Yes, Virginia...pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana</em>) does indeed grow in Denver...although not in great numbers. Observant visitors will have noticed them dotted here and there at the York Street gardens, and I have seen another half dozen driving around Denver. The one above is right next to University Avenue, and constitutes a minor traffic hazard as grass-afficionados notice it and swerve! I suspect the owners purchased it via mail order, since these are rarely sold locally ("pampas grass is not hardy" according to most pretty well-informed nursery folk. And I agree, most are not. Only the dwarf, high elevation forms are apt to be hardy here, and these are hard to find). Most Coloradoans probably don't know that pampas grass is a pestiferous weed in California--but then one man's weed is another man's treasure. I doubt that this will ever pose much of a threat in our climate. I share this picture to show that much of the creative work of plant experimentation is undertaken by home gardeners. We at the Gardens sometimes have to run to keep up! Here you can see from closer up the silky, silvery color that true pampas grass has seemed to perfect. If you have driven parts of Texas you are sure to have admired pampas grass--a popular landscape plant in that state. I used to drive down at Thanksgiving each year, and the clumps of pampas here and there along the way were like mile posts, or sentinels that cheered the trip. Their fluffy seedheads are amazing when they puff up. Alas! A well established clump is so massive that cutting it back each year is a chore. This is one of the hazards of growing large grasses anywhere. Confusingly called "hardy pampas grass" (a paradox if you think about it...), this is the most commonly planted giant grass around Denver. I am sure half the people who grow it think it is pampas grass, and if you look up and compare, you will see there is a family resemblance. But while the TRUE pampas grass comes from South America as the name suggests, Ravenna Grass is from the Mediterranean. This still grows abundantly in the coastal marshes near Ravenna I've been told. This is by far the most vigorous and giant of commonly grown grasses, and a large clump will often produce vigorous seedlings nearby that should be dug while young. A large clump needs a front end loader to move or remove...be warned! Until recently it was classed as an Erianthus</em>, but has been put in the same genus as sugar cane in the last decade or so (Saccharum</em>). Sugar cane has helped make Brazil energy self reliant. Maybe this vigorous grass has biomass potential? The group that has been exploited most for that in America is another genus altogether, however... There are hundreds of cultivars selected from the various species of Miscanthus</em>--which is also often sold as hardy pampas grass. They are hardy enough but the name is taken, I'm sorry. A great deal of research is being done on these because of their famous C4 metabolism which allows them to accrue enormous biomass in short periods of time. Miscanthus have nevertheless been practically banned in much of the eastern U.S. due to their propensity to produce colossal seed crops. I have yet to see a seedling appear in Denver outside, so I think we can grow these without guilt--except that these are the most water demanding of these larger grasses. Don't try them in your Xeriscape! My current favorite giant grass is native not far from us here in the Rio Grande Valley. Plant Select has chosen to feature this plant in 2006 and I can vouch for its toughness. The plant you see in the picture is in my garden, on very sandy soil where it bakes for months on end and gets precious little water. Even so, it makes a fabulous fountain of golden seedheads that persist through the winter months. Indeed, all of these pictures were taken this morning, January 24. The greatest reason to grow these pampas grasses (and their pretenders too!) is that they provide drama, beauty, movement and interest in the depths of winter for months on end. If you grow them, please resist cutting them back until February so we can enjoy their splendid display! But do cut them back hard so that the new growth will be fresh and green for the coming year!</p>
With well over 800,000 visitors a year, Denver Botanic Gardens can hardly be considered much of a secret--except maybe in winter. Visitors expect to be dazzled by Blossoms of Light, so they flock here during the holidays at twilight. Lots of people are crowding the Orangery to admire the Orchid Showcase right now, but only a handful of members and a few diehard tourists know that a stroll around the outdoor gardens in midwinter is one of Denver's secret marvels. I cannot say how many times I've felt as though I was the only person on the grounds. Those of us who are lucky enough to work in and around these 25 acres filled with dozens of artful gardens never grow jaded with the views.