There’s something to be said for things that survived 2020, even in the world of plants. Wandering the Gardens in February and March, we still see the skeletal remains of the 2020 flower show, and it’s now that we see who the really tough and interesting survivors are. I’m not talking about the big players like evergreens, or conspicuous giants like sycamores with their interesting plated bark. No, I’m talking about those perennials that did their thing last season but kept on standing, with durable seed heads, twisted stems or swirling grassy leaves, their subtle winter hues warmed by the low sweep of our winter sun. These are the things that even stir-crazy gardeners are reluctant to cut back, even though now is the time to clean things up and prepare for the fast approaching growth of spring.</p> Take a slow stroll on a calm winter day and enjoy the last stand of these subtle performers who have taken the old adage “The show must go on!” very literally through our toughest, darkest days. But look quickly; now is the season of renewal, and you will see our horticulturists hard at work, bidding a final farewell to all that was 2020 in the Gardens and preparing for a glorious spring that is just around the corner.</p> Baby Blue rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa</em> ssp. Nauseosa </em>baby blue form): </em>Cottonwood Border, Water-Smart Garden, Sacred Earth</strong>) spends its last golden days of fall luring all sorts of pollinators, but when it’s over, its fluffy seed heads persist through the winter. We trim the entire shrub down to six inches by mid-March.</li> Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis: </em>Plains Garden lower path</strong>) holds sprays of sweet spherical white flowers in late summer, and the durable seed balls that follow will last well into the spring. These can be trimmed for dried arrangements. Buttonbush is a medium to large shrub that responds well to spring pruning.</li> Undaunted muhly grass (Muhlenbergia reverchonii</em> ‘PUND01S’ UNDAUNTED®): Rock Alpine Garden, El Pomar Garden, Plant Select</strong>) is a frothy rosy cloud in late summer, pairing perfectly with pink and purple Agastache. After frost the buff colored clouds continue to soften the winter landscape.</li> Hydrangea</em> arborescens</em> ‘Annabelle’ (Romantic Garden, Shady Lane</strong>) is a summer favorite with its pure white globes, shifting to soft lime by autumn. With frost they transition to golden-tan and give welcome, long-lasting structure to the winter garden. These are trimmed to just a couple inches tall in March each year.</li> See the world through rose-colored grasses! Two grasses to be specific: our native little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium: </em>Plains Garden</strong>) and the less common African red oat grass (Themeda triandra: </em>Marnie’s Plaza, Steppe Garden</strong>). Both will brighten the winter landscape in shades of rose to rusty-lavender. Little bluestem remains upright, springing back even after wet snow. The red oat grass is a bit more relaxed, laying in graceful sweeps over adjacent stems and rocks. Both are best trimmed to just a few inches tall by late March.</li> Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida: </em>Cottonwood Border</strong>) is a graceful summer wildflower with long reflexed pink petals, looking like badminton birdies launching simultaneously skyward. When that fun show has passed, the sturdy seed heads remain as a food source for birds, persisting well into the late winter as a great complement to softer winter grasses. We trim these to the ground by late March before growth begins.</li> As you wander, you will see that this is by no means an exhaustive list! Many other grasses make the list, including Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima)</em> and </em>hardy pampas grass (Saccharum ravennae</em>). Most of our native penstemons (Penstemon</em> spp.) have persistent spikes of rich brown seed capsules. The stacked globe-like seed balls of lion’s ear (Leonotus</em>) and Jerusalem sage (Phlomis </em>spp.) can last well into winter. Most yarrow (Achillea</em> spp.) have flattened disc-shaped seed heads on sturdy stems. Several hardy statice (Goniolimon tataricum</em> and others) have intricately branched stems with delicate dried flowers.</li> </ul> The list goes on! A late winter walk will reveal which ones are true assets to the winter garden and can help you plan for reliable all-year interest in your own gardens.</p>
Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to just be about celebrating romantic relationships—celebrate your friends, your pet or your delivery driver! The Shop at the Gardens has put together a list of ideas to help inspire you. </p> Gifts for Her</h4> Michael Michaud jewelry. Our collection of Michael Michaud</a> will make her swoon. Our collection features beautiful earrings, necklaces and brooches. Inspired by nature, each design is unique and stunning. </p> Wrap her in love with the cashmere travel wrap</a>. Available in multiple colors and made of 100% cashmere. Your Valentine will surely keep warm on all the adventure’s life takes her on. </p> Gifts for Him</h4> Over the past year we have perfected the WFH look. The Harvest Label laptop backpack</a> allows him to hold all the work essentials in style. With weather resistant fabric and many pockets, this backpack will not disappoint. </p> Gifts for Kids</h4> This Valentine’s Day create lasting memories with the Wooden Flower Press</a>. What a great opportunity to create something beautiful on a date with your child. </p> Frizzles red ladybug</a> with its big bright eyes is sure to capture your little one’s heart. Plush and loveable. </p> Gift for Everyone</h4> In the past year we have learned that everyone could use a little uplifting. This Valentine’s give a gift to those who need a little extra love. Maybe it is your delivery driver, postman, hairdresser, the list goes on. The Tree of Celebration</a> is a special gift to celebrate any relationship. </p> Book lover? "Steppes"</a>, written by Denver Botanic Gardens staff, covers the plants and ecology of the world’s four steppe regions.</p> Gifts for under $100</h4> Enjoy the Little Things gift box</a> is meant to be shared with a smile. Give this gift to everyone on your list this Valentine’s Day. </p> Gifts for under $50</h4> Set of three landscape soaps</a>. Inspired by natural landscape, these soaps allow an escape to exquisite destinations. </p> Gifts for under $25</h4> Floating koi</a>. Our koi float easily in a vase or fishbowl. Create a beautiful centerpiece or give to the animal lover in your life. </p> Valentine's Day gifts: done! Remember, shipping and curbside pick-up</a> is available to make life even easier. </p>
As we turned southward out of Montrose, the deep green of a damp forest surrounding the towering San Juan Mountains reassured us that this trip would prove worthwhile. Dr. Andy Wilson and I were making our way to the Telluride Mushroom Festival for the second time. Last year had been notoriously dry, yielding less than an abundance of mycological spoils; this year however, deep snowpack followed by a cool, wet spring would make for a different story.</p> The Telluride Mushroom Festival is this incredible mix of academic conference-like presentations, field work and interpersonal scientific outreach. Spun throughout it all is a vibe of oddball rebellion mixed with sincere optimism that we can make the world a better place. Andy and I gave back to back presentations about our work at the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi, introduced folks to the Colorado Mycoflora Project</a> and why collecting mushrooms for science is worthwhile.</p> After our lectures ended, I joined our mycology lab seasonal, Justin Loucks, in the identification tent that sat in a tiny park in the middle of town. We hunkered down as waves of foragers returned with baskets full of mushrooms varying wildly in color, shape and odor. My goal was to get collectors to donate their specimens to our herbarium and then squeeze as much information as possible out of them about where and when their collections were made. Without much mycological background myself, I relied on Justin to point out those with the most interesting taxa in their baskets. From there I pulled the citizen scientists aside to a picnic table, essentially interviewing them to obtain their names, contact information and as much ecological detail as possible regarding the fungi. Often, we looked over maps to determine just exactly where they were hunting, giving me an accurate and precise set of coordinates to assign to the future museum specimen. These conversations, always touching on the beauty of the forest and the importance of biodiversity research, easily became my favorite part of the festival.</p> On the following day, Andy, Justin and I were joined by Amy Honan of Western Colorado University and Jeff Ravage of the Coalition for the Upper South Platte to get in on the foray action for ourselves. Amy led us to one of her secret spots near the town of Ophir. We didn’t make it far along the trail before everyone was posted up, surveying their own meter by meter area, carefully documenting each little fungus through photography and field notes. We had already obtained many of the larger, more charismatic species from festival participants, so our focus shifted to smaller and less noticeable forest inhabitants. We collected everything we could fit into our dryer. Andy and I ventured over the white-knuckle-inducing Red Mountain Pass, where we surveyed near the Ironton ghost town before making our way toward Durango. We stopped at the site of the devastating 416 Fire that burned the year prior. Though the area was rather dry, we found a spring upwelling water amid the scorched forest, harboring thousands of the orange cup fungus Geopyxis carbonaria, </em>which grows on wood and forest floor that has been charred by fire.