Beginning the series after all seven seasons had been released, I arrived late to the “Game of Thrones” party. I plowed through all seven seasons within three months and was left to pine away for the release of the eighth and final season in April. I had months to think about the future of the realm and what would happen when the White Walkers battle the united Houses and the Free Folk; winter was coming.</p> I designed the 2019 Annuals Garden and Pavilion beds while binge-watching “Games of Thrones” and named each bed design after my new favorite television show. As I pored over my plans, I found it somewhat difficult to name such bright and happy designs in honor of a TV series that can be so dark and grim. I began to ask myself if the garden would seem gimmicky or it would offend visitors. After naming half of the designs, I abandoned the plan.</p> Then something unexpected happened and inspiration knocked me over the head when I saw Dior: From Paris to the World </em>at Denver Art Museum. I was struck that Christian Dior and his succeeding creative directors named each dress. The meanings of some dress names are obvious while others are more of a mystery. The names provided something additional to ponder and more significance to each design. I decided right then and there that I will always name my garden designs as they, too, are pieces of art. It no longer mattered what others thought because it is an important and fun part of my creative process.</p> I pulled parallels of the plant colors, textures and moods from settings, objects, language, battles and characters of the “Game of Thrones” world:</p> Fire and Ice </strong>is the name for the design on the west berm in the Annuals Garden. This is homage to George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice” novels from which “Game of Thrones” is adapted. The plant and flower colors are rich with warm burgundy contrasted with frosty whites and silvers. This bed is the backdrop for two houses that merge together in wedding ceremonies. Look for cascading, burgundy Amaranthus caudatus</em> ‘Dreadlocks’ spilling over the wall and bluish-silvery cardoon to be standouts in this bed.</li> Khaleesie </strong>graces the name of the garden bed across from Fire and Ice. it is a raised planter in the center of the garden. The color palate is similar but has more of a tonal array of burgundy, pink and silver. Lime green is added to enhance this design. It is a beautiful composition in color and many of the blossoms are exquisite—fit for Khaleesie. Towering cactus formed Nuit d’ Ete dahlias are a companion to the lime green Abutilon</em>, also known as flowering maple.</li> Drakarys</strong>, the Dragon Queen’s command for her dragons to breathe fire, inspired the bold, bright and warm colors of the two beds to the north along the water’s edge. Bright salvia called Love and Wishes and orange, tasseled Irish Poet are two new favorite annual flowers of mine.</li> Milk of the Poppy</strong> is a garden bed designed with all white and cream flowers, mixed with green. If one lingers too long here, one might fall into eternal sleep. Spiked Rocket White snapdragons pierce through mounds of Vanilla marigolds.</li> The Rains of Castamere</strong> is adjacent to Milk of the Poppy, </em>featuring soft pink, coral and peach floral tones. Dark foliage plants and grasses are mixed in with the sweet hues. I chose this design name after the song of the same name written in the “A Song of Fire and Ice” novels, because it is performed at the end of the episode “Blackwater” by one of my favorite bands, The National. I selected plants with dark gray and black hues that remind me of rain and the battle of Blackwater that took place in the episode. This bed features two types of ornamental millets: Purple Majesty and Copper Prince.</li> The Wall </strong>is the long bed to the south where upright columnar basil (Ocimum </em>‘Lesbos’) will create a hedge-like wall when fully grown. The plants in between the basil have dark hues and silvery whites. This wall planting represents The Night’s Watchmen in their back clothing keeping a watchful eye for the icy Night King and his army of the dead.</li> Weirwood </strong>is the name of the bed to the east. This bed has a very large Quercus shumardii, </em>or Shumard oak. The leaves turn scarlet red in fall. In “Game of Thrones,” Weirwood is a tree considered sacred to characters who worship the Old Gods. Weirwood trees have red leaves just like the Shumard Oak in the bed.</li> Wildling, Dorne and Highgarden</strong> are the three rectangle beds to the south. The bed named for the Wildlings is bright and features plants that attract pollinators. I thought Wildling was a great name for this design because the naturalistic and free form design reminds me of what the Free Folk live for. Bright violet cleome and tricolored ornamental peppers make a statement in this wild design. The middle Dorne bed is long with yellow and purple flowers, fit for Dornish highborns to roam. Little Gem marigold has a lemony fragrance in this Dornish bed. The Highgarden bed to the west is lush, showing fleshy hues and romantic blossoms of Versailles Flush cosmos and CHANTILLY ™ Light Salmon snapdragons. This bed is named for the prosperous city of Tyrell. It boasts billowing flowers that are pure and innocent, just like Margaery Tyrell!</li> To the south, a long planter rests underneath a gray pergola. This design has many layers of flowers and foliage plants. Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus </em>‘Nigrescens’) and dark hues of petunias contrast with the red foliage of coleus and impatiens. This was the first bed I named; can you guess what I called it? The name of this design is Red Wedding</strong>. </em></li> </ul>
