Shade is an essential resource for all life, providing refuge from the heat as the days grow longer. Denver Botanic Gardens has several shaded gardens where visitors can seek shelter from the intense Colorado sun. Under the canopy of trees that are beginning to leaf out, spring-blooming bulbs and perennials are freshly emerging from the soil and providing a glimmer of much needed joy to us all.</p> A shade garden truly shines in the spring in Colorado when blooming Crocus</em>, squill (Scilla </em>and Puschkinia</em>), Fritillaria</em> and Brunnera</em> begin to grow and bloom. They fill the garden with vibrant greens, blues, purples, yellows and reds that attract pollinators like bees and make us feel at one with nature. In a matter of just a few weeks, the shade garden goes from fully dormant to full of life!</p> Creating a shade garden requires patience, persistence and willingness to adapt, but this all pays off when the shade reduces solar heat-gain in a garden and on the surrounding property. A shade garden can lower cooling costs in the summer, retain irrigation and provide habitat for wildlife.</p> As a shade garden matures, thin areas within the tree canopy so that dappled sunlight reaches the ground below, allowing perennials and bulbs to grow their best. Late winter is an ideal time to observe the branching patterns of your shade trees and to prune them before new growth begins in spring. Soil structure is also pertinent in a shade garden as the trees and understory plants all share nutrients and moisture. It's best to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as much as possible; these products tend to damage the soil quality over time and reduce the beneficial microbial life within it. A quality organic compost or slow-release fertilizer will best improve soil structure over time and supplement the garden with essential macro- and micro-nutrients throughout the year. It is also important to select perennials and bulbs that are suited for shade when planting underneath the tree canopy. Hosta</em>, Heuchera</em>, Ligularia</em> and ferns are shade-loving perennials that thrive in low light conditions and benefit from the protection provided by the tree canopy.</p> As we near the heat of summer in Colorado, I encourage you to begin your own shade garden at home that will provide you with joy and relaxation for many years to come.</p>
One of springtime’s reminders that all is new are spring-blooming bulbs. Since our visitors cannot stroll through the Annuals Garden and Pavilion during this time when tulips and hyacinths are bursting, I’d like to share this virtual tour.</p> Begin your virtual tour at the main entrance to the Annuals Garden and Pavilion just south of the Oak Grove and Lainie’s Cutting Garden. To your right and left are a mix of Darwin hybrid tulips called Big Ups®. Darwin hybrids are the largest tulips available and are known for their huge blossoms.</li> Walk forward and find yourself under the large pavilion; to your left in the raised bed, notice the deep dark tulip. This Triumph tulip is called ‘Paul Scherer’. Gaze upon this blossom in the afternoon shadows and this darkest of purple tulips appears almost black. Interplanted among the tulips are Papaver nudicaule </em>‘Wonderland White’ (Icelandic poppies). Sorbet® Lilac Ice and Sorbet® XP Blackberry violas (Viola cornuta </em>‘PAS211805’ and ‘PAS867911’ respectively) add another lower carpeted layer of light and dark hues. Hyacinthus</em> orientalis</em> ‘Fondant’ and ‘Dark Dimension’ echoed this light and dark contrast when they peaked in mid-April.</li> Turning 180 degrees, notice the ‘Champagne Bubbles Pink’ Icelandic poppies (P. nudicaule)</em> popping their cheerful blossoms above the yellow pansies. You may be surprised to learn that the Icelandic poppies, pansies and violas planted in this garden were planted in the fall at the same time as the bulbs. These cool-season annuals provide color in the fall, overwinter, and re-emerge in springtime for an early blast of color.</li> Now walk to the south where three promenade beds greet you with a bold mix of orange and purple. Merry Go Round™ is a mix of three different tulip varieties: purple lily-flowered, purple double-flowering and orange double-flowering.</li> On the south side of the promenade beds is a long stretch of pale lilac-colored Triumph tulips called ‘Silver Cloud’. Named after the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud model, this luxurious tulip does not disappoint. The stately tulips are adorned by fragrant hyacinths called ‘Blue Jacket’. Sturdy-stemmed Triumph tulips are a cross of early blooming and late blooming tulips to make a mid-season bloomed variety. About 3,200 bulbs are planted in this stretch surrounding Amelanchier </em>× grandiflora </em>‘Robin Hill’ (Robin Hill serviceberries), Alnus incana </em>ssp. tenuifolia</em> (mountain alders), Hydrangea</em> quercifolia</em> ‘Pee Wee’ (Pee Wee oakleaf hydrangeas) and Laburnum </em>× watereri </em>‘Vossii’ (goldenchain trees).</li> Look to the north of the promenade beds and you will find a sea of large apricot-colored Darwin hybrid tulips called ‘Daydream’. This raised bed boasts butter-colored and coral-colored hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis </em>‘City of Haarlem’ and H. </em>‘Gipsy Queen’) planted in between the tulips.</li> </ul> The garden is beautiful but there is something missing—our visitors. Until we meet in the garden again remember, “Hope springs eternal.” </p>