</p> Our mycology team is still identifying and properly curating the fungi, but in the end we brought back 195 specimens, each with geographic coordinates and collector information, from eight counties in Southwest Colorado. In just a few days the holdings in the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi from that part of Colorado were nearly doubled. I have no doubt our San Juan foray will keep on giving, as the specimens and their data are studied for centuries to come.</p>
</p> In just a few days, the Gardens will dress up for Halloween for Glow at the Gardens™</a>, our nighttime celebration of all things pumpkin. Using all real pumpkins grown by local farmers, our team of pumpkin artists will create nearly a dozen larger-than-life pumpkin sculptures, hand-carved showpiece pumpkins, and of course, hundreds and hundreds of classic jack-o’-lanterns. While we love the elaborate sculptures, the classic jack-o’-lanterns hold a special place for us: after all, there is no symbol of Halloween more quintessential than the jack-o’-lantern!</p> But… why? Where did this tradition actually come from? Why do we all buy an over-sized gourd, carve one side into a scary face and plop it on the porch with a candle for all to see? The truth is that no one is really sure! The practice likely evolved from traditions stemming from a variety of cultures. There are, however, a few stories and themes that seem consistent from source to source.</p> Most agree that the word “jack-o’-lantern” developed in 1660s English folklore and was another name for a "will-o’-the-wisp": a phenomenon of faint lights appearing over bogs and wetlands that was commonly associated with magic and fairies. Variations of the will-o’-the-wisp story are present in folklore all over Europe.</p> It is also known that gourd and vegetable carving has been observed in numerous cultures for hundreds of years. The Irish seem like the most likely candidates for bringing the idea to the United States, as they are known to have carved turnips and beets into ghoulish faces representing goblins or spirits. In the United States, where pumpkins were readily available, the turnips and beets were no longer the ideal canvas.</p> Another legend is that of Stingy Jack, a blacksmith who managed to hoodwink the devil through a series of clever ruses into never claiming his soul. Upon his death, he was fated to linger on earth for all eternity and has only a burning coal to light his way, becoming known as "Jack of the Lantern."</p> Regardless of its origin, the jack-o’-lantern is easily one of the most important elements of American Halloween celebrations. Whether it’s a single jack-o’-lantern on your stoop or a display of hundreds of spooky faces side by side at Glow at the Gardens, there’s nothing like a hollowed-out pumpkin with a candle inside to evoke the nostalgia of trick-or-treating, costume contests, haunted houses and spooky October nights.</p> Join us Oct. 21-25, 2019 to celebrate the jack-o’-lantern in all its glory at Glow at the Gardens. Tickets are extremely limited and are expected to sell out in advance. Purchase tickets </strong>online</strong></a> or at the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center at 1007 York Street. </strong></p> New this year! Stop by the Gardens York Street location on Saturday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., to take home a jack-o’-lantern from the show for free, while supplies last!</strong> Gardens' membership or admission required for entry.</p>
</p> The tradition of gathering together in the winter months goes back almost as far as humanity itself. Today, that tradition is celebrated by families, friends, and even by companies and organizations that want to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of their team over the past year.</p> Unfortunately, by the time most of us are ready to put autumn in the rear-view mirror and begin thinking about the winter holidays, many of the prime dates and venues for holiday party rentals are already booked. Competition for caterers and entertainers becomes equally fierce. As the Blossoms of Light™</a> holiday parties at the Gardens become more and more popular each year, we recommend booking your event as soon as possible so you and your guests don’t miss out on this unique, nationally-ranked display of over half a million lights.