The Fleeting Days of Summer

 

"Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed." ~ Mary Oliver

 

This is the last weekend in August--how can that be? Fall arrives early in Colorado. I can see the sun's slant of light becoming lower on the horizon, and the air has a chill at night. It won't be long until the aspens turn golden yellow and we have our first whisper of snow on the mountains.

"Happiness grows at our own fireside and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens." 

~ Douglas Jerrold

Summer is passing quickly, but there is still much of its beauty to behold and enjoy.

"But once in a while, the odd thing happens, once in a while the dream comes true." ~ W H Auden

My husband and I took a walk around the Hudson Gardens and Event Center in Littleton, Colorado, recently.  Hudson Gardens is a nonprofit organization encompassing thirty acres of garden exhibits, trails, open spaces, and event venues, and it provides free admission from sunrise to sunset every day of the year for self-directed exploration. I've blogged about it more extensively in the past--click here--to read that post.

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." 

~ Edith Wharton

The garden has amazing water lily ponds full of the most delicate and beautiful flowers...

"Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell."

~ Louisa May Alcott

...as well as many other flowers, shrubs, trees, and art sculptures to enjoy.

 

"

"The words 'far, far away' always had a strange charm." 

~ Alfred Tennyson

There are many benches along the trails where one can sit and appreciate the garden's serenity.

"A loving heart is the truest wisdom." Charles Dickens

The resident geese and ducks looked very content in the shade and waters of the garden. 

"In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." 

~ Kahlil Gibran

Hudson Gardens is a treasure to visit in all seasons and the perfect place to take a walk in nature.  We are fortunate to have it in our area!  

Another treasure I was happy to visit in August was the author Susan Branch at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in the Aspen Grove branch in Littleton, Colorado. 

Susan was doing a cross-country road trip with her husband, Joe, to promote her wonderful new book called "Distilled Genius: A Collection of Life-Changing Quotations." 

 I have been a fan of Susan's handwritten and painted books since her first book, "Heart of the Home," and have been following her blog for years, so I was very excited to hear she would be stopping by close to me! 

There was a large crowd of fans to greet her--a few who traveled from as far away as Wyoming and Iowa! She gave a lovely talk about how she collected quotations all her life and what they meant to her. She said quotations were:

"Practical expressions of wisdom from courageous thinkers and teachers ahead of their time, nurturing and life-affirming, hilarious, heroic, and human ~ they taught me how to be brave, showed me where to find my dreams, and encouraged me to try and make them a reality.

All of the quotations in this blog post came from her book.  It is another treasure I will always cherish. Thank you, Susan!

"The sweetest flower that glows,

 I give you as we part. 

For you, it is a rose

For me, it is my heart.

~ Frederick Peterson

See you all in September!

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Hudson Gardens and Event Center in Littleton, CO

Hudson Gardens and Event Center is a 30-acre non-profit botanical garden complex located near the South Platte River, at 6115 South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton, Colorado, which opened to the public in 1996. It is open most days from 9 AM until 5 PM, and admission is free, with a few exceptions. Its history can be read on this link.

One day recently, my husband and I decided to take a stroll in the garden for the first time, after hearing from friends what a lovely place it is. I'd love to take you along, through my photographs, to show you what a beautiful and peaceful place it is!  All photos and photo collages will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on.

I can imagine that it is lovely in every season, but late summer is a good time to visit. We were greeted by the Welcome Garden.

A garden map is distributed at the main entrance and also along some of the walkways. If you click on this photo to enlarge the map, you can see that Hudson Gardens is made up of many different water features and mini gardens.

The Victoria Water Lily Pond is one of the first we saw on our stroll.

The Victoria Water Lily is a native of the Amazon and is on limited display in Colorado. Its massive leaves can grow to be 3 feet or more!  All the aquatic plants at the Hudson Gardens are maintained by volunteers from the Colorado Water Garden Society.

The next garden was called the Oval Garden. One acre in size, it is filled with perennial flowers.

There were many gorgeous blooms still in profusion in many of the Hudson Garden beds.

As a novice western gardener, I liked that many of the flowers along the pathways were labeled. I am trying to find perennials that will flourish despite the frequent deer and rabbit visitors that come to my home's gardens.

Nearby was the Rose Garden. This garden was updated in 2009 to contain roses that thrive in the Colorado climate. Bloom here was past prime, but I enjoyed seeing the names of the variety of hybrid tea roses and floribundas, grandifloras, and climbing roses, planted here. In the distance, we saw a tent where a wedding celebration was being held.

We then strolled through the relatively new Chocolate Garden. The plantings change every year, and are those that mimic the odor or image of chocolate, and are not meant to be consumed. The "Chocolate Chip" plant did indeed smell like a delicious chocolate chip cookie, to me!

There are many whimsical places in Hudson Gardens and Event Center, which make it a charming place for children to visit.  The Garden Railroad mimics the Colorado landscape and contains 700 feet of "G" size railroad tracks and buildings. The railroad runs weather permitting, and on a changing schedule, from mid-May through September and during the holiday season.

There was also a fun place for children to walk through and explore, called the Hobbit House, which was constructed of stone.

The Dahlia Display Bed contained some beautiful blooms. Dahlias are grown as annuals in Colorado, and this garden contains 100 varieties each season.

The Honeybee Garden is home to an apiary that has been in existence for ten years.  Community beekeepers maintain the apiary and use natural management methods that are minimally invasive, chemical-free, and non-toxic. There is more information about the beekeeping program on this link.

The Aquatic Plant Holding Pond is where aquatic plants grown from seeds or tubers in a greenhouse are transferred to grow and mature in this less stressful environment before being placed in larger pools. 

We followed the walkway that then led to the Herb Garden and Vegetable Garden.  The herb garden is maintained by volunteers from the Herb Society of America and contains 115 varieties of herbs used in tea making, medicinal and culinary uses, and potpourri, as well as native herbs found in the Colorado region. 

The vegetable garden is planted and maintained in partnership with the Colorado State University (CSU) Extension-Arapahoe County Colorado Master Gardener Program. The vegetables are easily grown and widely available, and are planted during the last week of May. All the produce collected at harvest is distributed to area food banks.  

The very popular Water Gardens is home to 140 varieties of plants. 

You have to see this garden in person to truly enjoy the variety of delicate and unusual flowers!  It is also maintained by the Colorado Water Garden Society.  

Monet's Place is located near the Water Garden and is thought to evoke the feeling of being in Impressionist painter Claude Monet's garden in Giverny, France.  Magnolia, Ginkgo, and Weeping Willow trees can be found here.

The Hudson Gardens and Event Center has many beautiful places in which to sit and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.  Whether it is under a giant old Cottonwood tree...

...or by a running stream of water cascading over rocks.

Visitors can find many cool green areas in the center in which to sit and enjoy the scene.

During the summer, many concerts are held in the Hudson Center and Event Center.  The stage was set for a concert being held in the evening when we visited the Concert Amphitheater.  For information on how to purchase tickets and concert events, click this link.  You can bring your lawn chair and picnic basket and enjoy music under the stars! 

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the gardens, and we know we will be back to stroll its walkways many times and in many seasons.  I hope I've enticed you to also visit if you live in the Denver/Littleton area or are on a visit to Colorado.  It is also a beautiful place to rent for a special occasion or in which to take an adult education class. 

I think the Hudson Gardens is a wonderful collaborative effort by many talented volunteers who give their time and expertise towards maintaining the garden for all to enjoy for free, and that more communities should do the same. Do you have a garden, such as this, in your community that you can enjoy?

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