About the Courage Garden
Welcome
These Jefferson County Memorial Gardens, located in Golden, Colorado, on the southwest side of the Jefferson County Government Center, were dedicated in 1995, in honor of:
- Sgt. Timothy M. Mossbrucker who died in the line of duty on April 28, 1995;
- Past employees, volunteers, and elected officials of Jefferson County who dedicated their lives to serving the public;
- Victims of violent crimes whose lives were irrevocably altered by actions over which they had no control.
The collection of gardens (See map) which honor and memorialize the lives of these victims are called the "Courage Garden."
In 1997, in cooperation with Victim Outreach Incorporated, volunteers from the Jefferson County Colorado State Extension Master Gardener program committed to honor the victims of violence by adding the Courage Garden memorial gardens to their demonstration garden projects.
This public and free garden is in USDA Hardiness Zone 5b at 6500' elevation in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Most plants and trees at the garden are low water use plants.
Features include:
- Xeriscape garden
- Plantselect.org plants
- Weeds (of course)
- Colorado native plants/trees/shrubs
- Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs
- Lots of non-native plants suited for various conditions
- Various bulbs/corms
- Kiosk with plant information
- Small pond
- Gazebo
- Several benches
- Multiple light and moisture conditions: dry shade, moist shade, part shade, full shade, full sun, light irrigation, no irrigation, pea gravel, bark mulch.
Note: There is no bathroom or potable water or trash facilities on site! The only facilities are inside the Government office building which is closed on the weekends. As of 2/14/16, however, I did note a port-a-potty at the light rail station just down the path.
This garden is in the Wildland-Urban Interface habitat and attracts many humans, pollinators, voles, birds, rabbits, coyotes, raccoons, deer and the occasional elk and chipmunk. There is usually something blooming from the end of February to the middle of October and always something interesting to see. All plants in this database have survived at least two full seasons at the Courage Garden. The photos on this website are the actual plants currently growing at the Courage Garden. At present, there are over 200 different plants growing here representing close to 50 plant families.
April 27, 2013
I dedicate this plant information project to innocent crime victims everywhere, to the CSU Extension and the Native Plant Master programs for providing the education that sparked the notion that I could actually attempt this project, and most of all to Dave Simms, my husband and Andrew Simms, my son, who said, "Hey Mom, whatcha workin' on?" When he discovered this information was going to be in a notebook in a kiosk, he said "Ya know mom, that really needs to be on the internet" and so it is. It is still a work in progress. Everyday we get a little closer to completion. I owe Andrew a debt of gratitude for patiently guiding me through the website process and helping me every step of the way. Thank you son for listening to all my plant stories and your dedication to this project!
Thank you for your interest in the Courage Garden and...
Happy Gardening,
Loretta Simms
Volunteer