</p> But fear not, you’re not too late! With several unique spaces and booking options available between November 29 – December 21, 2019 and November 27 – December 20, 2020</strong>, we can accommodate parties of almost any size or style during Blossoms of Light. And don’t forget – your guests get the special experience of wandering through our dazzling wonderland of light and color when they aren’t retreating to your venue for treats and beverages.</p> Celebrate the end of the season with your colleagues or loved ones at Blossoms of Light; it’s sure to be a night they’ll remember for years to come. Contact us for more information at private.events@botanicgardens.org</a> or 720-865-3551.</p>
</p> With the temperatures still soaring into the high 80s, it’s hard to believe that it’s already time to prepare our gardens for fall bulb planting. But, if a thriving bed of brilliant or pastel blooms is your goal for this spring, now is the time to begin! Our annual Fall Plant & Bulb Sale</a> is the perfect place to shop for your bulbs, tubers and rhizomes.</p> Like any type of gardening, bulb planting can feel overwhelming if you’ve never done it before. Fortunately, we have a team of experts that can give you a leg up on making your flower beds the envy of the neighborhood.</p> Planning</strong></p> Before buying your bulbs, consider the following:</p> Will you plant them in a shady or sunny location?</li> When do you want your flowers to bloom? In general, crocus, snowdrops, dwarf iris and Siberian squill are very early bloomers. Grape hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, fritillaria and common hyacinths come next. Alliums, bearded iris, Dutch iris and foxtail lilies bloom in late spring or early summer.</li> How much water will you give your bulbs? How often do you run your irrigation?</li> Do you want bulbs that come back year after year without replanting or will you want to change your bulb display, using different types and colors?</li> Do you have lots of squirrels in your area? Focus on planting bulbs that squirrels don’t like to avoid them digging up and ruining your display. </li> </ul> Purchasing</strong></p> When buying bulbs, make sure they are firm and healthy looking. Some surface damage is okay as long it doesn’t compromise the bulb’s performance. At Fall Plant & Bulb Sale, our horticulture staff can assist you with making these evaluations.</li> Make sure you read the instructions on each bulb package to understand when they need to be planted, how deep and what sort of care they require.</li> If you aren’t planting your bulbs immediately, be prepared to store them in a dry, dark place that is cool but not freezing. Bulbs should not be stored in a refrigerator where fruits and vegetables are also stored.</li> </ul> Planting</strong></p> Amend your soil if needed to ensure good drainage, which is essential for all bulbs. </li> For planting spring blooming bulbs in the Denver area, the best time to plant is October when the average soil temperature is about 55˚F. If you plant too early, the warmer soil temperatures may burn the flower already developing inside the bulb and it won’t bloom.</li> For fall blooming bulbs, plant them immediately and they will bloom this fall.</li> In general, plant bulbs 3-4 times as deep as the height of the bulb with the tip facing up and the root zone facing down. Imagine 3-4 bulbs stacked on top of each other. Some bulbs are exceptions to this rule, so refer to the instructions for each bulb. If your soil has more clay, plant them a little shallower. If your soil is sandy, plant them a little deeper.</li> When planting lots of bulbs across a large area, dig the entire area to the desired depth. Then, place your bulbs as desired and fill back in with the soil you removed. This will go much faster than digging individual holes!</li> Water the bulbs very well after you plant them. This watering is important for the root formation that begins shortly after planting.</li> Fertilizer is not necessary with the initial planting. Bone meal for bulbs is not recommended in most Denver soils.</li> </ul> Post-Bloom</strong></p> After the plants bloom in the spring, leave the foliage to die back on its own. By doing so, the bulb receives maximum energy through photosynthesis for next season’s bloom.</li> To hide the fading foliage, plant summer-blooming annuals or perennials near the bulbs.</li> If you planted bulbs that naturalize, don’t deadhead and let them go to seed so they will increase.</li> </ul> Stop by the Fall Plant & Bulb Sale this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28, to pick up plants and bulbs for your own fall garden. Members receive 10 percent off all purchases! </strong> Free admission to the Plant & Bulb Sale and to the Gardens.</p>
