What we’re about
Master Gardener Shakespeare includes hundreds of plants in his plays. Over twenty years ago we founded the Colorado Shakespeare Gardens to explore what he knew. We are an opportunity to deepen your knowledge, get your hands in the earth, create beauty, and laugh a lot while doing it.
Our website with pictures: www.coloradoshakespearegardens.org
On this website is a link to our audio/visual tour of the gardens. Information is provided by Will Shakespeare and other garden members. There are sections for general information about the garden Shakespeare, and each garden has a section. All are available for use by teachers, students and researchers. The total listening time is around 3 hours.
Learning and Activities: Each non-pandemic year we gather once a month on Sundays during the winter to review the plays being presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival the next summer. We study the plants that Shakespeare included in each play, and choose the plants and the quotes that we want to emphasize this year. Once the soil and weather permit, we begin to prepare the beds, meeting on Saturday mornings from ten to noon. Then we plant, and place the name and quote signs for visitors to read. Summer activities include garden maintenance, guiding patrons of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival through the gardens, giving teas and desserts for special occasions, and picnicking in the courtyard.
The pocket gardens encircling the whole are: Knot Garden, Midsummer Night's Dream Garden, Canon Garden (other plays/plants), Highlight Garden (focus on current season's plays), Elizabethan and Thyme. The War of Roses Garden (History Plays), and Kitchen Garden (Merry Wives of Windsor and other plays) have been retired until the University of Colorado completes the renovation of the Hellems building.
The gardens are found in the courtyard near the SW corner of the University of Colorado (near the "Hill"), near the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's outdoor Mary Rippon Theatre, the Museum, and south of the Theatre and Dance Building.
The labor and cost: We share the work, the organization, the fundraising, and the fun. We are welcoming to new members, and encourage you to participate! Membership is between $20-$35 a year should you decide to join.
Sometimes we have a plant sale in the spring. Another fundraising effort is a book on 16th century distillation, Still Room Book. Copies can be purchased at https://LolaWilcox.com
