in their fields who make up the majority of worldwide food harvest.
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens was the FIRST in the country to re-create the US Botanic Garden’s most popular 2015 exhibit, Exposed: The Secret Life of Roots.
A powerful visual display with 20 foot long roots hanging from the floor to the ceiling were grown at the Land Institute in Kansas. The exhibit featured in-depth interpretation exploring the critical dilemma of how we will sustainably feed the growing planet. Guests explored how the development of perennial crops could save the future of America’s farmlands.
“Agriculture is the world’s worst mistake” said Jared Diamond.
Dramatic panels by world-renowned National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson installed in the Education Center and in the gardens highlighted the hidden world of roots.
Photography exhibit of Stickwork sculptures by renowned environmental artist Patrick Dougherty. “For over 35 years, the public has been mesmerized by Dougherty’s whimsical sculptural creations in botanical gardens, museum grounds, universities and other settings around the world. He has honed his craft at bending and weaving natural materials into over 285 monumental interactive sculptures for an unforgettable experience.”
Dougherty created a Stickwork art installation outside the Gardens in Ford Park that lasted just under two years.
More than 90% of all mountain wildlife species depend on rivers at some time in their lives. What makes rivers like Gore Creek so important? The riparian ecosystem is a web that connects organisms to the river, forest and each other. Visitors will learn about the plants and animals that live amid the water, how these organisms help or hinder the river’s health, and what we can do to improve the health of Colorado’s rivers.
With the addition of the Pollinator Garden built on the Northeast side of the Education Center, 2017 focused on unfathomable processes we have pollinators to thank for and how we can help them continue their inmeasurable work.