Concept rendering: the visitor center with its butterfly roof, glass walls and planted entry plaza

A Botanical Garden Alongside Boulder Creek, Steps Away From The Heart Of Downtown

Just a few short blocks west of Broadway on Canyon Blvd, the seeds of Boulder Botanical Gardens are being planted. It could turn the Justice Center site into a public garden, a summer concert lawn and a front door to Boulder Canyon, joined to the Boulder Creek Path.

Watercolor of Boulder Botanical Gardens seen from above, with Canyon Blvd to the north and 6th Street to the east: the stage and Live Music Lawn, the Super Bloom Event Hall and Outdoor Cafe, the Conservatory, the Greenhouse Dome, the Main Building, the Alpine, Meadow & Wetland Sculpture Garden with its pond, and bike path parking

Explore The Gardens Read The Three Main Documents Find Your Brief

Proposal

Let’s Plant A Botanical Garden In The Heart Of Boulder

One That Will Grow For Generations To Come.

Estimated Visitors275,000a yearBase case, up to about 337,000. Roughly 64% from Colorado, 36% from out of state.Visitor Report → Revenue Generation$8.5Ma yearGarden revenue, plus an estimated $13–31 million a year spent in Boulder’s local economy.Business Plan → Entertainment & AttractionsA Blueprintto grow10–14 summer concerts, seasonal festivals and more than 80 private events a year in Super Bloom.Events →

Court Is Adjourned. Bloom Is In Session.

One Downtown, Two Districts

The Garden Gives Downtown A Second District

Pearl Street for shopping, dining and coffee. A new Creekside District for nature, the market and culture, a few minutes’ walk apart.

Explore The Two Districts

Map of the Pearl Street District and the Creekside District

Why Now? Why Here?

We already think we have everything. Here’s what’s missing.

A public garden in the heart of the city, on the creek, the Creek Path and the doorstep of downtown, arriving just as Sundance puts Boulder on the world stage.

Boulder has the ideals. Boulder Botanical Gardens gives them an address.

See Why Boulder Needs The BBG 42 Reasons It Makes Sense

The Gardens

Explore The 7-Acre Site

7.8acres
Former Justice Center site
1.7acres
Creek canopy kept wild
8areas
Gardens, halls & lawn
4gates
Creek Path, Canyon & 6th St

Main BuildingVisitor center, cafe, gift shop and nature exhibits under a butterfly roof.0.40 ac · 12–16K sq ft inside

Greenhouse DomePlant science and a working propagation lab.0.16 ac · 5–6K sq ft

Music Lawn & StageSummer concerts in the northwest corner, with the Flatirons behind.0.58 ac · 25,300 sq ft

ConservatoryA warm, green room open all winter.0.30 ac · 8–10K sq ft

Outdoor CafeUmbrella tables on the cafe plaza, off Super Bloom.0.34 ac · 14,800 sq ft

Alpine, Meadow & WetlandRock garden, prairie and a pond ringed by stone terraces.0.78 ac · 34,000 sq ft

Super BloomThe event hall under a wavy roof, with the outdoor cafe on its south face.0.32 ac · 8–10K sq ft inside

Sculpture GardenTerraces of outdoor art below the cafe plaza.0.47 ac · 20,500 sq ft

Boulder Creek & Bike PathPreserved canopy and the Boulder Creek Bike Gate.1.70 ac · 74,000 sq ft

Before And After

From Courthouse To Garden

The Best Use Of This Land. The Plants Rest Their Case.

Official Garden Pass · Admit OneCourt Is Adjourned

This pass admits one to Boulder Botanical Gardens. No bail required. Valid any day the flowers are in session.

Bloom
Is In
Session

Where Would The Courts Go? A New Home For The Justice Center Three concepts for a better-located justice facility, led by a campus beside the County Jail. Read the brief →

Left: the Justice Center at 1777 6th St today. Right: what it could become.

Aerial view of the Boulder County Justice Center between Canyon Blvd, 6th St and the Boulder Creek Path — The site today: the Justice Center at 1777 6th St. Imagery ©2026 Google, Airbus, Maxar Technologies.

Watercolor site plan of Boulder Botanical Gardens — The proposed layout. Watercolor by J. Pergolizzi.

The Idea

Three Quarters Of The Land Stays Green

If the courts move, Boulder would have almost eight acres between Canyon Blvd and Boulder Creek, a short walk from Pearl Street, with the Creek Path already running along its edge.

The 1.7-acre creek buffer south of the Creek Path keeps its cottonwoods and willows, a grove of trees screens Canyon Blvd, and the lawn, gardens and woods cover about three quarters of the site. The buildings go on land that is already built on or paved today.

Watercolor detail: the Creek Path and the cottonwood canopy along Boulder Creek, south of the gardens

How It Would Run

Public Land, Nonprofit Garden

The City acquires the land from the County, and a nonprofit, Friends of Boulder Botanical Gardens, runs it under a long-term agreement. This is how Denver Botanic Gardens works on city-owned land.

The Gardens pay their way through admission, memberships, the summer concert series, classes and private events. Boulder County is in the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, so the nonprofit could later qualify for that regional cultural funding.

Join The Founding Committee

Every Garden Starts With A Few People Who Say Yes

Boulder Botanical Gardens began as one citizen’s big idea. Now it needs a founding committee: a handful of residents who will help shape it, open doors and carry it to the City and County.

The ask is small: a few meetings over the next three months, and your name beside the proposal.

Join The Founding Committee See The Resources

Gardeners and horticulturistsTo shape the collections and the plantings
Neighbors near the siteTo keep the plan honest about traffic, noise and the creek
Business ownersDowntown, Pearl Street and the hospitality world
Artists, musicians and event makersFor the stage, the festivals and the sculpture garden
CU, NOAA and science partnersFor research, education and the living lab
Finance, legal and nonprofit experienceTo form Friends of Boulder Botanical Gardens and its first budget

Proposal

A citizen proposal by Joseph Pergolizzi, with a founding committee now forming

Visitor center

Main Building

0.40 acres · about 12,000–16,000 sq ft inside · butterfly roof · faces 6th St

The front door of the Gardens, on the east edge of the site facing 6th St and the parking lot. A crosswalk leads straight from the entrance to the lot, and the Bike Path Parking loop just to the south handles drop-off and accessible parking. Inside are a small cafe, a gift shop and rotating nature exhibits.

The Butterfly RoofThe roof lifts at both ends like a pair of open wings, a quiet tribute to the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds that pollinate every plant in the Gardens. Its two upswept planes answer the Flatirons, which rise from the foothills just to the west. The mountains push up from the ground; the roof opens up toward the sky. Between them the building sits low, glassy and calm, so the eye travels from the plaza through the building to the gardens and the peaks beyond. The shape keeps the building from competing with the landscape and instead frames it, grounding the whole site in what it is here to celebrate: growth, light and the living things that make a garden work.

What’s here

Lobby, admissions and member desk
Small cafe with a garden terrace
Gift shop with local makers and plants
Rotating nature exhibits
Classrooms and a small seed library
Drop-off and accessible parking at the 6th St loop
Crosswalk to the shared parking lot

Events & programs

Year-roundBotanical illustration classes
Year-roundWater-wise gardening workshops
School yearField trips and teacher workshops
RotatingGallery exhibitions

From DenverDenver’s Freyer–Newman Center combines a library, herbaria, coffee shop, galleries and an auditorium, with the first floor free to the public. A free ground floor here would let anyone on the Creek Path stop in.

Blueprint site plan with this area highlighted in gold — Where it is: The northeast corner on 6th St, across from the parking lot, with the Bike Path Parking loop to the south.

Blueprint drawing: Main Building entry perspective, Sheet A-3. Click to open the full sheet.

Concept rendering: a cyclist on the Boulder Creek Path beside the creek, with a wayfinding sign at the garden entry

Preserved land · The bike entrance

Boulder Creek, Bike Path & The Bike Gate

1.70 acres (about 74,000 sq ft) undeveloped · existing multi-use path · Boulder Creek Bike Gate

The whole south edge stays as it is: the slope of cottonwoods and willows down to Boulder Creek, with the Creek Path running through it. And right off the path, the front door made for Boulder: the Boulder Creek Bike Gate.

Rendering of the Boulder Creek Bike Gate: a steel arch on stone pillars, crowned with hundreds of colorful bicycles, opening from the Creek Path onto a garden walk with lavender and native grasses — The Boulder Creek Bike Gate, seen from the Creek Path looking north through the cottonwoods. Concept watercolor by J. Pergolizzi, Sheet A-7.

Ride Straight Into The Garden

Coast off the Creek Path, under an arch crowned with hundreds of bicycles, and you’re in. No car, no parking lot, no road to cross. A front door built for bikes, something few gardens anywhere can offer.

A steel arch on stone pillars, crowned with salvaged bikes, a landmark you’ll want a photo with
Bike racks and a repair stand on both sides of the gate
Water bottle filler and a wayfinding map
Staffed bike valet on concert and festival days
A bike-in discount, and monthly bike-in free days

30%+ of visitors arriving by bike: the goal, and the gate is how we get there.

