When you set foot in Blossoms of Light™, you immediately realize you’re in the presence of something extraordinary. More than a million lights glow and flicker in every imaginable way amidst diverse flora and naturalistic landscapes on nearly 23 acres. Not only has this dazzling display become a favorite tradition for Front Range families, but it has also garnered attention as one of the best holiday light displays in the nation.</p> Xcel Energy is a fitting sponsor of Blossoms of Light</a> because it’s a beautiful and traditional community event, as well as a showcase for LED lighting. 100% of the string lights, spotlights and unique features installed by the Gardens and their affiliates are LED lights – which are up to 90% more efficient</a> than traditional incandescent lights. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> This emphasis on greater energy efficiency aligns with the Gardens’ and Xcel Energy’s ongoing partnership and shared core value of sustainability. And it’s easy to bring that home. If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to swap out those old bulbs for LEDs around your home. Energy Star LED lightbulbs save about $55 in electricity costs over their lifetime and last at least 12 years; you can save money while having a positive impact on the environment.</p> Energy Star LED</a> standard light bulbs come in several color options. These ranges are measured on the Kelvin scale, hence the K numbers below. </p> Soft, warm white - 2200K to 3000K - The standard color of most incandescent bulbs, this range provides a warm mood for dining areas and other gathering spaces.</li> Neutral cool white - 3500K to 4100K - This range is suitable for kitchens and workspaces.</li> Daylight - 5000K to 6500K - This type of light has a high-contrast quality – think of a blue sky at noon. Good for reading. </li> Home holiday LED lights offer a mix of display colors, offer up to 90% greater efficiency and run cooler – and therefore safer – than traditional incandescent lights. </li> </ul> You can find discounts</a> of up to $3 per LED bulb at participating Denver-area stores.</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Visit Blossoms of Light for inspiration! Get tickets</a> and more information. Advance online ticket purchase is required; capacity is limited, and some dates sell out weeks in advance.</p> Looking for a 100% LED holiday lights experience in Littleton, CO? Visit Trail of Lights at Chatfield Farms</a>.</p> Masks are required indoors for all visitors ages 3 and older.</p>
Launched in the mid-1980s as a way to increase visitation to the Gardens during the winter, Blossoms of Light™</a> has evolved into a blockbuster, sellout event celebrated as one of the top holiday light displays in the world</a>. The display has advanced considerably since its beginning: We have converted the lights from incandescent to LED, the majority of the lights are now installed by a professional tree care company instead of Gardens staff, and innovative special features are added frequently. Our special events team works hard to push the envelope each year, designing new color palettes and developing new elements, to ensure the display surprises and delights even the most seasoned Blossoms of Light visitor. </p> We had a great time digging through the archives to see how far we’ve come. While photos from the earliest years are scarce, the last 20 have been well documented. Enjoy this trip down memory lane with us as we compare Blossoms of Light today with displays of old! </p> O’Fallon Perennial Walk, 2005 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Monet Pool, 2002 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Crossroads, facing west, 2007 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Shady Lane, 2005 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Japanese Garden, 1985 and 2019</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> UMB Bank Amphitheater, 2005 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> El Pomar Waterway, 2005 and 2020</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Romantic Gardens, 2002 and 2020</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Cottonwood Border, 2006 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Gates Montane, 2016 and 2021</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </h4> Welcome Sign, 2007 and 2020</h4> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </picture> </div> </div> </article> </p> Blossoms of Light runs nightly through January 8, 2022 (closed November 25 and December 25) and is expected to sell out. Get your tickets early; advance purchase is required. Masks are required indoors for all visitors ages 3 and older.</p>
This summer I had the opportunity to work in Denver Botanic Gardens’ database, (BG-Base) entering photos documenting the species in the Rock Alpine Garden. This project gave me a foundational knowledge of the database system, as well as an understanding of the importance of data recording for a large institution such as Denver Botanic Gardens.</p> Working in the database, I entered four collections of photos under the categories of caragana, veronica, bulbs and wildflowers. I worked through one folder at a time, going through each image for each species and deciding if it should be added to the database. Then, I narrowed down each species to 4-5 photos, picking photos that displayed all the plant’s important identification features—leaf, habit, flower, fruit and stem—as well as conditional features considering the species, such as habitat. </p> Important information that needs to be included in the database is the exact genus, species, cultivar and/or subspecies, the date the photos were taken, the name of the person taking the photos, the location of the photograph, and the accession and name numbers of the plant being photographed. This information is all vital in having an accurate record of the specimen. </p> The process of entering the photos into the database went like this: The name number for each specimen was found by looking further into the current records in the database. A name number is a number given to a plant in the database, that way when anyone needs to enter images of a specimen, they can use the name number that already has the appropriate morphological features assigned to each plant name. Next, each photo was renamed with their specific name number and then added to a special file folder that allows for photos to be accessed when they are looked up in the database or on Gardens Navigator</a>. Lastly each photo was given its information as listed above. </p> This opportunity allowed for me to learn about the importance of plant records and gave me the ability to navigate and work in a botanical garden database. </p> </p> Summer Pritchett is a senior horticulture student, minoring in biology at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. She has an interest in studying the relationship between native and invasive plants, as well as plant collections and plant records.</em></p>
