Keith Keating has been working in gardening since 1976. He studied forestry in 1976 & 1977 in both Pittsburg and West Virginia. In 1978 & 1979 Keith Keating studied in Covelo California with Allan Chadwick. Chadwick is a famous British gardener who studied under yet another famous gardener named Rudolf Steiner who is the inventor of Biodynamic “Ultra Organic” gardening. Rudolf Steiner died in 1924 but his principles were carried on by his pupil Alan Chadwick. Alan Chadwick took the principles and combined them with a production system developed by the French in the 1800’s. It is called “The French Intensive Method” and it basically means to cultivate the bed 2 ½ feet deep mixing vegetarian compost in and then planting in tight companion planting techniques. In May 1980 Keith Keating came to Aspen a worked for 4 years at Windstar as head gardener. Windstar was a foundation by John Denver, and tales of old Aspen are thick at the Windstar ranch. Tales of Jimmy Buffett and John Denver parties that inspired new songs all came from the Windstar days. The property was purchased in the 1990’s now is a nature preserve set aside for future generations, open space available to the public from sunrise to sunset. Keith has been in the Roaring Fork Valley now for 30 years, and has built a world class private nursery in Carbondale Colorado where he raises trees and perennials ready for the hardy high country environment. In 1994 Keith Keating started work as head gardener under the master David Slawson at the Aspen Institute. The Japanese Garden is now in its 15th year and is under an endowment indefinitely. Every other year the master David Slawson comes out to oversee operations and help outline future development. Japanese gardens are given three symbols. The garden was built around one sage plant. The garden is built near Shadow Mountain at the Aspen Institute in Aspen Colorado. So the resulting name SAGE MOUNTAIN SKY is the three word name for this Japanese garden. David Slawson wrote two books, and has two of the top twenty five best Japanese Gardens in the United States.