When their gardens are blanketed in snow, what do the horticulturists at Denver Botanic Gardens do? Well, for starters, they still garden! When the temperature is above freezing, our dedicated horticulturists are still pruning, removing plant debris and impeccably maintaining gardens for the coming spring. During the winter, horticulturists also expand their job descriptions immensely. Allow me to share just a few examples.</p> First and foremost, horticulture at the level we strive for requires meticulous planning and preparation. This consumes a large portion of a horticulturist’s time during the winter. They synthesize observations and data recorded throughout the growing season. Understanding how plants, design schemes and watering regimen affected their garden, they can continuously improve from each year to the next.</p> The horticulturists create comprehensive designs for every garden and order and propagate plants during this time to be ready for the first sign of spring. Horticulturists really tap into their creativity to try new plants, new designs or new planting techniques to keep Denver Botanic Gardens one of the best botanic gardens in the country.</p> The Gardens’ horticulturists here aren’t satisfied with only expanding their own knowledge. They take their expertise and share it with the Colorado community. This information is provided through symposia, conferences, classes, presentations and career fairs.</p> One of the best parts of this time of year is the ability for our staff to really work with other departments at the Gardens, such as education, research or marketing, to develop workshops, tours and interpretation to make a patron’s visit more educational and interesting.</p> Beyond all this, winter provides time for some very interesting work – plant exploration. Botanic gardens are first and foremost living museums of plants. We are constantly striving to expand collections, both for horticultural interest and conservation. Winter here in the northern hemisphere means the growing season in the southern hemisphere. It provides a great opportunity to observe plants in their prime and collect seed around the globe. During these winter months, while our plants lie dormant, we can collect and add more unique and interesting plants for you to see on your next visit! A few past trips we have undertaken in the southern hemisphere include plant exploration and collecting in South Africa, Lesotho and Argentina (Patagonia).</p> Now when the gardens are covered in snow and the horticulturists hard to find, I hope you have an idea of the work they are engaged in.</p>
For most, the word “evergreen” evokes the thought of a pine, spruce or fir tree. These are the trees that give year-round structure to our gardens and provide points to hold our attention and direct our focus. They are the forests that we cut for timber, paper and fuel. Without the dominance of the evergreen in the boreal kingdom we would surely have much poorer and colder lives.</p> While these giants provide much for us there are many other plants that share the designation and description of evergreen. To simplify and to broaden the term, evergreen means something that holds on to its photosynthetic tissue for at least a full year. Given this broader definition we can walk the garden in a new light of appreciation for evergreen plants.</p> From the moment you enter the Gardens you are greeted by a long hedge of our native Juniperus</em> </em>scopulorum </em>(Rocky Mountain juniper).</em> This scale-forming evergreen is many things to the O’Fallon Perennial Walk. It is the greenscreen before which a yearlong ballet of color and form dance. Its sheer height creates the illusion of a much larger, grander space. The rather formal specimens that comprise this hedge are nothing like what you would find growing tortured and wild in our adjacent foothills.</p> Moving past the perennial garden we encounter another structural wonder, but this time there is a splash of color and sense of delight and movement. The Romantic Gardens’ allée is created with Thuja</em> </em>occidentalis</em> </em>‘Yellow Ribbon’. Here in front of these glowing spires hundreds of couples have sworn sacred oaths.