</p> </p> The same sculpture a week later in a different light looks so utterly different--it's amazing how dramatically a vista changes in a matter of minutes--from the golden light of early morning or dusk to the brash clarity of mid-day or the icy Antarctic light when it's overcast. Every few days throughout the winter months, a crisp lenticular cloud perches overhead--I realize there are clouds everywhere, but somehow, the architecture of Denver Botanic Gardens seems to frame the sky in a distinct fashion. Of course, there are mercurial sculptural effects within each garden, often interacting with real sculptures--but the gardens themselves are vessels of a sort--an enormous landform sculpture, filled with not-so-dormant plants, hardscape tweaked to frame vistas and to cup the grandiloquent and ever changing steppe sky and its scudding clouds.</p> </p> I love the way the high Rockies play peek-a-boo from various vantage points around the garden, or the captious towers of downtown Denver. Both great Japanese artists--Hokusai and Hiroshige--play with peak views in their thirty six views of Mt. Fuji (富嶽三十六景), so you can catch 36 glimpses and more of the landmark Conservatory from this or that vantage point around the Gardens. True gardeners are never dormant: this time of year we are poring over the cornucopia of seed catalogs that stuff our snail mail box, or are arrayed for us in such elegant fashion on-line....filing and organizing images from the last year, and planning your garden for the coming growing season. I know many culpable gardeners who are so impatient for spring they must go out and poke in the frozen ground with their fingers or sharp instrument to ascertain that yes, indeed, the bulb is emerging. More often than not they slice it in the process. No need to bask in the glow of the past summer, nor merely anticipate the glories of the next. Winter has her own stark beauty and now is the time to come and take advantage of our not so dormant gardens! Is that a snowdrop I caught sight of blooming by the Cheesman fence?</p>
How easy it is to be lulled into complacency in the depths of winter when our attention is distracted by snowpack and driving conditions. We appear to have forgotten just how long and hot last summer was. June and July were not just hot, but extremely dry. Remember how summer sunsets were brilliantly colored due to the burning of vast swaths of Colorado mountains? Everyone in both Colorado Springs and Fort Collins--where fires burned so near to, even into their cities-- are less apt to have forgotten. Fire is omnipresent in and around the Rockies. We as a culture have largely evaded, ignored and ultimately pay an enormous price as a consequence. On Saturday, January 19 the Education Department here at the Gardens has organized a symposium on the subject of Firescaping. "Firescape" a neologism coined to describe the strategies that homeowners who live in fire-prone areas can employ to deal with the very real threats of fire. There is no guarantee that landscaping alone can eliminate the threat completely. But if we as a region could employ firescaping principles widely, ongoing and consistently, it is very likely that the dangers and the damage of large fires could be substantially reduced. A blog by the Director of Education at Denver Botanic Gardens last spring demonstrates dramatically how we at the Gardens employ fire to manage the Plains Garden. Not that you can necessarily follow suit, but this demonstrates how fire itself is a tool for managing fire dependent landscapes. It is imperative for anyone who lives here to realize that three of the major forest systems of Colorado are dependent upon fire for their long term health--or at least for their perpetuation. I took this picture last autumn of the magnificent aspen display that covers much of Gilpin County north of Mount Evans. All of that bright yellow aspen, and much of that forest green and the pale brown meadows as well would not be there if that county had not been burned repeatedly in recent centuries. Both the aspen (Populus tremuloides</em>) and the commonest montane conifer, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta</em>), are fire-dependent. Both forest types have been protected from forest fires to such an extent during the last century that these forests are aging, and many native stands of aspen are declining from diseases accelerated by senescence such as Phytophthora</em>. Lodgepole pines have cones that are famously serontinous--a wonderful term referring to a cone that needs fire to open and disperse its seeds. I can only imagine how many billions or even trillions of seeds are patiently waiting on Colorado's lodgepoles for fire to open them up. And that fire is sure to become a conflagration due to economies we have taken with forest management across the West. The third major forest tree in Colorado that depends on fire is the ponderosa. Fire is essential for the long term health of forests is the lower montane and foothills dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa</em>). This wonderful tree can reach massive proportions--there are groves of ponderosas