This winter, make your holiday gathering truly unforgettable by hosting it during Blossoms of Light®</a>, Denver’s beloved holiday tradition—now celebrating 40 sparkling years. With more than a million twinkling lights illuminating winding pathways and winter gardens, the event offers an enchanting backdrop for celebrations of every kind</a>. Whether you’re planning a lively company party or an intimate reception, our experienced event team</a> will ensure your evening shines as brightly as the lights themselves.</p> For the first time ever, the historical Waring House great room and library is available for private holiday events. Nestled along the Gardens’ southeast edge, this beautifully restored Beaux-Arts residence invites guests in with rich woodwork, artisan glass and early 1900s charm. The setting is perfect for seated dinners up to 40 guests or cocktail receptions up to 75—and just beyond the windows, Blossoms of Light transforms the landscape into a wonderland of color and glow.</p> Availability is limited, and dates fill quickly—reserve early and dazzle your guests amid the lights. Email us at </span>private.events@botanicgardens.org</strong></a> or call 720-865-3551. Book today!</span></p>
Last August, the Research and Conservation Department received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library</a> Services (IMLS) to “advance the North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Alpine Plant Conservation” (MA-255890-OMS-24). The Alpine Strategy</a> is a document that was published in 2020 by the Gardens and Betty Ford Alpine Gardens to serve as a blueprint for protecting alpine plants and ecosystems in North America. The funded project will support a nationwide endeavor to document and preserve the natural heritage of vulnerable and treasured plant species, specifically targeting the role that botanic gardens play in advancing this mission. The objectives of the project will engage the botanic garden community and those working in alpine plant conservation, while moving us closer to our goal of understanding and conserving alpine habitats and plants in North America. </p> Changing environmental conditions threaten plant communities worldwide, with alpine plant species being particularly vulnerable. Temperature fluctuations are projected to be most severe at high elevations and species will be displaced to higher and higher elevations, or highly restricted microsites, until there is nowhere left in which to migrate. The limited space for plants to migrate to track suitable environmental conditions, coupled with the potential inability to adjust traits or phenology, may increase extinction risk. Alpine species are in desperate need of conservation action. </p> Understanding seed dynamics is arguably the most important piece of ex situ (outside of the natural habitat) seed conservation. Successful management of ex situ seed collections relies on understanding seed quality, viability and seed banking behavior. Prior to seed banking, it is important to have an estimate of the quality of each collection so that resources are not wasted on a non-viable collection and to understand how viability may change throughout the duration of storage. The most efficient and least destructive way to assess seed quality is through x-ray imagery. X-ray imaging is especially appropriate for small seed collections or for those of globally threatened species so as not to destroy any of the seeds in the collection. X-raying allows the inspection of the inside of the seeds, providing images that show whether a seed is filled with an embryo/endosperm, empty, or predated upon by an insect. With this information we can have an initial estimate of seed collection quality, which is impossible with visual inspection alone. </p> The funding from IMLS allowed us to purchase a Kubtec X-ray to image all our alpine seed collections, which ranged in collection year from 1988 to 2025. Overall, our alpine seed collections are of good quality, with 87% of the collections having above 70% estimated viability (filled with viable tissue and potentially capable of germination). </p>
You may have heard of the Plant Select® program—a collaboration between Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado State University and green industry partners. Its mission is simple: to introduce plants that are not only beautiful, but also tough, water-wise and perfectly suited for gardens in the Intermountain West.</p> Behind the Scenes: How Denver Botanic Gardens Shapes Plant Select®</strong></span> </span></h3> At the Gardens, we play a big role in this work. We trial new plants onsite (see an excellent overview of the process here</a>), manage demonstration gardens at both York Street and Chatfield Farms, and offer Plant Select plants at our annual Spring Plant Sale.</p> But here’s something you may not know: the Gardens also helps discover and develop new plants for the program. With over 17,000 plant varieties in our living collections, we have an unmatched resource to draw from. In fact, more than 70% of Plant Select introductions begin here at Denver Botanic Gardens with our staff.