Longs Gardens: Historic Iris Nursery in North Boulder
Longs Gardens: A Century of Iris on Broadway
Few places in Boulder carry more quiet history than Longs Gardens. Founded in 1905 by John Long, the nursery has remained in the Long family for more than a century, making it one of the oldest continuously operating iris nurseries in the United States. It sits at 3240 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80304, a short stretch of garden tucked along the foothills corridor that explodes into color every spring when the iris are in bloom.
Where is it? 3240 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80304 — on the west side of Broadway just north of Iris Avenue, roughly halfway between downtown Boulder and the Diagonal Highway.
The Iris Collection
Longs Gardens specializes in bearded iris — tall beardeds, medians, dwarf types, and reblooming varieties — and has developed and introduced dozens of named cultivars over the decades. The nursery is recognized as an official display garden by the American Iris Society, meaning visitors can see hybridized varieties evaluated and labeled in a formal setting rather than a general retail context.
The bloom season is the main event. Iris typically peak in mid-May through early June in Boulder, and during those weeks the garden is open to visitors who want to walk the rows, pick out plants by color and form, and purchase rhizomes for their own gardens. The selection leans heavily toward varieties the Long family has grown, trialed, and in some cases hybridized on site — not a catalog-ordered assortment, but a curated collection refined over generations.
Visiting and Community Fit
Longs Gardens operates on a seasonal schedule, opening each spring during bloom and closing once the iris finish for the year. It is not a year-round retail nursery. That makes timing essential: visiting outside the bloom window means missing the garden at its most useful and most visually striking.
For 80304 residents, the appeal is straightforward. It is a walkable or bikeable destination from much of North Boulder, the admission is free during open hours, and it offers something genuinely rare — a working specialty nursery with more than a century of unbroken family ownership in the same neighborhood. Parents bring children to walk the rows; gardeners come to shop for rhizomes; photographers come for the color. All three groups find what they came for.
Practical Information
- Address: 3240 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80304
- Hours: Seasonal — open during iris bloom, typically mid-May through early June; check the website for current-year dates before visiting
- Website: longsgardens.com
If you live in 80304 and have never walked the rows at Longs Gardens during bloom, put it on the calendar for this spring. A garden that has been tended by the same family since 1905 earns at least one visit.