April is Earth Month and a great time to start a compost bin in your own backyard! It is an easy and rewarding way of becoming more sustainable and reducing your carbon footprint. Not only will you help save the planet, but you will also be helping your garden by having fresh, nutrient-rich compost that you can add back into your garden and vegetable beds to help your plants grow. Read on to see how easy it is to start a compost bin.</p> Step 1: Select a location for your compost bin</strong></p> Selecting the best area in your garden for your new compost bin is the first and most important step. A compost bin needs good air flow and sunlight in order work its magic. Choose a site that receives at least three to four hours of full sun each day and allows at least two sides of your bin to have unrestricted air flow. If placing the bin near a fence line or in a corner of the yard, keep the bin at least 2 feet away from the fence/corner so that air can circulate properly. This will also be helpful if you ever need to access behind the bin.</p> </p> Step 2: Collect your materials and assemble your compost bin</strong></p> There are many options when it comes to choosing your compost bin. There are a variety of bins that can be purchased for composting from local retailers and online. The design you choose will depend on the area you have selected in your garden and the amount of space you have available. The most important factor is that your bin has adequate air flow, so you want to be sure that the bin has slots or openings that allow oxygen into the bin from all sides. You can also make your own compost bin with repurposed wood or pallets. A bin size of 1 cubic yard (3’x3’x3’) is adequate to allow the compost to reach the proper temperature to initiate the decomposition process by activating microbial activity. When building your own bin, remember to include easy access points on all sides so that you can open it up periodically to maintain, mix and harvest your compost.</p> Step 3: Add organic matter to your bin</strong></p> Once your bin is set up it’s time to add organic matter to start the decomposition process. As you conduct your seasonal garden maintenance, collect your debris: branches, dried leaves, lawn and leaf clippings. These materials can all be added directly to the compost bin and will break down over time. You can also add kitchen scraps like vegetables, fruits and eggshells (cleaned to remove egg white residue). Avoid adding meat and dairy products and perishable items that will spoil quickly or attract unwanted wildlife. The general rule for a healthy compost pile is to add a 2:1 ratio of brown carbon-rich material (dried and chopped branches/leaves cut or shredded finely) to green nitrogen-rich material (kitchen scraps, fresh lawn and leaf clippings). You can layer these materials to allow for proper air flow and oxygenation within your bin.</p> </p> </p> Step 4: Water your compost bin</strong></p> A compost bin requires moisture to begin and maintain a healthy microbial presence, which in turn allows for the decomposition process to take place. Your new compost bin should be watered at least once a week and monitored to ensure that it is staying moist, especially during the hottest times of the year.</p> </p> Step 5: Turn your compost once a month</strong></p> Turning or mixing your compost once a month will also help ensure proper oxygenation of your compost bin and will help speed up the decomposition process.</p> Step 6: Let nature take its course</strong></p> Creating a healthy compost bin system that produces high yields of nutritious compost throughout the year takes time to become established. Expect it to take approximately four to six months for your initial compost starter material to begin decomposing and building the natural microbial life needed. Within eight to 12 months you will be able to harvest compost to add back into your garden beds. This is another great reason to start your new compost bin NOW!</p> Step 7: Harvest your fresh, homemade compost from your bin</strong></p> You have made it this far in the backyard composting journey and you should be very proud of your achievement! You have become a more sustainable individual/household, reduced your carbon footprint drastically by not adding as much to the landfill and now have fresh, nutrient-rich and FREE compost to add back into your vegetable and garden beds. When you’re ready to add your new compost into the garden, simply open one of your access points on the bin and rake or shovel out the bottom layer of the compost bin. You will see where the organic matter has decomposed into a dark, rich soil that you can extract and then reapply to your gardens. Once you have removed this material, give your remaining compost bin a quick mix and water well. Let the compost bin do the rest.</p> </p> Step 8: Apply your fresh compost to your garden beds</strong></p> This is truly the most rewarding part of the entire composting experience. As you tend to your vegetables and gardens, apply a layer of compost around the base of each plant and gently till into the top 1-2 inches of existing soil. Add compost into your container gardens and mix in with new plantings around the roots. Within a matter of weeks, you will see how this amendment of the soil will invigorate you plants to grow and produce astoundingly.</p> </p> Denver Botanic Gardens’ Green Team is thrilled that you are considering taking our composting challenge! We hope that you find it as fun and rewarding as we do, and we would love to hear about your experiences on this incredible composting journey to becoming more sustainable.</p>
