Trip: Kate and Sally Visit Denver Botanic Gardens in May

(NB: Mea culpa. Kate sent this e-mail back in May and I only now am posting it to the blog!)

Mom and I had the pleasure of visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens in the end of May. It was a lovely all day experience.   It is a 23-acre retreat in the center of the city, boasting 43 gardens with some 33,000 plants and the nation’s largest single structure conservatory, which is ranked as one of the top ten in the country.

We wandered through various shade gardens, rose gardens with roses numbering in the hundreds, a Bonsai garden, a Japanese Garden, a Mountain Alpine Rock Garden, a Succulent House, a Dryland Mesa, a South African Plaza and a Perennial Walk and that is just to name a few. To add to the delight there was a sculptural exhibit, “The Nature of Horses,” going on while we were there. The sculptures were organic bronze casts of driftwood sculptures that complimented both the more wild and the formal parts of the gardens.

I was surprised how many different things were in bloom already but could see how the garden would be changing over the next few months. The more wild prairie like gardens had yet to really take off and very few of the roses were in bloom yet, but it was truly a delight and one I would love to see the gardens every month to take note of the changes. There are two other locations outside of the city that we were not able to visit, but wish we could have.

The Botanic Gardens are truly a gem for the city, offering not only a wide variety of gardens and species, many of which are native to the area, but also changing art exhibits, a Children’s garden with music and reading hours and sunrise and sunset yoga for those who wish to unwind. The Denver Botanic Gardens are truly worth a visit if you find yourself in the area.