Horticulture

The City Park Greenhouse serves as Denver Parks and Recreation's horticultural core by growing and distributing landscape bedding plants, shrubs and other ornamental plants for Denver park districts and other city agencies and facilities. We propagate approximately 250,000 annuals, perennials, shrubs and stock plants. The greenhouse produces flowers for 539-550 individual beds comprising 4.7 to 5.1 total acres of park land.

Flower Beds & Gardens

The overall goal for the 2012 Flower Bed Planting Plan was to prioritize biggest impact sites with reduced travel times for maintenance, which means reducing small beds spread out across the system. When planning the reduction, overall distribution and equality across the system was a critical factor. In all, the Denver Parks system has 413,612 square feet of flower beds; the 2012 Flower Bed Planting Plan calls for 13,487 feet of the beds to not be planted with annual flowers or three percent of the overall total square footage.

Download specialty garden flower bed plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

When are elaborate flower beds planted in Denver Parks?

Depending on the weather, flower beds are planted in mid-May, once the threat of frost has passed. Elaborate flower displays are removed in early October.

Which parks include elaborate flowerbed displays?

Flower displays are planted throughout the city in different parks and parkways. Some of the largest and most popular flower displays include:

• Alamo Placita Park
• Cheesman Park
• Civic Center Park
• Cranmer Park
• Garland Park
• Inspiration Point Park
• Washington Park

Can people pick flowers from the displays?

No.
It is actually against city ordinance to pick flowers on public property. It also ruins the display design that DPR Horticulturalists plan and cultivate a year in advance and spend all summer taking care of.

Please help us protect park resources so that everyone can enjoy this public amenity. If you witness someone removing flowers from a park, you can report it to 311 (720.913.1311) to dispatch a park ranger.

Do you have any tips for gardening in Colorado?

PlantSelect.org is a trusted resource for information about plants that thrive in this region. They test different plants that work well in our arid climate.