So many times at the Denver Botanic Gardens’ York Street site, I’ve wanted to know a flower’s name. And so many times, I’ve wanted to know what’s blooming there before I go.
Thanks to an $11,000 grant for new software and the dedication of associate horticulture director Cindy Newlander and other staffers and volunteers, that’s possible now.
So are digital tours and searching plant photographs before visitors plan and plant their own garden.
The gardens’ new tool is called Gardens Navigator. Say, for example, you’ve recently become a crocus nut and you’re thinking about planting a bunch right smack in your lawn next fall, to hide the fact that it’s, um, gonna be full of dandelions and crabgrass soon (OK, maybe that’s just me). You can search for “crocus” on Gardens Navigator and get a map with 98 pins in it where crocuses occur in the gardens. For some varieties, you can view multiple photos of them, including close-ups and views of how the plant is used in a landscape.
Say you want more information about Ruby Giant crocuses. Click on that variety, and your new map now has 20 locations. And you get a calendar chart showing when that flower has bloomed in past years.
Under “Explore Gardens and Features,” for example, you can type in “Ornamental Grass Garden” and peruse the species there — or get a list of gardens and sculptures and other elements.
My favorite part is the “Discover Flowers in Bloom” button, where you type in a date or date range and it tells you which plants are likely to be blooming that week, based on data that garden staff and volunteers have been compiling for eight or nine years.
“The second step was photographing all of these plants,” says Newlander. “We’ve been amassing a rather large catalog” — 23 gigabytes of images.
All that work lets the gardening public drill down to the fine details because, for example, there are a lot of crocus varieties, even if you count only those in the gardens’ collection.
And the plant descriptions aren’t written in a dispassionate, disembodied voice. Of Ruby Giant, Gardens Navigator confesses that the plant is not really ruby (it’s purple) and it’s not really giant (because, well, it’s a crocus). But it also tells you hardiness zone (3) sun requirements (full or partial) foliage color, height, just about all a gardener could want to know.
Newlander is excited about Gardens Navigator working in the reverse direction, when people are actually in the gardens and find a plant that’s not labeled, or one they want more information about. They can look at the individual garden or feature where the plant is, get a list, and narrow down its identification by the photographs and locations, or just get more information about it.
She’s also psyched about the “Virtual Expedition” feature, where users can take tours curated by garden staff (a “Bloom and Fruit” tour, for example) or create their own. The feature will allow for audio tour links and YouTube videos to be added.
The only downside: You’ve got to bring your own device.
If you want to look at Gardens Navigator online but don’t have a smartphone or other mobile Web access, you can view it in two locations: in the library, or near the entrance to the Conservatory.
Denver’s is only the third botanic garden in the country to have the software in use (Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia and the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine, are the other two).
Susan Clotfelter: 303-954-1078 or sclotfelter@denverpost.com
