Betty Ford Alpine Gardens: A Living Tribute to a Trailblazing First Lady and Garden Lover
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
April 8, 1918
Dearest reader,
On this day, we celebrate the birth of Betty Ford, a trailblazing woman who defied the odds with grace and candor.
Known for her openness about personal struggles with alcohol and breast cancer, Betty revolutionized addiction treatment and recovery, founding the renowned treatment center even while navigating her own journey.
Yet beyond her powerful advocacy, Betty’s love of gardening and nature lives on in a splendid tribute: the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, fondly known as Vail's Alpine Treasure.
Founded in 1985 by the Vail Alpine Garden Foundation and renamed in her honor in 1988, these gardens nestle beautifully in Ford Park, just beside the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater—named for her husband, the 38th President of the United States. Over the decades, the gardens blossomed into four distinct sections: the Mountain Perennial Garden, Mountain Meditation Garden, Alpine Rock Garden, and the Children's Garden, now home to more than 3,000 species of high-altitude plants from around the globe.
Betty once reflected on how gardening connects generations, saying in 1991,
"When I was a little girl, I spent many cherished hours with my mother in her garden. She wisely marked off an area for my very own plants.
As we worked together, she nurtured me as she nurtured my love of gardening.
This nurturing mother-daughter relationship... has been passed along to my daughter, Susan, and her two girls."
How deeply comforting is this image of love growing alongside blooms, a garden as a cradle for family bonds.
Today, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens stand not only as a sanctuary of natural beauty but also as a hub for children's programs, horticultural therapy, conservation partnerships, and education—inviting all to discover the fragile splendor of alpine environments.
So dear reader, as you cultivate your own patch of earth or seek solace among flowers, consider how gardens nurture not just plants, but hearts, minds, and communities alike.
