Denver Botanic Gardens features North America's largest collection of plants from cold temperate climates around the world, as well as 7 diverse gardens that mostly include plants from Colorado and neighboring states. The world's first Xeriscape Demonstration Garden was created at the Gardens in 1986, and 2 years later its name was changed to Dryland Mesa. It was based on the "7 Principles" of
Xeriscape, and includes drought-tolerant plants from the arid West and
Mediterranean areas. The Japanese Garden is called Shofu-en—the Garden of Wind and Pines. It was designed by
Koichi Kawana in collaboration with Kai Kwahara. The York Street location of the Botanic Gardens opened Denver's first publicly accessible green roof. The Denver Botanic Gardens also boasts the first conservatory in America that was made entirely of concrete and Plexiglas panes, each of which were designed to channel condensation to the sides of the walls so it would not drip on visitors. The Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory was awarded landmark status in 1973 In 2020, the Gardens published
Firsthand: Creating Gardens for All People, commissioned by CEO Brian Vogt, researched by Karen Peters, Davis Benson and Dan Obarski, and published by Beckon Books. The book won the
Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in the Coffee Table book category in 2021. ==Gallery==