Are you a butterfly or a bee?

Ambassador Jan here! What do you think of when you think of the things that make up Denver Botanic Gardens? I think of the many wonderful Gardens – each with its own personality and its own way of inspiring us. I also think of the plant accessions themselves, the water features, the herbarium records, the library (my dream collection
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Bee Early

Every morning at this time of year the deep red petals of Papaver orientalis  ‘Beauty of Livermere’ unfurl  slowly to reveal a mass of purple black pollen coated stamens.  I say slowly but they have a slight look of sleepy unpreparedness  and I am not the only one drawn to them as they, and I,  are still shaking out the creases.  Sure, there are usually a few early morning visitors but we are always outnumbered by those whom the poppies are really trying to attract: the bees.

The Birds and Bees Walk was designed to include many plants attractive to pollinators and other forms of wildlife. The poppies however were planted for the bees alone.
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