The Tulips Have Popped at the Denver Botanic Gardens

On a warm afternoon in April, people file into the Denver Botanic Gardens in droves. The scene outside the visitor center is reminiscent of a Trader Joe's parking lot at noon on a Sunday, when there's no parking to be found. The people are hungry — not for salad kits and frozen tamales, but for spring annuals.

The people are fiending for tulips.

The springtime display at the gardens at 1007 York Street is one of the most popular (and a winner in this year's Best of Denver), bringing between 65,000 and 78,000 visitors to the Botanic Gardens each April. "It's the promise of spring and summertime and the renewal of the cycle of life," explains Bridget Blomquist, the associate director of horticulture who oversees the planting of around 14,000 tulip bulbs at the DBG each year.

Typically, the blooms are at their peak during the first or second week of May, but the warm weather this year has sped up the process. Even after snow on April 18, Blomquist estimates that from now until the end of April will be the best time to see the tulips. After a tulip blooms, the flower lasts for about seven to ten days. Blomquist predicts this year's display will be removed around the second week of May.
Creating the tulip display takes a small army of volunteers and horticulturalists, and the designs are conceived months before the flowers bloom. "I recruit as many volunteers as I can from volunteer services. I have a morning shift and an afternoon shift," Blomquist explains.

The bulbs are planted during the second week of October. "That’s pretty early," Blomquist admits. "For the typical homeowner, you usually want to plant them later in October because it’s a bit cooler, but because we’re the Botanic Gardens, we have to do this dance with different events. We have a smaller window to get them in."

Bulbs are placed symmetrically by hand in beds categorized by color and class of bulb. Classes this year include flowers like "Tulip Daydream," vibrant bursts of yellow-orange petals, and "Purple Flag," sprouts of deep fuchsia.

While the tulips are the star of the show, they're not the only spring annuals on display at DBG. Visitors can also find flowers like pansies and violas. Blomquist likes working with annuals because they only last for one season, which gives her the opportunity to constantly change up the design and try new things. "Believe me, I try things that fail, and I try things that become my new favorite plant," she says. "It's that opportunity of trial and error." Color is the biggest driver of her design process, and annuals give her a ranging palette of electric and subdued colors to work with.
Blomquist watches as visitors wander through the gardens, pushing strollers and walkers, snapping photos and laughing. Kids roll down the grassy hills and even angsty college students can't help but stop and smell the blossoms cascading from blooming trees. "You can't not be in this garden and just smile," Blomquist says. "I often think of that quote, 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast.' There's something about the color and the promise of spring that just makes people happy. ...Tulips are such a happy flower. You can see it in people's faces, and it's really fun just to be here right now and watch everyone light up when they come into this garden."

The DBG recently lost its own beacon of light with the death of CEO Brian Vogt in late March. "Making Denver Botanic Gardens a place for all is really the hallmark of Brian's tenure as CEO," says Jennifer Riley-Chetwynd, interim CEO. "Brian stoked an entrepreneurial spirit among garden staff by empowering employees to dream big and broadly interpret our mission of 'connecting people with plants.'"

This translated into growth both on-site and off for the gardens, which now collaborates with more than 285 grassroots and community-based organizations in the region; its commitment to both inclusion and water conservation has put the DBG in the national limelight.

According to Erin Bird, interim director of marketing and social responsibility, DBG's current leadership wants to follow through with Vogt's plans. "We are always interested in evolving our programming to best meet the needs and interests of our audience," she says, "so there may be a few tweaks, but no significant changes will be made until next year, if applicable."

Bird adds that programs that thrived under Vogt's leadership, such as ecological conservation and research work, will continue, along with community outreach programs and other initiatives like therapeutic horticulture and urban food programs. "Our art programming that flourished under Brian's leadership is booked into the next two years and will continue as planned," Bird says.

The DBG, which was founded in the 1950s, has become a place not just to cultivate plants but community. The Summer Concert Series, a mainstay that has been drawing crowds since 1980, is a well-curated lineup of musical acts from June through August produced by the nonprofit Swallow Hill Music.

Vogt nurtured rotating shows of artwork at the Freyer-Newman Center, the most ambitious of the building projects Vogt initiated. Visitors can currently see films in the Sturm Family Auditorium (A Cup Named Joe runs until April 26), access the Helen Fowler Library for horticultural information about the Rocky Mountain region, and see various art displays. Current exhibitions include Finding Light, detailed charcoal drawings exploring nature's loss and regrowth; Seeds of Inspiration, botanical art in seed packet design; and Language Without Words, paintings and sculptures displaying the intricate living tapestries of tiny organisms.

Additionally, the DBG provides guests with the opportunity to tap into their own creativity and curiosity through classes. The School of Botanical Art & Illustration includes a full course catalog of classes like Chinese Calligraphy, Moss Wall Art and DIY Kaleidoscopes. Programs like the Japanese Tea Ceremony and Spring Plant Sale are also popular.

Ticket sales for spring programs open to the public at 10 a.m. Monday, April 28. While tickets are limited, tulips are not — at least for now, while they're at their peak. And you don't even have to pay to see them; they are also planted outside the DBG property from the corner of East 11th Avenue and York Street.
Looking out into the vibrant sea of yellows, oranges, purples, reds and pinks, Blomquist chokes up when asked what she hopes visitors will get out of her hard work. She's thinking about Vogt. "He always said that you never know what people who are coming into the garden are carrying," she says. "What's so wonderful about the gardens is that they can just have a little reprieve from that pain or stress or even work through some of the things they're going through in life that are hard or tough."

Even in dark times, the plants can brighten things up, helping people find peace, resolution and inspiration. "I believe that sentiment. You can see it in people's faces just watching them," Blomquist adds. "Whatever care that they're carrying, you can see for just a moment, it's not there anymore."

The Denver Botanic Gardens is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 1007 York Street. Visit botanicgardens.org to buy tickets in advance or book classes.