Here at Chatfield Farms, we grow vegetables for several hundred people all summer long. When we make our crop plan for the season, we try to think about the variety of vegetables that we want our shareholders to receive each week throughout the season. If we want to give salad mix or carrots every other week that means we need to seed them at regular intervals until late summer when we make our last seedings for the fall. This is called succession planting. </p> Some crops like mustards or lettuces for salad mix do not hold well in the field. They take around 30 days to reach maturity and need to be harvested at their prime. Carrots, on the other hand, do hold well in the field for several weeks once they’ve reached maturity at 60-75 days. Therefore, we might plant our greens every two weeks and our carrots once a month. </p>
August is a great month to take a walk around the water gardens to see our aquatic plants in their full glory. </p> Begin your stroll at the small pool in the Ellipse garden, home to the Chihuly sculpture, Colorado</em>. A unique plant displayed in this pond is mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides</em>). This South American native thrives in warm water, making this 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 wa-terlilies (Nymphaea </em>hybrids) including ‘Albert Greenberg’, ‘Wanvisa’, ‘Sunfire’ and ‘Laydekeri Ful-gens’, along with Colocasia esculenta</em> ‘Black Magic’ and Canna </em>‘Chiquita Punch’ round out the display in this pond.</p> Next, head west to the Romantic Garden pool, where you will find a display of star waterlilies. These waterlilies are named for the shape of their blooms, which are stellate and held high above the water’s surface. One waterlily species, Nymphaea gracilis</em>, has been used by hybridizers to create cultivars of star waterlilies with flowers in a rainbow of colors. N. gracilis</em> is native to Mexi-co and has solid white blooms and green leaves. Cultivars displayed in this pond include the pink flowered ‘August Siebert’, ‘Rhapsody in White’, which boasts white blooms and mottled leaves, and ‘Rhonda Kay’ which rounds out the collection with purple flowers. A pair of Santa Cruz water platters (Victoria cruziana</em>) surround a recirculating pottery fountain in the center of this pond.</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 hardy waterlilies, tropical waterlilies, and an assortment of marginal plants (plants that grow in shallow water around the margins of a pond) including Canna </em>‘Flirtini’, Canna </em>‘Belin-da’, red stemmed thalia (Thalia geniculata </em>f. rheumoides</em>), swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus ‘Berry Awe-some’ and ‘Heartthrob’), and Mexican petunia (Ruellia simplex</em>). Water platters (Victoria </em>‘Long-wood Hybrid’) grown from seed each spring in our greenhouse complete this display.</p> Before you continue west, peek at the El Pomar Waterway to the east of the Science Pyramid. This long, shallow canal is planted with a repeating pattern of Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus</em>) and tropical waterlilies (Nymphaea </em>‘Foxfire’) this summer.</p> The next pond on our tour can be found at the west end of the Steppe Garden just as you enter the Annuals Garden. This pool is home to the Rocky Mountain Legacy Collection – waterlilies that have been tested for performance at the Gardens over the years and have historical signifi-cance. 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> Continuing downstream, our Annuals Garden ponds feature a display of night-blooming waterlilies this year including ‘Texas Shell Pink’, ‘Missouri’, ‘Antares’ and ‘Rosa de Noche’. If you are visiting the gardens in the evening or early morning hours, you can find the blooms of these lilies fully open before they close for the day.</p> North of our outdoor café, the Hive Garden Bistro, the Monet Pool stretches north and west to the border of the Japanese Garden and is our largest display pond and the final stop on our tour. This water garden features 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>), and powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata</em>). Stands of lotus (Nelumbo </em>cultivars) are displayed throughout the pond as well. These begin blooming in mid-July and continue into August before dropping their petals to reveal showy, decorative seed pods. </p> Photos by Tamara Kilbane</em> </p>
In the wake of the Great Resignation, building a strong company culture has become more important than ever. With an increase in working from home and hybrid schedules, it is increasingly vital to provide employees with a way to connect, engage and communicate. Enter teambuilding: your one-stop shop for facilitating and creating a healthy company culture. </p> At Chatfield Farms</a>, the venue spaces on our native plant refuge</a> are perfect to team-build or get away to reconnect with your team members. Through proper teambuilding outings, you can encourage your employees to reconnect, reengage and socialize to build a deeper connection with your company and their own teams.</p> The benefits to teambuilding are as numerous as they are helpful. Teambuilding events have been shown to increase morale, increase open and effective communication, encourage productivity and improve the mental health of your team members by providing them with a space and an event outside of their status quo. Through events and exercises you can work together to learn about each other and collaborate in a new environment. It can be easy to put teambuilding on the backburner, either because of the expense or the time investment required, but some of the most successful companies out there take full advantage and reap the benefits in the long run. </p> We also offer suggested caterers, event planners and vendors to help facilitate your teambuilding event to save you the logistical headaches that can come with planning. Take a tour of our venues and be sure to ask about our suggested partners; we’ll help you find a match for your needs. </p>