near Pagosa Springs where many individuals soar over a hundred feet in height, and one has been measured at 160 feet! Those trees would not be that big if fire had not swept through repeatedly in their lifetimes to clear underbrush and competition and leave them the room to grow healthily. And yet hundreds of thousands of Coloradoans have built their homes among these not just fire-prone but fire-dependent trees! I remember as a child when a forest fire occurred above Boulder on Green Mountain. It left a large black stain on the mountain for the better part of a year, but the next spring the burned trees began to sprout--and a few years later that spot that had been burned was the only healthy forest patch on the mountain. The trees that had burned were able to resist pine bark beetle, but the rest of the forest around them turned a sickly chartreuse. That forest only recovered by a program of massive thinning done artificially by park crews in the next decade. So what are we who often live in these fire prone areas to do? Sign up this seminar, led by several of the leading authorities on this subject: I know Roger Rosenstetter who has been the Bureau of Land Management Botanist for the state of Idaho for decades has made a special study of landscaping to minimize fire liability. Everyone who lives in the West needs to better understand fire ecology. I myself intend to be there. I hope you will join me! Click here for more information.</p>
Xeriscape sometimes summons images of oceans of gravel and harsh, stickly, pointy plants that stab, slash and terrorize homeowner associations. A primrose? Really? Well, there are even primroses that can do with much less water than many people pour on their gardens, and the oxlip (famous in English Literature--even Shakespeare writes about it!) has proved itself for decades in a number of local gardens. Thanks to the Plant Select program, this and a host of other unique plants will debut across the country this spring. Oxlips do best in at least a half day's shade, but given a rich soil, mulching and occasional good watering, they will even grow in full sun in Colorado. They combine especially well with graceful, brilliant blue flowers like the Siberian squill pictured above. Although quite widely distributed in the foothills of the Southern Rockies, I have only stumbled on Scott's clematis a few times, so I suspect it is not exactly abundant. It has been produced abundantly by Plant Select propagators this past year and you should be able to find it in local garden centers this spring. The nodding, lavender bells vary from almost gray to a dark, almost black blue in some forms. As you can see, it makes a compact mound with those irresistible blue bubbles visitors at Denver Botanic Gardens simply have to squeeze...speaking for the plant, please don't! This clematis belongs to the "Sugarbowl" section of the genus (sometimes classed as its own genus: Viorna</em>) which includes a dozen or more of the rarest and most beautiful herbaceous clematis. This is likely to be the most drought tolerant of the lot--and the flowers last for much of the spring and early summer: we have had flowers into the autumn on larger plants--and the seedheads are a bright gold and almost as decorative. This plant is a must have for anyone interested in growing xeric plants. The "alumroots" (a dreadful name), or coralbells (whew!)</em> are entirely restricted to North America, mostly concentrated in the Western States and Appalachians. They have been intensively bred for foliage color by Terra Nova nursery in recent decades. I love the wonderful lacy flowers that brighten up dark cliffs all over the west. This is one of the most restricted in nature, but most accommodating in the garden. These three plants are the first sampling of Plant Select Petites, an expansion of Plant Select which seeks to provide more compact plants for the more intimate setting many of our more modern urban and suburban patio gardens, permanent outdoor containers and ever popular rock gardens which have become a hallmark of regional horticulture. There are another five outstanding introductions that continue to expand our regional palette of adapted and gorgeous plants that provide year around interest with less fuss, water and grief. I will write more on these later this spring... But I believe a trumpet blast is merited at the start of the new year for a new facet of this extraordinary program that has put tens of millions of wonderful plants into gardens across America and beyond. One of my favorite maps shows precipitation in North America where 20" or less is shown in red shades and 20" or more annual precipitation is progressively bluer. The east half and far left coast of America are bluish to be sure, but much of the middle and all the West except the mountain tips is painted in bright pink shades--nay! much of it quite red or deep vermilion. Drought is the norm</em></strong>. Each snowfall lulls us into complacency--but do remember, we live in a semi-arid region in which prolonged, deep drought is not an unusual event. Stop watering for a week or two in summer and you'll figure it out if you haven't yet. If our gardens are to survive into the future, it behooves us to develop a palette of plants that will be viable in our progressively more water restricted landscapes of the future. Thank you, Plant Select for leading the way! And keep up the good work.</p>