What’s here

Existing riparian canopy, preserved
Boulder Creek Path, unchanged
The Boulder Creek Bike Gate, plus three more gates into the gardens
Weathered-steel wayfinding signs with site maps
Short interpretive trail on creek ecology

Events & programs

AprilEarth Day creek cleanup
SummerKids’ creek ecology camps
MonthlyBike-in days with free admission
School yearWater-quality monitoring with students

Why it mattersThe buffer is the strongest argument for a garden here. It protects the creek, keeps the Creek Path green, and covers land that would be hard to build on anyway.

Blueprint drawing: Bike path entrance from the Creek Path, Sheet A-7. Click to open the full sheet.

← Previous Next →

Events

Bloom Is In Session

A space for every season and every celebration.

Part OneSeasonal FestivalsSignature festivals, from the Parade of Puppets to the Festival of Lights, and a full calendar of garden events, one season at a time.See the festivals ↓ Part TwoThe Super Bloom Event CenterWeddings, galas, conferences, seminars and seed fairs, all year long.See the events ↓

Highlighted Event

Fall Fairies, Wizards & Dragons Festival

A weekend in mid-OctoberMusic Lawn & Stage

Dig out the wings, the wands and the dragon tails. For one autumn weekend the gardens turn into a storybook, with fairies, wizards and friendly dragons parading under the falling cottonwood leaves.

Kids and grown-ups come in costume for a parade along the sculpture walk, storytelling and magic shows on the stage, a pumpkin patch and harvest treats, and a costume contest to close out the day.

Other Fall Events

Harvest marketCafe Plaza
Sculpture installation weekendSculpture Garden
Native seed collectingAlpine & Wetland
Juried Colorado art showSculpture Garden
Autumn color toursBoulder Creek & Bike Path

Highlighted Event

Winter Festival Of Lights

Evenings, late November into JanuaryStarts at the 6th St entrance

Walk the garden paths after dark while you sip hot cocoa and take in a glowing array of lights: arches and tunnels, sparkling deer, ice-crystal sculptures and trees wrapped in light.

A one-way route winds through the whole site and ends with a light show on the Music Lawn. Timed tickets keep the paths comfortable, and member nights come first.

Other Winter Events

Tropical eveningsConservatory
Orchid showConservatory
Evening lecture seriesSuper Bloom Event Hall
Kids’ science SaturdaysGreenhouse Dome
Holiday makers marketMain Building

Along the route

Light Tunnel at the 6th St entrance
Holiday Orbs on the pond
Reflective Ribbons along the pond walk
Steppe Snowflakes in the meadow
Seasonal Light Garden on the sculpture terraces
Garland Tunnel and Winter Woodland in the west woods
Lawn Finale light show
Knitted Balls in the Canyon grove, then cocoa at the Outdoor Cafe

SponsorshipThe presenting sponsor, the Light Tunnel, food and beverage, and the Lawn Finale each make a natural sponsor package, and together they are a major source of winter revenue.

Highlighted Event

The Pollinator Pageant

A Saturday in May, near World Bee DayMusic Lawn & Stage

Children and adults dress up as their favorite pollinator, whether a bumblebee, butterfly, ladybug, hummingbird or luna moth, for a parade and costume contest on the flower-covered stage.

It’s a celebration of the creatures that make every garden possible, with pollinator crafts, native plant giveaways and a chance to meet the bees in the alpine garden.

Other Spring Events

Spring plant saleCafe Plaza
Alpine bloom walksAlpine & Wetland
Earth Day creek cleanupBoulder Creek & Bike Path
Propagation workshopsGreenhouse Dome
School field trips beginMain Building

New Spring Festival

The Parade Of Puppets In The Park

A Saturday in late April, with a new theme every yearMusic Lawn & Stage Boulder Creek & Bike Path

Like a holiday parade, but made by artists. The crowd spreads out on blankets across the Music Lawn, and one by one, giant puppets come down the garden path: towering birds and bears, river creatures and sky spirits, carried on poles and backpacks and worked by teams of puppeteers.

There is something about a giant puppet that lifts a crowd. Children gasp, grown-ups grin, strangers point and laugh together. Puppets are one of the oldest and most joyful art forms there is: big, gentle and a little bit magic, made by hand and carried by people working together. For one afternoon, the whole town looks up.

Each year has a new theme, announced in winter. Entries compete in six divisions, from Boulder High School students to artists from around the world, including makers from the large-scale art community behind festivals like Burning Man. The audience votes, and awards are given in every division.

Each puppet troupe can bring its own sound: a live band marching in its procession, or a musical soundtrack composed for its puppets. Drums, brass, strings or electronic scores move down the path with the giants, so every entry becomes a visual and musical performance as original as the puppets themselves.

Towering art, live music and a whole town on the lawn: a spectacle that could stand beside any festival in the country, and one that exists nowhere else.

Entry Divisions

Boulder High School students
CU Boulder students
Boulder artists
Colorado artists
Nationwide artists
International artists

Awards In Every Division

Most Creative
Best Representation of the Theme
Best Music and Movement
People’s Choice, by public vote
Best Family Entry

How It Works

Theme reveal and call for entriesWinter, online
Formal submissions with sketches and plansJuried by a panel of artists
Puppet-building workshopsSuper Bloom Event Hall
Optional live band or original soundtrack for each troupeJudged as part of the performance; a daytime event, well within noise limits
The parade and public voteMusic Lawn & Stage
Awards ceremonyMusic Lawn & Stage
Puppets on display after the paradeSculpture Garden

All Year · For Little Ones

Puppet Mornings: Tea And A Show

A gentle morning series in the Super Bloom Event Hall: hand-puppet and marionette shows for young children, with cocoa, herbal tea and treats from the cafe. Stories come from the garden itself: bees, seeds, creek creatures and the seasons, and kids can meet the puppets after each show. Some performers are parade artists, so families can watch the giants being made.

Saturday and Sunday mornings · Super Bloom Event Hall

Highlighted Event

Sunday Afternoon Jazz In The Park

Sunday afternoons, June through AugustMusic Lawn & Stage

Bring a blanket and a picnic basket for a relaxed afternoon of live jazz on the lawn, with the Flatirons behind the stage and the cottonwoods for shade.

Local bands, food trucks and lemonade, kids dancing on the grass and neighbors catching up. It is music and community at an easy Sunday pace.

Other Summer Events

Evening concert seriesMusic Lawn & Stage
Outdoor filmsMusic Lawn & Stage
Sunrise yogaMusic Lawn & Stage
Kids’ creek ecology campsBoulder Creek & Bike Path
Pollinator countsAlpine & Wetland

New Summer Festival

Summer Lavender & Poppy Festival

Mid-July, when the lavender bloomsCafe Plaza Music Lawn & Stage

The festival starts with Colorado’s own poppy: the white prickly poppy, Argemone polyanthemos. It is native to the Great Plains, grows wild in Boulder’s greenbelt and flowers through the summer, with crumpled white petals around a gold center. Its spiny stems and pods keep grazers away while bees, flies, beetles and butterflies work the blooms. Beside it grow red field poppies, the four-petaled flower of remembrance. White poppies stand for peace.

Then comes the lavender. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), such as 'Hidcote' and 'Munstead', is hardy here and often blooms twice. The taller lavandins, like 'Provence' and 'Phenomenal', flower later in summer. Both like what Boulder has: full sun, lean, well-drained alkaline soil and little water.

For one weekend in mid-July the Gardens go purple, red and white. Expect lavender lemonade and shortbread, poppy-seed breads and lavender-poppy-seed cake, soaps, sachets and crafts from local makers, purple clothing, and rare lavender varieties and native poppy seed for sale. There are talks on harvesting and drying lavender and on growing poppies from seed, and live music from the stage.

At The Festival

Lavender and poppy-seed treatsCafe Plaza
Crafts, soaps, sachets and purple clothingCafe Plaza
Rare lavenders and native poppy seed for saleGreenhouse Dome
White prickly poppy walksAlpine & Wetland
Harvest-and-dry lavender demosMain Building
Music in the lavenderMusic Lawn & Stage

Special Events · Super Bloom Event Hall

Intimate And Inspiring Events

Between the festivals, Super Bloom hosts the gatherings that make a garden part of people’s lives: a light-filled hall under a wavy timber roof, with glass walls that open onto the cafe plaza and the lawn.

8–10Ksq ft inside
~300seated for dinner
~600for a lecture

Say yes under the butterfly glass

Ceremonies on the lawn or among the flowers, receptions in the hall, and photos with the Flatirons behind. The glass walls open onto the cafe plaza, so the party flows from inside to the garden.

Ceremonies, receptions and rehearsal dinners
Anniversaries, milestone birthdays and quinceañeras
Seated dinners for about 300
Catering kitchen and bar on site

Where Boulder gives back

A beautiful room is a powerful fundraising tool. Nonprofits, schools and causes can host galas, auctions and donor evenings, with the garden itself as the centerpiece. Each booking also helps pay for the garden.

