I immediately think of buildings, restaurants, traffic, concrete and rushing people when I hear the words “city” or “downtown”. The nice thing about Denver’s downtown is that, while it contains all these recognizable pieces of the urban jungle – it also provides respite from them with the placement of plants and nature in different ways throughout the city. Often times, it’s the restaurants themselves that add foliage to entice customers and enhance their patio dining experience. We also talked about Denver’s program for businesses to purchase planters before. This year the rise of a designated Garden Block has not escaped our notice, and we applaud the efforts to beautify our surroundings with color and nature.

According to Downtown Denver’s website the Downtown Denver Garden Block on 16^th Street between Curtis and Champa is a living landscape in the heart of Downtown, giving visitors, residents and employees a place to gather and enjoy the urban scene. We think the Botanic Gardens say it best when they call the Garden Block “a catalytic project for the revitalization and continued success of Denver’s premier public space.”

Thanks to the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District and Denver Botanic Gardens for their partnership to create an inviting urban landscape for those of us who live, work and play downtown. We appreciate it!

A few examples of the lovely urban greenery:

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” ― Iris Murdoch

“Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.” ― John Ruskin

“Flowers have the greatest talent in converting an ordinary place into a magical palace!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes.” ― Clare Ansberry, The Women of Troy Hill: The Back-Fence Virtues of Faith and Friendship

“A person who takes a concrete place and convert it into a garden of flowers is a real magician!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

“I must have flowers, always, and always.” ― Claude Monet

“I always notice flowers.” ― Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol’s Party Book

— Associates III