We cordially invite you to participate in this year’s City Nature Challenge, April 29 – May 2. It’s an opportunity to take a closer look at the life that’s all around us – and make some introductions. Say hello to that scraggly weed growing in your sidewalk. Shake hands with a roly-poly emerging from their winter burrow. Tip your hat to a baby fox. </p> The challenge is to observe and document as much life as you can over the competition weekend. Using iNaturalist, an app for your phone, you can take pictures of all the life you meet. Just like a good maître d’, the app will help you put some names to faces. It uses artificial intelligence to guess what you took a photo of and connects you to ID experts and enthusiasts to confirm what you found. Each observation you make will go towards an open source database documenting the life on our planet.</p> Want to meet some other people while you’re at it? Check out our list of hikes. Each group will wander with phone cameras in hand to make observations.</p> After a weekend of introductions, the Gardens are hosting a neighborhood bash to help identify the images taken over the weekend. You can join us too. From 4-6 p.m. on May 3, we’ll gather with laptops to identify what we can. No previous experience required. </p>
Earth Day is almost here. This is a great day to celebrate our planet and show our appreciation for all it provides us with by implementing more sustainable practices to our daily lives and routines. At Denver Botanic Gardens, sustainability is a top priority and is one of our core values as a public institution. </p> We welcome you to join us on Thursday, April 21, for our monthly SCFD Free Day and an Earth Day celebration event</a> where you will not only see beautiful gardens and spring-blooming bulbs, trees and plants, but also a variety of hands-on educational demonstrations:</p> sustainable gardening techniques & practices that you can take home and apply to your garden and landscape</li> learn about composting and soil amendment techniques</li> all-natural insect and pest management practices </li> beneficial pollinators found in Colorado</li> </ul> There will be fun activities such as:</p> flower-matching games</li> learning carts </li> DIY insect hotel tutorials</li> engaging tours that show how the Gardens helps keep our environment green</li> </ul> The new Gold LEED-certified Freyer –Newman Center building will also be open, and the Sturm Family Auditorium will show Earth Day-related films and documentaries</a> that are great for the whole family. </p> Come to Denver Botanic Gardens on Thursday, April 21, to be part of our Earth Day celebration event and be inspired to continue making our community more environmentally friendly and sustainable! See the full schedule of activities</a>. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article>
Conservation of rare species involves knowing where they are found and how many individuals are in a population. If a species can only survive in certain habitats, then any changes to that habitat can drive a species to extinction. Similarly, as the population size decreases, chance events can have an increasing impact. </p> A rare cactus found only in western Colorado has recently been recommended for delisting from the Endangered Species Act because we know more about its natural history now than we did at the time of listing. We have a clearer understanding of how much genetic diversity is present within and among populations (enough to propose naming a new species). We know more about how survival, growth and reproductive rates drive population size (pretty stable). Lastly, and maybe most importantly to this decision, we have better estimates of the number of individuals in each population (many more than previously documented). Estimates of the minimum cactus abundance provide a snapshot of the current status and show that population sizes are large enough to persist through random fluctuations in germination and reproduction. </p>
Enjoy spring at the Gardens! Take advantage of this season to see new growth and notice the small things in life that bring so much joy. Colorful tulips popping up, birds singing and new plants sprouting from their frosty beds encapsulates spring. </p> </p>