During my time as the Rock Alpine Garden intern, I have been lucky enough to embark on many adventures into the field. I’ve added fencing around the montane gardens at Mount Goliath, summited Mount Evans to collect herbarium specimens with Horticulture Specialist Amy Schneider, hiked across Horseshoe Ridge with visiting alpine gardeners from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and passed through alpine tundra sites used for species richness surveys by my mentor, Curator of Alpine Collections Mike Kintgen.</p> In my travels, I have seen many interesting plants of Colorado. On one memorable hike, I saw a singular bright stemmed plant with red, fruiting capsules. I pondered this unique plant and considered possible identifications: was it an orchid or possibly a mycoheterotroph (a plant that gets all its food from parasitism rather than photosynthesis)? I took photos and consulted the experts back at Denver Botanic Gardens. My instincts were right! The plant was Corallorhiza wisteriana</em>, or spring coralroot, a mycoheterotrophic orchid species that contains no chlorophyll. How cool!</p> On another outing, Tom Freeth (from the Davies Alpine House at Kew Gardens) insisted we stop to admire a field of Castilleja integra</em>, a hemi-parasitic plant in the family Orobanchaceae. I was more than pleased to inspect the flowers and mull on their apt common name, paintbrush, in relation the swaths of red across an otherwise unremarkable grazing field. My eyes danced from one patch to the next before landing on one outlying individual: a yellow flower form. I called my co-botanizers and to my delight they proclaimed I had found an albino version of the species.</p> Another favorite mountain species, Frasera speciosa</em> (also known as green gentian, elkweed or monument plant), is an alpine plant that can be found around Colorado’s foothills, forests and meadows, ranging in a montane environments from subalpine to alpine. These robust angiosperms can grow taller than I stand and are monocarpic, flowering once in their lifetime. Each flower generally has four fringed petals, however, while hiking in the Mosquito Range of Colorado, I found a specimen with six petals! These mutant versions are a testament to genetic diversity and the old botanist’s adage: for every rule there is an exception.</p> This blog post was written by Emily Rose Alworth. Emily is the Rock Alpine Garden summer intern at the Gardens. Recently, she completed her undergraduate education focused on botany, ecology, mycology, and fine arts at Sarah Lawrence College. </em></p>
Denver Botanic Gardens is excited to announce that our Sensory Processing and Autism Resource Kits (SPARK) are available for use, free of charge, on a first-come, first-served basis! They may be checked out from the Helen Fowler Library in the Freyer – Newman Center at our York Street location. The backpacks were designed and created by the Autism Community Store in partnership with the Autism Society of Colorado.</p> The packs are a resource for people of all ages with autism or sensory needs, to help them feel safe and supported while exploring the Gardens. Each pack includes a garden-themed Seek & Find weighted lap pad, wiggle seat cushion, noise-reducing headphones, visor, fidget keychains, hand-operated fan, turquoise sunglasses, calming strategies card and an outdoor blanket.</p> What’s included:</p> Garden-themed Weighted Discovery Lap Pad – </strong>Weighing in at over two pounds, this lap pad does double duty. The therapeutic weight can be calming to the nervous system, helping the user stay seated more comfortably. The lap pad’s garden-theme contents provide tactile and visual stimulation that can offer a calming distraction in a challenging environment.</li> Wiggle Cushion – </strong>“Wiggle seats” can be an effective seating option for people who have a difficult time focusing or staying put in their seats. These helpful self-regulation seating devices provide subtle movement input (gentle bouncing and/or rocking) without getting up from your seat! The calming (or alerting) movement input makes it easier for many children and adults to stay calm and focused.</li> Noise-reducing Headphones – </strong>Noise reduction headphones provide an auditory buffer. They can help people with noise sensitivity explore environments that might otherwise been too uncomfortable for them.</li> Visor – </strong>The visor is a comfortable means of shading the eyes from natural and artificial overhead light while also providing a sense of enclosure and protection.