walking tour

This tour was designed by Panayoti Kelaidis, Denver Botanic Gardens' Senior Curator and Director of Outreach.  To experience this tour, take notes and follow the expert's advice on the best way to stroll through the Gardens. 

May and June in the Gardens

Picking out a garden gem this time of year is like looking for a precious stone in a jewelry store; there are so many, it is hard to know where to start! The Gardens is ablaze with masses of flowering trees and shrubs, hundreds of kinds of bulbs in drifts and perennials galore.

Among them are plants that are so striking, so beautiful, that they deserve special consideration. The foxtail lilies (Eremurus) and yuccas that greet you near the entrance to the Gardens are two such plants. Both Asian Eremurus and American Yucca were once classed in the lily family (Liliaceae) – although foxtail lilies are deciduous, producing tall narrow spikes in a great array of colors. The yuccas next to them are nearly as tall as trees!

May and June are also the peak bloom season for cacti and roses. One doesn’t usually group these plants together, though their flamboyant, open flowers (in bright reds, pinks, whites, oranges and yellows) and their prickliness are decidedly similar. But the austere Dryland Mesa, where the lion’s share of cacti proliferate, is worlds away from the Rose Garden, burgeoning with glimmering masses of roses in semi-formal beds. Both gardens are truly hidden gems this time of year.

I particularly love the shimmering, cerise flowers of prickly pear (Opuntia aurea), whose pancake pads have just turned from winter red to springtime, Army green in Dryland Mesa. This is perhaps our most spectacular prickly pear, and that’s saying a lot! In the Rose Garden, don’t miss Rosa ‘Golden Wings’. The flowers may be single, but they’re nearly five inches across – a refulgent, inspiring, deep-golden yellow, like a sunrise on the happiest day of your life!

This time of year, it’s easy to identify with butterflies and bees as they flit from flower to flower and while away the gorgeous spring weather in Denver’s version of paradise: Denver Botanic Gardens.