</p> In late 2017, the All-America Selections Garden (directly west of the Steppe Garden) was re-named the Annuals Garden and Pavilion. The garden remains a display garden with ever-changing displays of annuals that are winners of the All-America Selections (AAS) program.</p> The AAS program was started in 1932 by seedsman W. Ray Hastings. Prior to 1932, consumers had little to no information on what types of flowers and vegetables performed well in their part of the country. Hastings encouraged seed companies to set up trial grounds to test new varieties and rate which ones were superior in performance. Plants that performed well by generating abundant produce or showing extraordinary large or vibrant flowers were given the All-America Selections award. Consumers could see this stamp of approval and know that seeds they purchased would be winners in their gardens. The program continues today with AAS trial gardens and AAS display gardens all over North America and has expanded by trialing not only annual flowers and vegetable varieties, but also perennial plants.</p> There are so many wonderful All-America Selections plants to create amazing gardens at your home. Look for plants and seed packets with the AAS logo at your local nursery or seed catalog. For a full list of All-America Selection Winners from 1932 to present visit the All-America Selections website</a>. </p> Below are some of my AAS favorites to look out for in the Annuals Garden and Pavilion this summer.</p>
Denver Botanic Gardens recently installed four solar-powered atmospheric water harvesters – three at York Street and one at Chatfield Farms. Using the power of the sun, these SOURCE units accelerate the condensation process to convert water vapor into water.</p> All but one of the harvesters, which are made by Phoenix-based Zero Mass Water</a>, are helping irrigate plants. The other offers visitors to the York Street location the opportunity to take a taste! Each SOURCE will generate between five and seven liters each day (not quite two gallons), storing up to 30 liters (almost 8 gallons) each in a built-in tank.</p> This is one example of many partnerships the Gardens has with entrepreneurs as well as government and corporate entities to showcase and test water-efficient innovations. These are the first SOURCE units to be incorporated into irrigation. The Gardens is showcasing this technology as a potential solution to growing vegetables in areas without reliable fresh water supplies.</p> Here is more information on other Gardens water-efficient partnerships, programs and initiatives</a>.</p>
</p> Though we began booking events for this summer over a year ago, we’ve had a handful of excellent dates become available on the calendar, and we want to fill them with YOUR events! Celebrate with your friends and loved ones while the Gardens show their true colors during our peak blooming season. </p> On select dates June-August, you can save up to 25% off your facility rental fee when you book a new event.</strong> With daytime and evening availability at both indoor and outdoor rental sites, our venues can host intimate gatherings for small groups or large parties of up to 1,000 plus.</p> Give your guests a party to remember, surrounded by the horticultural delights of Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street, and we’ll provide you with memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime. </p> To learn more and to set up a tour appointment, contact us at private.events@botanicgardens.org</a> or call 720-865-3551.</p> Offer applies to new bookings only. Some exclusions apply. Cannot be combined with any other discounts. </em></p>
Denver Botanic Gardens’ Center for Global Initiatives</a> and the One World One Water Center (OWOW)</a> are part of a binational effort to spur more collaborative management of the Colorado River for social, economic and environmental benefit on both sides of the border. The River Sisters Partnership will work to strengthen the protection and restoration of the Colorado River.</p> The Gardens is a signatory to a recent memorandum of understanding (MOU)</a>, signed March 22, 2018 between the City of Denver and the city of San Luis Río Colorado (Sonora, Mexico) that lays out several cross-border collaborations.</p> As part of the agreement, the Gardens will spearhead the development of a master plan for a botanic garden incorporating wastewater from the Mexican city’s wastewater plant. This work is part of the Gardens’ commitment to helping build and expand capacity for botanic gardens globally through the Center for Global Initiatives and to furthering water-wise landscape and agricultural practices through OWOW, a collaboration with Metropolitan State University of Denver.</p>
Mirroring the natural alpine and woodland habitats that the Rock Alpine Garden is inspired by, spring is a great time to walk through this garden. Both alpine and woodland plants bloom early in the year in response to the physical restraints of their native environments.</p> Alpines are programmed to bloom as soon as the snow melts in their native environments. Plants you might find on Loveland Pass or Trail Ridge Road blooming in late June or July bloom in Denver in April.</p> One of the best areas to see true alpines in the Rock Alpine Garden is the crevice garden on the south side of the main path — Draba</em>, Potentilla</em> and Erigeron</em> bloom in tight north facing crevices. Additional areas to see true alpines are in the various troughs scattered through the garden — Silene acaulis</em>, Polemonium viscosum</em>, and Hymenoxys grandiflora</em> should flower by the end of the month. The north side of the Cactus and Succulent house is another great place to focus on the early flowers of Draba</em> from Eurasia, and the mat and cushion forming plants that creep and crawl amongst the rocks.