Denver Botanic Gardens is all about sustainability. We implement sustainable practices like regenerative agriculture at Chatfield Farms</a>, we sustain rare books in our Helen Fowler Library</a> for the enjoyment of future generations, outfit flat-roofed buildings with solar panels to preserve the energy of the sun and navigate the challenges of water conservation (see recent blog post, The Start of Something Big</a>). Sustainability is embedded in everything we do!</p> This principle can be applied to your support of the Gardens. When you make a gift to the Gardens, you play an essential part in providing support for core programs including horticulture, education, research and conservation. Your gift today sustains the Gardens and supports the many ways we serve our communities. You love supporting the organizations you care about during your life. Now your support can continue beyond your lifespan. </p> When you include a gift to Denver Botanic Gardens in your will, you invest in your legacy. Your planned gift emphasizes the importance you place on connecting people with plants and conserving this habit for future generations.</p> Including a provision for the Gardens in your will is not difficult or cumbersome. In fact, you are almost there! Without leaving the Gardens’ website, navigate to FreeWill</a> to create your own living will. FreeWill is a no-cost will creation tool that anyone can use to create a living will. All estate plans made using FreeWill are 100% legal and specifically tailored to your jurisdiction.</p> We love to celebrate our amazing champions and friends, so if you have already included Denver Botanic Gardens in your will, or have plans to do so, please let us know! By including the Gardens in your estate plans, you are invited to join our Perennial Friends Society</a>, a legacy society made up of individuals who have made a commitment to the Gardens’ future with a bequest or other estate plan arrangement. Members of the Perennial Friends Society enjoy:</p> Annual recognition events including a hosted picnic at a summer concert and the holiday luncheon hosted by the Gardens’ board of trustees</li> Special tours and lectures specific to research and travel by Gardens’ scientific staff, annual outdoor art exhibitions and specific gardens and programming throughout all of Denver Botanic Gardens</li> Recognition in the annual report and other publications (with permission) </li> </ul> Curious about planting your legacy? Please contact the Development Department at development@botanicgardens.org</a> or 720-865-3517.</p> </p> This information is not intended as legal or financial planning advice. An attorney specializing in estate and charitable gift planning is essential to advise you about the best charitable estate planning strategies. It is also important to include your accountant in your discussions.</p>
The digital age gave us a new dimension that infiltrates nearly all aspects of our existence. But, as we navigate this decade, the bearing that nature holds on our everyday lives has reestablished itself as inescapably relevant. Atmospheric carbon pollution is altering every landscape, bringing fires, floods and mass displacement. A virus leap-frogged animal hosts into our global population, upending society faster than any of us could have previously considered possible. </p> This narrative of doom tends to drown out the good when discussing our relationship with nature. Biodiversity is a source of healing and solace to so many. I hung a feeder outside my window to attract the company of chickadees and sparrows. Friends have adopted more house plants than they have room for. A forest hike near a creek or digging a garden has never felt so revitalizing. No matter how much we thought the digital realm had come to dominate our routines, community and economy, nature prevails as the ultimate force. Nevertheless, over the last half century ecologists and biologists have been uniting these domains, creating digital tools to garner understanding of life on Earth, delivering us to this moment when the fundamental unit of discovery, data, has become undeniably relevant to each of us. </p>
In Colorado, 2020 was notable for being the most destructive wildfire season in the state's recent history. That year alone, more than 660,000 acres burned with multiple new records set for Colorado’s largest wildfires. The Calwood Fire, a mixed-severity fire that burned north of the City of Boulder, burned approximately 10,000 acres, primarily made of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests. </p> While low-elevation ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests are fire-adapted, they are adapted to frequent, low to moderate severity fire. In contrast to low severity fire that maintains open forests of mature trees and abundant understory communities (shrubs, wildflowers and grasses), high severity fire results in high tree mortality, post-fire erosion and flooding, and delayed or inhibited forest recovery. While the effects of high severity fire on trees are evident, long-term impacts on understory communities are not as apparent. Depending on the ecosystem or time since fire, moderate and/or high severity fire has been found to both increase or decrease the diversity of understory species. </p> To examine how fire severity influences understory plant communities, I have been collecting data this summer in the Calwood burn scar within Heil Valley Ranch</a> in Boulder County for my master's thesis. In addition to capturing data on what species are growing and how abundant those different species are, I am also collecting soil cores to examine what species are present in the soil seed bank. This upcoming fall I will be germinating my soil samples in the greenhouses at the Gardens’ York Street location. This experiment will contribute to our understanding of what species have dormant seeds resting in the soil seed bank and thus what species are likely to return following subsequent fire or disturbance events. </p> This field season has been humbling with many hot days, endless difficulty in identifying grasses, charcoal-stained clothes and expansive fields of downed logs. I am beyond grateful for all the amazing volunteers and friends who have joined me out in the field to collect some quality data!