The annual Super Bloom spring gala
Nonprofit galas and auctions
Donor and sponsor evenings
Concert-night sponsor hospitality

Big ideas, surrounded by green

A daylight-filled venue for gatherings of up to about 600 seated lecture-style, steps from downtown hotels and the Creek Path. A natural home for Boulder’s science, climate, outdoor-industry and startup communities.

Conferences and summits
Corporate retreats and offsites
Sundance-week panels and receptions
Lectures with CU, NOAA and CIRES

Learn something that grows

Workshops and classes that send people home knowing more about plants, water and the land, taught by horticulturists, scientists and local experts.

Water-wise and native gardening workshops
Botanical illustration and photography
Climate and ecology lecture series
Teacher workshops and Puppet Mornings for kids

Swap, share and plant

Community fairs and markets that fill the hall and spill onto the plaza, keeping local growers, makers and seed savers at the heart of the garden.

Spring seed swap and seed fair
Plant sales with local growers
Holiday makers market
Harvest and farm-to-table dinners

Ask About Hosting An Event Tour The Event Hall

All Year

Classes, Rentals And Free Days

Botanical illustration and water-wise gardening classes run year-round in the Main Building. The Super Bloom Event Hall, the lawn and the sculpture garden can be rented for weddings and private events. A monthly free day and bike-in days keep the Gardens open to everyone.

Good Neighbors

Concerts That End Before Bedtime

A short summer series of 10 to 14 shows. Music ends by 9:30 p.m. on weeknights and 10 p.m. on weekends, well before Boulder’s 11 p.m. nighttime noise limit. Speakers face into the garden, sound is measured at the nearest homes, and neighbors get a season calendar and a hotline.

Concertgoers are encouraged to bike in on the Creek Path, with bike valet at every show. Read the full traffic and noise plan.

See The Vision · One Downtown, Two Districts

The Garden Gives Downtown A Second District

With the garden at 6th and Canyon, downtown Boulder gains a second district overnight. Pearl Street keeps its shops, restaurants and coffee houses. Along the creek, a new Creekside District joins the garden, the Creek Path, the Main Library, Central Park, the Farmers Market and the Dushanbe Teahouse into one stretch of nature and culture.

Map of downtown Boulder with the Pearl Street District shaded pink and the Creekside District shaded blue along Boulder Creek and the Creek Path, from the garden site east to the Civic Area — The Pearl Street District (pink) and the Creekside District (blue), joined by Boulder Creek and the Creek Path. Map by J. Pergolizzi, October 2026.

The Pearl Street DistrictBoulder’s living room

Shopping, restaurants, coffee houses, galleries and street performers on the mall and the blocks around it.

The Creekside DistrictBoulder’s backyard

The garden, the creek and the Creek Path, the Main Library, Central Park, the Farmers Market, the Dushanbe Teahouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art, with concerts and festivals in every season.

A full day downtown

A morning in the garden, lunch on Pearl, an afternoon at the market or the library. Two districts a few minutes’ walk apart give visitors reasons to stay longer and come back.

Room to breathe

Visitors spread along the creek instead of crowding four blocks of the mall, during Sundance and every summer weekend.

Spending flows both ways

Garden visitors eat, shop and stay on Pearl Street; Pearl Street visitors discover the creek. Out-of-state visitors already spend nearly double what residents do downtown.

The City is already moving in the same direction. It is seeking a development partner to make the Civic Area’s East Bookend, home to the Farmers Market and the Dushanbe Teahouse, a year-round destination for arts, culture, local business and nature access. A botanical garden at the canyon end would anchor the other end of the creek. City of Boulder, Civic Area partnership, 2026

Along The Creek

The Creekside District, End To End

Boulder Creek and the Creek Path tie it together: from the canyon mouth and Eben G. Fine Park, past the garden, the Main Library and Central Park, to the Dushanbe Teahouse and the Civic Area.

Map of the Creekside District shaded blue along Boulder Creek and the Creek Path — Boulder Creek (blue) and the Creek Path (yellow) through the Creekside District. Map by J. Pergolizzi, October 2026.

The Front Door Of The Creekside District

The Boulder Creek Bike Gate

The Creekside District is best seen from a bike. Ride the Creek Path from the canyon or from town, and the garden welcomes you through an arch crowned with hundreds of colorful bicycles, straight off the path and into the gardens.

Park once anywhere along the creek, ride in, and spend the day moving between the garden, the library, Central Park and the Farmers Market without touching your car.

See The Bike Gate In The Gardens

Boulder Canyon & Eben G. Fine ParkWhere the creek leaves the mountains
Boulder Botanical Gardens6th & Canyon, on the Creek Path
Main LibraryBooks, talks and the Canyon Theater
Central Park & the BandshellConcerts and lawns by the creek
Farmers Market & Dushanbe TeahouseThe Civic Area’s East Bookend

Read The Site Document Traffic & Noise Plan

Good Neighbors · Getting Here

Come For The Peace, Not The Traffic

The garden is meant to bring calm, not frustration: no sitting in traffic to get in, no gridlock for anyone driving downtown, and quiet evenings for the neighbors.

30%+Goal for visitors arriving by bike

Park Once, Ride The Creek In

Visitors would be encouraged to park further along the creek or in a downtown garage and ride or walk the Creek Path to the gate. A ride along the creek is part of the outing: a family adventure, or a date for two.

Boulder residents already make 18% of all their trips by bike or scooter.
A bike-in discount, staffed bike valet on concert and festival days, racks, a repair stand and water at the gate.
Timed-entry tickets on the busiest days and shuttles from remote lots for big events.
No new parking garage. The land goes to gardens, not cars.

9:30Weeknight music ends; 10 p.m. on weekends

Quiet Evenings, Even On Concert Nights

Concerts are part of the plan, and so is respect for everyone who lives nearby as night falls.

A short summer series of 10 to 14 shows. Most evenings the garden is quiet.
Music ends well before 11 p.m., when Boulder’s residential noise limit drops from 55 to 50 decibels.
The stage and speakers face into the garden, trees screen the edges, and sound is measured at the nearest homes during every show.
A published season calendar, a neighbor hotline on concert nights and tickets set aside for nearby residents.

Sources: City of Boulder, 2023 Resident Travel Diary Survey; Boulder noise ordinance summary, CU Boulder Off-Campus Life.

The Arts & Sciences

Science You Can Walk Through

Boulder is one of the great science towns in the world, home to CU Boulder, NOAA and CIRES. Almost none of that work is visible to the public. Boulder Botanical Gardens would be the place where anyone can see it, touch it and take part in it.

NOAA In Boulder

A Public Window Into World-Class Climate Science

NOAA’s David Skaggs Research Center sits at the base of the Flatirons in Boulder. It houses the Chemical Sciences, Global Monitoring, Global Systems and Physical Sciences laboratories, the Space Weather Prediction Center and CU’s CIRES institute. Few cities have this much atmospheric science, and few residents ever see it. A garden can change that.

Science On a SphereNOAA researchers in Boulder created this room-sized globe that animates storms, oceans and climate data. It is in museums and science centers worldwide and available to any institution, and it would fit in the Main Building.
A live weather and air stationReal-time readings on a garden display, with plain-language explanations from NOAA and CIRES scientists.
Creek and climate exhibitsShow how snowpack, Boulder Creek and the garden’s plants respond to a changing climate.
A public science talk seriesEvenings in Super Bloom with NOAA and CU researchers, open to everyone.

1 in 3Known plant species are conserved or grown in the world’s botanic gardensBGCI, 2018

40%+Of threatened plant species are held in botanic garden collectionsBGCI, 2018

6.3 daysEarlier spring flowering across Europe’s phenology gardens than 50 years agoClimate change you can see

A Living Laboratory

Four Kinds Of Science In The Gardens

Greenhouse DomePropagation Lab And Seed Bank

A glass-walled lab where visitors watch seedlings raised for the gardens, and a seed bank for Front Range natives, including rare plants of the foothills and plains.

Alpine, Meadow & WetlandClimate And Bloom Tracking

Phenology plots record when plants leaf out and flower each year, compared with a century of CU herbarium records. Boulder could watch climate change happen in its own garden beds.

Gardens across the siteWater-Wise, Climate-Ready Landscapes

Demonstration gardens test which plants thrive on little water in a drier West, with plain-language results residents can use in their own yards.

Pollinator gardensPollinators And Habitat

Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and the creek corridor’s birds, studied and counted, with native plantings designed around what they need.

CU Boulder

The Public Window Into CU’s Plant Science

CU’s EBIO Research Greenhouse grows more than 6,000 living plants of 1,500 species, and the CU Herbarium (COLO) holds about 320,000 preserved specimens. Both are built for researchers and rarely open to the public. The garden would complement them, not copy them: a shared display and propagation lab, reference specimens filed in COLO, outdoor research plots, a rotating herbarium exhibit, and internships and capstone projects for CU students.

How CU And The Garden Fit

6,000+living plants in CU’s EBIO Research Greenhouse

~320,000preserved specimens in the CU Herbarium (COLO)

Concept rendering of the glass Greenhouse Dome — The Greenhouse Dome: a shared display and propagation lab with CU’s EBIO program.

