The Hudson Gardens & Event Center is a botanical garden and event venue located in
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...
, 12 miles southwest of
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. The property is composed of thirty acres of garden exhibits, trails, natural terrain, and event venues.
The gardens opened to the public in June 1996. In 1999, the venue began to hold its annual "Hudson Gardens Summer Concert Series". The concert series is held at the 3,250-seat Hudson Gardens Concert Amphitheater, a temporary stage located on the Grassy South Lawn.
History
The Gardens began in 1941 as the private garden of Colonel King C. and Evelyn Leigh Hudson. While living on the property, which was originally just five acres of land, the couple owned and managed the Country Kitchen to great success. The Hudsons also took care of large gardens on their property and were particularly fond of traveling extensively, closing the Country Kitchen during the winter season. Evelyn created "The King C. Hudson & Evelyn Leigh Hudson Foundation, Inc." before her death in 1988. Hudson Gardens became open to the public in 1996.
Currently, a portion of Hudson Gardens is under construction due to Phase I of the River Integration Project, which is slated to be completed in June 2019. This project will open up access points from the property to the South Platte River Trail.
Hudson Gardens offers a summer concert series each year, as well as a holiday lights display, A Hudson Christmas.
Gardens
They contain varied grounds ranging from high, dry
prairie
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
to river
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s, and feature plants that thrive in the dry
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
climate. The gardens include:
Conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
Grove,
Deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
Woodland, Garden Canopy,
Herb
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
Garden,
Iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
* Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
Iris or IRIS may also refer to:
Arts and media
Fictional ent ...
Bed, Mary Carter Greenway, Ornamental
Grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
Garden, Oval Garden, Rock Garden Canyon,
Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
Garden, Secret Garden, Shade Garden, Water Garden, Wetlands, Songbird Gardens, Vegetable Garden, Pumpkin Patch, and a
Xeriscape
Xeriscaping is the process of landscaping, or gardening, that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. It is promoted in regions that do not have accessible, plentiful, or reliable supplies of fresh water and has gained acceptance in other ...
Garden. Other garden features include a g-scale model railroad and honeybee apiary.
Hudson Gardens & Event Center offers 3 venues, including the Rose Garden, Monet's Place, and The Inn, for weddings, celebrations of life, and other ceremonies. Hudson Gardens also hosts corporate meetings, annual races, and more.
Facilities
;Gardens
*Oval Garden
*Rose Garden
*Honeybee Garden
*Herb and Vegetable Garden
*Water Gardens
*Songbird Garden
*Welcome Garden
;Venues
*The Inn at Hudson Gardens
*The Garden Canopy
*Garden Pavilion
*Concert Amphitheater
*The Overlook
;Attractions
*Victoria Water Lily Pond
*Garden Railroad
*Aquatic Plant Holding Pond
*Monet's Place
*The Island