</p> Some sort or form of evergreen plant can be found in every garden on our campus but there is one garden that is themed just to showcase unique mutations in traditional evergreens. This is the Dwarf Conifer Collection. Most trees in this garden have some form of mutated, stunted or deviant growth habit and are clustered together to highlight how special and different these variants can be. Many of these plants have been collected in the Rocky Mountains and are grafted onto a “normal” root stock. Finding and propagating “dwarf conifers” is an entire industry in and of itself. Collectors from around the world come to study and evaluate these fascinating plants.</p> Up till now we have talked about mostly coniferous plants and how we associate them as having evergreen foliage. But another important group of plants can be seen on the east face of Dryland Mesa. The plants here are what we term broadleaf evergreens and their scientific name is Arctostaphylos.</em> These shrubs are very important members of our western flora and represent examples of species from Colorado and neighboring states. Most have round, thick, almost leathery leaves that have a soft green glow and are possibly best appreciated with a background of snow to accentuate the exfoliating rust-colored bark and the dancing green leaves. Wild and beautiful, these are specimens that are left largely untouched and allowed to grow to whatever form the local climate dictates.</p> The broadleaved evergreen Arctostaphylos</em> x coloradensis</em> has so many attractive qualities that staff member Larry Jackel has turned a rooted cutting of one into a bonsai. This selection blooms quite early and often goes on display in Marnie's Pavilion while in full flower in February.</p> A little farther on there is another example of a broadleaf evergreen. Used as a foundation planting and sculpted as a hedge, garden boxwoods (Buxus </em>‘Green Velvet’) are grown to create separation in the garden beds of Le Potager.</p>
With very few exceptions, January flowers are hard to come by in a Colorado landscape. Not so in the tropical plant collections at Denver Botanic Gardens. The Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory, Marnie’s Pavilion and the Orangery are a perfect venue for your winter floral fix.</p> Clerodendrum </em>× speciosum</em> is a sterile natural hybrid that can be found in tropical regions of Africa. It’s hard to miss the bright orange flowers on this sprawling vine. Look closely and you’ll see that once the flowers have dropped, a bright purple calyx is left behind giving the impression that this plant is almost always in bloom. Look for this vine about halfway through the Tropical Conservatory on the south side.</p> A little further along the south path is a beautiful specimen of Dombeya elegans</em> – a hibiscus relative from southeast Africa. This plant is prized in tropical landscapes for its profuse winter blooms and it drought tolerance.</p> Cross to the north side of the Tropical Conservatory for a beautiful display from Heliconia orthotricha.</em> This species is native to Ecuador and naturally has many color variations. Ours is a bright mix of orange, red and yellow. You can’t miss it.</p> Exiting into Marnie’s Pavilion, take a moment to appreciate the powder-puff-like blossoms of Calliandra surinamensis</em>. In the wild, members of this genus cover a wide range. But as the name implies, Calliandra surinamensis</em> can be found growing wild in Surinam as well as other parts of northern South America. The colorful flowers of the legume attract nectar-feeding birds and butterflies.</p> You can finish your tour of blossoms in the Orangery where you can relax and enjoy the display of orchids in our annual Orchid Showcase, Jan. 10 – Feb. 17, 2019. Hundreds of blossoms will help you forget the worries of the day and plenty of benches are available for you to sit and decompress.</p>
</p> The holiday season is in full bloom at York Street as Blossoms of Light™</a> delights thousands of guests each night with mesmerizing displays of light and color. Though it is a tradition for many Front Range families, the new designs and features provide a new adventure every year for even the most seasoned visitors. In fact, CNN has ranked</a> Blossoms of Light as one of the top places to see lights in the entire country! </p> As you wander the lights, keep in mind that it takes a lot to get to this point! Here are some fun facts about Blossoms of Light that, if they don’t make you enjoy the lights even more, may at least shed some light (ha) on the scope and scale of this massive public event.</p> Blossoms of Light opened its first season of illumination over 30 years ago, in 1988.</li> Blossoms of Light is the Gardens’ largest single event of the year, drawing in more guests and revenue than any other.</li> It takes 13 months to design, plan, and execute the event. </li> Installation of lights begins on the Tuesday after Labor Day, and every light is removed by the end of February. Lights are installed with poles, lifts, climbing harnesses, waders and cherry-picker buckets.</li> Custom-strung lights are built by hand starting in early summer. Unusual light colors, such as teal or purple, must be ordered 6-8 months in advance because manufacturers only produce limited quantities each year.