Montrose Botanic Gardens Turns 30
- James Cencer
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 31
By James Cencer:
The Montrose Botanic Gardens thrives at 5,879 feet in the high desert country of southwest Colorado. It is an enchanting place in all four seasons. In deep winter it’s like an Ice Palace with sparkly frosting on the boulders and sculptures. In the spring, it’s a bright quilt with patches of color as the iris and crocuses emerge. In the space of just a week, the Spring Snow Crabapples turn the entry Promenade into a fairyland with a shimmering canopy over a carpet of white petals. When Summer follows, the Rose Garden bursts into a rainbow of colors. And finally, shrubs and trees turn dusky shades of red and and gold in the fall.
Back in 1995, this enchanting place was purely a vision of Jim Chaplin, who saw the promise in a 3.5 acre desert of tumbleweed, sage and cactus, and became the first president of Montrose Botanic Gardens. It has been a work in progress ever since. Always intended as more than a botanical postcard showplace, the mission statement specifies a demonstration garden as well as a place of education and leisure.
Today, there are 10 specialty gardens with best-case examples of trees, shrubs, grasses, vegetables, fruit, and, of course, flowers. Some have obvious names like Rock Garden and Native Garden. The Waterwise Garden helps home gardeners plan their own healthy, attractive, low maintenance gardens. The Valley Garden includes a Waves of Grass earthen terrace with drought-tolerant grasses and several species of flowering plants to attract native insects and pollinators. It borders an accessible space Sensory Garden with a treat for all the senses. Three varieties of lilacs bloom one after the other in spring with an exhilarating fragrance and a cascade of pastel colors.
The Montrose Botanic Gardens is an active demonstration garden of the statewide PlantSelect program which introduces unique, smart, and sustainable plants to Colorado home gardeners. The education experience continues throughout the year as experts like the Colorado State Extension share smart gardening tips. Recently, a Montrose hydroponic farmer, a Ute Ethnobotany specialist, and a soil scientist provided specific local expertise. Each spring the Garden’s education volunteers nurture young gardeners who plant flowers and vegetables in the Happy Hollow Garden. When autumn comes around, the children harvest the vegetables to enjoy on personal pizzas in a Garden-to-Table learning experience for young people.
The Gardens is also a prime example of sage engagement with the community. The Montrose Public Library hosts bookmobile visits and routine updates of 12 story-book stations on the path to the Children’s Garden space. The Garden of Lights event this past winter secured funding for the entire 2025 calendar of events. A local yurt manufacturer erected a tipi that hosted visits with Santa while two teams of horses transported eager families on wagon rides over the snowy, holiday-lit landscape. The Gardens also hosts a popular, semi-regular, fall Scarecrow Festival and a Home Gardens tour in spring.
As the Gardens has evolved, so has the Master Plan. The recently established Historic Homestead garden became the new home for a transplanted pioneer log cabin. On a dry and hot summer day you can look past the chin-high hollyhocks of the Homestead area and see the snow-capped San Juan mountains. At this southwest spot in the Gardens, an orchard and irrigation system are being developed to demonstrate the nineteenth century rural landscape of the Uncompahgre Valley. A Xeriscape garden focuses attention on low maintenance garden choices that thrive in semi-arid climates with signs illustrating low water ‘Best Practices’.
Montrose visionaries have created a public botanical environment with inviting, meandering paths. Frequent turns open to new vistas of texture, color and fragrance. At its highest point visitors find a welcome small stream with dragonflies and honeybees, and a resting spot on one of the many shaded benches throughout.
The Gardens are a splendid example of Montrose community spirit. The Crevice Garden of 2015, for example, required six tons of sandstone and special soils, plus the planting of 60 varieties of low-water species. All the work was done by the Weed Warriors, an affectionate name for dedicated volunteers who perform the many tasks required to maintain the bloom on a community garden with revolving plant selections.
The Montrose Botanic Gardens were recently accepted into the American Horticultural Society's Garden Network - a crowning achievement for their 30th anniversary. They have become a must-visit locale for tourists to southwest Colorado. This June a little girl was overhead in the Rose garden telling her mother, “it smells so good.” The Gardens are free and open essentially 365 days a year, from sunrise to dusk. Bring a friend, a grandchild, an artist’s Sketchbook, and don’t forget the camera.
James Cencer is a retired freelance journalist who lives in Montrose.
