Chihuly Nights in October

Jesse Zuniga

The Denver Botanic Gardens is featuring Chihuly Nights, and we were delighted to join the sold-out crowd as dusk turned into evening.

The glass sculptures are set among the trees and flowers of the gardens so that they are beautiful by day and magical by night.  I recommend getting tickets, a modest $15, before the season is sold out. It will run until Thanksgiving, when the gardens transform again into a winter wonderland.

Carol Zuniga

After dinner with Jesse's brother Lou and wife Carol at an old favorite Greek restaurant, we found our way to the Gardens. Good thing I bought the tickets on- line.


Even though Jesse and Lou grew up here, they had never been. We all want to go back on a morning for a leisurely day and lunch at the cafe on Monet Pond, as the trees and flowers we did see before dark were lovely.

Reflections in Monet Pond

Dale Chihuly is the artist credited with turning glass blowing into a fine art. This traveling exhibit is called "Garden Cycle."

















In addition to the delight of the glass sculptures, I enjoyed being out at night. I realized that it has been years since I've been out walking at night. The mild evening required only a sweater. The fragrance of the flowers seemed more noticeable after dark. Walking through the pine grove I found myself a teenager walking under the stars at church camp. So not just visual delights in this experience.


 These lovely lacy forms backed by a waterfall made me think of a day at the beach.

Striped glass sculptures were evocative of Dr. Seuss, a turtle, and plants of the woodland, desert and tropics. There was even a boat loaded with multi-colored glass beach balls.

This installation, though, a towering bonfire surrounded by flames and glass pumpkins and mesmerized tourists at its base—a little creepy.

Halloween is coming!