In a complex world, a simple cycle like the return of spring can be reassuring. Nothing beats spring in the Rock Alpine Garden; rock gardens are traditionally at their best in spring as the residents are often native to high elevations and keyed to bloom during the brief alpine summers found around the world.</p> Since I am not able to share the garden with you in person, let’s take a virtual tour.</strong></p> Starting at the east entrance of the Rock Alpine Garden, the crevice gardens to our right and left are filled with a wide variety of mats and cushions from the world’s steppe and alpine areas. Some years Iris iberica</em> blooms; maybe this will be such a year.</li> The troughs on the left side of the path with Primula </em>in yellow and lavender and Draba</em> in yellow bring some of this delicate beauty closer to the eyes.</li> Continuing our virtual ramble down the main path into the Rock Alpine Garden proper, a multitude of Muscari </em>(grape hyacinth), Phlox</em>, Pulsatilla </em>(pasque flower) and assorted mustards (Alyssum </em>and Draba</em>) paint the scene blue, pink, purple, white and yellow.</li> In the upper meadow and lower meadow, species tulips brighten the scene in yellows, magenta and orangey reds—these are the wild relatives of cultivated tulips native to the steppes and high mountains of Eurasia.</li> To the west of the meadows, another crevice garden holds more moisture-loving plants than the one at the entrance. Here Aethionema</em>, Erysimum</em>, Draba</em>, Veronica</em> and Primula</em> are some of the first flowers of the season, creating a vignette of spring pastels in lavender, pale pink, blue, yellow and magenta.</li> Strolling the path along the lower section of the meadow along the stream, the north ledge is full of pink and magenta Erica</em> (heather) and pale purple Pulsatilla</em>, and perhaps even the fuzzy yellowish flowers of several low-growing Salix </em>(willows).</li> Another small crevice garden in this area will be ablaze with color from a wide variety of Primula </em>in yellows, pink and dark violet and Saxifraga </em>in shades of white, pink, magenta and yellow by the end of the month and into May—this comparatively small vignette is one of my favorites in the entire garden.</li> </ul> Spring is truly a special time in the Rock Alpine Garden, but really it is a garden that is beautiful and ever-changing throughout the entire year. I hope to see you soon in the garden.</p>
If you’ve recently found yourself in possession of a lot of free time and the need to stay close to home, this is the perfect opportunity to start your vegetable garden off on the right foot. Here is your checklist for March and April:</p> Garden cleanup: If it didn’t happen last fall, clear out any remaining vegetable debris. Remove weeds that might already be sprouting; start with the pesky perennial weeds, like dandelions and mallow. </li> Freshen your soil: Winter weather can introduce exposed soils to compaction and cracking, which makes sowing seeds and transplanting difficult. If you put off bed prep until the spring, now’s the time to mix in a bit of compost and turn the soil. Prior to direct sowing any seeds, smooth out the surface of the garden bed using the back of a straight rake.</li> Start seeds indoors: Warm season plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants should be started indoors from seed in mid to late March. Wait until late April if you are going to start cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. Successful indoor propagation relies on a strong light source (an LED or fluorescent grow light left on for 14-18 hours a day is ideal), germination media with small particle sizes, consistently moist conditions and a space with temperatures ranging from 65-75°F.</li> Sow seeds: Cold-tolerant seeds, like lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, radish, carrots and beets, can all be directly sown into the garden late March through the end of April. Germination on peas can be increased by soaking them in water or placing them in a wet paper towel for 4-12 hours prior to sowing. Wait until early May to sow more tender seeds like bush and pole beans, squash, corn and melons. Just like starting seeds indoors, good germination relies on consistently moist soil.</li> Inspect your tools: Rust can be removed from pruners and other tools by soaking overnight in a half and half solution of vinegar and water and then scrubbing with steel wool or a wire brush. Remember to oil the metal with WD-40 or mineral oil after it dries. Other tool maintenance activities include sanding and sealing wooden handles, checking for loose screws on long handled tools and sharpening shovels, hoes, pruners and other cutting tools.</li> </ul> Don’t forget to involve the children in the garden, as well! Introduce toddlers to earthworms and other soil critters, let them use the watering can on newly planted seeds and use the garden as a space to observe birds and other urban wildlife. Older kids will enjoy helping to turn the soil and plant seeds. Nothing tastes better than a bean or tomato you helped grow.</p>
