It's no secret I am a lover of gardens. But our nomadic lifestyle keeps my personal garden limited to a couple of pots of herbs. Our love of hiking gets me outdoors in nature often, but sometimes I just need an immersion in a beautiful garden, especially in spring.
Denver Botanic Gardens offered that immersive experience in spades!
We visited the primary York Street location, one of three Garden sites in Denver. Dozens of styles of gardens are represented here, allowing us to walk through multiple climate zones, various natural settings and experience gardening traditions from around the world.
We've been fortunate lately to have gloriously sunny mornings, followed by grey afternoons with the threat of thunderstorms, making it a perfect spring day to visit a lovely garden!
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I am ridiculously happy among the lush foliage in the tropical conservatory.
Hans is a good sport tagging along as I exclaim over every little detail that catches my eye. |
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Elegant Japanese Lantern.
Hibiscus schizopetalus. |
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Deborah Butterfield's graceful horse sculptures were scattered throughout the Gardens.
She fashions horses out of wood, then the pieces are bronze cast, put back together, painted and patina'd. |
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| Japanese Garden. |
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| Rock Garden. |
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| Short Grass Plains Garden. |
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| Metal horse at rest. |
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Chihuly sculpture, part of the Gardens permanent collection.
We wondered how it holds up to hail! |
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| Abstractions. |
Rather than shoehorn our big truck into the Botanic Gardens parking structure, we parked at Cheesman Park right behind the Gardens. This provided the opportunity to walk through the beautiful old neighborhood surrounding the Gardens. Here is a tiny sampling of the fabulous old homes that grace this part of Denver.
I love the horse sculptures! And the Rock Garden would have been my favorite. What a lovely day. It's nice to see you had blue skies....
ReplyDeleteThose gardens are beautiful! Thanks for sharing your photos.
ReplyDeleteI've mostly had yard work that never became gardening, but I do love to spend time in gorgeous gardens! These are beautiful with all the variety and the art tucked in. The horses and Chihuly are really special. Hans is a trooper. Bill usually ends up enjoying places like this if I can talk him in to going in the first place :-) Thanks for sharing another wonderful place in CO.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you were able to spend time among the beautiful gardens. The horse sculptures look like they have a new home. They fit in so well.
ReplyDeleteI also get my garden passion "fix" by visiting botanical gardens. Seeing your photos, the Denver Botanical Garden is going on my list for sure! I enjoyed your photos of Deborah Butterfield's horses -- just in the past year we've seen her bronzes at the Portland Art Museum and the Palm Springs Art Museum. They look even more magnificent in nature!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how lush and green Denver looks compared to just a stone's throw north in Cheyenne. Like a different world! So glad you got to see those gardens. And the pictures are just delicious!
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