Complement, Not Replace

Six Ways CU And The BBG Make Each Other Stronger

1. A public front door for CU’s plants

Turn two tours a year into a year-round window. A rotating “From the Herbarium” exhibit pairs a specimen pressed a century ago with the same plant growing outside the door. The Herbarium has already imaged all of its Colorado specimens.

2. A scientifically documented living collection

Record the gardens’ Colorado plants with reference specimens filed in COLO, so the BBG’s collection has research value without building a research facility.

3. Outdoor plots CU doesn’t have downtown

A protected, monitored garden at the canyon mouth, with its own weather station, gives EBIO and INSTAAR researchers a public site for climate and pollinator studies.

4. Climate change you can see

Herbarium specimens record when plants flowered a century ago. Volunteers record bloom dates in the gardens today, turning a scientific record into a public story.

5. A shared dome, not a duplicate

Run the Greenhouse Dome as a joint display and propagation lab with EBIO, growing rare Colorado plants for restoration where the public can watch.

6. Outreach CU can’t scale

A research greenhouse can only host so many classes. The gardens can welcome every school in the county, with CU students as guides.

Citizen Science

Everyone Can Be A Scientist Here

Visitors don’t just look at science; they add to it. Every count becomes real data for researchers.

Bloom watchLog first flowers each spring for the phenology record
Pollinator countsSummer counts of bees and butterflies in the gardens
Creek monitoringWater-quality and macroinvertebrate sampling with school groups
Bird countsSeasonal counts along the riparian corridor

Learning

From Kindergarten To Graduate School

School field tripsSTEM labs in the dome for schools across the county
Kids’ science SaturdaysHands-on plant science, monthly in the Greenhouse Dome
Teacher workshopsReady-to-use garden lessons for classrooms
Internships and capstonesFor CU students in biology, environmental design and more

Go Deeper

Science Partners Welcome

Researchers, teachers and science organizations can help shape the garden’s labs, plots and programs from the start.

Read The CU And NOAA Brief What The Research Shows Become A Science Partner

Sources: Smith and Harvey-Brown, The economic, social and environmental impacts of botanic gardens, BGCI Technical Review, 2018; CU Boulder Today, EBIO Research Greenhouse, 2018; CU Museum of Natural History, Herbarium COLO; NOAA Boulder laboratories.

Explore in 3D

Massing Model

Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom, and use the viewpoints to stand at eye level at the Canyon entrance, on the lawn, on the Creek Path, at the 6th St entrance or under the Boulder Creek Bike Gate.

Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom · right-drag to pan

Resources

Everything You Need, In One Place

Start with the three main documents, or pick the short brief that fits you. Every one can be read online or downloaded, and every brief ends with one clear ask.

The Main Documents

Three Documents That Make The Case

Comparable Gardens

01 · The Case

Why Boulder Needs A Botanical Garden

How a garden brings more arts, research and revenue to Boulder, complements CU’s plant science and gives the city a year-round draw.

Read online Download8 pages

02 · The Site

Why This Location Is The Best Place In Boulder

Five tests for any garden site, why 6th and Canyon meets them all, and three concepts for where the Justice Center could go.

Read online Download9 pages

03 · The Plan

The Business Plan

Ownership, operations, a $78–114M phased build, an $8.5M operating budget, the fundraising campaign and the first 12 months.

Read online Download9 pages

Seven Short Briefs

One Brief For Every Role

Start here

1Start Here: The Garden in Two Pages

The whole idea on two pages: what the garden is, why now, the key numbers, and where to go next.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

I’m a neighbor or have a question

2Questions and Answers

Straight answers about parking, floods, cost, taxes, who owns the land and whether the Justice Center is moving.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

I’m with the County or the courts

3A New Home for the Justice Center

Three concepts for a better-located justice facility, led by a consolidated campus beside the County Jail, and how a move could be paid for.

Read online Download3 pages Start a conversation

I run a business or serve on Council

4The Economic and Tourism Case

About 275,000 visits a year and an estimated $13–31 million in local spending, backed by studies from gardens in other cities.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

I’m with CU, CIRES or NOAA

5A Partnership with CU and NOAA

How the garden becomes the public window for Boulder’s plant and climate science, with six partnership ideas and the units that fit.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

I make music, art or events

6A Stage for Boulder: Events and Festivals

A concert lawn under the Flatirons, the Super Bloom hall, seasonal festivals including the Parade of Puppets, and a role during Sundance.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

I want to give

7Ways to Give

The first $150,000, the full campaign, naming opportunities and other ways to support the garden.

Read online Download2 pages Start a conversation

Supporting Research

The Numbers Behind The Case

Two research reports with the full figures and sources behind the visitor and economic estimates.

Visitors

Visitor Report

Boulder’s visitor market, expected visits by group, and a review of the projection.

Read online Download8 pages

Research

What the Research Shows

What independent studies say gardens do for their cities: economy, property values, health and conservation.

Read online Download6 pages

Not Sure Where To Start?

Start Here

The Start Here brief covers the whole idea in two pages and points you to the brief that fits.

Read Start Here Get Involved

Why BBG

Why Boulder Needs A Botanical Garden, And Why Here

We already think we have everything. Here’s what’s missing.

Boulder Botanical Gardens represents everything about who we are as a city. It’s our newest, best self: the place where everything comes together. Seniors walking, kids exploring, students learning and neighbors meeting, all on common ground.

See All 42 Reasons ↓

Watercolor of Boulder Botanical Gardens with the stage, Super Bloom, the conservatory, the dome, the Main Building and the pond garden

01 · It Just Fits

It Just Fits

Boulder Botanical Gardens connects the city with something deeply purposeful, and brings many of Boulder’s own goals together in one place. From east to west, it invigorates and weaves together the heart and lifelines of Boulder: from the canyon, to the creek, to the parks and beyond.

From the canyon to the city

The garden joins the canyon mouth, Boulder Creek, Eben G. Fine Park, the Main Library, Central Park and Pearl Street into one connected stretch of Boulder.

Every age, every background

Seniors walking, kids exploring, students learning, families picnicking and neighbors meeting, every day of the year.

Premium land, put to its best use

Creek frontage, mountain views and Boulder’s busiest trail at the door. Land like this should be open to the whole public.

Our goals, in one place

Climate action, arts and culture, science education, a bike-first downtown and a year-round local economy.

It Just Fits · Why Here

The Most Connected Ground In The City

At 6th and Canyon, the garden sits where the canyon meets the city, on the creek and the Creek Path, steps from everything Boulder loves.

See The Two Districts

It Just Fits · Woven In

Boulder Creek And Our Network Of Bike Paths

Boulder Creek is the spine of the city, and the Creek Path is its busiest trail. This is the one site where the creek, the path, the canyon and downtown all meet, and the garden would join them into one place.

The creekThe garden continues the creek’s riparian corridor from the canyon mouth into the city: native meadows, wetlands and cottonwoods that welcome water, pollinators and birds.
The pathThe Creek Path is its front door. The garden joins Boulder’s trail network instead of sitting beside it.
The heart of the cityIt completes a walkable circuit with the Main Library, the Farmers Market, the Dushanbe Teahouse, Central Park and Pearl Street, adding a home for music, art and science.

Rendering of the Boulder Creek Bike Gate, a steel arch on stone pillars, crowned with bicycles over the Creek Path entrance

Ride Straight In Through The Bike Gate

Coast off the Creek Path, under an arch crowned with bicycles, and you’re in. No car, no parking lot, no road to cross. A front door built for bikes, something few gardens anywhere can offer.

30%+ of visitors arriving by bike: the goal, and the gate is how we get there.

See The Creekside District

It Just Fits · Only Here

A Garden Anywhere Else Would Not Be The Same

On the edge of town, a botanical garden would be a pleasant place to visit. Here, it becomes part of everything around it, and its value comes from those connections: the creek, the path, the library, the market and downtown, each making the others better.

Today this land has creek frontage, mountain views and Boulder’s busiest trail at its door, yet its current use keeps the public at arm’s length, behind fences and parking lots, and closed on evenings and weekends. That is no fault of the courts. But a campus of buildings, concrete and parking is a poor use of this land at this point in Boulder’s history. This corner of Boulder is ready for an energetic renewal.

No better place for Boulder Botanical Gardens. No better use for this land. A decision we hope Boulder can make with one voice.

02 · Timing

Eight Reasons It’s Time

01A place that belongs to everyone

A garden is the most democratic place a city can build. It belongs to everyone who walks in, every age, every income, every day of the year.

02Planted in the heart of the city

Not on the edge of town. On Boulder Creek, on the Creek Path, a short walk from the library, the Farmers Market and Pearl Street.

03Sundance puts Boulder on the world stage

The festival arrives January 21, 2027. Visitors will judge the city on what they find beyond four blocks of Pearl Street. A garden turns an eleven-day spike into a reason to come back every season.

04Boulder’s science, finally in public

CU, NOAA and CIRES make Boulder a world science town, yet almost none of it is visible. The garden is where anyone can see it, touch it and take part. See the Science page.

