The Colorado Garden Foundation awarded more than half a million in horticultural grants during the 2019 Colorado Garden & Home Show. The show, which celebrated its 60-year anniversary this year, distributed more than $513,000 in grants to organizations throughout the state.

This year’s two major grant winners were the Denver Botanic Gardens and the WOW! Children’s Museum. Jim Fricke, executive director of the foundation, presented the Botanic Gardens with a $50,000 check in support of the Gardens of the construction of the Freyer-Newman Center for Science, Art and Education and a Legacy Grove in the York Street Gardens. 

Fricke also awarded WOW! with $75,000 in support of the construction of two outdoor comprehensive experiential learning environments. The museum hopes to encourage self-expression and exploration of the world. Strengthening its focus on health and wellness by connecting the indoor market and clinic exhibits with food and exercise and promoting exploration of nature, gardening and the outdoors. 

Two schools with connections to ALCC's Landscape Career Pathways program received grant funds. Limon School District received $15,000 for land lab space and a horticultural class, and Lone Star School Agriculture Department took home $6750 to build a greenhouse.

“These grant recipients support the Foundation’s mission of supporting programs that instill in our youth the importance of sustainable horticulture,” said Jim Fricke, executive director of the Colorado Garden Foundation. “We look forward to seeing this support come to life in the gardens that they create.”

One hundred percent of every ticket sold to the Colorado Garden & Home Show goes to fund Colorado Garden Foundation’s grants and four-year, full-ride Colorado State University scholarships. The program has contributed more than $9 million to date in horticultural grants and scholarships across the state.

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