First of all, it's not really a rose. Helleborus niger</em> is now put in its own family (Helleboraceae), although still allied with the buttercups. Although seemingly innocent with that ghostly whiteness, it is quite poisonous despite being part of the European materia medica for hundreds of years: we do not recommend sampling any part of this! Nevertheless, if you have a European friend, you are very likely to have received a Christmas Card featuring this beloved wildflower from the Eastern Alps. It grows through much of the higher elevations of the Balkans, and has been cultivated for hundreds of years in Europe for its precocious bloom. There are some forms that will reliably begin to bloom in late Autumn in Colorado. Mine usually don't start blooming until early in the New Year: it depends what sort of winter we have. With snow in the offing, we may have to wait for 2013 to see these out at the Botanic Gardens outdoors, but you can find some lovely specimens in the Orangerie (these are being produced on a huge scale in recent years as Christmas decoration you can save and then plant outdoors!). I believe there are a few garden centers in Denver that are selling these as we speak (Since I know you are wondering, its O'Tooles--but I would call ahead to make sure they still have some). Here is a glorious colony growing just West of our Administration building. I took that picture last February: they do bloom for many months! A good reason to plant some in a shady spot at your house. For a dramatic contrast, this is the "Lenten Rose"--which suggests that it blooms in March and April, around the time of lent. It's true that this does bloom well into the spring, but I have had lenten roses start blooming in January as well. Their deep plum, almost black flowers are a wonderful contrast to the virginal white of the Christmas rose--and they will overlap in blooming for some time. An amazing revolution has occurred the last twenty years with hybridizing lenten roses: you can now find them in a fantastic range of attractive colors from nearly yellow to rose pinks and almost reds: there are wonderfully dotted forms, and some with flowers that are almost upfacing: there are gardens in Europe and the coasts of the US that boast hundreds of these new hybrids. These gardens are as lovely to visit in midwinter as in the summer months...we're way behind in Denver on the Hellebore front! Time to prepare some more shady beds! These are growing in a half dozen gardens at DBG: do take a stroll around over the next month and see how many of these paradoxical roses you can find. A little like looking for Waldo or Easter eggs--only for us plant nuts! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!</p>
You have to be a real Scrooge not to love Poinsettia this time of year (and it's OK to say "Poinsetta" in my opinion!)...that RED--it's a red even redder than Santa's suit when Mrs. Claus brings it back fresh from the Dry Cleaners! But do we have to wait for Christmas for that brilliant red color? No,Virginia! There ARE hardy plants that can rival and even MATCH that pure vermilion, blood, incarnadine, crimson red of Christmas! I've been labeling images from the past year, and set aside a few of the reddest for your consideration, beginning with the wonderful (and rarely seen) red buckeye from the Eastern United States that thrives at Waring House at Denver Botanic Gardens... OK..it's not as red as that--I suppose any one of the dozens of forms of our native Claret Cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus</em>) would out Christmas this one, but I couldn't resist showing this amazing watermelon red hybrid cactus I stumbled on in Dryland Mesa...not literally--I happened</em> on it. It would not be good to stumble on this... For the last few years Sonya Anderson has grown this breathtaking native vine on the pergola of Bird's and Bees: I like it almost as much as the hummingbirds I've seen hovering around it... This scorching red Cardinal Flower has grown in the bog alongside the pool in my waterfall area at my home garden. One morning this past August I came to the kitchen window and looked down as a sunbeam lit just that plant up while my garden was in penumbra: the light lasted long enough to capture this image: I love days like that! I like Magnolia seeds ALMOST as much as I love their velvety white or pink, silky, succulent, gigantic flowers. Come to think of it--how can you compare anything to a Magnolia flower? It's too wonderful for words: I suspect even the dinosaurs marveled at these (magnolias are among the few dicots we know for sure were around for the world's last lumbering giants that had their day in the