05A home for art, music and festivals

A concert lawn under the Flatirons, a sculpture garden, the Super Bloom hall and a festival for every season, from the Parade of Puppets to the Festival of Lights.

06Green and warm in January

Boulder has world-class open space, but nothing that blooms all winter. The Conservatory makes the garden a year-round destination.

07It pays its way, and other cities prove it

Gardens in Madison, Salt Lake City and Boothbay, Maine, return tens of millions of dollars a year to their regions. See the six gardens.

08Diversity grows here, literally

Plants from every continent, festivals from every culture, visitors of every age. A new civic institution, built from the ground up, not a renovation.

03 · A Place To Share The Science

Boulder Has World-Class Plant Science. It Needs A Place To Share It.

CU Boulder already holds two remarkable plant collections: a research greenhouse with thousands of living plants and a herbarium with a third of a million preserved specimens. Both are built for scientists, and almost no one in Boulder ever sees them. The BBG doesn’t replace them. It gives them a public home, and every CU program it connects to makes the garden stronger.

What Boulder Already Has

6,000+Living plants of 1,500 species in CU’s EBIO Research GreenhouseClosed to the public except two tours a year

~320,000Pressed, preserved specimens in the CU Herbarium (COLO)Visits by arrangement with the collections manager

200–300KVisits a year planned at Boulder Botanical GardensOpen to everyone, every day

Side By Side

Three Different Jobs

	EBIO Research Greenhouse	Herbarium COLO	Boulder Botanical Gardens
What it holds	More than 6,000 living plants of 1,500 species	About 320,000 pressed specimens	Living gardens outdoors, plus a conservatory and dome
Built for	Teaching and research in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology	The scientific record of Colorado and western plants	The public: residents, families, schools and visitors
Where	30th St, plus two small campus greenhouses	CU Museum of Natural History	6th and Canyon, on the Creek Path
Public access	Two public tours a year	By arrangement	Every day, with events and programs
Plants grow	Indoors, under glass	Not at all: preserved	Outdoors, in Boulder’s own climate, through the seasons

The gap is clear: Boulder has the science and the specimens, but no place where the public can see Colorado’s plants alive, outdoors, all year.

What The BBG Will Not Build

No Duplicates

No research herbarium: CU’s COLO is the record, and the BBG files its specimens there.
No research-grade greenhouse: the dome is a public display and shared lab, not a rival to EBIO.
No competing degree programs: the BBG hosts CU students, interns and capstone teams.

What Compounds

More CU Programs, More Value

INSTAAR and the Mountain Research Station: alpine science behind the alpine and meadow zones.
CIRES and NOAA: climate science made public through exhibits and talks.
Fiske Planetarium: experience with NOAA’s Science On a Sphere.
Environmental Studies: internships and 11-month graduate capstones.
Environmental Design: community design studios for the site.
Leeds Business Research Division: the team behind CU’s own economic impact studies.
Music and Art & Art History: performers for the lawn, artists for the sculpture garden.

The Need

Why Boulder Needs The BBG Now

Boulder’s plant science is invisible. Its best collections are behind locked doors and in cabinets.
Boulder has no public botanic garden of its own. Denver, Fort Collins, Cheyenne and Vail all do.
Sundance arrives January 21, 2027. The world will see what Boulder offers beyond Pearl Street.
Outreach is capacity-limited. A research greenhouse can’t host every school; a public garden can.
Climate change needs a public face. Boulder holds the data; the garden shows what it means.
CU students need a living lab in town. The Creek Path already runs from campus to the garden’s gate.

The Bottom Line

CU Keeps The Record. The BBG Keeps It Alive.

CU keeps the record of Colorado’s plants. Boulder Botanical Gardens keeps them alive, in public, for everyone.

See CU Partners To Contact Read The Case

Sources: CU Boulder Today, EBIO greenhouse · CU Research & Innovation, EBIO Greenhouses · COLO collection profile · CU Museum, Herbarium COLO · Visitor plan: BBG Business Plan, October 2026

Explore The Science Page

04 · The Arts

A Force Of Nature For The Arts

Boulder is a city of musicians, painters, dancers and makers. The garden gives them a stage, a gallery and a festival ground in one, under the Flatirons and beside the creek.

A concert lawn

10–14 summer concerts a year, plus Sunday Afternoon Jazz In The Park, with the Flatirons behind the stage.

A sculpture garden

A living gallery among the alpine, meadow and wetland gardens, with work by Boulder and Colorado artists.

A festival every season

The Parade Of Puppets In The Park, the Summer Lavender & Poppy Festival, the Pollinator Pageant, the Fall Fairies, Wizards & Dragons Festival and the Winter Festival Of Lights.

Super Bloom

An event hall for 80+ events a year: weddings, galas, talks and celebrations, and Puppet Mornings tea shows for kids.

See Bloom Is In Session

05 · Job Creation

Good Jobs, Right Downtown

50–60Full-time jobs at the garden: horticulture, education, events, visitor services and operations

~$4.5MIn annual payroll for garden staff

YearsOf construction work across a phased build

Seasonal and event work: festivals, concerts and 80+ events a year in Super Bloom need crews, caterers, musicians and technicians.
Jobs around the garden: visitors who stay longer support restaurants, hotels and shops on Pearl Street and beyond.
A first job and a career path: internships and capstones for CU students, and hands-on horticulture experience for young people.
Proven elsewhere: Madison’s Olbrich garden supports 146 jobs in its region.

06 · Revenue Creation

A Garden That Earns Its Way

$8.5MGarden revenue a year at the base case, from admissions, festivals, memberships, events, concerts and the cafe

$13–31MEstimated spending a year in Boulder’s local economy

~HalfOf the budget carried by events, festivals and memberships

Year-round visitors: a reason to come in every season, including winter and after graduation.
Out-of-state visitors spend nearly double per visit downtown.
Other cities prove it: Coastal Maine’s garden returns $41.9M a year; Columbus returns $3.50 per public dollar.
New funding Boulder doesn’t tap today: GOCO, federal museum grants, foundations and sponsors.

Read The Business Plan Compare Six Gardens

Boulder has the ideals. Boulder Botanical Gardens gives them an address.

The Case In Brief

42 Reasons This Project Makes Sense

Use any of these when you write to Council, speak at a meeting or talk with a neighbor. Find who to contact.

Every Age, Every Day

It is a public place built for everyone, not one more building people only visit when they have to.
Seniors get level, safe, shaded walking loops steps from the Creek Path.
Children get nature play, creek discovery and school field trips.
Families get a full day out that needs no trailhead, car or shopping bag.
Students get internships, capstone projects and a living lab.
The conservatory stays green and warm in January.
Free community days keep it open to every income, as Denver’s Free Days do.
Gardeners and volunteers gain a home base; Austin’s Zilker garden supports more than 30 garden clubs.

Art, Music And Culture

A Live Music Lawn and stage with the Flatirons behind it.
A sculpture garden for local and visiting artists.
Super Bloom, a hall for weddings, galas, lectures and community events.
Signature festivals in every season, from the Parade of Puppets to the Lavender & Poppy Festival.
A new venue for Sundance-week receptions, talks and gatherings.
Pairing art with plants draws crowds: Denver’s Chihuly exhibition helped make it North America’s most-visited garden.

Science And Learning

It puts Boulder’s world-class science on public display.
A greenhouse dome with a working propagation lab visitors can watch.
Alpine and native Front Range collections that conserve local plants.
Pollinator gardens for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Water-wise demonstration gardens for a drier West.
Partnerships with CU, CIRES and NOAA researchers.
Teacher workshops and field trips for schools across the county.

Economy And Revenue

Sundance arrives January 21, 2027; visitors need a second destination.
Out-of-state visitors spend nearly double per visit downtown.
A reason to visit in every season, including after graduation, when a third of the city leaves.
Events, festivals and memberships can carry about half the operating budget.
About 50–60 full-time jobs, plus years of construction work.
Madison’s Olbrich garden generates $20.1M a year in local activity and 146 jobs.
Coastal Maine’s garden returns $41.9M a year; Columbus returns $3.50 per public dollar.
Grants and donors fund what taxes alone cannot: GOCO, federal museum grants and foundations.
Restaurants, hotels and shops gain visitors who stay longer and come back.

Land, Water And Climate

About three quarters of the site stays lawn, garden or woods.
The 1.7-acre creek buffer of cottonwoods and willows stays wild.
Landscape suits flood-prone ground far better than a large building.
Trees and lawn bring shade and cooling to the west end of downtown.
Habitat for birds and pollinators along the riparian corridor.
A bike-first design that cuts car trips.
A model of a climate-ready public landscape for the region.

Boulder’s Image And Legacy

The largest new civic institution Boulder could create in a generation.
A message to the world about what Boulder values.
Proof that Boulder is more than Pearl Street.
A proven model: public land with a nonprofit operator, as in Denver and Fort Collins.
A gift that grows for generations.

Proven Elsewhere

Six Gardens That Prove The Model

Each of these gardens matches part of what Boulder Botanical Gardens proposes. Together they show the model is proven: gardens like these draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, anchor concert seasons and research programs, and return millions of dollars to their cities.

