Western Colorado Botanical Gardens - Grand Junction, Colorado

ray weithman

We really enjoyed our visit to the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens. The staff in the gift shop were friendly. We particularly enjoyed the Butterfly Greenhouse which featured tropical plants and had a Koi Pond. In addition to butterflies, they had numerous turtles and a large tortoise as well.
The gardens which sit on a 15 acre plot next to the Colorado River featured several specialty gardens including a Japanese Garden, Cactus Garden, Rose Garden, Native plants and a Childrens Garden to name a few. There is a paved walkway which meanders through the gardens with plenty of places to sit. We were able stroll through the garden in a about a half an hour or so.

Danielle Alexander

Bigger than anticipated! It was a great casual stroll through the gardens. Plenty of spots for sitting and chatting, reading, or just enjoying a cup of coffee. The green house was particularly interesting and still in full bloom even in early fall. Conveniently located next to a park, extensive bike path and disc golf course. Staff was very friendly!

Autumn Williams

The price is right and my whole family had fun. The butterfly room was definitely a highlight and it was a surprise to see that huge turtle just chillin in the middle of the walkway! The gardens were beautiful and there was even a fun little castle outside.

Pamela

Good experience, would have been better in spring versus late September.

There were some dying plants but overall I was happy with it and would come back when it’s flowering season for the gardens.

The butterfly habitat was really cool, so many different species and the tortoise was the cherry on top. ?

Also, pleasantly affordable. Even the gift shop.

V Watts

They were very courteous and didn't make us feel bad for coming in an hour before close. The turtles all had names and were just chilling, plus the few cats just roaming the premises. Great variety of flowers and lots of pollination going on.

Rikky Foster

What a neat place! We were finally able to visit (they used to be closed Mondays, which is my day off, and they're closed Saturdays and Sundays which my girlfriend has off, but she was off for Juneteenth so we decided to see if they were open) and it was definitely worth it!

You enter in and then find the gift shop to buy your way in. Once you're in, you can go to the rainforest area or the butterfly area. We did butterflies first.

The area is small, but it was nice having it to ourselves! There was a small tortoise named Frankie (I think) and he wasn't very active but the big one named Knobby came cruising right to us! There was also a red eared slider turtle named Jessie and a koi pond. The butterflies were flying around, and even feeding! I do recommend dressing lightly as it was very warm inside. I really enjoyed it though.

We went to the rainforest area next, where I stopped to admire more koi and looked down to notice another red eared slider turtle named Luna was between my feet! So be sure in the butterfly area and the rainforest area to watch your step!

From the rainforest area you can go outside. You should probably have some sunscreen, and I think a bottle of water would be good too. We went around 12-1ish (I don't remember exactly when we got there) and by then there weren't a lot of shady spots.

I really liked the cactus garden and then there was a marshy area I really liked too. There were lilypads with HUGE flowers on them and I was very taken with them as I haven't ever seen that in real life before. There were some little fish in there, and then there were some red winged black birds I enjoyed watching.

From the marshy area we went to the Western Heritage area, which had a lot of great information about the Grand Valley and how different industries have come and gone or still remain.

Our next area was a little spot that had some kind of green fruit (I'm not sure what they were other than not ripe) and some grapes!

After that I visited the outskirts of the roses (the sprinklers were going and while that's certainly welcome on a hot day, the water felt so cold to me so I opted to stay dry lol) and then we went back to the gift shop and then on to our next spot.

There is also a children's secret garden and a "castle". In the pictures online, it's hard to see the scale of it, but up close it wasn't as big as I thought so I didn't feel left out as an adult.

I definitely recommend a visit here! It's very chill and such a nice way to spend time with someone or even on your own.

Bradley Leibold

this garden was amazing!
was a lot bigger and more vast than i was expecting. great walk through for family aswell! perfectly laid out walk ways.

the staff are so welcoming and friendly

-stacey.

We had a nice time at the gardens, despite it being winter. It was nice and warm inside. Lots of butterflies and tortoises and even a resident cat. There are some amazing plants and blooms inside. I can't wait to check out the exterior gardens when the weather is a bit warmer. Although it being winter during our visit, we still explored the gardens and had a nice walk and enjoyed the sculptures. The staff was very friendly and there was a little gift shop with kids of cut and fun it's got sale.