</p> One of my most favorite “secret areas” in the Rock Alpine Garden is the far southern path that takes visitors along the far southern edge of the garden along the perimeter fence. It passes through some of the best woodland areas in the rock garden. Take time to enjoy the full variety of plants in the densely-planted area. If one enters the path near the crevice garden at the east entrance near the South African Plaza and you continue on this path, it will take you into more woodland areas of the rock garden which rarely get the visitation they deserve. Passing down a slight slope take in the various Lenten roses (Helleborus</em>) and woodland sweet peas (Lathryus vernus</em>) along the path.</p> A spectacular show awaits visitors in the far southwest corner of the Rock Alpine Garden along the stucco wall at the boundary with the neighbors. Here a beautiful display of Helleborus</em>, Corydalis</em>, wind flowers (Anemone</em>), bloodroot (Sanguinaria</em>) and violets (Viola</em> odorata</em>) create a tapestry of color in April. Many woodland plants are programmed like alpines to bloom during a short season. Unlike plants high on top of a mountain which are delayed until warm temperatures melt the snow, woodland plants bloom in early spring before the trees above leaf out and block out the sun. This means the woodland areas are at their best in April as well.</p> I hope you can make it to the Rock Alpine Garden in the month of April. While you are at the Gardens make sure and check out the alpine section of the Mordecai Children’s Garden</a> — it should be in prime color as well.</p>
Visitors walking in the Gates Montane Garden may notice something strange through late spring: black velvet bags on the tips of one tree near the Cheesman Park gate. It is not trash or a new art installation — the Gardens' horticulture staff is attempting to propagate the tree, a bigtooth maple, which has recently come under attack by our local squirrel population.</p> The bigtooth maple Acer grandidentatum</em> is a Colorado native that thrives in dry conditions and tolerates heavy soils much better than other maple species. It’s a smaller tree that can have either a tree-like or shrub-like form and has excellent fall color.</p> This specific tree was collected near Logan, Utah because of its good fall color and more tree-like form. In an effort to save the genetics of this tree from marauding squirrels, we are using propagation techniques pioneered by researchers at Utah State University. This species is usually very hard to propagate by cuttings, but by placing dark bags over the stems, the tree is forced to grow in darkness — a process called etiolation. Cuttings taken from this etiolated growth root much easier than cuttings taken from stems that grew in full sunlight. The bags will be removed after the tree begins growing in late April or May.</p> If successful, the propagated clones of this tree will be planted in other locations at the Gardens. Perfecting vegetative propagation of bigtooth maple will allow us to provide trees with a predictable habit and fall color, since trees grown from seed take a long time to grow and can be very variable in their appearance.</p> If this experiment is successful we hope to propagate more bigtooth maples in the future to make them available at the Grown at the Gardens division of the Spring Plant Sale.</p>
Saturday and Sunday, March 17 and 18, 2018 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day Mitchell Hall Included with Admission</p> For the first time in nearly a decade, the Denver Orchid Society will be bringing its spring show and sale to Mitchell Hall at Denver Botanic Gardens this weekend. Focusing on a theme of “Mother Nature’s Masterpiece,” exhibitors from the society will enter plants in a variety of categories for evaluation by accredited judges from the American Orchid Society.</p> Orchid Society members are eager to share their expertise and will be available throughout the weekend to answer questions and offer advice on how to grow these beautiful plants. While display plants will not be for sale, hundreds of plants from nurseries around the country will be available for purchase. Be sure to shop early for the best selection.</p>
</p> Right this minute, despite the cold snaps of recent days, the glorious Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas</em>) at Denver Botanic Gardens’ Romantic Gardens is shimmering with golden glory. It reminds me of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II</a>,</em> and the tree has almost as rich and lurid a history as the painting looted by Nazis and featured in a recent movie (the painting, not the tree).</p> </p> What fascinates me about this tree is that it is so dazzling in bloom, so attractive all year in habit, leaf and bark, with blazing fall color. I only know of one other in a garden in Denver. We need to talk tree diversity, folks! The elms all go with Dutch elm disease, and we plant way too many ash trees. Now the Emerald Ash Borer is dooming these. What monoculture will we trot out to replace the millions that will come down, that will itself succumb? The cost for removing ashes may tally in the billions of dollars just for the state of Colorado. As the joke goes, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance!</p> 5th Tree Diversity Symposium 2018</strong></a></h3> Thursday, March 15 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.</strong></p> For five years the issues of street trees—what works, what doesn’t and what to do next—has been the subject of a day long series of incredible talks by tree experts from across the Continent (and the best locals too!) right here at Denver Botanic Gardens. A large percentage of Denver’s professional arborists attend regularly, yet homeowners can benefit enormously from the day’s presentations. Everyone says they love trees, but why then do we keep planting the same old, same old?