sun: if we don't do something about global warming soon, we may be joining those giants...but I drift...). I tell this full story of this miraculous plant on another blog: it continues to be one of the most asked about plants in our collections of tens of thousands. Plant Select is seriously considering adding this to their roster--we obtained it from Suncrest Nursery, possibly the greatest wholesale nursery in America today. We are observing many other outstanding plants that have come from a recent trip out there whence we brought back hundreds of plants for DBG and our Spring Plant Sale! Many peonies approach Christmas red in color--but the prize winner has to be this species from the Balkans: Paeonia peregrina</em> blooms almost a month before the gian, floppy hybrids. It seems to grow in sun or shade and almost any condition we've tried it in. The species bloom not only earlier, but rather briefer than hybrids, but their seedpods are usually much more prominent: see below... Although this a seedpod on "Molly the Witch", it could be almost any wild peony. The spectacular contrast of black viable seed and red aborted seeds makes for quite a spectacle for a very long time (compensating somewhat for their evanescent bloom period)...Those red unviable seeds make for quite a Christmas splash in summer, however! Quite a few plants go under the name "Papaver orientale</em>"--especially a crepe-textured orange-juice colored alley weed that spreads at the root. 'Beauty of Livermere' is well behaved, and very tall with these amazing deep red flowers. A must have in my book!</p> </p> Kelly Grummons, of Timberline Gardens, hybridized this amazing penstemon that was star performer this spring and early summer at the Gardens on Kendrick Lake. I think it may be the most beautiful hardy penstemon ever--I have a few clumps in my garden I hope will perform even half as well as they do at that magnificent Lakewood Garden...we do not currently have this at DBG: colleagues--hop to it!</p> </p> It would hardly do to list red flowered plants and pass over roses: I was especially taken with this one last summer when I finally visited the remarkable Rose Garden in downtown Longmont (possibly the best rose garden in the state right now.</p> </p> </p> There are dozens of spectacular red salvias, but my favorite is probably this wonderful Plant Select choice: Salvia darcyi</em> is from Northern Mexico, but has surprised us by proving hardy in more and more parts of the state. It produces those amazing spikes of bloom from May to autumn frost... </p> I photographed these plants at a spectacular municipal garden in the central square of Fayetteville, Arkansas this past May. I do have a few sad little specimens in my home garden, but we have yet to grow this magnificent native American plant in a mostly Tropical Family Loganiaceae at he Botanic Gardens! Another plant for our acquisition list...</p> </p> Okay: I confess. This wonderful little sedum relative from Mexico has not been through a winter yet (although I have left it outside through the first hard frosts of this autumn and it's looking good)...You have to admit, it has that remarkable color that suggests jingle bells and the Holiday Season, even though it blooms in summer!</p> Obviously--although not the commonest hue in flowers, there are nevertheless bright reds out there for bold gardeners to grow. You too can have the Christmas spirit year around--sort of like some retailers lately! Just let's not start whistling Christmas carols in July!</p>
With this remarkable string of warm days in November, we can hardly be blamed for thinking summertime, and summertime is fast approaching in the foothills of South Africa, where the spectacular genus Kniphofia </em>finds its greatest concentration of species. It is likely that the vast throng of ornamental monocots that emanate from South Africa--exemplified by the Torch Lilies--will be the largest group of plants of that great flora to impact North Hemisphere gardens. It is mysterious to me why there are so many thousands of extremely showy monocots--especially in the Iris, Amaryllis and Lily family (the latter in its very widest sense) concentrated in such a small geographic area. South Africa possesses the highest biodiversity in petaloid monocots on Planet Earth--much as it has the largest number of species of succulent plants concentrated in one region. This late summer blooming torch lily made an eye-searing focal point in the lower meadow of the Rock Alpine Garden last August: Kniphofia caulescens</em> is among the hardiest species in this diverse genus, and this species has been championed by Plant Select. The variability in the genus Kniphofia </em>is truly astonishing. This massive species (Kniphofia Northiae</em>) has been growing in the Rock Alpine Garden for nearly 20 years. It is one of the largest in the genus, and one of the first to bloom as well. I shall never forget finding a vast slope of these on Bastard Voetpad Pass in the East Cape in January of 1994, stark black stems from having gone to