Inside a split-level home in northeast Colorado Springs, 6-year-old Eliot Hicks savored the last spoonfuls of his SpaghettiOs, his small feet swinging beneath the kitchen table, during an evening late this spring. His father, Justin Hicks, was nearby, tending to a collection of plants that made their living space feel like a miniature jungle.
Above the kitchen sink, herbs grew in small, quirky pots. In one corner of the living room, vegetable seedlings were waiting for Colorado’s growing season to kick off, while a collection of houseplants sat in another corner.
The 37-year-old’s love of plants started small but has grown over time, filling his home and yard with foliage and flowers.
“I'm definitely not as far down the rabbit hole as a lot of people, but I now have a dedicated space for plants,” Justin said with a smile that poked out of his reddish beard.
He pointed to a plant sitting on a ledge — a red maranta, commonly known as a prayer plant, which tilts its vibrant green and red striped leaves up and down depending on the time of day, like hands praying.
“That was the first one. That was the gateway plant,” he said.
This baby was Justin’s first success in the world of houseplants.
Motioning to another corner of the living room outfitted with bamboo-like shelves holding other houseplants, he said: “Then I became this.”
Justin’s eyes shone with pride as he talked about his collection, but his elephant ear alocasia — his “showpiece” — is one of his most prized plants. Its large, triangular leaves shot into the air in all directions, a testament to Justin’s dedication.
“At one point I didn't take care of her very well and she got very sick and I had to trim her down to one leaf and it came back to this,” Justin recalled.
Eliot, now on the couch, interrupted.
“We’re getting another one!” he yelled with excitement, pointing out a new leaf growing from the plant.
For Justin, gardening is a cherished bond he shares with Eliot.
Each spring, the two make a trip to a biannual open house at Dutch Heritage Gardens in Larkspur.
Together, and sometimes with extended family, they explore the sprawling greenhouse. They hunt for perennials to add to their front yard and stock up on vegetable plants that will later be used in homemade salsas, tomato sauces, and spaghetti squash dishes.
“It's kind of this kickoff period to the summer where we get to go enjoy looking for new cool plants,” Justin said.
Most of the time, Dutch Heritage Gardens grows plants for local plant shops and larger businesses like King Soopers in Colorado and across the Southwest. The massive commercial space sits about 20 minutes east of Monument and is surrounded by the rolling grasslands of Colorado’s plains.
Inside the greenhouse, plants stretch in all directions. Rows of colorful annual flowers — reds, whites, purples, pinks — sit on the greenhouse floor, many inside plastic nursery cups or container gardens. Overhead, baskets filled with plants hang from metal rods that make up a sophisticated irrigation system to prevent water runoff.
In another area, a fog hides the back of the room as mist nourishes various houseplants. In another direction, large green perennials sit in gallon-sized pots waiting for people to take them home.
Aaron Van Wingerden has run the greenhouse with his wife, Rozalia, since 2006. He is a third-generation grower and traces his roots to the Netherlands where his grandfather cultivated a passion for horticulture.
While the greenhouse is typically closed to the public, it opens its doors a couple of times a year. The open house tradition was born by accident.
In Dutch’s first year of business, a grower ordered 50,000 poinsettias ahead of Thanksgiving, but when the holiday rolled around and it came time to ship plants, the grower only committed to half the order. The greenhouse had to find a home for those extra plants, so they invited the public to pick poinsettias fresh off their floor — at wholesale cost, which is far less than what the plants would be in stores.
“Eighty people showed up,” Van Wingerden said with a laugh. “It was a resounding failure. And I said, ‘Well, we're never doing that again.’”
But they did do it again. News of the open house spread by word of mouth.
Van Wingerden said now roughly 15,000 people come to the greenhouse during open house weekends, generating about 10 percent of Dutch Heritage’s yearly income.
“Gosh, it's just huge and it's such a great benefit to those who can't buy the expensive plants,” said Karinna Schifferdecker, who waited in the checkout line with a large metal cart filled with houseplants during a recent open house.
One of those plants was a magical Thai constellation monstera. The plant is variegated with white speckles throughout its big holey green leaves. Until recently, the houseplant was considered a collector’s item.
“We've been trying to get (one) forever. They're just so expensive. Normally, (it’s) like $300 for this plant and it's $125 today,” Schifferdecker said with bright eyes. “We got a steal!”
They learned about the sale through a local Facebook group called the Colorado Springs Plant Hoes, which meets for regular plant swaps and potlucks, and raises money for charitable causes.
That Facebook group was started by Phung Chau-Fisher, a plant enthusiast in the Colorado Springs area whose love of plants began during the pandemic.
“This is so crazy,” she said with a laugh. “It's just been like a slow, like, rolling problem, obsession, hobby since then that has been super fun.”
Chau-Fisher has decorated her home with beautiful and happy houseplants, mostly varieties of her favorite: the monstera.
But her most-loved plant kid is a philodendron whose leaves extend out a foot in each direction with galaxy-like spirals of lime and deep green.
“I call it Nuclear Nick,” she said, pointing to the plant on her staircase. “I just love this plant. I just cannot get enough of it.”
For Chau-Fisher, her houseplants aren’t just a gardening project, they’re an opportunity to foster community in different seasons of life.
“I personally have met some of my best friends from the Plant Hoes group and as an adult, in your 30s, it's hard to make friends when you're older. So I hope that other people are kind of finding their people, too, over a shared love of houseplants,” she said.
“I just feel like it's a safe space for introverts, especially to get together and meet people like them,” she continued. ”That's what it's been for me and it's been amazing.”
The community of plant lovers makes Dutch Heritage’s open house special, said Van Wingerden.
For years, Van Wingerden said he has seen the same groups of people line up outside the greenhouse in the early morning to have breakfast and coffee together before the sale starts. He has also seen people of all ages and with varying plant knowledge come through the greenhouse during the open houses.
Van Wingerden's love of plants has been a family affair that started when he was a kid.
“I actually grew up working for my dad as a grower in our greenhouse in Pennsylvania and just fell in love with it at a very early age and decided that this is what I wanted to do with my life,” he said.
Today, his wife and kids work alongside him in his greenhouse.
For Justin and Eliot Hicks in Colorado Springs, growing plants together lets them nurture their relationship too. The father and son look forward to sharing each year’s growing season.
Eliot pointed out a squid-shaped pot holding a carnivorous plant. He explained the plant eats the flies that pester their peppermint.
“I like plants and they're kind of my thing and I love them being in my house,” he said, his mouth still red from his SpaghettiO dinner. “Some of them smell beautiful, which I love. And some of them don't have (a) smell, but they look very beautiful and I love our plants.”
The next open house at Dutch Heritage Gardens will likely be held this fall. Visit their website for dates and more information.
