Denver Botanic Gardens is a regional leader in progressive horticultural design, water conservation, and use of climate-appropriate plant material in the semi-arid West. On this field trip, we will show participants examples of progressive horticultural installations and revegetation efforts in downtown Denver associated with the Denver Botanic Gardens, along with a tour of regionally appropriate planting examples for residential-scale gardens within the botanic gardens. Specific information about notable projects that will be showcased during the field trips is included in the detailed description.

Agenda:

Detailed Description

Rewilding Roadway Right-of-Way Project: The Josephine Streetscape at Denver Botanic Gardens is a striking example of sustainable landscape design and urban rewilding. This expansive garden, established from a combination of seeding and planting in deep sand, showcases a diverse array of regionally adapted plants. The garden is a dynamic space, constantly changing through processes of competition, facilitation, and disturbance. We will also tour a newer right-of-way project in nearby Congress Park, set to be installed in spring 2025.

Green Roof Installations: Denver Botanic Gardens has two green roof installations on campus where we trial plant species for use on green roof systems and conduct other research. The smaller extensive green roof is a testing ground for growing plants atop buildings in a semi-arid environment and includes more than 100 species of native, drought-tolerant plants. Installed in the fall of 2007, it was the first publicly accessible green roof in the city of Denver. A larger intensive green roof has been used to study plant-pollinator interactions and invertebrate ecology.

Habitat Gardens: A series of newly redesigned gardens on campus that showcase techniques to incorporate habitat creation at a garden scale. A unique feature of these gardens is the exploration of the importance of organic and inorganic structures in supporting a thriving wildlife habitat. These structures take many forms, from rubble/rock walls to dead hedges and pollinator hotels.

Specific Habitat Gardens include:

The Willow Glade in Celebration of Brandon Mandelbaum highlights the water-loving plant communities of riparian habitats – the banks of rivers, creeks, streams, and their related wetlands. Although riparian habitats make up less than one percent of the land area of the Western United States, around seventy-five percent of all wildlife species depend on them for some part of their lives.

The Birds & Bees Walk serves to demonstrate the interplay between flora and fauna in pursuit of pollination. As you venture over the woodland path, you will discover the importance of pollinators from buzzing busy bees to the elegant jitter of hummingbirds. Emphasis is drawn on the flower’s shape, smell and color and how the combination of these allures can seduce their pollinator allies. This garden contains native and non-native plants, a variety of woody trees and shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals.

Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden: The Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden proudly maintains a living example of what Denver and the Front Range was like prior to development. With a few exceptions, seeds were obtained from areas within 30 miles of Denver, representing the beauty of local genetic material. Extending east from a backdrop of cottonwoods, this lowland garden features grasses and wildflowers of the Great Plains. Every plant within this garden is native to different types of prairie found within Colorado. This garden thrives with no supplemental irrigation, and is burned every 2-4 years to replicate natural fire cycles.