seed--I'll bet they're blooming there right now as I type this in! (Bastard Footpath is the translation of the Pass's name from Afrikaans--for this is the pass those rascally sheep rustlers would take to poach lambs and take them back to the KwaZulu Natal lowlands--a little sociological aside there.) What could be more iconic of South African monocots than the grossly misnamed "Lily of the Nile"? Of course, the great concentration of Agapanthus</em> species are concentrated in the southeastern Cape regions and Drakensberg where Agapanthus campanulatus</em> var. patens </em>climbs to alpine heights (Not exactly the Nile, don't you know?). In January of 1994 (midsummer in South Africa) I was astonished to find the cliffs above Harrismith on the Platberg positively swathed with blue agapanthus--a banner year (when I went back a few years later, there was not a single one blooming at the same time of year). These perform far more predictably in cultivation where they can get more regular watering. They color up the South African Plaza every summer--as well as the Lilac Garden perennial beds and other spots around Denver Botanic Gardens. They make stunning companion plants to Kniphofia </em>cultivars that bloom at the same time, like K</em>. 'Alcazar' or K</em>. 'Royal Scepter'. One rarely sees Galtonia </em>planted in Colorado gardens, even though they are sold very cheaply as "summer bulbs" by mail order nurseries. Not nearly enough local gardeners take advantage of these spring planted bulbs--especially since many (Galtonia, Eucomis, Crocosmia</em>) are extremely showy and reliably perennial garden plants in Colorado under typical irrigated garden conditions, that is. Almost the only Crocosmia </em>one sees in the Front Range area is Crocosmia </em>'Lucifer'--a stunning hybrid bred almost a half century ago by Alan Bloom of Bressingham Gardens in Great Britain. I was astonished to find a hybrid very similar to this growing rampantly in the foothills of the Drakensberg on my recent trips--native plants can become invasive in the wrong places, obviously. But in Colorado, this is a very restrained and amazingly hardy and showy plant. I have seen it growing lustily in gardens in Vail. Since many local garden centers sell this in pots like a perennial, it has made small inroads in more sophisticated regional gardens. My mentor, Paul Maslin, grew a wide variety of Crocosmias throughout much of the 20th Century in his home in Boulder--most of which I have not seen elsewhere in Colorado. This is possibly one of the most neglected genera of plants for our regional gardens. I first saw this blooming alongside North's Kniphofia (the latter was in seed) on that same Bastard Voetpad Pass...this is a local endemic of the East Cape, and has been thriving at the Garden at Kendrick Lake for a decade or more. Many local horticulturists are often surprised to find typical hybrid Gladioli forming big clumps and proving to be winter hardy: these are usually hybrids of Gladiolus dalenii</em>, another species that often grows at high elevations. There are many more high altitude species that should perenialize in regional gardens once we obtain them. Moraea </em>is one of the largest genera of South African monocots, and one of the most beautiful. This species has thrived for us at the Gardens for nearly three decades. It grows along streams and in moist swales everywhere across Lesotho and the Drakensberg escarpment. Since it is poisonous to livestock, has persisted and perhaps even spread despite the horrendous overgrazing that takes place over much of its range. It has an uncanny resemblance to a yellow Siberian iris, and grows and thrives alongside these in roughly the same garden conditions. Unlike true irises, many Moraea </em>have evanescent flowers that usually last only a single day in hot weather. But this species keeps producing flowers for weeks on end. It has a distressing habit of trying to be evergreen. If you do grow it, make sure you keep the foliage growing all winter long. By spring it can look a bit bedraggled--only then cut it back (like lavender it can die back if cut back hard in late autumn). Like much of Colorado, the natural ecosystems throughout most of South Africa are comprised of grassland, and there are no end of extremely beautiful and unusual grasses that come from that region, many of which are proving to be fine garden plants in Colorado. The first to find its way to local gardens has been this wonderful bunch grass, Harpochloa falx</em> is mostly found in mid-altitude grasslands in the Drakensberg. It needs regular irrigation and perennial border conditions in Colorado to grow well. Although it bears a striking resemblance to Blue Gramma grass (Bouteloua gracilis</em>), and especially to the robust cultivar introduced by Plant Select (Blond Ambition) which I featured in a recent blog post, the resemblance is entirely accidental--they are on very different branches of the Grass Family tree (a mixed metaphor if there ever was one!). As I scroll back over the monocots I have