The Japanese Garden is one of my favorite spots at the Denver Botanic Gardens, most of the time. (Emilie Rusch, The Denver Post)
If you’ve been to the lately, you’ll understand what I’m talking about here.
This past Saturday afternoon, it was absolutely bonkers.
Full parking lots, lines at the box office, people crowding every footpath, like a herd roaming from photo op to photo op.
This is something I would expect at, say, the big two years ago. But the botanic gardens, my favorite escape from city life? Is it Dec. 1 yet?
The reason, of course, is , that master of colorful glass ornaments. , I’ve seen it five times — twice with visiting relatives, once with a friend, once with my fiancé, and once in conjunction with the gardens’ popular summer concert series. (Full disclosure: I’m a DBG member.)
Waiting my turn to see the Chihuly installation in the Monet Pool at the Denver Botanic Gardens. (Emilie Rusch, The Denver Post)
This last time, though, I reached my breaking point. I enjoyed seeing the installations, sure, and certainly, the high-profile exhibit has been a financial boon for the gardens (and Denver tourism), but I want my Denver Botanic Gardens back. I want my serene, relaxing urban oasis back.
, put it best in his review back in June. Before the exhibit opened, he compared the brightly colored glass work to an invasive species.
“It’s all competition for the plants and flowers and disruptive to the paradise so many of us run to when we need to escape the urban clutter.
For the poor paeonia tenuifolia, and many others who live in Denver, it’s going to be a tough summer.”
If you haven’t seen “Chihuly” yet, by all means go. Itap colorful and cool, and you’re running out of time before it closes Nov. 30. See it during the day and then go back and see it illuminated at night.
But I won’t be back until December, just in time for the holiday lights.
So many people at the Denver Botanic Gardens. (Emilie Rusch, The Denver Post)
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