</p> The time for planning your next major event is now – don’t waste your time looking at classic board rooms or traditional ballrooms when you could instead immerse your guests in the stunning surroundings of Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street!</p> No matter what kind of event you are hosting, our Private Events team will work with you to find the perfect setting for your group. With over a dozen unique rentable spaces that can accommodate guest lists large and small, the Gardens offers a variety of indoor and outdoor venues at every time of year.</p> Treat your guests to a once-in-a-lifetime experience they won’t soon forget by booking at Denver Botanic Gardens. 2019 dates are on sale now, and our 2020 rental calendar opens on Jan. 4.</strong> Popular dates and venues sell quickly – so don’t delay! We’d love to provide the setting that will turn your dream event into a reality.</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>
So, the holidays are over…. What to do with the festive plants that remain? Here is a short list of holiday plants and “the truth may hurt” fate of each.</p> Poinsettia</strong> – Euphorbia pulcherrima</em>: While beautiful during the holidays, poinsettias are pest magnets and aren’t worth the struggle. Throw it in the compost and get a new one next year.</li> Christmas cactus</strong> – Schlumbergera</em> hybrids: This is an easy-to-care-for houseplant and one you should keep. It requires more water and fertilizer and less light than most cacti. A drop in temperature for a few weeks in the fall will help initiate plenty of blossoms around the holiday season. Properly cared for, these plants can live for decades and cuttings can be generously shared with friends and family.</li> Amaryllis</strong> – Hippeastrum</em> species and cultivars: These rarely bloom a second time in a home environment and only flower once per year. I recommend composting this plant, too.</li> Florist cyclamen</strong> – Cyclamen persicum: </em>Cyclamen continue to gain in popularity and can remain in bloom for months when provided with good growing conditions. Keep plants on the cool side (65 degrees F) and provide plenty of light. Keep plants constantly moist or leaves will yellow and detract from the plant’s overall appearance. Remove spent flowers to encourage more blossoms. After several months of bloom, plants will go dormant. At this point, it may be easiest to dispose of the plant and get a fresh start the following season.</li> Norfolk Island pine</strong> – Araucaria heterophylla</em>: This is a very easy-to-care-for houseplant! It can handle wet or dry soil, lots of light or low light, with one demerit: it wants to grow to over 100 feet tall. You can cut the top back for years but one day, you’ll get sick of it. When that time comes, enjoy the plant outside through the summer and drop it in the compost at the end of the season.</li> Rosemary</strong> – Rosmarinus officinalis</em>: This is a tricky plant to overwinter indoors and may not be worth the effort. If you can provide a position with plenty of light and relatively cool temperatures, you should be able to hold onto your rosemary plant until it can be moved outside for the summer after danger of frost. If you cannot provide these conditions, it may be best to harvest a few sprigs for winter cooking projects and then discard the plant.</li> </ul> Chances are you’ve already killed some of these plants—we all certainly have—but it might not have been your fault. Most holiday plants start in perfect conditions, only to be shipped halfway across the country in a dark, cool truck, just to sit around at the supermarket for several weeks under artificial light. If you wish to keep a holiday plant alive after the holidays, purchasing a locally grown plant will serve you well in the long run.</p> This blog post was written by former Denver Botanic Gardens' horticulturist Aaron Sedivy.</em></p>
Denver Botanic Gardens has partnered with Craig Hospital to offer an internship in horticultural therapy (HT) that meets the requirements of the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) for professional registered horticultural therapists. Craig Hospital is one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the country specifically focusing on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injuries (SCI).</p> Craig’s mission is to provide exceptional patient and family-centered care for those affected by spinal cord and brain injuries, striving for optimal health, independence and quality of life. To achieve this mission, Craig provides a wide range of rehabilitation programs. Of these programs, one that is integral to returning to life post-injury, is therapeutic recreation (T-Rec), of which horticultural therapy is a part. Rehabilitating from a TBI or SCI is not easy, and T-Rec offers respite from the demands of therapies, as well as offers patients adaptations so that they can continue to do the things they love when they return home.</p> This process includes interviewing patients to learn about their interests. Communication with the patient’s treatment team, including doctors, physical therapy, occupational therapy and more, helps us to evaluate patients to create goals and activities that are in alignment with their treatment plan. Patients are referred to HT by recreational therapists who learn that gardening is a hobby or interest. Occupational, physical or speech therapy also arranges co-treatments with HT to work on functional skills. Patients can get involved in HT by signing up for group horticulture activities, which range from making kokedama moss ball planters to painting birdhouse gourds grown in the Therapy Garden at Craig.