Denver Botanic Gardens

Horticulture, science and conservation: Denver Botanic Gardens is responsible for living plant collections and horticultural garden displays, which include more than 51,000 living plants, belonging to 10,000+ species. Our wide range of Gardens illustrate the connection between plants and people. Our diverse collections feature plants from all corners of the world, from the tropics to the tundra. Distinctive Gardens define and celebrate our regional sense of place in our unique high altitude, semi-arid climate and geography. As an accredited museum, our diverse collections are used for education, research and pure enjoyment. Among our living collections reside two national collections registered with the national plant collections network (pcn): oaks (quercus) and alpines of the world. Scientific research is closely linked to everything at the Gardens. The core motivation of our scientific work is to investigate and explain biodiversity patterns and processes. We actively conduct scientific research, serve as a resource of scientific expertise and work to train the next generation of scientists. Our programs include population monitoring, seed collection, genetic investigations for conservation or taxonomic clarification, habitat restoration, community science and tracking phenology (life-history events) of common species. The Gardens documents plant and fungal diversity with a focus on the southern rocky mountain region through our collecting efforts. The kathryn kalmbach vascular plant herbarium houses nearly 80,000 specimens while the sam mitchel herbarium of fungi houses just over 20,000 well-curated specimens from the region. The Gardens continues to train the next generation of scientists through graduate student and internship programs in collaboration with the university of Colorado at Denver and other local organizations. Our expanded restoration studies examining seed mixes and influence of a warming climate on plant success through common garden studies continued with two active field sites. In addition, we collected genetic data on plants from multiple source locations growing in our common garden in order to better understand the influence of genetics and environment on success of restoration projects.the Gardens' center for global initiatives is an example of the Gardens' work around the globe. We continued our collaboration with instituto nacional de tecnologa agropecuaria (inta), argentina in 2023. This collaboration was developed to exchange information and capacity on propagation and research of native flora of both argentina, patagonia in particular, and the rocky mountain and plains regions of Colorado. In 2023 the center for global initiatives also stewards the exchange of knowledge, resources, and collaboration of national academy of sciences, institutes of botany through central asia and the caucuses.

Chatfield farms: the mission of Denver Botanic Gardens chatfield farms is to inspire the public to be good stewards of the environment by connecting people to our past, present and future relationships with plants of the rocky mountain region. Chatfield farms is a 700-acre native plant refuge and working farm located along the banks of deer creek in southern jefferson county. Attendance at events and daily visitor numbers were up 3% in 2023 to 204,252. Lavender festival hosted 12,500 attendees in the two-day event. Corn maze was another great success with 60,000 visitors during september and october. Pumpkin festival hosted 39,000 attendees and nearly 27,000 pumpkins were purchased. Trail of lights attendance jumped to 44,000. We also added an annual hops festival in 2023 that attracted 1,000 attendees to sample local brews and beer made from our own hops grown at chatfield farms. The community supporting agriculture program grew over 70,000 pounds of more than 30 different varieties of vegetables and flowers distributed to 300 paying shareholders in 2023. The program donated 13,000 pounds of produce to numerous not-for profits and foodbanks including same caf, gracefull caf and we don't waste.

Education and outreach: in 2023, Denver Botanic Gardens' education programs reached 23,957 school children, providing hands-on experiences, standards-based science lessons and the opportunity for children to explore the marvels of the plant world, both in person and virtually. About 30% of these children came from low-income schools and benefited from the Gardens' educational access program. More than 13,000 people participated in family and children's programs while the mordecai children's garden continued to flourish. Adult classes and workshops served 17,000 registrants in a wide variety of content areas. The helen fowler library offered electronic access throughout the year and successfully offered public, in-person access six days a week.outreach programs are a cornerstone in the Gardens' mission and include horticulture therapy services for the elderly, people with disabilities and veterans. Our urban food intitiatives programs provided fresh produce to local food desert communities, distributing 10,500 pounds of fresh produce to various community groups.

Visitor experience: in 2023, 1,434,573 individuals visited the Denver Botanic Gardens. Eight exhibitions were presented in the freyer newman center galleries in 2023. Exhibits include ansel adams: early works, featuring high-contrast photos of the american west from the 1970s and 1980s, and golden legacy: original art from 80 years of golden books, an exhibit organized by the national center for children's illustrated literature. Five exhibitions organized by Denver Botanic Gardens traveled to other institutions, including la calavera catrina (tucson botanical garden, az) and golden opportunity (four rivers environmental education center in channahon, il). The Gardens hosted five artists through the land line residency program. Blossoms of light, the Gardens' largest event, welcomed 201,589 visitors. The Gardens also hosted evenings al fresco and glow at the Gardens in addition to an online spring plant sale & fall plant & bulb sale.

Operations and maintenance

Capital improvements: capital expenses are expensed when incurred as a result of the Gardens' cooperative agreement with the city & county of Denver. The city & county of Denver owns the properties operated by the Denver Botanic Gardens.