What Boulder’s Garden Would Combine

Canyon & mountain setting
Creek on the grounds
On a city trail
Walk to a historic downtown
College town
Outdoor concerts
Main library next door
Sundance host city

Garden	Canyon & mountains	Creek	City trail	Walk to downtown	College town	Outdoor concerts	Library next door	Sundance city	Of 8
Red Butte GardenSalt Lake City, UT									4
Betty Ford Alpine GardensVail, CO									5
Gardens on Spring CreekFort Collins, CO									3
Zilker Botanical GardenAustin, TX									4
Santa Barbara Botanic GardenSanta Barbara, CA									2
Olbrich Botanical GardensMadison, WI									1
Boulder Botanical GardensBoulder, CO · proposed									8

A dot marks a feature documented in the sources below; a blank means we did not find it documented, not that the garden lacks it.

01 · The closest overall match

Red Butte Garden & Arboretum

Salt Lake City, Utah

250K+Visitors a year

30Summer concerts

3,000Guests per show

Annual visitors: 250,000+APGA, 2025
Annual operating budget: $10.5MUniversity of Utah position profile, 2021
Concerts’ share of revenue: 51%FY2019–20, same profile

It sits at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon, home to Red Butte Creek, alongside the University of Utah. It has more than 21 acres of developed gardens and five miles of trails, and it is a state arboretum with the university. Its music program is the precedent for Boulder’s proposed lawn and stage: the concert series holds 3,000 guests per show in its amphitheater, and ticket and concession proceeds support the garden’s mission. Canyon mouth, creek, university and concerts: it is the same combination Boulder is proposing.

Canyon & mountainsCreekCollege townOutdoor concerts

Sources: University of Utah, 40th anniversary · KUAA, 2024 concert series · ABC4, 2023

Illustrated map of Red Butte Garden at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon in Salt Lake City — Illustrated map of Red Butte Garden at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon, for discussion. Not the garden’s official map.

02 · The Colorado creekside model

Betty Ford Alpine Gardens

Vail, Colorado

100K+Visitors a year

8,250 ftElevation

FreeYear-round admission

Annual visitors: 100,000+Discover Vail
Annual revenue: $1.81MForm 990, fiscal year ending Sept 2025

Visitors reach it on the path alongside Gore Creek, and it is within walking distance of Vail Village restaurants. At 8,250 feet, it provides free access to more than 100,000 visitors a year, and it has a reputation for global alpine conservation and sustainable tourism. It is the precedent for Boulder’s proposed alpine and meadow zones, and for a garden reached on foot from a walkable town center.

Mountain settingCreekCreek pathWalk to townConcerts next door

Sources: Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Plan your visit · Discover Vail · Walking Mountains case study

Illustrated map of Betty Ford Alpine Gardens beside Gore Creek in Vail, for discussion. Not the garden’s official map.

03 · How a peer city got it done

The Gardens on Spring Creek

Fort Collins, Colorado

18 acOn the Spring Creek corridor

71%Voters approved it in 1997

$6MExpansion, five new acres

Annual visitors: About 70,000Wikipedia
Friends nonprofit revenue: $454KForm 990, 2024; the City funds operations separately

This is the most useful political precedent: a Colorado college town of similar character. It covers 18 acres on the Spring Creek corridor and is owned and managed by the City, working with a nonprofit volunteer board. In 1997, 71% of voters approved the proposal. A later $6 million expansion added a Butterfly House, a pavilion and Great Lawn, and five acres of gardens. It sits by a bus and MAX stop and connects directly to the Spring Creek Trail. That is the City-plus-nonprofit structure proposed for Boulder.

CreekCity trailCollege town

Sources: The Gardens on Spring Creek, About · Plan your visit · Friends of the Gardens · Expansion summary

Illustrated map of The Gardens on Spring Creek and the Spring Creek Trail in Fort Collins, for discussion. Not the garden’s official map.

04 · The connected-campus model

Zilker Botanical Garden

Austin, Texas

125K+Visitors a year

28 acInside Zilker Park

350+ acPark around it

Annual visitors: 125,000+City of Austin
Conservancy revenue: $990K2024; the City runs the garden itself

It covers 28 acres within Zilker Park in the heart of downtown Austin. The park sits where Barton Creek meets Lady Bird Lake and also holds Barton Springs Pool, a nature and science center, a hillside theater, the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens and the hike-and-bike trail. It is the strongest example of how a garden makes neighboring public spaces add up to more than their parts.

CreekCity trailDowntownOutdoor theater

Sources: City of Austin, Zilker Botanical Garden · City of Austin, Zilker Metropolitan Park

Illustrated map of Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin, for discussion. Not the garden’s official map.

05 · The mountain-and-creek prestige model

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Santa Barbara, California

78 acOf native plants

6,000Members, a record

$9.5MAnnual budget

Annual visitors: Up to 110,000County visitor cap; record 120,000 in 2021
Annual revenue: $13.1MForm 990, 2024; operating budget $9.5M

It is a 78-acre garden of native plants with views of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Channel Islands. A creekside area along Mission Creek invites all ages to explore through play. It shows how an affluent, design-conscious small city uses a native-plant garden as part of its identity, much as Boulder could with Front Range ecology.

Canyon & mountainsCreek

Sources: Santa Barbara News-Press, March 2026 · KCLU, 2022 · Visit Santa Barbara

06 · The progressive college-town peer

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Madison, Wisconsin

372KVisitors in the 2025 study

$20.1MLocal economic activity

146Local jobs supported

Annual visitors: 372,3142025 economic impact study
Olbrich Botanical Society revenue: $3.67MForm 990, 2024; the City of Madison also funds the gardens
Local economic activity: $20.1M a year2025 study, Dane County

Madison is Boulder’s closest cultural twin. Olbrich’s 2025 study counted 372,314 visitors and found 55% were repeat visitors. That shows what a garden becomes for residents, not just tourists.

College town

Source: “A Blooming Economic Force in Madison,” Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation, 2025

Illustrated map of Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Lake Monona in Madison, for discussion. Not the garden’s official map.

The Difference

None Has All Of Them Together

Each garden has some of these features. None has a canyon mouth, a creek running through the grounds, a city trail at the gate, a walkable historic downtown, a university town, a concert lawn, a main library next door and a world film festival, all in one place.

That combination is Boulder’s opening.

Read The Case Back To Home

The Location

Few Cities Anywhere Could Offer A Garden Site Like This

Step out of the garden’s gate onto the Boulder Creek Path. Within a short walk are the Main Library, Central Park, the Boulder Farmers Market, the Dushanbe Teahouse and the Pearl Street Mall. You can get there on foot, by bike or by bus, along the river, without crossing a highway or parking a car.

None of the six gardens above has its downtown, main library, farmers market and a river trail all this close together.

That is why a garden anywhere else in Boulder would not be the same. Its value is in what surrounds it: the creek’s ecology on one side, the city’s cultural life on the other, and the Creek Path tying them together.

Map of downtown Boulder with the Creekside District shaded blue along Boulder Creek and the Creek Path, from Boulder Canyon past the garden site, the Main Library and Central Park to the Dushanbe Teahouse and the Civic Area — The Creekside District: Boulder Creek (blue) and the Creek Path (yellow) tie the garden to Eben G. Fine Park, the Main Library, Central Park, the Dushanbe Teahouse and the Civic Area. Map by J. Pergolizzi, October 2026.

On the Creek PathThe garden’s edge is the trail. Bike and walk in from anywhere on Boulder’s path network.
The Main LibraryJust downstream along the creek
Central Park and the BandshellA short walk along the creek
Farmers Market and Dushanbe TeahouseOn 13th Street, along the creek
Pearl Street MallA few blocks north, an easy walk
Eben G. Fine Park and Boulder CanyonJust upstream, at the canyon mouth

“It is the most perfect place any city could ever ask for.”
Joe Pergolizzi, Boulder Botanical Gardens

Get Involved

Help Plant Boulder’s Biggest Step Forward In Decades

A garden like this happens when residents tell the people who decide that they want it.

If You Do One Thing, Do This

Write City Council

Two minutes, one sentence: “Please study the Justice Center site at 1777 6th St, with a public botanical garden as one option.”

Write City Council Now →

Then, If You Can

02Email The County CommissionersThe County owns the Justice Center. Ask them to study relocating it and transferring the land for public use. 03Ask The CandidatesOne question for all 19 before Election Day, November 3. 04Sponsor, Volunteer Or PartnerBusinesses, gardeners, artists, scientists and neighbors: let’s grow this together. 05Speak At City CouncilTwo minutes at Open Comment. Next chance: Thursday, November 19.

Open Comment · City Council

Speak At City Council: Two Minutes That Count

Every regular Council meeting includes Open Comment, when anyone can speak to Council about any topic. A few voices, each with one clear point, show Council that Boulder wants this studied.

Next Open Comment Thursday, November 19, 2026

Council Chambers, Penfield Tate II Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway, or online.