</p> For individual sessions, we create activities that are driven both by the patient’s interests and by specific goals the patient is working on. We often do co-treatment sessions with a patient’s occupational therapist or speech therapist so the patient can be further supported in working on relevant goals. For example, for a patient who is working on strengthening their hands post-injury, we may practice skills using adaptive tools. For a patient who has experienced a brain injury and is experiencing left neglect, where they have trouble paying attention to their left side of the body and left field of vision, we may practice left attention and left visual scanning by deadheading a patch of flowers.</p> Adaptive tools and wheelchair accessible gardens are integral for working with patients at Craig Hospital. We use a variety of tools that are adapted to the needs of patients, ranging from specifically manufactured tools, to creating many of our own using common items such as duct tape, funnels, rubber bands, and spoons. When you look at the world through the perspective of a patient at Craig, it is easy to find ways to "do"! One item that we use often is a utility cuff, or "U-Cuff," which is a cuff that fits over a patient’s hand. The cuff includes a pocket in which a tool can be inserted and allows patients with low hand strength to work with tools independently.</p> While at Craig, I designed and led a group activity making herb-infused vinegars. Facilitators harvested and prepared fresh herbs from the Craig Therapy Garden. Patients were empowered to create their own herbal vinegar recipe. Myself, my mentor, Susie Hall, volunteers and family assisted with adaptations to allow the patient to make their herbal vinegar as independently as possible. It was a wonderful sensory experience, as the table was filled with the sights, smells and textures of fresh herbs.</p> I am grateful for this partnership between Denver Botanic Gardens and Craig Hospital to offer this HT internship. I am thankful for the incredible staff in the T-Rec department at Craig Hospital, especially Susie Hall. Working with patients at Craig has pushed me to develop my skills working with differently abled populations, and inspired me to continue accessible gardening in my future.</p> This blog post was written by Gina Sferrazza. Gina first discovered her love of gardening by sowing seeds in a tiny backyard patio. She went on to develop her horticultural skills through working on vegetable and medicinal herb farms. She has volunteered with horticultural therapy programs at The Mental Health Center of Denver and Jeffco Transition Services before starting as the Horticultural Therapy Intern at Denver Botanic Gardens. Gina's personal mission is to use her knowledge to teach others how to cultivate plants, in order to create a world in harmony with nature. </em></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>
With cooler weather and an overnight hail storm punctuating the early weeks of our growing season, the water gardens got off to a slightly slower start this year. Fortunately, our extensive collection of aquatic plants has made a triumphant comeback, and August is a great month to take a walk around the ponds to see them in their full glory. </p> Begin your stroll at the small pool in the Ellipse garden, home to the Chihuly sculpture, Colorado. A unique plant displayed in this pool is mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides</em>). This South American native thrives in warmer water, making this small pool the ideal spot for it to show off its intricate pattern of tiny floating leaves arranged in a mosaic pattern on the water’s surface. Hardy and tropical waterlilies (Nymphaea</em> hybrids), along with Colocasia </em>and Canna</em> hybrids, round out the display in this pond.</p> Head west to the Romantic Gardens’ pool, where you will find a display of Australian waterlily species and hybrids. These waterlilies are also a bit finicky, requiring consistently warm water and sunny weather to grow. Too many cloudy, cool days and they can quickly decide to go dormant. The Romantic Gardens’ pool is not connected to our recirculating waterway system and therefore the water temps stay an average of seven to 10 degrees warmer, making it the perfect summer home for these tropical day-blooming waterlilies. Flowers can reach up to 10 inches in diameter and are held high above the water, making for a show-stopping scene. In the center of this pool, two Santa Cruz water platters (Victoria cruziana</em>) surround a central recirculating fountain.</p> Continuing to the west, you will find the Four Towers Pool. This pond borders the south and west sides of the Science Pyramid and showcases a collection of hardy intersubgeneric waterlilies (crosses between hardy and tropical waterlilies that have proven to be winter hardy here in Denver) as well as gorgon plants (Euryale ferox</em>), hardy waterlilies, tropical waterlilies and an assortment of marginal plants (plants that typically grow in shallow water around the margins of a pond), including Canna</em> ‘Ermine’, C.</em> ‘Blueberry Sparkler’, Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus</em>), Mexican papyrus (C. giganteus</em>), swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus </em>‘Peppermint Flare’), and golden reed (Phragmites australis</em> ‘Aurea’).