The Most Unique Gift in Vail — A Tribute That Blooms Every Season
Some gifts are given and forgotten. Others grow.
At Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, we believe the most meaningful way to honor someone — whether you’re celebrating a life well lived or remembering someone no longer with us — is to give them roots. Literally.
Our Living Tributes Project is a deeply personal way to dedicate a bulb planting at one of the world’s highest botanical gardens. Each dedication plants beauty in someone’s name, contributes to the Gardens we all love, and leaves a living mark on this extraordinary place for seasons to come.
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A Unique Vail Gift With Lasting Meaning
The Living Tributes Project invites you to honor someone special by dedicating a bulb planting in the Gardens. With a gift of $140, our team will plant a collection of bulbs in your mom’s name. With a gift of $400, we will also ship you a copy of “On the Roof of the Rocky Mountains: The Botanical Legacy of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.”
These aren’t just any bulbs. Planted each spring and fall by our expert horticulture team, they emerge as vibrant blooms that add color, life, and beauty to the Gardens season after season. Every year, when those flowers push through the alpine soil, they are a living reminder of the person you chose to celebrate or remember.
How Your Tribute Is Honored
As a heartfelt thank-you for your support, every Living Tribute is recognized on our seasonal tribute wall in the Education Center. It’s a visible, enduring reminder that your generosity — and the person you honored — is woven into the life of this place.
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The Unique Gift Vail Visitors Keep Coming Back To
The Living Tributes Project was created for the moments in life when flowers feel like the only right language.
The Perfect Gift for Birthdays, Anniversaries & Milestones
Birthdays. Anniversaries. Retirements. Graduations. The milestones that deserve more than a card. A Living Tribute is a gift that keeps giving — not just on the day it’s received, but every spring and fall when those blooms return. It’s a way of saying: this person matters, and this place will remember them.
For the person in your life who loves the natural world, who has walked these trails, or who simply deserves something extraordinary — a dedication at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is a meaningful gift idea in Vail, Colorado unlike anything they’ve received before.
A Living Memorial in the Heart of the Rockies
Grief looks for somewhere to go. The Living Tributes Project offers it a home.
Dedicating a bulb planting in memory of someone you’ve lost is a way of saying their name out loud — of placing something living and beautiful in the world in their honor. Every season, when visitors walk the Gardens and pause at a bloom, that life is present in some small, quiet way.
Many families choose a Living Tribute as a memorial gift in Colorado, either as an alternative to traditional memorials or as a complement to services already held. It is a gentle, enduring act of remembrance that connects the person you loved to one of the most beautiful places in the Rocky Mountains.
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Why Betty Ford Alpine Gardens?
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens sits at 8,200 feet in the heart of Vail, Colorado — one of the highest botanical gardens in the world. The plants that grow here are among the most resilient and rare on the planet, shaped by altitude, weather, and time.
When you dedicate a Living Tribute here, you’re not just planting bulbs. You’re placing something meaningful in a place that has moved thousands of visitors to stop, breathe, and pay attention to the natural world. A place protected by a serious mission: to preserve the alpine environment through education, conservation, and living plant collections.
Your tribute becomes part of that mission. It supports the Gardens financially, adds to the beauty that welcomes every visitor, and connects the person you’re honoring to something much larger than a single season.
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How to Dedicate a Living Tribute in Vail
The process is simple and can be completed entirely online.
$140 – Bulbs planted in your mom’s name
$400 — Bulbs + Book: “On the Roof of the Rocky Mountains: Botanical Legacy of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.”
Both levels include recognition on our seasonal tribute wall in the Education Center.
To get started, visit Dedicate a Tribute Online or contact our Development Office at 970-306-7616 or by email. We are happy to help you choose the right dedication and answer any questions.
Bulbs are planted each spring and fall — so your tribute will bloom in both seasons, year after year.
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Give the Most Unique Gift in Vail
In a world full of things that fade, a Living Tribute at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens endures. It blooms when the snow melts and again when summer turns. It welcomes strangers and comforts friends. It grows quietly, persistently, beautifully — just like the people we choose to honor.
We would be honored to plant something in their name.
