Address: 1005 York St.
Pricing: Adults $11.50; Seniors $8.50; Students $8.00
Phone: (720) 865-3500
Hours: Every day, 9 am-5 pm. Saturday-Tuesday, from May 12-Sept. 14, 9am-8pm
How To Get There:
From I-25 take 6th Ave East. Left on Josephine, 3blks, left into the Gardens. Parking lot between Ninth & 10th streets.
Parking:In lot or on surrounding streets.
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Denver's Botanic Gardens: It's never out of season
Published: Apr 3, 2009
At the Denver Botanic Gardens, there's always something to see because there's always something in bloom — from the dead of winter to the dog days of summer, 365 days of the year. With its 32,000 plants spread over 23 acres, it is one of the country's largest and finest displays of flora.
Inside the steamy-aired tropical conservatory, palms and orchids abound. Cactus and other succulents have their own sheltered home, as well. Outside, from spring to fall, you can take a "What's Blooming Walking Tour" to see what is beginning to flower.
In March, you'll find crocus and buttercups breaking out and blossoms opening among the beaked yucca, with their spearlike spines. With April comes magnolia and Korean spice virburnum — and irises and lilacs, too. Toward summer every growing thing seems to explode into glory.
The botanic gardens began as 100 acres of greenery in City Park in 1954. Because "night diggers" would sneak into the park to steal plants, the gardens moved to its present location five years later.
Some of its highlights are the theme gardens, a sunken amphitheater, and a Japanese garden — the Garden of the Wind and Pines — designed by Koichi Kawana. The Botanic Gardens' living collections include Alpine, Aquatic, Native, Steppe and Amenity, which showcases plants of the Rocky Mountain and Plains region.
If you don't know much about plants and flowers but would like to discover more, the garden's professionals will help you identify your favorites or do research about new ones. They hold tours, lectures and classes, and their Helen Fowler Library has one of the best book collections about horticulture in the US: You could spend whole days learning about everything from landscaping to plant pests to flower arranging.
Whatever you find the most interesting, even if you're just a casual visitor or a parent with curious children, you'll probably want to spend at least a few hours hanging out in these lovely gardens.
- by David Zindell, Denver Reporter for HelloMetro
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