</p> As you follow the waterway heading west to the Steppe Garden, you will find bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata</em>) flanked by islands planted with marginal plants including marsh marigold (Caltha palustris</em>), calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica</em> ‘White Giant’) and monkey flower (Erythranthe guttata</em>). Curators are currently experimenting with other steppe region species to see if they will also thrive in the boggy soil on these islands—stay tuned!</p> The next pool on our walking tour can be found at the west end of the Steppe Garden just as you enter the Annuals Garden. This pool is home to a collection of taro (Colocasia</em>) hybrids that showcase the range of foliage and stem colors that have been developed in this genus. Colocasia esculenta </em>is also displayed in this pond with an interpretive sign detailing its importance as a food crop in tropical regions. Hardy and tropical waterlilies accent the display along with the native mare’s tail (Hippuris vulgaris</em>).</p> As you walk through the Annuals Garden, you will come to the next ponds on our tour which are situated on either side of the walkway at the north end of this garden. These pools highlight the Rocky Mountain Legacy Collection—waterlilies that have been tested for performance at Denver Botanic Gardens over the years and which have historical significance. This collection includes the hardy waterlilies ‘Colorado’, ‘Denver’, ‘Denver’s Delight’, ‘Joey Tomocik’, ‘Bea Taplin’, ‘Attorney Elrod’ and ‘Cynthia Ann’. Tropical waterlilies in the collection include ‘Stan Skinger’, ‘William McLane’ and ‘Bob Hoffman’.</p> The Sacred Earth waterway to the south of The Hive Garden Bistro is next on our tour. This small pool is home to a collection of native aquatic plants including Rocky Mountain pond lily/spatterdock (Nuphar polysepala</em>), bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata</em>) and broadleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia</em>).</p> Finally, the last stop on our walking tour is Monet Pool, our largest display pond situated just north of The Hive and stretching west to the border of the Japanese Garden. This water garden features the always popular Victoria</em> ‘Longwood Hybrid’ water platters as well as hundreds of hardy and tropical waterlilies, water-loving Canna</em> hybrids, aquatic Iris</em> and other marginal plants including pickerel plant (Pontederia cordata</em>), lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus</em>), powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata</em>) and common rush (Juncus effusus</em>). Be sure to find the display of miniature hardy waterlilies and star waterlilies in the area near Le Potager at the southwest end of the Monet Pool to end your tour.</p>
</p> Every one of the rental sites at our York Street location offers beautiful and unique elements that form the backdrops for hundreds of private events each year. In general, certain kinds of events tend to inhabit certain venues: the Woodland Mosaic solarium is suited to small gatherings in the warmer months, Mitchell Hall is an ideal space for evening receptions year-round, and the UMB Bank Amphitheater is a perfect location for large gatherings at the peak of summer. However, since it’s grand opening in July 2016, the Annuals Garden and Pavilion</a> has become one of our most popular sites for rentals of all kinds.</p> Positioned at the heart of the Gardens, the Annuals Garden and Pavilion showcases some of the most spectacular blossoms at York Street. Each spring, the long, rectangular beds erupt with thousands of brightly-colored tulips, hyacinths and other spring-blooming bulbs. In the summer and fall, the garden transforms to feature North American annuals at their finest, expertly planted by our horticulturists to create breathtaking displays of vibrant blooms and lush foliage. With nearly a dozen separate garden beds, this space completely immerses your event guests in floral splendor. </p> </p> At the center of these stunning displays, the open-air pavilion is designed with high arches and a dramatic, sloping ceiling that offers shade to guests gathering on the flagstone pad beneath it. Equipped with soft lighting, the pavilion can be booked for daytime or evening events, and as a newer garden, there are plenty of easily accessible power outlets in the area. Depending on how the space is set up, the flagstone pad and the surrounding walkways can easily be used for standing receptions for up to 250, theater-style ceremonies for up to 200 or seated receptions for up to 120.</p> With the décor taken care of by the garden itself, simply add acoustic music, scrumptious food from one of our preferred caterers, and your friends, families or colleagues for an event you (and they!) are not soon to forget. Whether you are hosting a wedding, a corporate event, a non-profit fundraiser or gala, the Annuals Garden and Pavilion 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> </p>
