Inside the Gardens Summer Issue Out Now

There are certain places that do more than reflect their environment—they help define it. As Denver Botanic Gardens marks its 75th anniversary alongside Colorado’s 150th year, I find myself considering what it means to belong to a place as distinctive as this one.

Colorado is not an easy landscape. The environment is a semi-arid, high plains steppe shaped by extremes: intense sun, limited water, dramatic temperature swings. And yet, life here is not just resilient, it is remarkably inventive. The plants that call this region home remind us that thriving involves adaptation, stewardship and innovation. What we learn here in Colorado increasingly informs how others garden, conserve and design for resilience in similar environments around the world.

From the beginning, the Gardens has worked to amplify those lessons. We have sought not only to cultivate beauty, but to lead, asking what a public garden can and should be in a changing world.

The answers are found at Chatfield Farms, where the elegant combination of agrivoltaics in the Solar Garden offers a model for sustainable gardening while offsetting power consumption. In seed-collecting expeditions to climatically similar regions, which foster international partnerships while identifying resilient plant species suited to Denver’s evolving climate. And in projects like the Center for Plant Conservation, which safeguards plants on public lands at risk of wildfire.

This summer, whether you find your connection to plants through the sun-warmed blooms at Lavender Festival or as the setting for Jaume Plensa’s monumental sculptures, I hope you also experience the simple, profound truth that plants are not just resources; they are companions in our human story.

Anniversaries offer a chance to reflect as well as look forward. The challenges facing our environment are real and urgent, particularly in regions like ours where water and climate shape every decision. Yet I am inspired by what is possible when creativity, science and community come together.

As we celebrate 75 years of Denver Botanic Gardens, we do so with gratitude—for the visionaries who came before us, for the community that sustains us and for the landscapes that continue to shape us. And we look ahead with purpose, committed to cultivating a future where both people and plants can thrive.

Thank you for being part of this journey.
 

The summer issue of Inside the Gardens is out now. Read the issue.