</li> Fidget Toys – </strong>The fidget toys attached to the zipper pulls of the backpack help keep busy fingers engaged. Contrary to what many people believe, fidgeting actually helps sensory seeking people stay calm and focused.</li> Hand-operated Fan – </strong>The fan is manually operated with a crank. It is a fidget toy that will be enjoyed by visitors who like spinning things or a cause-effect toy. The fan also empowers a guest with a cooling tool.</li> Turquoise Glasses – </strong>For some people, colored glasses can be relaxing and may help the brain process the information it sees. Each person has a unique color preference, but turquoise is one of the most popular.</li> Calming Strategies Card – </strong>This card offers opportunities for non-verbal cues.</li> Outdoor Blanket – </strong>The outdoor blanket unfolds to offer a comfortable nest for a visitor who craves a sensory break.</li> </ul> Be sure to check out our sensory friendly events that provide an opportunity to explore the Gardens with fewer visitors and hands-on sensory activities. The low-sensory SPARK mornings and evenings are offered during the summer and are free with advance registration. Call 720-865-3500 for more information.</p>
For this walk we’ll stay outside of the Gardens’ gates, exploring the gateways to the Gardens instead. The streetscapes of Denver Botanic Gardens are often overlooked, or passed right by, however receive just as much curation and care as any other space that we steward. We strive to create a welcoming and immersive experience even at the edge of our realm, communicating our ideals and aesthetics to all our visitors, whether they come inside or not. One way we do this is through the extensive use of grasses in our landscape.</p> Grasses and grasslands are extremely important to the Gardens, and as such, are well represented in the collections. Denver lies on the western edge of the North American shortgrass steppe, a biome that has produced many popular ornamental garden grasses. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium</em>), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii</em>), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis</em>) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum</em>) all originate in the short and tall grass prairies of North America. These grasses, like many others from around the world, have adapted to the intense conditions of a steppe environment. Their growth points are located below or at the surface of the ground to provide protection from extreme temperatures. Their leaves are long and narrow, limiting surface area and conserving water. Their roots grow deep, tapping precious and hard-to-come-by moisture.</p> Walking through a field of grasses is like swimming through an ocean – you float in a different world, somewhere between the earth and the sky as the countless blades dance and undulate in the invisible energies of the world. There are layers of life that exist all around you, often unseen, nurtured by a thick, persistent environment.</p> Start your tour on the east side of York Street by the pedestrian entrance to the parking garage. As you walk north on the sidewalk, glance across the street at the Celebration Garden </strong>to see the pillow-soft forms of Hameln dwarf fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides</em> 'Hameln') and prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis</em>).</li> Looking west, see the massive earth berm of The Colorado Garden Show Promenade Garden </strong>that we call the “West Wedge.” Looking up the hillside notice two very popular landscaping grasses, noteworthy for their showiness and long-season forms, being used to stunning effect. The tousled pink mass of the Karley Rose fountain grass (Pennisetum orientale</em> ‘Karley Rose’), runs south to north, bordered on its upper limits by the highly structural and ubiquitous Karl Foerster feather reed grass (Calamagrostis</em> × acutiflora</em> 'Karl Foerster').</li> Continue walking north and turn east on 11th Avenue. Past the row of white ash begins the Josephine streetscape, a garden space that simulates a hypernaturalistic grassland. To your left are pink diaphanous sprays belonging to the Undaunted® ruby muhly (Muhlenbergia reverchonii</em> 'PUND01S') emerging from the fall meadow.</li> Turn right at the corner and you’re beckoned south by a tall grassland turning shades of red, blue, purple and gold. Three forms of prairie switchgrass (Panicum virgatum</em> ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Hot Rod’ and ‘Prairie Sky’), Indian Steel Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans</em> 'Indian Steel'), Windwalker® big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii</em> 'PWIN01S') and Twilight Zone little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium</em> 'Twilight Zone') are all interplanted to create a diverse and undulated landscape.