DENVER (CBS4) – Crews at the Denver Botanic Gardens set plants and grasses on fire Thursday morning in a planned controlled burn.

Employees at the gardens said such burns take place every two to four years and are done to “replicate the natural processes that help to maintain grassland ecosystems.”

The fire was set in the native prairie area on grasses that would be in a natural burn cycle and the burn area covered about 2 1/2 acres.

“It removes a lot of the debris, and it allows the seeds of forbes and wildflowers to germinate,” said Mike Bone with the Denver Botanic Gardens. “A lot of the plants have developed these mechanisms to survive these natural fires, and they actually need them as a process of germination and regrowth.”

Bone says that means the gardens should have really spectacular wildflowers for the next several years.

PHOTO GALLERY: See More Photos From The DBG Burns