The name of the Japanese Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens, 松風園 Sho-Fu-En, means ‘The garden of pine and wind’ and was inspired by the Rocky Mountain wilderness. </p> During our growing season, we often think of evergreens as a background to colorful flowers and leaves. Winter precedes the vivid colors of spring and summer which then fade away in the fall. Now the evergreens become the focus in the Japanese Garden as most plants go dormant until next spring.</p> December is a wonderful time of the year in the Japanese Garden. We welcome various shades of green against the greys and browns of the early winter landscape. The ancient ponderosa character pines display their movement and structure showcasing the rugged Rocky Mountain scenery. The pines cast their shadow on the lake and the water reflects gentle winter sunlight, changing its appearance throughout the day.</p> In the early morning after a cold and snowy December night, you will find the quiet beauty of 松風園 on the snowcapped flexible ponderosa pine branches. Snow flocks the juniper’s needled branches and the Russian hawthorn’s red berries. Atop the fresh snow we often find a variety of animal footprints, evidence of the mysterious activities of nocturnal creatures in the garden. These slowly melt away under Colorado’s bright winter sunlight.</p>
We think of fall as the time when the fun of gardening ends for the year; but fall is the best gardening season to be active. Enjoy end-of-season vegetable gardening maintenance practices with these tips:</p> The cool weather-loving fall crops—lettuce, spinach, arugula, radish and cabbage—should be growing happily and are ready to be harvested.</li> Crops like kale and carrots can stay in the garden for a while, as they can survive a few frosts and the cold temperatures improve their flavor.</li> For fall color, plant pansies. They overwinter under the snow and will perform beautifully next spring since their roots establish during the cold months.</li> Fall is the best time to divide perennial vegetables such as rhubarb, sorrel, chives and asparagus.</li> The most important task in fall is to prepare your garden soil for winter. Remove all debris (and toss into the compost pile for the next growing season) and add manure and compost to enrich the soil for spring.</li> Tender edible perennials such as artichoke can benefit from mulching for extra protection from winter temperatures.</li> Sowing winter wheat in the garden as a cover crop helps improve the soil.</li> Record this year’s planting design to plan for next year’s crop rotation.</li> Containers and planters should be emptied, washed and stored in a safe place for the winter.</li> Garden tools and equipment should be cleaned, sharpened and adjusted and ready to use in early spring.</li> </ul> Fall is an exciting season, busy with small projects that prepare our gardens for the winter season—which can be spent planning and preparing for spring!</p>
We all have favorite seasons. Mine has always been autumn, probably because it’s the time of year I wish would last twice as long. Everything seems mature in the plant world and determined to go out in a blaze of glory.</p> </p> Autumn at Denver Botanic Gardens has definitely reached a new level in recent years. We turn our eyes to Chatfield Farms, with a mind-bending Corn Maze and the down-home Pumpkin Festival. Now, York Street has Glow, along with Día de los Muertos and a variety of harvest classes and ghost tours. In other words, it’s very busy and all good fun.</p> Autumn also wraps a few things up. This year has been simply remarkable. Yes, the Walker exhibit was stunning. Yes, Chatfield Stables Pavilion is a wonderful new asset. And of course, the expansion of the Sensory Garden and the opening of the new Steppe and All-America Selections gardens are fantastic milestones.</p> Certainly, the refurbishment of the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory, in its 50th year, seems almost like a spiritual fulfillment.</p> All terrific. But the true test is right there in our mission – to connect people with plants, especially plants from the Rocky Mountain region and similar regions around the world, providing delight and enlightenment to everyone. Are we using a vast array of assets to make those connections in powerful, relevant ways?</p> You bet we are.</p> The Gardens’ Urban Food Initiatives is an obvious example. How about Dr. Sarada Krishnan’s wide-ranging work on behalf of the Crop Trust to support sustainable and genetically-diverse coffee production? Whole countries have economies based on coffee and they are simply too vulnerable. Did you know about the teamwork between Chatfield Farms and the Research and Conservation Department that is restoring the natural flow of Deer Creek through our southern property?</p> Then there’s therapeutic horticulture, children’s education (including classes at the Plains Conservation Center), yoga, cooking classes, tours, library programs, lecture series, new publications and botanical illustration – you get the idea.</p> The harvest season, in any culture, is when you take stock of good fortune and hard toil. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff, the donors and supporters, who made this year such a profound success.</p> The cycle of a year is a natural thrill ride, especially when your focus is on the natural world. Before everything gets tucked in for a long winter’s night, it’s a privilege to celebrate the culmination of summer’s dreams in autumn’s light.</p>