Following an unusually cool and wet spring, summer has finally made an appearance at the Gardens. Throughout our ponds, waterlilies are putting on a spectacular show, with hardy varieties taking center stage this month. These floating-leaved aquatic plants were made popular by the famous painter, Claude Monet. However, another artistic mind was responsible for the creation of the beautiful lilies that first caught Monet’s attention.</p> Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, a Frenchman who lived from 1830-1911, is considered the father of hardy waterlily hybridizing. He created over 100 hybrids in a rainbow of colors using species from around the world, including North America, as parent plants. Up until the introduction of these hybrids, most people in Europe were only familiar with their native white-flowering hardy waterlily, Nymphaea alba</em>.</p> In 1889, Latour-Marliac displayed many of his new waterlilies at the World’s Fair in Paris, where they won first prize and caught the attention of Claude Monet. Inspired by the colorful hybrids, Monet placed an order with Latour-Marliac’s nursery (which is still operational today in Le Temple-sur-Lot, France) soon after he completed work on his new garden in Giverny. The rest, as they say, is history.</p> Many of Latour-Marliac’s original hybrids were unfortunately lost over time, but several remain among the most popular hardy waterlilies grown around the world. Here at the Gardens, 20 of these historically significant hybrids (listed below) can be found growing in an appropriately named water garden: our Monet Pool.</p> Latour-Marliac waterlily hybrids at Denver Botanic Gardens along with their date of introduction:</p> ‘Albatros’ (1910)</li> ‘Amabilis’ (1921) *</li> ‘Andreana’ (1895)</li> ‘Arc-en-ciel’ (1900)</li> ‘Attraction’ (1910)</li> ‘Aurora’ (1895)</li> ‘Darwin’ (1909)</li> ‘Escarboucle’ (1909)</li> ‘Fabiola’ (1908)</li> ‘Formosa’ (1900)</li> ‘Gloriosa’ (1896)</li> ‘Gonnere’ (1914) *</li> ‘Indiana’ (1912) *</li> ‘Laydekeri Fulgens’ (1893)</li> ‘Laydekeri Lilacea’ (1893)</li> ‘Marliacea Carnea’ (1880)</li> ‘Marliacea Chromatella’ (1880)</li> ‘Paul Hariot’ (1905)</li> ‘Sioux’ (1908)</li> ‘Virginalis’ (1908)</li> </ul> *Introduced after Latour-Marliac’s death</p> To see an exhibition of Monet’s artwork, including a collection of his famous waterlily paintings, visit the Denver Art Museum’s exhibit Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature</a> </em>which runs from October 21, 2019 through February 2, 2020.</p>
Rivers and their neighboring ecosystems are very important for plants and animals – especially in the American West where surface water is limited. Native plants in riverine ecosystems provide food and habitat for birds, mammals, insects and reptiles. The plants also help to filter stream water and act as a buffer during flooding events.</p> Riverine ecosystems are valuable corridors for wildlife; however, these ecosystems are shrinking because of the over-allocation of water for agricultural, municipal and industrial uses. Suburban and urban river corridors are some of the most highly degraded river habitats but also some of the most crucial for wildlife because they provide food, shelter and act as a corridor for movement in an otherwise foreign landscape.</p> Deer Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River, is one example of a suburban stream that has been degraded due to loss of riverine habitat. Deer Creek flows through Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms and empties into the Chatfield Reservoir.</p> In the 1860s, pioneering settlers began to homestead the land that is now Chatfield Farms. The land was used for livestock grazing and hay production, which introduced a suite of non-native, invasive grasses. During the early 20th century, the creek was channelized to provide more efficient use of the land for farming. Because of this, riverine habitat was lost and the current plant community along Deer Creek at Chatfield Farms exhibits an overwhelming dominance of non-native species.</p> In 2015, Denver Botanic Gardens initiated a stream restoration project along Deer Creek at Chatfield Farms. The Research and Conservation Department used this restoration project as an opportunity to test out a passive restoration strategy. Passive restoration is where minimal restorative activities are undertaken and the habitat is left to regenerate on its own. The objective of this restoration project is to emulate a natural, self-regulating ecosystem that is ecologically integrated within the landscape where it occurs.</p> Our passive restoration strategy consists of re-creating historical stream-flow conditions that native plants would have evolved under. We installed tree in-stream structures that were designed to mimic beaver dams. These structures were strategically placed to push water up onto historical channels of the creek that are not currently connected with the creek. We hoped that the re-wetting of these channels would increase riverine habitat without being too disruptive to the creek’s inhabitants. After the installation of the structures, our team of ecologists initiated a long-term monitoring program for vegetation and water quality to evaluate the success of this passive restoration strategy.</p> 2019 is the fourth year of ecological monitoring along Deer Creek. Anecdotally, the structures are working the way we had planned by keeping water in the system for longer periods of time. The habitat surrounding the structures also seems to be exhibiting more native plant species than parts of the stream that were not manipulated. Because there are beavers at the very eastern edge of the property, our hope is that the beavers will recognize the potential for new habitat where we have built our structures and move into those places to maintain the structures themselves, mitigating the need for continued human maintenance and involvement on the structures.</p> This blog post was written by Margo Paces, graduate student and botany seasonal. </em></p>
