Blog
Enjoy "Digging Into the Gardens" blog, written by Denver Botanic Gardens' staff. Learn about gardening, horticulture, research, conservation, special events, art, tours and much more.
Anxiously Awaiting Spring
Spring is the season where I switch from working in the office on a quest to discover patterns in our data that predict the behavior of rare plant populations to venturing out to the field to view
Operation Pollination: Who are our pollinators?
When we think of bees, we usually think of honeybees ( Apis mellifera) that are kept by a beekeeper. But honeybees were originally wild bees native to Europe. Honeybees are naturally social and live
Like a Phoenix: Fungi That Arise from the Ashes of Forest Fires
The scientific study of fire in nature is a growing field known as fire ecology. In this field we have learned that trees like lodgepole pines ( Pinus contorta) require fire to complete their
Operation Pollination
Would you like to help save pollinators? In this new monthly series, I will show you some of the pollinators in our region, the plants that nurture them and what you can do to support them. Why am I
Virtual Colorado Environmental Film Festival: Feb. 12-21
I have been making an annual pilgrimage to Golden the third weekend in February for the past four years to attend the Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF). It’s always worth the trip – even if
The Thrills of Finding and Growing Cacti
It is on the brisk days of winter such as these that I long for the summer days I used to spend out in the field collecting data on Colorado rare plants. In my opinion, very few things beat the thrill
The Importance of Herbarium Volunteers
Volunteers have always been integral to Denver Botanic Gardens’ success. In fact, our natural history collections are the result of hard work by devoted volunteers. Kathryn Kalmbach and several other
Colorado’s Native Orchids
Mention the name “orchid” and most people imagine brightly colored exotic flowers growing in hot, humid rainforests of the tropics. Many Coloradans are surprised to learn that a number of these
Learning to Code for Science
A Gardens scientist conducts a field survey that will be aided by a new web application developed in-house. In mid-March of 2020, just as the nation was locking down in an attempt to curb the initial
Flourishing in the Face of Adversity: Seeds of Success, Part 2
From May through October this year, my colleague Ellyse Varone and I scouted, identified and collected seeds from more than 30 populations of 18 different species. We overcame many hurdles—collecting
Gratitude in the Face of Adversity: Seeds of Success, Part 1
Armed with a stack of maps, a GPS and list of plant species, my colleague Alyssa and I are the first Seeds of Success crew Denver Botanic Gardens has sent to Wyoming. As our field truck creaks and
Mycology, Then and Now
The amazingly diverse kingdom of Fungi has recently gained increased attention from the world of bioscience, nature lovers and citizen scientists. Because of brilliant new technologies developed in