</li> We estimate there are more than half a million individual lights in the entire display. The exact number is very difficult to calculate!</li> 100 percent of the decorative lights used are LED.</li> Squirrels and wind are the biggest enemies to the lighting equipment.</li> The eagle-eyed visitor may notice that we double-dip in a few areas – we turn on some of the spookiest lights for Glow at the Gardens in October.</li> This is the first year in over a decade that we have extended Blossoms of Light more than a week past New Year's.</li> </ol> Tickets are selling quickly, so get yours before they are gone. We look forward to celebrating the season of light with you!</p> Blossoms of Light is open nightly (closed December 25) through January 16, 2021. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Get your tickets today!</a></strong></p> </p>
In part two of this series, we talked about carnivorous plants that use passive traps to catch insects and other small prey. Next, we cover the third and final trapping mechanism used by predatory plants — adhesive traps.</p> These traps can be divided further into the following categories: flypaper, fixed tentacles and mobile tentacles.</p> Flypaper Traps</strong></h3> Carnivorous plants with flypaper traps ensnare their victims with a sticky mucus that also acts as an attractant. Butterworts (Pinguicula</em> spp.) fall into this category. This genus currently contains over 80 species with new discoveries still being made in recent years. They can be found growing in native habitats throughout the northern hemisphere and southward into Central and South America. The richest species diversity can be found in Mexico.</p> Butterworts catch smaller insects such as gnats and fruit flies. These insects are drawn in by the sweet scent of the sticky nectar produced by the plant on short stalks attached to the leaf surface. Once the insect lands, it is unable to free itself and is digested on the leaf surface by a mix of digestive enzymes and acids secreted by the plant, with only their exoskeleton remaining as evidence of their demise.</p> These beautiful but deadly plants are beloved for their general ease of cultivation as well as their brightly colored flowers which range in color from white to yellow to scarlet red.</p> Fixed Tentacles</strong></h3> A second form of adhesive trapping mechanisms can be found in Portuguese sundew (Drosophyllum lusitanicum</em>) and rainbow plants (Byblis</em> spp.). These plants use a technique similar to butterworts to capture their prey, but the sticky mucus they produce is held further out from the leaf surface on fixed tentacles. This allows the plants to capture prey that is a bit further from their leaves and also larger in size than those caught by butterworts.</p> Portuguese sundew is unique from other carnivorous plants in that it is native to the relatively dry western Mediterranean regions of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It can be a bit trickier to grow since it requires a faster draining soil media and more infrequent watering than its bog loving kin. The sticky mucus produced by this plant has a thicker, more resinous consistency than that of species found growing in boggy areas. This allows it to function better in the more arid conditions of its native habitats.</p> Rainbow plants are native to Australia and New Guinea, with seven species currently known to exist. Some are annuals and others are perennials. All live up to their common name, giving off a rainbow effect from their glistening leaves when struck by rays of sunlight.</p> Mobile Tentacles</strong></h3> Finally, the last example of adhesive traps can be found in sundews (Drosera</em> spp.), which have tentacles that move slowly to encompass their prey, smothering them in digestive enzyme-rich mucus. I love this quote from Peter D’Amato in his book, The Savage Garden: "If an insect ever evolved the brains to write a horror novel, the monster in that novel would probably be a sundew."</p> Sundews can be found growing on every continent but Antarctica, with the richest species diversity occurring in Australia. Over 125 species have been named in a wide range of forms, with many pygmy sundews staying the size of a small coin and other species like the South African king sundew (D. regia</em>) growing to over 2 feet tall.</p> If you are looking for a great carnivorous plant for beginners, the Cape sundew (D. capensis</em>) will be your best bet. Simply plant it in a mix of half peat and half sand, place it in a shallow saucer of distilled water in a sunny windowsill, and watch it catch any fly or fruit fly that dares to come near it. This plant seeds easily, and we often have seedlings available at our spring plant sale each year.</p> Butterworts and sundews can be found in the terrariums located at the east end of the Orangery. They can also be viewed during Free Days at the Gardens at the Carnivorous Plant Education table. Our Portuguese sundew lives in our aquatics greenhouse, where it has a steady supply of insects to keep it well fed. It can be viewed in some of our behind the scenes tours at the Gardens.</p> </p> For additional information about Carnivorous Plants, be sure to check out the International Carnivorous Plant Society’s website</a>. "The Savage Garden," by Peter D’Amato and "Growing Carnivorous Plants," by Barry A. Rice are both great books on the subject that offer more in-depth information about these amazing plants.</p>
