Western Colorado Botanical Garden & Butterfly House

On January 7, 2007, JamesCO from Grand Junction, CO wrote:

Additional traveller's information:

Admission:
$5 Adults, $3 Students/Seniors $2 Kids 5-12, Free for kids 4 and younger.
Memberships available, First Sunday of each month is free admission, Wheelchair accessable.

Hours:
Tuesday through Sunday, 10-5 summer, 10-4:30 winter.

Phone Numbers:
Gift Shop/Greenhouse 970.245.9030
Office/Library 970.245.3288

Opened November 1997

Description:
Two greenhouses, the smaller being a modest butterfly house, and just a few newer outdoor gardens, including a world-class hardy cactus garden. WCBG also has a quaint gift shop, which is an attraction itself, a "Children's Secret Garden" which surrounds a stucco castle, and a suprisingly extensive child- and gardening- oriented library. It sits at one of the entrances to the Colorado River-Trail System.

Opinion:
This place is not huge as far as outdoor plants, and is not Denver Botanic Gardens, nor does it try to be. It is a charming community-type place where concerts are held on summer nights, local gardening clubs meet, folks go to have lunch in a tropical greenhouse, tourists go to prove to themselves that there are living plants in Western Colorado, and grandmothers take their grandkids on weekends to see the pond fish.
Perhaps its most redeeming quality is its relaxed atmosphere.