Welcome to the Steppe Garden. This unique garden showcases plants from steppe regions of the world. The featured steppe regions and associated continents are:</p> South Africa</strong>, which is divided into summer rainfall habitat, winter rainfall habitat and cultivated material.</li> Central Asia</strong>, which exhibits plants from all across Eurasia.</li> South America</strong>, which showcases plants from Argentina and more specifically Patagonia.</li> North America</strong>, which is largely showcased by the cottonwood habitat and the associated grasslands. There is also a section that showcases plants from the Intermountain West.</li> </ul> All of these areas have specific interpretation to assist you in discovering more about the steppe phenomenon.</p> Tour</h3> As you enter the garden from the main east/west path you are instantly greeted by a large rock mass. This, along with the other rock features, do several things for the garden. All steppes are influenced by geology, specifically the proximity to a greater mountain range that creates a rainshadow that influences when and how precipitation and water comes into the steppe. These rock massifs also help give a visual break and help to guide the visitor through the garden. The way that mountains erode influence the very soil structure and composition that are incredibly important aspects of the flora that grows there.</p> Entering the Steppe Garden you will notice three large stone structures. These curious objects are planters that all have specific uses and showcase important microcosms within the greater steppe biome.</p> One of the planters showcases plants that are called “living stones.”</li> The central planter has a small trickling fountain to illustrate the importance and scarcity of water in the steppe.</li> The last planter highlights cushion plants, an adapted growth form.</li> </ul> These planters were painstakingly constructed by the Gardens’ stonemasons and are not only works of art but are becoming living interpretations of specialty conditions and a unique way to grow plants from very specific ecological niches.</p> South Africa is one of the larger areas in the garden and rightly so as the flora of South Africa is one of the largest in terms of diversity and endemism (only found in one geographic region) of all of the regions. Plants from South Africa are incredibly important to our garden spaces and have been grown and hybridized for many years. Some classic examples of plants that are seen and used every day are Pelargonium</em> (geraniums in the vernacular), Gladiolus</em> and Delosperma</em> (ice plants). A major goal of the South African portion of the garden is to highlight plants that have been influenced by human selection or breeding and compare or contrast them next to plants that have been collected in the wild or are species that have not been manipulated by human influence.</p> Central Asia is the largest of the steppe regions and has been crucial to human movement and influence for many thousands of years. The great Silk Road runs right through the heart of Central Asia and was responsible for the movement of goods as well as plants. Many of the classic garden perennials owe their lineage to this vast part of the world. Some classic examples of plants from here are peonies, tulips and delphiniums. The collections in this part of the garden focus on plants from the western portion of the Eurasian supercontinent.</p> South America is a wondrous and fascinating part of the world. The plants that we grow from there are quite unique but have a sense of familiarity about them. Grasses dominate the massive expanse known as the Estepa Patagónica</em>. These grasses are the structural web that dominates the visual plane and gives home and protection to important flowering plants. The flora of Patagonia is the region that currently has the least amount of representation. Don’t worry: Gardens staff is working hard at acquiring plants through our network of colleagues and partners that we have been developing for many years. Keep your eyes on this area as there will be many new-to-cultivation plants grown specifically for this space.</p> North America is the part of the garden that we may be most familiar with. It is our home and our backyard stomping grounds. Much of the work of our research department takes place throughout the North American steppe. To understand what steppe is, one must study and learn about our own sense of place and all of the factors that bring us to call the Front Range of Colorado home. The plants of the great North American steppe are crucial to our way of life. Much of our native steppe has been replaced by monocultural farm lands or ranches grazed for animal production. Our steppe is imperiled. Learning about the native plants that grow there as well as having refuge for them to be protected is vital to working towards a healthy ecosystem.</p> No trip to the Steppe Garden can be complete without a stop in the Science Pyramid. This is a place to explore all of the elements that can help you find a deeper knowledge of steppe. The Steppe Garden and Science Pyramid are a central part of the gardens, both physically and institutionally. We are residents of the steppe and as we explore the similarities and differences of the great steppe regions, we gain both a sense of place as well as the ability to redefine what it means to garden here.</p>
