A Walk through the Renaissance
Plants were important to Shakespeare. From love potions in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Ophelia’s symbolic bouquet of rosemary, pansies, fennel, rue and daisies in Hamlet, plants appear in the storylines of many of the Bard’s greatest works.
At ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ·, the serve as a tranquil, historic lesson on plants prevalent in Shakespeare’s time. Founded by Marlene Cowdery in 1991 and now a donation-based program within the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the gardens are maintained by nearly 20 members — including master gardeners, teachers and CU alumni. On Saturdays from spring to fall, members can be seen gardening in the courtyard between the Hellems Arts and Sciences Building and the Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Building.
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Approximate number of plant species in the gardens
8
Types of trees in the gardens
18
Members of the gardens, with 5-6 regular maintenance volunteers
$2,000
Annual cost to maintain the gardens
450 hours
Volunteered approximately each year to maintain the gardens
Unusual plants
Samphire (King Lear) and pomegranate (All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV, Part 1)
June and September
Best months to visit the gardens
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare play that mentions the most plants and flowers
The Plant-Lore & Garden-Craft of Shakespeare (1884)
Primary source of information for gardeners about featured plants
New members and volunteers are welcome. Anyone interested can email carolmellinger@gmail.com.
of the gardens.
Photos courtesy Colorado Shakespeare Gardens