Lavender Festival at Chatfield Farms is a great place to experience all of your favorite summer activities for a number of reasons. Here are our top five:</p> Farmers Market: New to the festival this year and hosted by Chatfield Farms’ Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) team, is an opportunity to shop for fresh produce from some of the partners of our CSA program. Be sure to stop by their booth located near the entrance of the festival and pick up fresh microgreens, veggies, cookies and more. </li> Art Demonstrations: This year we are working with several talented artists that come from the Santa Fe Art District. Check out live painting and pottery demonstrations in Deer Creek Stables as well as a muralist working on a piece near our outdoor amphitheater. </li> Live Music: Enjoy a line-up of local Colorado bands performing in the amphitheater. Listen to the music while you stroll through our craft vendor booths and play lawn games or grab a seat on the grass to take a break and simply enjoy. You can also catch The Altaira Flute Ensemble performing in the Lavender Garden. </li> Nature: Experience all the magic that is Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. Our Lavender Garden is in full bloom and the highlight of the festival. Explore all the gardens and historical buildings onsite and maybe catch a farm or garden tour</a> </strong>(advance registration for tours required, capped per tour).</li> Kids’ Activities: Promising fun for the whole family are also several activities for the kids to enjoy. We have barrel train rides and a craft area where kids can plant their own flower to take home in a container that they decorate.</li> </ol> Lavender Festival runs Saturday & Sunday, July 16 & 17. Tickets are on sale now</a>, so get yours today. </p>
I have been working with some old rose plants</a> recently. Roughly 80 years old, we think, and last week I saw them bloom for the first time</a>. </p> The plants grow in the concrete rubble of a bunk house at Amache, Colorado’s World War II-era Japanese-American concentration camp. Even though the plants haven’t been cared for since 1945, against the odds they have managed to survive. </p>
June is the time of year gardeners are busy growing crops in hopes of an end-of-summer bounty of fruits and veggies to be harvested. Leading up to this harvest, gardeners tend diligently by fertilizing, pinching and watering. But there is one more thing that is essential to a good backyard harvest: the right pollinator to finish the job. It’s no secret that we rely on pollinators for plant biodiversity and crop sustainability; but did you know it sometimes takes a specific pollinator to be able to fertilize those veggie flowers in your garden? </p> Some pollinators, specifically certain species of solitary bees and bumblebees, use distinct vibrations made by contracting their flight muscles to help extract pollen from flowers. They hold on tight to the flower and start vibrating away; in doing so, the bees incidentally fertilize flowers as they visit them. This term is known as “buzz pollination” or “floral sonication.” </p> This is important because in some flowers’ morphology, the pollen is crammed tightly into the anther (the part of the plant that holds the pollen) and can only be released from the tip through pores or slits (the technical term is “poricidal”). The classic example one can think of is by looking at the nightshade family (i.e. Solanum</em>, or tomato) flower, where the pollen is tucked away in the center yellow column-like tubes protruding from the flower. Without sonication, most insects are unable to access the nutritious pollen that is packed in this way. But, in buzzing and booming away at the perfect frequency and amplitude, bumblebees can access this nutritious meal and meanwhile drop off pollen from earlier stops they make, therefore fertilizing flowers as they go. </p> Not all pollinators are capable of this buzz pollinating. Only about half of all bee species can generate the frequencies required to release pollen; this buzzing mechanism is restricted to bumblebees and many types of solitary bees. Oddly enough, honeybees are unable to pollinate in this manner. Although honeybees can do some of the pollinating, they are not as efficient in producing the same high crop yields that the bumblebees can. </p> The type of flower morphology that requires buzz pollination assistance is also limited to certain species of flowering plants – the more well-known ones including tomato, eggplant, tomatillo, kiwi and blueberry. If your veggie garden is full of tomatoes and eggplant, that means a lot of it will necessitate bumblebees and solitary bees to ensure flowers are fertilized with resulting fruits being made! There is, however, still room for the bustling honeybee in the veggie garden. Some crops do not have a need for those special mechanical vibrations to access pollen, including squashes and gourds. </p> Next time you hear those humble, bumbling bumblebees “happily a-buzzing” away in your garden beds, hopefully you will give some praise and remember their important role to the crops we grow and eat every day! </p> </p> This article first appeared in the June issue of Life on Capitol Hill.</em> </p>