Join us for the 50th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society Show.</p> Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019,</strong> 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019, </strong>9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Exhibit and demonstrations are included with admission both days.</p> Activities in the UMB Bank Amphitheater include:</p> Featuring RMBS member trees including many Colorado native tree species</li> Bonsai demonstrations and tours will given by RMBS members</li> Vendors will be selling starter bonsai and accessories</li> </ul> The featured guest artist is Todd Schlaffer, a local professional bonsai artist who will give a bonsai demonstration.</p> While you’re at the Gardens, be sure to visit the Shofu-En Japanese Garden, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.</p> We hope to see you there!</p>
It may seem a bit early to be thinking about twinkle lights and hot chocolate, but it’s not too early for Denver Botanic Gardens' Events Department at our York Street location! The dazzling light display produced every year at Blossoms of Light is no small feat to produce: months of designing, planning, scheduling and coordinating are required before we open our doors the evening after Thanksgiving. What takes so much time? Here’s a peek behind the scenes:</p> December: While It’s Still Fresh</strong> Before Blossoms of Light even hits the busy season, event coordinators walk the entire path to begin thinking about the next year’s display. With hundreds of trees and plants being decorated, it’s much easier to visualize potential changes while looking at the current lighting! Are there any color combinations we don’t like? Are there any areas we love enough to keep them exactly the same? What new spins can we take to give the display a fresh look?</p> January-February: Dreaming Big</strong> This is the time of year when we dream big. Using our walkthrough from December as a base, we now meticulously comb through our color choices. Every single tree is considered individually. We also begin thinking about what new features we could incorporate. We try to think outside the box about everything we could possibly want, knowing that the next few months will be about making choices and paring down.</p> March-May: Can Dreams Be Reality?</strong> Once we’ve put together our wish list, we meet with our lighting installer, horticulturists, electricians and many others to determine how many of our dreams can become reality. There are many factors to consider to determine the feasibility of each element. Some trees may not be stable enough to climb and can’t be reached from a lift or ladder. Other areas of the Gardens do not have enough electricity to support large expansions. Certain pathways may be difficult to keep clear of snow, ice, and water. Some structures cannot have lights attached to them. There’s a lot to think about! After multiple rounds of editing, cutting, and fine-tuning color choices, we finally submit our design to our lighting installer.</p> June-August: All the Little Details </strong> Once our display decisions have been made, it’s time to start focusing on everything else beyond the lights. We start looking at logistics for ticketing, parking, volunteers, security, marketing efforts, food and beverage, souvenirs, non-lighting decorations, and more.</p> September-October: Installation </strong> After Labor Day, our lighting installer begins stringing lights. This can be a challenge as a huge number of trees and shrubs are still fully leafed-out, but with thousands of strings going up, it takes quite a long time to install them all. You may see the team out and about in the Gardens periodically during this process, hanging one string of lights at a time.</p> November: Home Stretch </strong> The last of the lights are strung. Electrical connections are made. Volunteers are finalized. Decorations are installed. We conduct multiple walkthroughs with our installer to make adjustments to this tree, add lights to that shrub, remove lights from that structure. Then finally, on the day after Thanksgiving, we open the doors to the winter wonderland we’ve spent almost an entire year creating.</p> Blossoms of Light has become a holiday tradition for many Front Range families. Our goal is to provide a fresh and exciting display each year, but also to hold fast to some of the favorite features our guests have come to expect. This year’s display will feature a longer path, new areas we’ve never lit before, and thousands and thousands more individual bulbs. It promises to be a spectacular way to celebrate the holidays!</p> In the mood for twinkle lights and hot chocolate now? Tickets for Blossoms of Light are already on sale. Get your Blossoms of Light tickets today!</a></p>
Each spring for over 65 years, Denver Botanic Gardens has hosted a sale of plants, seeds, bulbs and garden supplies. Hundreds of volunteers and staff members commit their time to selecting plant varieties ranging from the very common to the very obscure for Front Range residents to purchase. </p> Spring Plant Sale</a> takes place on Friday and Saturday, May 6-7, 2016 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is free! </strong>Get here early to get the best pick of the plants, and don’t forget to bring a wagon to haul them around.</p> It’s easy to find plants to buy. Nearly every grocery store and hardware store has at least a rack or two available as the days grow longer and sunnier. So why head all the way to York Street for the two-day Spring Plant Sale at the Gardens?</p> Expert Advice</strong></p> Our horticulturists and trained volunteers will be onsite throughout the sale to give advice and answer your questions. Trying something new? Our team can help to you determine where to plant, how to feed, and how to care for your new flora.