This Week at the Gardens: March 25th

A Carpet of Violets

Spring is the season to make a point of visiting our Waring House Garden, a little-known but publicly accessible gem. The Waring House, on the corner of 9th and York, houses our administrative offices, and was donated to the Gardens in 1959.

The garden here is entered by wrought iron gates
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The Weekly Bloom: Week of April 3rd

Primula

When I was a kid, one of my all-time favorite books—no surprise!—was The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved the idea of the hidden garden waking up in the spring, even though it had been abandoned for many years. Mary’s sense of discovery and delight as she learns to see the green shoots poking out of the ground is probably familiar to all of us gardeners.

Here at Denver Botanic Gardens, we have our own Secret Garden, of sorts.
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Don’t Miss It! Week of January 16th

Magnolia Buds

Some people coming to the Gardens this time of year are disappointed, because everything on our grounds is “dead.” (Perhaps they expect that we are located in a different climate from their own backyards?) Of course, our Gardens are not dead at all, merely dormant, lying in wait for an extended stretch of longer, warmer days before they spring forth again. If you look carefully, you can see this burgeoning life everywhere.
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Spring blooms here, there and everywhere

Eranthis hyemalis blooming in Shady Lane on Feb. 25, 2009

The Gardens are quickly springing back to life with the 70+ degree days.  I was wondering what was blooming across the rest of the country, so I contacted a few colleagues across the nation to see how their gardens were waking up in comparison to Denver Botanic Gardens. 

Denver Botanic Gardens currently has many species of plants in full bloom or just beginning to bloom. Galanthus elwesii (snowdrops), Crocus sp. and cvs., Iris reticulata and its various cultivars, Cornus mas (Cornelian cherry), Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconite) and Helleborus sp. are all blooming. This morning I witnessed some of the magnolias (M. stellata  and M. x soulangeana) starting to burst from their buds in the Waring House garden as well where they grow in a sunny spot against a south facing wall.
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