featured in this blog, I am impressed with how incredibly vivid and colorful so many of the wildflowers are in South Africa. Why do these resonate so brightly in North Temperate Gardens?Anthropologists postulate that the very first humans evolved on the Highveld of that country and nearby Savannahs a bit further north. One cannot help but wonder if they have not branded their beauty in our souls somehow, deep in our human genes, over the course of our mutual coevolution as Australopithecines and finally Homo</em>, on the windy, aromatic Highveld, the prairie, the steppe of South Africa? We humans are but interlopers in the Northern Hemisphere--immigrants who have come in the blink of a Geologic eye, and perhaps we are finally and simply bringing our ancestral flora along to remind us of home?</p>
Every so often a plant comes along that surprises you: I never thought one had to "improve" the ubiquitous and abundant blue gramma grass that occupies almost every patch of prairie remnant left around Denver (and much of America). Typical blue gramma is nice enough--usually a foot to maybe 18" tall, rather wispy. But David Salman, owner of High Country Gardens noticed a particularly robust form of our favorite bunchgrass grass growing in his garden. David segregated the clump, noticing how much larger and more vigorous it was. He introduced it through his nursery and also Plant Select. Welcome 'Blonde Ambition' (an inspired name for it, everyone agrees). I obtained several plants several years ago and put them in my unwatered xeriscape. Right from the start they grew vigorously, despite the lack of watering. This year they were twice as tall and much more robust than the wild blue gramma growing nearby in my prairie, confirming my dawning awareness that this is going to be one of the great ornamentals of this program. 'Blonde Ambition' thrives in a wide array of soils and with different watering conditions--about the only place I would not put it is in a bog or deep shade. It looks almost as good now in early winter as it did in high summer when I took some of these pictures. One thing I can tell you: it makes a wonderful companion plant to all manner of xeric perennials throughout the growing season. The folks at Plant Select have been astonished at how quickly news of this great new grass has spread: it has become one of the top sellers in that very successful program: do take a look around your garden this winter and decide where you can put more of this in your yard. Can we ever have enough in the way of blondes? Or ambition for that matter?</p>
With the summer heat finally having subsided (after setting new records for the number of +90-degree days), Denver’s water use</a> has started to wane. Landscapes that had relied on irrigation through the relatively dry summer can now largely count on Mother Nature and wait for the imminent frost. Outdoor water use accounts for about 55%</a> of the average Denver Water residential customer’s consumption throughout the course of the year – with peak demand obviously falling in the summer months. The water utility’s “Use Only What You Need”</a> campaign spent all summer keeping us focused on efficient outdoor water use, but conversations on water demand and supply will no doubt continue over the fall and winter months. For those of you who want to follow or participate in these conversations, here are a few noteworthy water-related events highlighting the unique challenges Denver faces:</p> Denver will share the spotlight this week at the Urban Water Sustainability Leadership Conference in Cincinnati</a>. One of five cities featured for its creative approach to sustainable water management (along with Tucson, Kansas City, Cleveland and Syracuse), Denver is sending government agency representatives as well as community and business leaders to this third annual conference to establish best practices that can be replicated elsewhere. Steve Rogowski, Director of Operations/Maintenance, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, will discuss how his Denver agency is “shifting the paradigm through resource recovery that takes the waste out of wastewater”.</li> The 4th Annual Water Conservation Summit</a> is coming to Denver on Friday, October 19. This Summit is for water supply planners, environmental professionals, conservation professionals, elected officials, city planners, educators, green industry professionals, and green builders and developers to learn more about what is happening at the State and local level relating to water conservation and water efficiency in general.</li> The One World One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship</a> is a new program at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Their fall speaker series includes a lecture on November 1 from a veteran EPA engineer, Marie Zanowick, on Biomimicry (sustainable design of products and processes inspired by nature). She will include examples of Biomimicry in water management in Colorado.</li> </ul> Denver Botanic Gardens</a> will continue to keep close tabs on precipitation as one of 1,500 voluntary members of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. So until rainfall (or lack thereof) is back in the news, you can get the latest precipitation data here</a>. </p>