</p> </p> This article was contributed by Botany Assistant Meredith Prentice</strong>.</em> </p>
Did you know the Gardens offers an inspiring lineup of homeschool enrichment programs designed for curious minds and nature-loving families? These hands-on experiences invite children and their grownups to learn side by side, blending science, art and nature in unforgettable ways.</p> Kicking off the fall season is Homeschool Day: Amazing Adaptations</a> (Sept. 15), where families explore how plants survive in extreme environments—from deserts to rainforests—and even design their own imaginative plant species.</p> If your family loves to get creative, the Homeschool Make and Take series</strong> is perfect. Explore a serene Japanese stroll garden and build your own miniature Japanese garden</a> (Oct. 6), or dive into the tropics and craft a vibrant rainforest terrarium (Nov. 10).</p> For a more structured classroom-style experience, check out the Science Studio for Homeschoolers</strong>. This fall’s offerings include From Plants to Paper</a> (Aug. 25), where students learn to make their own botanical paper, and Cyanotypes</a> (Oct. 20), a unique introduction to sun-powered photography.</p> Families can also enjoy special evening and weekend workshops, like From Garden to Art: Pressing Plants</a> and Monarchs in Motion</a>, extending learning beyond typical school hours.</p> All programs are designed for children ages 6–12, with materials provided and opportunities to create lasting memories.</p> Ready to grow your homeschool journey? Check out the full schedule</a> and register. Financial assistance</a> is available to ensure every family can participate. </p>
Last year, I wrote a blog about my plan for field research on the Avery Peak Twinpod</a>. I was investigating what affects the reproduction within and between the populations of this rare, alpine species. Long story short, my field research during 2024 at three populations of this species did not find large differences in these populations’ reproduction, which was different than what we observed during 2023! But I wanted to highlight another aspect of the data we collected at six populations with the help of several volunteers: the animals that interacted with the Avery Peak Twinpod</a>.</p> The Avery Peak Twinpod was very popular with flower visitors</em> – a term used for potential pollinators, since we don’t know whether these animals are effectively pollinating the plants. There were several kinds of flies and bees detected sitting on the plants’ reproductive organs appearing to gather either pollen or nectar, an activity that often facilitates pollination. We also noted ants, beetles, moths and even one mite, among others. </p> In contrast to the diversity of potential pollinators, it appeared that there was one specific kind of beetle larvae that preferred eating the Avery Peak Twinpod’s flowers, and very occasionally their leaves. I posted photos of these larvae on iNaturalist</a>, and reached out to several entomologists to try to find out what the larvae could be. The entomologists guessed that the larvae were some kind of leaf beetle (family: Chrysomelidae). They discussed potential identifications and referred me to other scientists that could weigh in. With the help of Rob Westerduijn and Dr. Chris Reid, we concluded that the larvae are likely red turnip beetles (Entomoscelis americana</em>). Red turnip beetles are native to North America, are known to eat mustard species, and their larvae can eat farmed crops like kale and other cruciferous vegetables. Adult beetles mostly eat pollen and aren’t as voracious. This identification was further supported by the fact that red turnip beetles are the most commonly observed leaf beetle species in alpine areas on iNaturalist. </p> We also observed some tiny parasitic larvae</a> that caused the leaves of the Avery Peak Twinpod to swell up while they matured. Dr. Matt Bertone believes they are gall midges, a kind of parasitic fly (family: Cecidomyiidae). With the joint effort of several scientists, these observations reveal more about the role the Avery Peak Twinpod plays in its ecosystem. </p> This article was contributed by graduate student My-Lan Le</strong>.</em></p>