The Chatfield Farms Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program focuses on community and defining what that means in terms of regenerative agriculture. We cannot regenerate our system of growing food without a vibrant network of individuals who believe in our mission and help us along the way. </p> Locally owned Paonia Soil Company</a> is the definition of that type of community network that we are building. The company found a generous donor to help us purchase a large quantity of necessary nutrients and trace elements to improve our soil. They consulted with us, then created a customized mixture to optimize plant growth and yield, and to increase the building blocks of soil through microorganisms that help build organic matter. Paonia Soil Company is a living-soil expert, which emphasizes sustainable packaging and helps make soil that is alive. We’re grateful for the support and expertise of Bart Eller and his entire team, and to Frank Sinton, for his generous donation to our soil health program.</p>
Like many residents of the Front Range, I am converting my front yard, formerly Kentucky bluegrass, several tired junipers and a smattering of common garden weeds, into a more diverse plant community. The new landscape includes a mix of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses of varying heights, bloom times, colors and textures. The goals: to conserve water, to provide habitat for wildlife and to cultivate a small tract of nature in the middle of the city to enjoy, all while keeping the neighbors happy. </p> Landscaping is often an act of delayed gratification. I may never see the singleleaf piñon (Pinus monophylla</em>) I planted achieve its full stature or the Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii</em>) become old and gnarly. Even the shrubs and herbaceous perennials take time to fill out. While I wait, big stretches of rock mulch are present. Fortunately, these spaces can be niches for a variety of annual wildflowers, which provide almost instant gratification for the home gardener! </p> Not only do annuals grow quickly, but they often produce an abundance of seed that accumulates in the seedbank. Thus, even though they are annuals, their population will persist in your garden if conditions are favorable. What’s more, many annuals are ruderal species, meaning they thrive in disturbed sites (example: urban yards, which are subject to foot and paw traffic) and between events of disturbance. Finally, many are brightly colored and charismatic, attracting pollinators and turning heads of neighbors. Below is a list of several to include in your landscape.</p> Perhaps the most familiar annual wildflower for western landscaping is California poppy (Eschscholzia californica</em>), the state flower of California. The bright orange flowers and blue-green feathery leaves of this species pair well with the electric blue flowers of the lesser-known wildflower desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia</em>). Both are easy to grow and naturalize quickly in the driest and sunniest areas of your garden. Look for California poppy in the Roads Water-Smart Garden</strong>; desert bluebells has been cultivated in both the lower and upper meadows in the Rock Alpine Garden.</li> Two other West Coast wildflowers to grow are coastal tidytips (Layia platyglossa</em>) and fivespot (Nemophila maculata</em>). Coastal tidytips has yellow ray flowers with white tips and works great in masses or planted with other colorful wildflowers. Fivespot has five white petals each with a purple spot at the tip. Both species have been cultivated in Desert Wash Garden (within the Rock Alpine Garden)</strong> and would add charm to urban landscapes.</li> A unique-looking annual wildflower is snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata</em>). Sporting showy green and white bracts, or modified leaves, this species vaguely resembles its distant relative, poinsettia. Like poinsettia, the true flowers are inconspicuous. Snow-on-the-mountain grows in prairies and floodplains in central United States and Mexico and would thrive in urban yards. You will find this species growing in the naturalistic plantings on 11th Avenue near the parking garage</strong>.</li> A cheery, long-blooming annual with yellow and burgundy ray flowers is plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria</em>). In the wild, this species is commonly found in disturbed habitats including roadsides, fields, pastures and waste places. At the Gardens, it is found in the Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden</strong>. This species works well in mass plantings and makes an excellent cutting flower: add some purple asters (Aster </em>spp.), fringed sage (Artemisia frigida</em>) and blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis</em>) to your favorite vintage vase to create a beautiful, prairie-themed bouquet. </li> Finally, Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleomella serrulata</em>) is a lanky annual up to five feet tall with long protruding stamens that form a halo around showy purple flowers. Well-known amongst wildlife gardeners and wildflower enthusiasts, this species attracts native bees, European honeybees, butterflies, wasps, ants and hummingbirds. Less known and grown is the more diminutive cousin with sunshine-yellow flowers, yellow beeplant (Cleomella lutea</em>). At the Gardens both species grow in Sacred Earth</strong>, where they provide bursts of purple and yellow between gray big-toothed sage (Artemisia tridentata</em>) and other dryland shrubs.</li> </ul> For the ambitious plant nerd seeking more ideas, other annual wildflowers to try include butter daisy (Verbesina encelioides</em>), annual buckwheat (Eriogonum annuum</em>), large-flowered collomia (Collomia grandiflora</em>), blue gilia (Gilia capitata</em>) and birds-eye gilia (G. tricolor</em>). Currently, one of my favorites is Dahlberg daisy (Thymophlla tenuiloba</em>), which is native to southern Texas. Hopefully this delicate yet cheery wildflower will become a mainstay in my naturalistic landscape!</p>
