June 22, 2026
Sage Queen Garden — this evocative name intrigued me during the Pueblo Open Days Tour a couple weeks ago. Don’t you love when someone gives their garden a good name? It’s a reference to the meadow sage (Salvia nemorosa) the homeowners grow in abundance in their waterwise, pollinator-friendly garden.
Penstemon, another dry-garden fave, adds flower spikes of lipstick pink.
Milkweed caters to monarch butterflies, offering them the only food their caterpillars can eat. While Colorado isn’t on the monarch’s main migration path, the way Texas is, some do pass through. Milkweed gives them a place to lay their eggs and fuels the next generation of butterflies.
I noticed one milkweed covered in yellow aphids, a garden pest that sucks juices from the leaves. But several ladybugs were already coming to the rescue by making a meal of them. Go, ladybugs, go!
Other dry-garden beauties included a wine-red hollyhock…
…yellow yarrow…
…and feathery prince’s plume (Stanleya pinnata).
There’s also a front-yard orchard and backyard chickens. What a productive home landscape!
Up next: Midway Xeric Garden, a Pueblo artist’s garden. For a look back at the xeriscape-meets-wetland Conrad Family Garden, click here.
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“Gardens of Texas is not your typical door stop/coffee table book filled with beautiful images of gardens you can never hope to achieve. The photography is definitely inspiring, but Pam’s thoughtful, detailed storytelling and “Try This At Home” features…makes one feel empowered to create similar garden magic….This is what I’ll curl up with on late August afternoons when the mercury in Austin soars and I’m stuck indoors.”
–MomInAustin, a reviewer on Amazon
Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State is here! It’s for anyone who loves gardens or the natural beauty of Texas. Find it on Amazon, other online book sellers, and in stores everywhere. More info here.
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