From the moment your lungs take in that first breath of warm, comforting and humid air you know you have entered the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory. The Tropical Conservatory is home to over 550 species of plants spanning 306 genera from 87 plant families from all over the world. You have probably seen many epiphytes on previous visits but maybe didn’t know what they were. Read on and I shall cast some light on these wonderful oddities!</p> Epiphytes are organisms that grow on the surface of host plants, often attaching themselves with strong roots. They obtain moisture from the air and nutrients from debris around them. A common example of this would be Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides</em>) growing off of a tree branch. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they attach only for physical support, not for food or water. They are found in every major group of the plant kingdom, including some species of algae growing under water. The Tropical Conservatory is host to many epiphytes, and they come in many different forms.</p> As you enter the Tropical Conservatory from the east end, take a few steps in and look up to the right. In a planter pocket of the rock ledge grows an exciting epiphytic orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum</em>. Native to Indonesia, it is also known as the sugar cane orchid, because of the appearance of the pseudobulbs. The largest plant was recorded as weighing more than a ton and each raceme can bear up to 80 scented flowers. It can remain in bloom for up to 2 months.</p> Continue down the path, past the duck pond and up the stairs to the main level. From the top of the stairs turn right and look at the wall. Here you will see Platycerium bifurcatum</em>, or staghorn fern, mounted here. It is native to Java, New Guinea and southeastern Australia. They require consistent moisture and shady locations. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. Its common name comes from the appearance of the dissected fronds.</p> The final plant on our epiphytic journey is an amazing silvery plant called Tillandsia tectorum</em>. It is found at the top of the treehouse, the highest point you can get to in the Tropical Conservatory. It has many thin, very silvery leaves and loves high light and heat. This plant is native to Peru and Ecuador. In late summer it gets a lovely light purple/pink bloom that can last for several months. This species is well suited to Colorado because of its love of low humidity and intense sunlight and makes a great plant for you to try at home.</p>
In the 1860s, pioneers settled on the land next to Deer Creek in what is now Littleton. The stream provided the settlers with the only water around for miles. Frank Hildebrand bought a log cabin and a large piece of land where he and his family constructed barns and other structures for their ranching business. Being in the arid grasslands up against the foothills, the Hildebrands understood that they needed to find a working relationship between the environment and their family farm. Their house, garden and summer kitchen were built near the creek to take advantage of the steady flow of water.</p> But building their structures near Deer Creek was a double-edged sword for the Hildebrands. The convenience of having close access to a vital resource was offset by the possibility of flooding caused by high-flow events. Our experts speculate that to mitigate the risk of flooding, the Hildebrands worked to channelize Deer Creek. Deepening the ravine and steepening the banks would increase the capacity for flow volume so floods could move through the system efficiently, causing less damage to the upper terrace and the Hildebrands’ livelihoods.</p> Today, the property is split between an open space park in Jefferson County and Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. Hildebrand Ranch is on the National Register of Historic Places and many of the original buildings are still standing. Deer Creek is also an important wildlife corridor for bears, beavers, deer, coyotes, raccoons and many species of birds; however, channelized streams are not very productive for native species. Our conservation ecology team is developing a stream restoration plan that will find a balance between restoring the natural meanders of Deer Creek while also protecting the historical buildings on site.</p> This blog post was written by Margo Paces, M.S. student at University of Colorado Denver. Margo studies stream restoration along Deer Creek at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. She quantifies plant communities along the riparian corridor to gauge the effectiveness of restoration efforts.</em></p>
