Green Thumb

I was so fortunate to grow up with a mother who had the yard everyone wanted. Women would walk by, then stop and swoon, blathering litanies of oohs and aahs. And every time they'd fawn, she'd smile and pretend that it was nothing to create such an earthly paradise.

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• Bonfils-Stanton Foundation
• Denver Botanic Gardens
• Yo-Yo Ma

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For many like my mom, the garden is an essential labor of love. "Gardens are all about longings, fulfilling longings," says Julie Moir Messervy, guest lecturer at the Highlands Art Garden Tour, presented by the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation.

Messervy, who is a landscape architect, begins her designs by asking people what kind of natural spaces make them feel happy. For some, it's a cave; others like to stand on a precipice overlooking the world. Whatever the dream, Messervy finds that the design flows out of that inspired dialogue, as it did when she partnered with Yo-Yo Ma to create the Toronto Music Garden, which is based on a Bach cello suite.

Find out more from Messervy — author of The Inward Garden and co-author of Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home — about creating your dream space at 11 a.m. today at the DBG, 1005 York Street, then hit the road for private garden tours at several homes in the Highland neighborhood from 1 to 3 p.m. Admission is $16 for members, $21 for non-members and $25 at the door. For registration and information, go to www.botanicgardens.org.
Sat., Aug. 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.