Sponsored post from Durango Botanic Gardens
There’s a special place just north of downtown Durango: a garden-actually multiple gardens. They’re not quite secret gardens because people from all over the world visit them each year. They’re a place where the only sounds are rushing water from the Animas River, a refreshing breeze, the singing of birds, the sensory experience of enjoying nature right in the middle of Durango.
It’s a peaceful respite, a place to rest, relax, read, sketch a flower, regenerate, gain perspective.
The Durango Botanic Gardens are located along the Animas River Trail and at the Durango Public Library at 1900 E. Third Avenue, which is where beauty blooms and personal transformation awaits.
These gardens are invaluable for those who wish to learn what plants, trees, and flowers work best in our growing zones. Here, you can take lessons from what you see and smell, and apply those lessons to transform your yard or garden.
What are the Durango Botanic Gardens?
Signs direct you around our gardens and the website contains more information about the gardens and plants you will see. The Durango Botanic Gardens are also home to one of the area’s largest concentrations of public art and interesting hardscaping features.
For example, see if you can find the unique mason’s marks in the hand-cut stones that once comprised corrals at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
The Durango Botanic Gardens are built with donations and maintained by volunteers-you might even find some at work when you visit.
Who Maintains the Durango Botanic Gardens?
The all-volunteer group of garden warriors is not the Transformers of the action science fiction films but transformers of the earth and, in a way, the community.
The first garden, the Library Demonstration Garden, was built in 2011 when a handful of community-minded citizens began reimagining and repurposing an unsightly, weedy area behind the library into a Plant Select® Demonstration Garden.
Plant Select® is a non-profit collaboration of Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens, and professional horticulturists. As a Plant Select® Demonstration Garden, Durango Botanic Gardens trials new plants, report back results, and, in turn, when Plant Select® issues new plants to nurseries around the region, they are tested and resilient to Durango’s challenging growing climate.
The entire Durango Botanic Gardens is designed, planted, and maintained in a manner that demonstrates to local gardeners the best plants, trees, and other flora for the Durango region.
What to See and Do When Touring the Durango Botanic Gardens
Since building the Library Demonstration Garden new garden features are added constantly.
Most recently, a Crevice, or Rock Garden, was added to the most eastern part of the gardens at the edge of the Animas River Trail. The Crevice features a garden with a variety of ornamental grasses, a miniature conifer and tree garden, and a small arboretum.
There are two other small gardens of particular interest worth checking out. Near the center of the gardens, you’ll find a working sundial that features a different kind of thyme (the herb) in each of the hourly segments.
Don’t forget to see the “Rosie-the-Riveter Rose Garden,” a tribute to the contributions and influence of women in the WWII effort. This rose garden on the western portion of the area was planted with a number of Knockout Roses from the Durango chapter of “National Spirit of ’45.”
Where are the Durango Botanic Gardens?
The Durango Botanic Gardens are located at the Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Avenue, Durango.
Individual tours are generally available upon Saturday mornings, April through September, when we do garden maintenance. Group tours are also available and can be arranged with the team directly via the contact information below.
When visiting the Durango Botanic Gardens, please adhere to the guidelines of COVID-19, including wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance from other visitors.
Visit the Durango Botanic Gardens today and begin your journey into a special place, a not-so-secret garden with amazing flowers, trees, sculptures, and inspiration that will brighten your day!
For more information, visit durangobotanicgardens.org.
Contact the team at (970) 880-4841 or by email at durangobotanic@gmail.com with any questions or to schedule a group tour.