</p> This year four stellar speakers—two from Arboreta in the Midwest and two from Colorado—will bring the latest information on issues we all face: what to pick, how to site, how to properly maintain these trees and what does the future hold for our tattered urban forest?</p> As I drive back and forth to the Gardens to work, I often marvel at Denver’s amazing urban tree forest: so many trees! And practically all of them a deliberate and conscious act on the part of a homeowner or landscape professional. These trees provide us oxygen, clean our air, lower temperatures dramatically (saving incalculably on air conditioning), provide food and habitat for pollinators and havens for birds. They suck up excess rain to help mitigate flooding. They stand, silent sentinels, like guardian angels watching us scurry by. We all say we love trees: we can do much better. Do sign up!</p> Nothing Gold Can Stay</strong> Robert Frost</strong></a>, 1874 - 1963 </strong></em></p> Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.</em></p>
</p> With over a dozen unique venue spaces, most of which can be booked in any season, Denver Botanic Gardens hosts hundreds of private events each year. Most of our venues are tucked in corners around our 23 acres, but one of the most versatile sits right at the heart of the Gardens: the UMB Bank Amphitheater Tent</a>.</p> A vast canopy with a spacious interior, the UMB Bank Amphitheater Tent is our largest single rental space, offering endless flexibility for hosting a variety of events. It is a beautiful venue for daytime or nighttime events and features twinkle lights across the ceiling and open-air sides that can be opened or closed as needed.</p> The tent has the ability to host groups of different sizes ranging from a seated reception for 600 guests, a ceremony or graduation for 1,200 guests, or a cocktail reception for 1,200 people. Smaller-scale events can also use the tent for multiple functions; clients can easily host both a wedding ceremony and a reception under the tent without resetting any furnishings between them.</p> Guests can mingle during a cocktail hour or can enjoy al fresco dining surrounded by views of the Gardens in their peak. Add in acoustic music, delicious food prepared by one of our preferred caterers and your own decorative touch, and this space will transform your event into a truly breathtaking experience for your guests. Whether you are hosting a wedding, a corporate event, a non-profit fundraiser or gala, the UMB Bank Amphitheater may just be the venue you are looking for.</p> Contact our Private Events team for more information at private.events@botanicgardens.org</a> or 720-865-3551.</p>
Many of the beautiful places where we study plants and mushrooms are dormant and snow-covered this time of year, but the Research & Conservation department is still humming with activity! In the winter, our staff and volunteers identify herbarium specimens collected the previous year, analyze data, process samples, prepare publications and, of course, plan for the coming field season. As we look forward to the cactus blossoms we’ll find in May on the Western Slope, and the plump seed capsules we’ll find in September on the Front Range, we are also recruiting volunteers to help us with these research efforts this field season.</p>Our upcoming projects are all in the service of protecting and understanding the species around us. As part of a national undertaking by the Center for Plant Conservation</a>, we are planning trips to hunt down 24 rare Colorado plant species. A small quantity of their seeds will be collected and stored at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation for future research and restoration. Some plant species’ seeds do not keep well in seed banks, losing viability in dry and freezing conditions. Instead, species with these ‘recalcitrant’ seeds can be preserved as plants in living collections. Quercus sadleriana</em> (Sadler’s oak) is one such species with recalcitrant seeds. We will be collecting its acorns from never-before sampled populations in Northern California and sending them to be grown in botanic gardens around the country, working with the American Public Gardens Association and US Forest Service.</p>For the Colorado Mycoflora Project, we are using DNA sequencing to delve into the tricky problem of identifying the glorious diversity of Colorado fungi. While different species may look the same, DNA helps us to delineate the species based on genetics.</p>In one of our longest-running conservation projects, we are monitoring rare Colorado plant populations</a> to assess threats and inform management decisions. This involves returning year after year to the same spot to count and measure plants – we have been monitoring Astragalus microcymbus</em> since 1995, Penstemon harringtonii </em>since 1996, Eriogonum brandegeei</em> since 2004, and Sclerocactus glaucus </em>since 2007. This summer, we will be making three trips around Colorado to measure the plant populations.</p>Our floristics projects</a> use the systematic collection of herbarium specimens to create a permanent record of where plant species have occurred</a> - essential to understanding ecosystems and tracking change over time. Last year, in the Eastern Plains</a>, we collected specimens representing 50 new county records, species not previously recorded in a county. This region is surprisingly unknown territory, botanically speaking, and we will continue exploring the distribution of grassland plant species this summer.</p>Finally, our floristics team is embarking on a new, major effort to document plant diversity along the High Line Canal this year. Once used to move water from the South Platte to farms east of Denver, the canal is now a 71-mile recreational corridor, with green spaces and wetlands. We will share what we learn with the High Line Canal Conservancy</a>, which will help them manage the Canal for the benefit of the plants, wildlife and people that use it.</p>We could use some expert plant lovers to help with all this work! We are looking for new volunteer team members specifically for the High Line Canal plant surveys, long-term rare plant monitoring, and seed scouting. If any of these opportunities sound interesting to you, learn more and apply! Applications accepted until March 15.</strong></p>This blog post was written by Jessie Berta-Thompson, Ph.D., adjunct researcher with the Research & Conservation Department at Denver Botanic Gardens.</em> </p>