</p> Find Unique Plants</strong></p> Sure, we’ll have lots of standard plants for sale. But you’ll also find many plants at the Gardens you might not find anywhere else in the region. Some of these are grown right here at the Gardens!</p> Something For Everyone</strong></p> Looking to start a beautifully-designed container garden? Check out our Container Planting division. Planning to grow your own food? Stop by the Herbs tent or the Fruits, Berries and Vegetables area. Trying to return your garden to native or low-maintenance plants? See our teams in Water-Smart, Plant Select® or Rock Alpine. Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift? Grab a Hanging Basket! With over a dozen different divisions, we have a plant for everyone.</p> Support the Gardens</strong></p> Part of our core mission is to connect people with plants, and while the Spring Plant Sale does that in a very literal sense, it also supports the Gardens’ other endeavors.</p> Whether you have a large vegetable garden, well-manicured landscaping, containers on the porch or a sunny window in your home, we have something for you at the Spring Plant Sale.</p>
This past year I was the recipient of a Chanticleer Garden Scholarship awarded to professionals in Public Gardening, in my case to do a floristic and cultural comparison of two mountains in Greece and Turkey which have both been called Mount Olympus in past centuries. As often occurs, I encountered some wonderful things en route that are well worth sharing…in my case, a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland on my way to Europe.</p> As a young man, I envied my friends who flew the old Icelandic Air and had stopovers on that island. The new Iceland Air has renewed this option, and I hopped on the chance to spend a day in the capital city. The airplane arrived about 6 a.m. Being June 27, it was bright as mid-day at that time! I had almost 18 hours (all in full daytime) to explore, and naturally, I went straight to the Botanical Garden which is a short bus ride from the downtown area.</p> Needless to say, I felt right at home when one of the first plants to greet me was a superb specimen of Colorado Columbine in glorious peak bloom! The rock garden at this garden is situated right at the front gate, and it is perhaps their best garden feature—wonderful use of stones, and a mind-boggling collection of choice alpine plants, many of which I’d never seen before.</p> I have never seen the rare European yellow columbine (Aquilegia aurea</em>) anywhere else in cultivation in any public or private garden, except for a brief appearance here in Denver several decades ago. Seeing this made me determined to find seed and grow it in Denver once again (see the gallery featuring images of all of these plants).</p> I was also deeply impressed by a wonderful spread of the golden saxifrage (Chrysoplenium tetrandrum</em>) an unusual circumboreal alpine. I have seen this in a few gardens before, and I’ve found it growing wild in Kazakhstan. What galled me, however, finding this here was that this is one of the few native Colorado wildflowers that I’ve never seen growing in nature in Colorado, although it has been found several times just an hour or so drive from Denver proper (on Mount Evans for instance). And here I’m finding it first in a garden in Iceland. You can see why I was a tad jealous!</p> Few people would mistake this for a Saxifrage—this strange group of “rock breakers” are found mostly in the Himalayas where come in other colors and strange forms. I find this to be fascinating, and am determined to find it in one of its dozen or so Colorado locations in the summer of 2016.</p> Another old friend I never expected to find in Iceland was the miniature yellow ice plant—not the familiar D. nubigenum</em>, but a more congested, high alpine species that is going about under various names. I now think the best name for it may be D. congestum</em>, since it seems to most closely fit the description of that species.</p> This bloomed for us in Denver in April, ending in early May—so it speaks volumes about the climate in Reykjavik that it was still blooming there at the tail end of June.</p> One plant you will NOT find blooming at Denver Botanic Gardens is the blue poppy. They had many fine specimens of this famous and spectacular alpine at Reykjavik Botanic Garden. We have coaxed a bloom or two on these in Denver, but they resent our summer heat. Iceland suits them to a “T” and they were nearly 4’ tall, with glorious blue color. I believe this is Meconopsis grandis</em>, or more likely a hybrid of it—this is one of the few specimens without conspicuous labels at this wonderful garden.</p> I should have expected to see a lot of willows—the genus Salix</em> is especially diverse in cool, moist climates. I did not expect to see dozens of species, nor to see Salix lanata</em> used as a hedge in the downtown shopping areas or along city streets! The catkins were in perfect bloom during my visit!</p> This last shot captures something of the remarkable magic of the climate in Iceland: the weather is cool enough that tulips are still in full bloom at the end of June, but warm enough that South African bulbs like Crocosmia</em> ‘Lucifer’ are thriving and blooming alongside the tulips.</p> There are many scenic and cultural wonders in Iceland as well…but I heartily recommend a visit to their gem of a public garden if you happen to take Iceland Air up on their stopover offer!</p>
