Unique Experiences

Item Description

The Destination

BETTY FORD ALPINE GARDENS

Vail, CO

Host: Nicola Ripley, Executive Director

The Experience

Your visit for up to four includes:

• Private tour of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens with Executive Director, Nicola Ripley.
• Lunch for 4 at one of Vail’s best restaurants. 

Betty Ford Alpine Garden is the highest in the US at 8,210ft and features collections of alpine plants, natives and mountain perennials on a 5 acre site including a beautiful education center and alpine house. The Garden contains over 3,000 species in the collections and is home to the National Colorado Alpine Collection, part of the North American Plant Collections Consortium. Development of the collections has taken Nicola to many of the mountain ranges in North America as well as the European Alps and the Andes of South America. The Gardens are located just outside Vail Village with the Gore Range Mountains in the background, stone paths meander through flower beds in four main garden areas with streams and tumbling waterfalls. Garden features include a Children’s Garden and a magnificent rock garden.

Nicola Ripley originates from the British Isles. She learned a love of alpine plants as a mountain climber in the Scottish and Welsh Mountains, first working for the UK Nature Conservancy studying the flora of limestone pavements in Yorkshire and then in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. Nicola came to the United States to work for Colorado Alpines, a mail order nursery involved in the development of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Nicola is now Executive Director of the Gardens.  Nicola was a Board Member of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) including two years as President and has travelled to many parts of the country giving talks, including the APGA national conference, Canadian and Scottish Rock garden Societies and the North American Rock Garden Society national conference. Nicola was awarded the Award of Merit by the North American Rock garden Society in 2016.

Item Special Note

• Best time to vist: The Gardens are open year round with snowshoeing in the winter, however the best time to visit may be late June through early September.
• Conditions/Limitations: Not available July 4th weekend. Tour to be arranged at a mutually agreeable time subject to host’s availability by October 31, 2017.