Installation of the life-size dinosaur sculptures started today at York Street. It is amazing to see how realistic they appear. Our talented horticulture and operations staff are doing everything possible to make it seem like our prehistoric guests actually are at home roaming the Gardens. Plant displays will showcase prehistoric plants and their modern relatives.   “Jurassic Gardens” opens on April 17.

Although it has felt like spring for weeks in Denver and temperatures have been steadily above average, spring has officially arrived at the Gardens. Time for new growth and more change.
The same is happening at this very moment just outside the Gardens’ gates–the old Gatehouse on York Street is almost entirely demolished. These photos, taken yesterday [...]

Euphorbia polychroma ‘Candy’ - Cushion spurge

It was a record-breaking 71 degrees and sunny yesterday, too. Just enough warm weather lately to coax out some early bloomers. The hellebores (Helleborus spp.) and witch hazel (Hamamelis species) are already starting to bloom in the garden just south and southeast of the Waring House at 909 York Street. And the hellebores are just [...]

Trail of Lights on member night . . . As we drove onto Deer Creek Canyon Road, my breath was taken away for a minute. Just imagine seeing the lights all aglow in the depths of a dark field, with the crescent moon glowing over the entire scene. Even viewing the car lights snaking down into [...]

I got back to my desk after a lunch meeting today, and there was a message from a co-worker saying I must go look at the northern portion of the Cottonwood Border because it looked “absolutely stunning.” How could I possibly sit down to work at my computer after a statement like [...]

We’ve had the poison dart frogs here in the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory since early November when they were still pretty young. Conservatory staff members have been raising fruit flies, dusting them with vitamins, and feeding them to the frogs every day since then, and we are amazed at how much the frogs have grown.
The [...]

 
Crocus ancyrensis - This is the first bulb that has bloomed at Centennial Gardens this year. It is classified as a snow crocus and some years it has been known to bloom the first week of January. It is small (about 2 inches tall) and the flowers are about 1/2 inch across. However, it is a [...]

A native of Turkey and the Balkans, Galanthus elwesii (giant snowdrop) is found throughout these countries and into Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, eastern Serbia and Montenegro on into the Southern Ukraine.  It differs from the common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis in its galucous leaves and more eastern distribution.  It is traditionally one of the first flowers to [...]

If you are looking for something amazing to do at the Gardens right now, visit our Cloud Forest Tree exhibit, at the west end of the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory. The Cloud Forest Tree and the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory always have something blooming, so even when it is cold and snowy in Denver, you can [...]