In early 2019, the Freyer — Newman Center</a> for Science, Art and Education was nothing but a deep hole in the ground, and the reality of moving the entirety of our natural history collections</a> still felt like a distant oblivion. However, planning was well underway, and we wanted to be sure that our specimens were protected and thoroughly documented. For the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi</a>, it became clear that we should undertake a monumental task: photographing and wrapping every single specimen in protective tissue paper before the move.</p> With the protocols tested and developed we began the journey in June 2019. Seasonal and permanent staff worked steadfastly through the mycological collection, checking every catalog number, opening every box, arranging each specimen to be photographed, and then gently tucking them in to their cozy new tissue paper resting places.</p> Finally, in late December we reached the last drawer in the final cabinet. A full-scale inventory process like this brought to light a variety of “lost” specimens as well as problems to solve, such as mismatched catalog numbers and specimens that we had not previously had in our database.</p> For example, prior to this project there was no digital record of Omphalina epichysium</em> occurring in Clear Creek County, Colorado. This small grey-brown mushroom forming fungus grows in groups, usually on logs. The species is saprophytic, meaning it obtains nutrients by decomposing dead wood, and important role in Colorado’s forests.</p> During this imaging project, we found an O. epichysium</em> specimen collected on Squaw Pass in 1978 by Sam Mitchel, the herbarium’s namesake. This will now serve as a “county record” or the first documented occurrence of a species in a county.</p> As of now, we have 14,825 new images of fungal specimens available online</a>. This will aid in greatly in the management of our collection and its data, as well as our ability to share these specimens with the public and scientific community, especially within our new home in the Freyer — Newman Center.</p>
Mushroom hobbyists and foragers may be familiar with milk-cap mushrooms, a type of fungus named for their fruiting bodies that produce a “milky” or latex-like substance, especially when cut or otherwise damaged. Many species are edible and are popular among collectors across the globe. These mushrooms are most often identified by their ability to produce a milky latex, which can be white, creamy orange, a deep red or even a bright blue. Their gills can also “bruise” and turn a blue or green color when chemical compounds are exposed to air. This trait however is not exclusive to milk-cap mushrooms and should not be used as an end-all identification method. Edible, poisonous and psychedelic mushrooms can be deceptively similar in physical attributes.</p> “Milk-cap” mushrooms can refer to species from any of three main genera, including Lactarius</em>, one of our major groups of study. Like most fungal genera, Lactarius</em> contains both edible and non-edible species. We are looking into much smaller details, however: genetic diversity. In the Southern Rocky Mountains, there are roughly 30 to 60 species of mushrooms in the genus Lactarius</em>. Several studies have looked at the Lactarius</em> species of Colorado, but are lacking in providing a complete overview of all species and the complete genetic diversity of Lactarius</em> in the Southern Rocky Mountains. The research question here is: What is the true systematic diversity of the genus Lactarius</em> in Colorado and the Southern Rocky Mountains? (Systematics refers to the classification, relationships and naming of organisms, or taxonomy.)</p> As obligate symbionts, Lactarius</em> species rely on assorted host plant species in order to survive, and vice versa. Native to forests and shrublands across the globe, they most closely work with and depend on trees. This type of symbiotic relationship is called an ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. The fungi will focus mainly around the roots of these host plants, where they provide water and minerals to the plant, and receive carbohydrates in return. The fungi do not penetrate plant cells, but instead form a netting of cells that grows around and with the plant roots. Some species may show a higher specificity and focus only on a few host species, while some are generalists and can work with many hosts in their community. In either case, the ecological importance of Lactarius</em> is significant, as the health of the plant community relies on these types of fungi. Unique relationships between fungi and plant hosts are important to study not only for understanding how ecosystems operate, it is important for conservation and restoration. Understanding the form and function of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the environment will inform strategies for their use and policies in agriculture, conservation and ecological restoration.</p> </p> This blog post was written by Gary Olds, Ph.D. student at University of Colorado Denver. Gary is interested in environmental science and biodiversity. His research focuses on fungal diversity in the Colorado Rockies. </em></p>