I am in the very fortunate position that I can translate my work at Denver Botanic Gardens into a doctorate in integrative and systems biology from the University of Colorado, Denver. I’m gaining new tools and insight for the applied plant conservation work I hope to continue far into the future. For my dissertation, I am focusing on estimating extinction risk of small populations over time and space. Even if a population is likely to go extinct in the foreseeable future, that might not mean the loss of an entire species. The Gardens actively collects seed of rare and threatened plants to use in case of catastrophic loss. I will use extinction risk analyses to determine effective and safe levels of seed collection for ex-situ conservation and for management recommendations. </p> Currently, my focus is on the time scale of rare plant conservation planning. In small populations, long-term persistence can be greatly impacted by stochasticity, which is variation in demography (random variation in survival and reproduction among individuals within a population) and response to a variable environment. This random variation, or stochasticity, increases extinction risk in smaller populations because of the increased chance that all individuals die prematurely. Imagine you’re flipping a coin; you’d think you’d get half heads and half tails. However, when the number of flips is small, there’s a much greater chance that you’ll get all tails. It’s not until you’ve flipped that coin for a while that you’ll land on a nice percentage of 50 percent heads and 50 percent tails. Larger populations are buffered from this stochasticity. </p> Because of the Gardens’ long-term support of research and conservation, I have large datasets on rare plant populations, including 26 years of annual survival, growth and reproduction rates for Astraglaus microcymbus</em> across six populations. Typical plant studies have as few as three years of data. The common practice is to assume we have enough data of population changes over time to measure the long-term population growth rate. We can then simulate a population through time by drawing growth and reproductive rates from good or bad years to estimate the impact of a variable environment. In this way, we can test how a seemingly stable population might still go extinct depending on the climate. </p> I have primarily studied long-lived, perennial species. In general, plants can either put more energy towards reproduction or towards survival and this trade off determines whether survival or reproduction is most important in changing the population growth rate. I would not expect that all types of plants would respond in a similar fashion to stochasticity. A fast growing annual that puts most of its effort into reproduction will be impacted differently and across a different time frame than a tree that produces a few seeds every year but does so for centuries.</p> Selecting the time horizon over which to estimate risk is an arbitrary decision. The number of years to project extinction risk into the future needs to be long enough to detect extinctions but not so long that uncertainty overwhelms assumptions about population dynamics. A short time frame for a tree will be a longer time frame for an annual. In the first chapter of my dissertation, I am testing which life history traits may predispose a species to extinction in a variable environment and how risk changes over time. </p> I will apply the findings of this project to applied conservation work at Denver Botanic Gardens. My studies are leading me to new questions about what threatens rare plant populations and methods to test conservation actions. It’s hard work but well worth it. </p>
Autumn is in the air! Fall marks a transition period in our gardens when most perennials, trees and shrubs enter dormancy for the winter, with flower shows giving way to textural and skeletal plant arrangements. Among gardeners, there is often the urge to tidy up after the first frost by immediately cutting back perennials and removing plant debris, but this can be counterproductive to both the aesthetic and ecological value of your garden. Here are a few tips to maximize the ecological utility of your garden this winter while maintaining a beautiful yard.</p> Leave as much standing plant material as possible. </h4> Many species of invertebrates, including beneficial insects and pollinators, use plant stems to nest or overwinter. By removing standing plant material from our gardens in the fall, we don’t allow these species to complete their life cycles. Birds and mammals also rely on upright dried plant material for food or shelter. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Liatris punctata</em></p> In the spring once temperatures have warmed, cut back grasses and flower stems. Even better, cut back flower stalks at varying heights leaving some vertical stems in place as this helps native bees and other insects emerge from their winter slumber. </p> There is an aesthetic upshot as well; dormant plants in the winter are beautiful and allow you to see contrasting botanical shapes and forms in stark relief. Ornamental grasses in particular juxtapose beautifully with bold seed heads like Echinacea </em>or stiff upright forms of Liatris </em>and Silphium</em>. Of course, some plants hold up better than others in dormancy so consider cutting back unsightly soft plant material while leaving more rigid plants. You might be surprised how beautiful your garden is in the low, slanted light of autumn and winter. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Dormant grasses catching light.</p> Allow some leaves, stems and other organic material to remain on the ground. </h4> This additional habitat will be appreciated by a wide array of organisms. For example, nearly three quarters of Colorado’s native bee species nest underground, so a covering of plant litter can help protect their nests over the winter and in the early spring when they become active. Allowing plant material to decompose in place can also improve soil health and provide nutrients to your plants, but keep in mind that this will depend on the type of garden that you have; xeric or dryland gardens may resent too much organic matter while more traditional perennial or shade gardens will appreciate the additional detritus. Vegetable gardens are an exception where it’s best to remove as much plant debris from your crops as possible to mitigate pressure from pests and pathogens.</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Schizachyrium scoparium</em></p> Start a home compost pile with your yard waste rather than throwing in it the trash. </h4> Alternatively, Denver residents can obtain free paper lawn bags and drop off leaves at designated sites this fall. In the spring, pick up discounted compost made from community collections (you can find details at Denver.gov</a> ). For a fee, you can also sign up for weekly compost collection if you live in the city of Denver. </p> Any of these options help to keep organic material out of landfills. Organic matter, including food scraps and yard waste, is the single largest input to landfills in the United States and substantially contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane. Composting organic material or sending it to designated compost facilities can drastically reduce your environmental impact while providing a useful garden resource. </p> </p> This article first appeared in the November issue of Life on Capitol Hill. Photos by Michael Guidi.</em> </p>