Sign-up opensFriday, Nov 13, 8 a.m.
Sign-up closesWednesday, Nov 18, 2 p.m.
Later datesDec 3 (new Council sworn in) and Dec 17

Sign Up For Open Comment → Online sign-up only; there is no sign-up at the door. Dates can change, so check the Council calendar.

How It Works

Up to 20 speakers, 2 minutes each, in a 45-minute window.
Speak in person or online. In-person speakers go first.
If more than 20 sign up, the City holds a lottery, with priority for people who did not speak at the previous meeting.
Any topic is welcome, except items on that night’s public hearings.

Make Your Two Minutes Count

Say your name, your neighborhood and why you care: as a parent, gardener, cyclist, business owner, student or artist.
Make one point, not ten. Pick a favorite from the 42 Reasons.
End with the ask: “Please support a City–County study of the Justice Center site, with a garden as one option.”
Signed up? Let us know, so speakers can share the points instead of repeating them.

Source: City of Boulder, Ways to Get Involved in City Council Meetings · City Council meeting calendar, checked October 18, 2026

Join The Founding Committee

Every Garden Starts With A Few People Who Say Yes

Boulder Botanical Gardens began as one citizen’s big idea. Now it needs a founding committee: a handful of residents who will help shape it, open doors and carry it to the City and County.

The ask is small: a few meetings over the next three months, and your name beside the proposal.

Join The Founding Committee See The Resources

Gardeners and horticulturistsTo shape the collections and the plantings
Neighbors near the siteTo keep the plan honest about traffic, noise and the creek
Business ownersDowntown, Pearl Street and the hospitality world
Artists, musicians and event makersFor the stage, the festivals and the sculpture garden
CU, NOAA and science partnersFor research, education and the living lab
Finance, legal and nonprofit experienceTo form Friends of Boulder Botanical Gardens and its first budget

Election Day · November 3, 2026

1Ask The 2026 Candidates One Question

Boulder elects a Mayor and five City Council members this fall, from 19 candidates. Ask every one of them the same question. One question for all keeps it fair, and it makes their answers easy to compare.

“Would you support a City–County study of the Justice Center site, with a garden as one option?”

Watch Candidate Videos

For Mayor 6 candidates · 1 seat

Taishya AdamsCurrent Council memberCampaign site
Aaron BrockettCurrent MayorCampaign site
Jamo (Jameson) GoldsteinCampaign site
Lisa Ann JacobsNo campaign site listed
Aquiles La GraveCampaign site
Fred SmithCampaign site

For City Council 13 candidates · 5 seats

Benita DuranCampaign site
Sam FuquaCampaign site
Lee GilbertNo campaign site listed
Jill GranoCampaign site
Rachel Rose IsaacsonCampaign site
Ryan JamiesonCampaign site
Tina MarquisCurrent Council memberCampaign site
Dave MartusCampaign site
Scott RendlemanNo campaign site listed
Jamillah RichmondCampaign site
Ryan SchuchardCurrent Council memberCampaign site
Lynn SegalNo campaign site listed
Tara WinerCurrent Council memberCampaign site

How to ask: use each candidate’s campaign site, or ask in person at a forum. Keep it short, include the question word for word, and link to this site. For sitting Council members, campaign questions belong on their campaign sites, not their City email.

Got an answer? Forward it to LetsGrowTheBoulderBG@gmail.com, and with the candidate’s permission we’ll post every reply here, word for word.

Candidates are listed alphabetically. Boulder Botanical Gardens does not endorse candidates. Sources: City of Boulder, 2026 candidates; Boulder Reporting Lab.

Elected Officials

2Boulder’s Mayor And City Council

Council sets the City’s priorities and budget and would approve any land agreement, master plan or ballot measure. Email members directly below, email them all at once, or use the council contact form or 303-441-3002, and subscribe to the Council Hotline for updates. Regular meetings are held at the Penfield Tate II Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway.

MayorAaron BrockettTerm ends 2026 · running for mayorbrocketta@bouldercolorado.gov

Mayor Pro TemTara WinerTerm ends 2026 · running for councilwinert@bouldercolorado.gov

Council MemberTaishya AdamsTerm ends 2026 · running for mayoradamst@bouldercolorado.gov

Council MemberMatt BenjaminTerm ends 2028benjaminm@bouldercolorado.gov

Council MemberRob KaplanTerm ends 2028Contact via council form

Council MemberTina MarquisTerm ends 2026 · running for councilmarquist@bouldercolorado.gov

Council MemberRyan SchuchardTerm ends 2026 · running for councilschuchardr@bouldercolorado.gov

Council MemberNicole SpeerTerm ends 2028speern@bouldercolorado.gov

Council has eight sitting members after the resignation of Mark Wallach. Names current as of October 2026; check bouldercolorado.gov after the November election.

3Boulder County Commissioners

The County owns the Justice Center at 1777 6th St, so the Commissioners decide whether and when it moves and what happens to the land. Email commissioners@bouldercounty.gov, call 303-441-3500, or give public comment at a business meeting in the Courthouse, 1325 Pearl St.

District 1Claire LevyCommissionercommissioners@bouldercounty.gov

District 2Marta LoachaminCommissionercommissioners@bouldercounty.gov

District 3Ashley StolzmannCommissionercommissioners@bouldercounty.gov

City Departments

4Who Would Shape The Project

These City departments would plan, permit, build and run the gardens, or partner on them.

City Manager’s Office

Leads City staff and would carry a land agreement with the County to Council.

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyden, City Manager
rivera-vandermyden@bouldercolorado.gov · 303-441-3090

Parks & Recreation

The most likely lead: runs the neighboring Eben G. Fine Park and is redesigning Boulder Creek Park.

parks-rec@bouldercolorado.gov · 303-413-7200

Planning & Development Services

Land use, zoning, site review and permits for the gardens and buildings.

303-441-1880

Comprehensive Planning

The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, shared with the County, guides how public land like this is used.

303-441-1880

Utilities

Boulder Creek flood management and the Greenways Program, which co-maintains the Creek Path.

Utilities@bouldercolorado.gov · 303-441-3200

Transportation & Mobility

The Creek Path, the bike entrance, 6th St, Canyon Blvd crossings and transit access.

Natalie Stiffler, Interim Director
stifflern@bouldercolorado.govAllison Moore-Farrell, Senior Transportation Planner
moorefarrella@bouldercolorado.govtransportation@bouldercolorado.gov

Facilities & Fleet

City buildings and the long-term facilities plan, including any future City-owned garden buildings.

Facilities@BoulderColorado.gov

Office of Arts and Culture

Public art, the sculpture garden, concerts and festivals.

culturalplan@bouldercolorado.gov

Office of Cultural and Economic Development

Visitor economy, Sundance readiness and business partnerships.

EconomicVitality@bouldercolorado.gov

Climate Initiatives

Energy-efficient glass houses, water-wise landscapes and climate education.

ContactClimateInitiatives@bouldercolorado.gov

Open Space & Mountain Parks

Native plant expertise and links to the trails at the canyon mouth.

OSMPFrontDesk@bouldercolorado.gov

Forestry Division

The cottonwood canopy along the creek and the tree grove on Canyon Blvd.

303-441-4406

Historic Preservation

Reviews work near the proposed Civic Area historic district.

historic@bouldercolorado.gov

Older Adult Services

Programs and accessible design for seniors who would walk the gardens.

OlderAdultServices@bouldercolorado.gov

5City Boards And Commissions

Volunteer boards advise Council and hold public hearings. Each is a place to speak up.

Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
Planning Board
Arts Commission
Landmarks Board
Design Advisory Board
Transportation Advisory Board
Water Resources Advisory Board
Environmental Advisory Board
Open Space Board of Trustees
Downtown Management Commission

6Community Partners

Boulder Public Library District

The Main Library at 1001 Arapahoe and its Canyon Theater, a few blocks east on the Creek Path: a natural partner for talks, classes and a seed library.

Boulder County Parks & Open Space

Manages the Boulder Canyon Trail, which connects to the Creek Path at the canyon mouth.

Visit Boulder

The city’s destination marketing organization and a lead partner in bringing Sundance to Boulder.

Boulder Chamber & Downtown Boulder Partnership

Businesses that gain when visitors stay longer and come back every season.

Growing Up Boulder

A youth-engagement nonprofit, spun out of CU, that helped name Boulder Creek Park.

CU Boulder

7University Partners

A garden a short walk from campus would be a living lab, a classroom and a stage for CU’s students and faculty.

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Plant ecology and evolution research, field courses and student projects.

CU Museum of Natural History, Herbarium (COLO)

An active center of Colorado botany: plant identification, labels and rotating exhibits on the state’s flora.

INSTAAR & the Mountain Research Station

Alpine ecology from Niwot Ridge: the science behind the gardens’ alpine and meadow zones.

Environmental Studies & Masters of the Environment

Undergraduate internships and 11-month graduate capstones with community partners.

Program in Environmental Design & CEDaR

Community design studios that have worked on Boulder Creek Park engagement and the Dushanbe Teahouse.

CIRES Center for Education, Engagement and Evaluation

CU’s joint institute with NOAA, with programs and events for students and the public.

