Walking Tour of Denver Botanic Gardens’ Native Landscapes

Over the past two decades, the designers and horticulturists at Denver Botanic Gardens have created seven distinctive gardens composed largely of plants of known wild provenance from Colorado and surrounding states. These native and naturalistic gardens contain one of the finest collections of Rocky Mountain and Great Plains native plants in cultivation. On Thursday afternoon, join DBG’s Curator of Native Plants, Dan Johnson, and his colleagues for a walking tour of the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Native Plants Field Study

The second day of the Garden School will lead off with a field study exploring three native landscapes in the Denver area that offer intriguing contrasts in design and plantings. The sites on the field study are: a highly acclaimed xeriscape garden at Lakewood’s Kendrick Lake Park; the private home of Jim and Dorothy Borland—whose garden features 80 species of shrubs and small trees, as well as numerous annuals and biennials, that have thrived for nearly a decade without supplemental irrigation; and the DBG’s satellite Centennial Gardens, which features five acres of native plants displayed in a traditional French parterre design.