</li> As you continue walking south, look to the top of the large earth berm we call the “East Wedge.” Towering above all is Cloud Nine switchgrass (Panicum virgatum</em> ‘Cloud Nine’), an almost nine-foot-tall selection of switchgrass with golden fall foliage. Also, notice the long-plumed Peruvian feather grass (Stipa ichu</em>) nestled up against the edge of the parking garage, dancing in the breeze of the passing traffic. The little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium</em>) has lost its summer moisture and chlorophyll and now stands tinged with purples and reds while its seed heads catch the low autumn light.</li> Continue walking south and encounter Morning Light maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis</em> ‘Morning Light’) a selection with silver leaf variegation and wine-colored seed heads, lighting up a rather shady corridor.</li> Turn right and take a shortcut up the stairway to the upper level of the parking garage. Notice the large planters flitting with seedheads of blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis</em>) and the tufted flowers of moor grass (Sesleria</em> 'Greenlee Hybrid'), softening the hard concrete and sandstone of the parking lot.</li> From here, with your sight attuned to the wonders of grasses, you can choose your own adventure and explore the Glorious Grasslands of Mordecai Children’s Garden</strong> or enjoy the endless spectacle of autumnal grasses inside the York Street campus.</li> </ul>
This spring was the first growing season of my prairie restoration experimental research plot at Chatfield Farms. Millions of pounds of seed are planted every year for ecological restoration and the demand for native seed exceeds its supply. I am interested in understanding how the source of seeds used in restoration relates to plant performance. </p> What performs better, seeds from cultivated plants or wild-collected seeds? For wild-collected seed, how does the environment from where they were collected relate to their performance (size, growth rate and reproductive output) at the field site? Do plants from more similar environments to Chatfield Farms perform better than plants from different environments? Are these relationships the same across many species, or do they vary among species? The results from this experiment will help land managers and restoration practitioners to choose appropriate seed sources to maximize restoration success.</p> To answer my research questions, I conducted an experiment on five study species commonly used in shortgrass prairie restoration: prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida</em>), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis</em>), prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha</em>), dotted blazing star (Liatris punctata</em>), Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon strictus</em>) and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda</em>). For each species, I planted seeds from six wild-collected populations across the western U.S. and from commercially available cultivated seed.</p> I am tracking growth stage and life stage of each individual plant for two growing seasons, and biomass at the end of the experiment. With more than 1,000 plants involved, volunteers were integral in every step of my experiment: planting seed and repotting seedlings in the greenhouse, plot set-up and construction, planting seedlings into the ground and assisting with weeding and data collection.</p> Out of all the different types of measurements I am collecting, I am especially interested in phenology. Phenology is the timing of when organisms progress through their life stages or life cycle events. Plants are known to alter when they start leafing, flowering and set seed in response to environmental conditions. However, some of their phenology is also genetically determined – e.g. plants from environments with shorter growing seasons may always flower earlier than plants from environments with longer growing seasons. If some plant populations are not able to alter their phenology enough to keep up with the pace of climate change and the environmental conditions at the restoration site, then they may die out in the future, leading to restoration failure.</p> This blog post was written by Katherine Fu, Ph.D. student at University of Colorado Denver. Katherine is planning a career in plant ecology and conservation. Specifically, she is interested in focusing on research questions related to restoration, plant communities, succession and plant/animal interactions.</em></p>