Things keep moving at the greenhouses at Chatfield Farms. This month at the greenhouse we sowed onions seeds for the Community Supporting Agriculture (CSA) farm</a> and market garden. 16,500 seeds of onions and their near relatives were sown in one week! We sowed eight varieties of onion, three varieties of leek and one variety of shallot. It was a busy few days planting some pretty small seeds. The onions will be distributed to members of the CSA farm that Denver Botanic Gardens manages, as well as being sold at farmer's markets in areas where fresh produce is difficult to find nearby</a>.</p> Onions are hugely important in the food we eat. While they’re not the most glamorous vegetable, they’re my favorite to cook with because of how they are used in many different dishes. From the base of so many soups and chilis, to slow cooked sweet caramelized onion dip, to crisp and bright macerated onions in tacos, the great Allium cepa</em> is in a lot of what we eat. Its large culinary profile is matched by a large profile in the growing season. We sow the seeds in early February for a harvest in late summer. That’s about six months of growing to make an onion! Luckily they store really well over the winter which is why we sow so much seed now.</p> The reason for the long growing season is because the onions first need to grow their foliage before long summer day lengths trigger them to begin storing sugars in their underground bulbs. If they haven’t grown large enough before then, the bulbs produced will be small. Seeds get sown in early February and grow inside until mid-April, when they’re planted outside. The cold tolerant seedlings survive outside and grow only foliage until long daylengths in June trigger them to begin forming their large bulbs. They are harvested in late summer and brought back to the greenhouse to dry and cure, which increases their storage life. The greenhouses smell amazing in the fall.</p> If you’re looking for more information on growing your own onions, here is a great CSU extension article. </a></p>
Be sure to stroll the paths of the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory where you can enjoy plenty of non-orchid tropical blossoms. Although we are often focused on beautiful flowers, tropical foliage can have its own special appeal. While stopping to “smell the roses,” why not give a little attention to plant foliage too.</p> One of the first plants you might notice as you enter the Tropical Conservatory from our main lobby area is Codiaeum variegatum </em>var. pictum,</em> also known as croton. Crotons are native to southern India and are a great houseplant for high-light areas. There are many crotons on display throughout the Tropical Conservatory with varying leaf forms and color combinations, however the plant by the front entrance may be my favorite. It was added to the Gardens' collections in February of 1965 and was a gift to the Gardens from the Missouri Botanical Garden for inclusion in the first plant displays in our Tropical Conservatory when it opened in 1966.</p> As you make your way deeper into the Tropical Conservatory you will notice several banana plants. The most impressive may be Musa itinerans </em>var. guandongensis, </em>a banana native to the Guandong province of southeast China. While the size of the leaves and the height of the growths are impressive, perhaps the most dramatic feature of this banana is its aggressive suckering growth habit. Be sure to look at the base of the plant and you’ll see why we planted it in a contained area.</p> Another plant with striking foliage is Calathea lancifolia</em>. This plant belongs to the family Marantaceae, or the prayer plant family. This common name was given because many species in this plant family have leaves that fold upward in the evening hours as if folded in prayer. This particular species is from Brazil and has spectacular foliage. Be sure to look for other Calathea</em> throughout the Tropical Conservatory.</p> In the southwest corner of the Tropical Conservatory you will find a ficus tree with amazing foliage. Ficus aspera </em>is native to Vanuatu and is easily recognized by its amazing variegation – even the fruit is variegated. Take a moment to appreciate the tree’s contorted trunk form as well.</p> As you enter Marnie’s Pavilion at the west end of the Tropical Conservatory, you will see another unusual ficus – Ficus americana</em>. This large tree may look like the more familiar Ficus benjamina</em>, but as the name implies, F. americana</em> is native to Central and South America while F. benjamina </em>is native to tropical Asia and northern Australia. Did you know that ficus flowers are all pollinated by wasps?</p> Notice the beautiful complimentary foliage colors as well as the orchid blossoms in the Orangery. See hundreds of exotic blooms at the Orchid Showcase</a> in the Orangery through February 20 – included with admission to the Gardens. The Showcase is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily. Don’t forget to look through the glass to see the more unusual orchid blooms on display in our collection greenhouses.</p> We hope you enjoy your visit!</p>
