June 12, 2026

The Garden Flingan annual event for online gardeners, has led to many treasured friendships for me. Now that I’m in Denver, I’m just 45 minutes from one of those friends.

Judy Seaborn, former owner of seed company Botanical Interestsheaded up the Denver Fling in 2019. The tours that year included a magical dinner in her own gardenwith tables set up under an enormous weeping willow. Since then, she’s moved to a new home in Niwot, where she’s two years into the creation of a beautiful new garden designed for outdoor living.

Judy kindly invited us to dinner recently and gave us a tour of the garden, where her first task was taming a steep slope across the backyard with terraces. The sloping terrain is perfect for a garden stream, so she added one. It curves and steps down through the upper garden, accented with red boulders…

…and drops into a small rocky pool under the deck, where a shaded patio enjoys this water view.

Such pretty stonework

Judy enchants her grandchildren with two large fairy garden tables.

She says the kids will play at these for hours.

A red wagon atop what looks like an old sewing machine base has been turned into a fun water table with the addition of a spigot. Just add water, a bucket, and toys.

‘Husker Red’ penstemon in bloom

Rocky Mountain penstemon too

Bumblebees were spelunking for nectar and pollen.

Judy made a “racetrack” for trikes or scooters — a paved path that runs from the fairy garden and circles around a birdbath. I used to have a looped track for scooters too when our kids were little. Kids love racing around the garden on them.

A child-sized motel chair and large gargoyle add whimsy.

Upper patio view — the path here leads on to a fenced vegetable garden, as well as a lawn shaded by a large tree.

The tree is borrowed; it belongs to the next-door neighbor. But Judy benefits from its enormous canopy, which shades a focal-point lounging space in the back corner. Here Judy commissioned a woven steel arbor, inside which hangs an egg chair. Stone pavers keep the interior tidy. It’s very inviting, so I tucked myself in like a wren in a nest.

View from the egg chair, with uplighting in young redbuds and crabapples.

Before dinner, Judy gave me a tour of the veggie garden, which a sign on the gate declares to be Nana’s Garden.

She harvested lettuce for dinner and cracked me up by posing with it like a flower in her hair.

Twilight view of the veggie garden

Back along the path, you can just make out the gray shadow of a tall mountain between the trees.

Another birdbath reflects the evening sky. That’s a copper dripper tube hooked over the edge, for attracting birds.

And here comes Cheddar, an exuberant goldendoodle Judy was pet-sitting. He sprawled across my feet during dinner. What a charmer!

Looking down at the terraced garden and patio under the deck. Judy has so many wonderful places to sit and enjoy the garden. It was a treat to visit and try out some of them. Thanks, Judy!

By the way, if you’re reading this and wondering about the Fling and how to get in on the action, follow the official website, Facebook groupor Instagram. The Fling is held annually in a different city across North America, and while this year’s Fling in Buffalo is sold out, next year it’ll be held in Portland. Registration is open to anyone with an active, public social media account about gardening. More details here. I’d love to see more Coloradans attend!

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Digging Deeper

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