</p> Better Plants for the Intermountain West</h3> In recent years, our horticulture research team has launched a focused plant breeding program to create cultivars and unique varieties tailored for our region. Sometimes this means selecting naturally occurring traits from wild populations; other times it involves advanced tools that allow us to shape plant genetics more precisely.</p> Plant breeding is hardly new—it dates back nearly 10,000 years, when early farmers began selecting plants for better yield, flavor, or appearance. At its simplest, it’s just crossing two compatible plants to combine desirable traits. Over the last century, techniques such as mutagenesis and ploidy manipulation expanded what breeders could achieve, and today, gene editing and transgenics allow us to target traits with unprecedented accuracy.</p> At the Gardens, most of our work still relies on traditional breeding methods. That means crossing plants with traits we want to combine—say, the flower color of one species with the drought tolerance of another. By pairing a highly ornamental plant with a drought-hardy relative, we hope to create varieties that are both beautiful and better adapted to hot, dry conditions. It’s a long process, often requiring multiple generations before the right combination is achieved.</p> We also use mutagens, substances that can trigger changes in a plant’s genome. While these changes are random, they often produce predictable outcomes, such as compact growth, novel foliage color, or reduced fertility. We use this technique with plants that already have strong ornamental appeal and environmental tolerance but may benefit from a unique twist or refinement.</p> Beyond Beauty: Our Breeding Goals</h3> Unlike ornamental horticulture at large, our breeding priorities go beyond aesthetics. We aim to develop plants that are not only striking in the garden, but also resilient in our increasingly harsh climate and supportive of pollinators and ecological health.</p> In other words, we’re not just breeding plants to survive here—we’re breeding them to thrive. </p>
Scattering a few ounces of seed onto dry Colorado soil can feel more like hoping than planting. Folks who’ve tried store-bought wildflower mixes might know the frustration: despite following instructions, results are often inconsistent. Mixes may bloom for a season or two but can be patchy, lack coherent design, are soon overrun by weeds, or collapse into stands dominated by one or two aggressive species.</p> Still, direct seeding remains one of the most appealing ways to transform non-functional turf, medians and other tough spaces. Seeds are inexpensive, species are easy to source compared to potted plants, and installation is simple. Our horticulture research team at the Gardens has been investigating ways to make direct seeding more reliable, creating mixes that are beautiful, resilient and long-lasting.</p> Setting Parameters</h3> One challenge with many commercial mixes is the lack of crucial details. Sowing rates are often given in pounds per acre, which is nearly impossible to scale to a backyard or small urban lot. Even worse, weight is misleading: a gram of lupine seed equals about 30 seeds, while a gram of Artemisia can be nearly 10,000. To improve accuracy, we calculate sowing rates based on the number of seeds per unit area (i.e., 300 seeds per square foot). This method allows us to balance species more precisely and adjust mixes to specific sites.</p> Another problem is growth form diversity. Most mixes emphasize only wildflowers, overlooking grasses and shrubs—two of the most resilient growth forms in Colorado ecosystems. However, the right ratio of these various growth forms is crucial. Too many aggressive grasses or shrubs, and diversity disappears. But when balanced, each growth form contributes to a stable and enduring plant community.</p> Choosing the Right Species</h3> Species selection is just as critical. Every plant has unique traits: germination timing, bloom period, lifespan, stress tolerance and competitiveness – among many others. Many mixes rely heavily on species that sprout quickly, which may look good at first but fail to sustain long-term diversity or season-long blooms.</p> Our approach uses trait-based design. We include fast-germinating species that suppress weeds in the first year while leaving room for longer-lived species to establish. We also screen new species for how they perform over multiple seasons, tracking which ones persist, coexist well with others, and extend bloom time from spring through fall.</p> Timing Matters</h3> We’ve also studied how sowing season affects establishment. Standard advice is to sow in autumn so cold weather can break seed dormancy. But our trials show that spring sowing—using seeds pre-treated with cold in refrigeration—often yields higher germination, especially when paired with supplemental irrigation in the first year. Losses from winter die-off, predation, and moisture stress may explain why fall seeding performs less reliably.</p> Built to Last</h3> Direct seeding may never be as predictable as planting nursery-grown perennials. But with thoughtful design, it can be just as successful. By refining sowing rates, balancing growth forms, carefully selecting species, and timing sowing strategically, we’re creating custom mixes that are diverse, resilient and built to last in Colorado’s challenging conditions.</p> </p>