Fiske Planetarium

Has hosted a NOAA Science On a Sphere exhibit and runs public science shows.

Leeds School of Business, Business Research Division

Conducts the University of Colorado’s own economic impact studies; the right team for a garden feasibility and impact study.

College of Music

Student and faculty performers for the Live Music Lawn and garden concerts.

Art & Art History

Student exhibitions and commissions for the sculpture garden.

Why Here

22 Reasons It Belongs At 6th And Canyon

Where the canyon meets the city. The front door to Boulder Canyon.
On Boulder Creek, the city’s defining natural feature.
On the Creek Path, a 5.5-mile path that delivers walkers and cyclists to the gate.
It completes a chain of public land: Eben G. Fine Park, the gardens, Boulder Creek Park and the library.
Next to Eben G. Fine Park’s playground and creek access.
A few blocks from the Main Library, whose Canyon Theater is a Sundance venue.
A short walk to Pearl Street, hotels and restaurants.
It spreads visitors west instead of crowding the four-block mall.
Canyon Blvd frontage: everyone headed to or from the canyon passes it.
The parking already exists: the City already sends holiday overflow to the Justice Center and library lots.
Buildings go only on land that is already built on or paved.
The right use for flood-prone ground: gardens can take water; courtrooms cannot.
The Flatirons backdrop for concerts, weddings and festivals.
The timing fits Boulder Creek Park Phase 2, planned for 2027–2028.
Public land stays public, open to everyone instead of a few.
The courts could gain a better home next to the County Jail, cutting daily transports.
Woven into the creek and the city at once: its ecology on one side, downtown’s cultural life on the other.
A garden anywhere else would not be the same. Its value comes from everything around it.
It renews a corner of the city whose current use keeps the public behind fences and closed doors.
It creates a second downtown district: Pearl Street for shopping and dining, and a Creekside District for nature, the market and culture, a few minutes’ walk apart.
Bike-first access: a goal of 30% or more arriving by bike, and no new parking garage.
Good-neighbor concerts: a short season, music ending by 9:30 p.m. on weeknights and sound kept within City limits.

Read The Full Case

Three Documents To Share

Download the case, the site analysis and the business plan, and send them to anyone who should see them.

01 The Case 02 The Site 03 The Plan

Press Contact

For Reporters And Media

For interviews, images, renderings and background on Boulder Botanical Gardens, contact:

Joe Pergolizzi, proposal author

LetsGrowTheBoulderBG@gmail.com Read The Two-Page Overview

A Note From The Author · Conceived October 13, 2026

Why I Am Proposing A Botanical Garden In Boulder

If the courts find a better home, Boulder could gain something it rarely gets: almost eight acres of open ground where the canyon meets the city, with Boulder Creek on one side and the Creek Path already running past the door.

I put this proposal together because I believe that land should belong to everyone. Not to one more building that most people only visit when they have to, but to a place people choose to go: to sit under the open sky, hear music on a summer night, bring their kids to see a seed sprout, or walk in out of the snow into a warm glass room full of green.

Boulder already loves the outdoors. What it doesn’t have is a public botanic garden that celebrates the plants, the pollinators and the landscape that make this place what it is. This site, at the foot of the Flatirons, is the right home for one.

A lot of thought went into these plans. They make room for people arriving by bike, and they shape a walkable flow that carries you from one garden to the next. They balance open spaces with cozy places to linger, and they set aside moments meant to stir awe, wonder and a deeper appreciation for the plant kingdom. Just as important, they leave space where new ideas and creative programs can take root and blossom. My hope is that these drawings start a conversation with the City, the County and the people of Boulder about what this land could become.

The Web AddressI have registered BoulderBotanicalGardens.org and BoulderBotanicalGardens.com for this project. If the Gardens are built, both domain names will transfer to the project’s property owner, whether that is the City of Boulder or the nonprofit that runs the Gardens.

Concept rendering of the Main Building with its butterfly roof — The Main Building and its butterfly roof.

Blueprint drawing of the Super Bloom Event Hall — Super Bloom, the event hall at the center of the gardens.

With gratitude to Boulder,

Joseph Pergolizzi

Author of the Boulder Botanical Gardens proposal

Concept conceived October 13, 2026

Press Contact

For Reporters And Media

For interviews, images, renderings and background on Boulder Botanical Gardens, contact:

Joe Pergolizzi, proposal author

LetsGrowTheBoulderBG@gmail.com Read The Two-Page Overview

By The Numbers

Buildings And Gardens

Planning estimates from the site plan, to be confirmed by a professional building program during the feasibility study. About 35,000–45,000 sq ft of buildings in all, so about three quarters of the land stays green.

Building	Zone	Interior	Inside
Main Building	0.40 ac	12,000–16,000 sq ft	Lobby, admissions, cafe, gift shop, exhibits, classrooms, seed library, offices
Super Bloom Event Hall	0.32 ac	8,000–10,000 sq ft	Main hall (about 300 seated for dinner, 600 for a lecture), catering kitchen, bar, lobby, green room
Conservatory	0.30 ac	8,000–10,000 sq ft	Tropical collection under glass, raised walkway, koi pool
Greenhouse Dome	0.16 ac	5,000–6,000 sq ft	Rotating collection, propagation lab, kids’ science stations
Band shell	in the lawn	1,500–2,500 sq ft	Stage and wings
All buildings		35,000–45,000 sq ft

Garden area	Acres	Square feet
Creek buffer & Creek Path	1.70	about 74,000
Alpine, meadow & wetland	0.78	about 34,000
Music Lawn & stage	0.58	about 25,300
Sculpture garden	0.47	about 20,500
Outdoor Cafe & plaza	0.34	about 14,800

Drawings

Site Plans

The illustrated site plan shows the current layout on the real parcel, between Canyon Blvd, 6th St and Boulder Creek. The stage and Live Music Lawn hold the west end; Super Bloom, the conservatory, the dome and the main building line the north side behind a grove on Canyon Blvd; and the Alpine, Meadow & Wetland Sculpture Garden wraps the pond along the Creek Path. Acreage adds up to 7.8 acres.

Watercolor site plan with acreage and notes — Illustrated site plan with acreage and notes. Watercolor by J. Pergolizzi.

Watercolor eye-level view from the Bike Path Parking across the pond garden to the stage, Super Bloom, the dome, the conservatory and the main building — Eye-level view from the Bike Path Parking, looking northwest across the pond garden. Watercolor by J. Pergolizzi.

Blueprints

The Drawing Set

The blueprint site plan is drawn to scale in feet and shows the sculpture walk around the pond, the Outdoor Cafe and cafe plaza, the Bike Path Parking loop and the tree grove along Canyon Blvd. Click any sheet to open it full size.

Blueprint concept site plan, Rev. 7, Sheet A-1 — A-1 · Concept Site Plan, Rev. 7

A Botanical Garden Alongside Boulder Creek, Steps Away From The Heart Of Downtown

Proposal

The Garden Gives Downtown A Second District

Why Now? Why Here?

Explore The 7-Acre Site

From Courthouse To Garden

Three Quarters Of The Land Stays Green

Public Land, Nonprofit Garden

Every Garden Starts With A Few People Who Say Yes

Outdoor Cafe & Cafe Plaza

What’s here

Events & programs

Main Building

What’s here

Events & programs

Super Bloom Event Hall

What’s here

Events & programs

Conservatory

What’s here

Events & programs

Greenhouse Dome

What’s here

Events & programs

Music Lawn & Stage

What’s here

Events & programs

Alpine, Meadow & Wetland

What’s here

Events & programs

Sculpture Garden

What’s here

Events & programs

Boulder Creek, Bike Path & The Bike Gate

Ride Straight Into The Garden

What’s here

Events & programs

Bloom Is In Session

Fall Fairies, Wizards & Dragons Festival

Other Fall Events

Winter Festival Of Lights

Other Winter Events

Along the route

The Pollinator Pageant

Other Spring Events

The Parade Of Puppets In The Park

Entry Divisions

Awards In Every Division

How It Works

Puppet Mornings: Tea And A Show

Sunday Afternoon Jazz In The Park

Other Summer Events

Summer Lavender & Poppy Festival

At The Festival

Intimate And Inspiring Events

Say yes under the butterfly glass

Where Boulder gives back

Big ideas, surrounded by green

Learn something that grows

Swap, share and plant

Classes, Rentals And Free Days

Concerts That End Before Bedtime

The Garden Gives Downtown A Second District

The Creekside District, End To End

The Boulder Creek Bike Gate

Come For The Peace, Not The Traffic

Park Once, Ride The Creek In

Quiet Evenings, Even On Concert Nights

Science You Can Walk Through

A Public Window Into World-Class Climate Science

Four Kinds Of Science In The Gardens

The Public Window Into CU’s Plant Science

Six Ways CU And The BBG Make Each Other Stronger

Everyone Can Be A Scientist Here

From Kindergarten To Graduate School

Science Partners Welcome

Massing Model

Everything You Need, In One Place

Three Documents That Make The Case

Why Boulder Needs A Botanical Garden