The fruit is strangely lurid. Medlar is a European tree in the Rose Family that somehow exudes an air of strangeness. I have read accounts of how terrible it is to taste fruit before hard frost: we went down to 28F or so last Saturday night...is it time yet to sample this fruit? Am I brave enough? The Medlar is much more popular in Europe--in fact its epithet (germanicus</em>) implies it is a central European native. it is naturalized throughout Europe, but is more likely native to the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean, but has been cultivated for centuries for its exotic fruit. Like the totally unrelated pawpaw of the USA or most species of Persimmon, this fruit must be frosted to be rid of the unpalatable qualities. The question is now--how long after frost? The books are strangely mute on the subject. Of course, even if one never ate the fruit it would be worth growing this wonderful small tree for its beautiful flowers and habit. Good luck finding sources, however (this is not for sale at your local box store, I daresay!). There are mail order sources, and I have a hunch our Propagation gang might get wind of the enormous commercial opportunities of growing this for our blockbuster plant sales (hint hint)... As a rather embarrassed postscript, I must add that although this tree appears to be well established--likely growing in this spot for some time--this was the first year I noticed it. I was thrilled to find it (naturally in our awesome Herb Garden). I wonder how many other Medlars there are in Denver? I think there is a place for one in my home garden. Another post post script: I pointed this tree out to Gary Lincoff--the eminent Mushroom authority from New York City (and all around great botanist/horticulturist and wild forager) on his visit here last spring. Gary was visibly envious of our Medlar: he said that Mespilus</em> does not grow well in New York City or the Eastern Seaboard--apparently succumbing during the protracted spells of night heat and humidity (two things we have in great moderation hereabouts!). Another reason to treasure our strange, wonderful little tree! Find it just inside and west of the east entrance to the Herb Garden...</p>
People ask me all the time "When is the best time to visit Denver Botanic Gardens?" I confess here and now, I find this question annoying. Denver Botanic Gardens is simply gorgeous every minute and every day, and although I have a special love for spring blooming bulbs and wildflowers, I took a stroll around today, nearly the middle of September, and was frankly blown away: my thirty third summer here, and I felt as though I had never been here before. The waterlilies and water gardens have never been so splendiferdelicious (they need new adjectives to describe them...) There are incredible container plantings everywhere, and annuals cunningly tucked among perennials, and combinations of colors that dazzle wherever you look... There are masses of colchicums here and there, and cyclamen are making quite a show in the Rock Alpine Garden...I love the late summer bulbs. We seem to have more and more every year! There is a spectacular planting of scarlet morning glory on the trellises of the Birds and Bees garden worth making the trip for in and of themselves...you may well see some hummingbirds visit these! The native gardens are especially beautiful right now: the fruits of the many cacti on Dryland Mesa are nearly as showy as the flowers in the early part of the season, and there are no end of yellow daisies everywhere (here Zinnia grandiflora</em>) Where but at Denver Botanic Gardens would you see a forest of giant yuccas from Big Bend growing alongside Sunset hyssop and the Oriental sedum ('Indian Chief'), all combined with such artistry--this one has Dan Johnson's fingerprints all over it (Assistant Director of Horticulture and designer extraordinaire)... I have not shown you the Michaelmas daisies blazing through the O'Fallon Perennial Walk, or the Desert Willows covered with flowers everywhere, nor the masses of colors along the promenade in front of the Orangery, nor the sweeps of Muhlenbergia reverchonii</em> sparkling through the Rock Alpine Garden meadow...nor a hundred (or thousand) other dazzling gems of flower, shrub or tree at their lustrous peak of beauty... When is the best time to visit Denver Botanic Gardens? Right now!</p>
Why yes we do, and we have for several decades. The last weekend in August, over fifteen citizen scientists and several mycologists braved the wee hours of the morning and one of the driest summers in Colorado to spend the weekend hunting, cataloging, photographing and identifying macro-fungi for the Rocky Mountain National Park bioblitz. Macro-fungi are those fungi that produce large, showy fruiting bodies, which are more commonly known as mushrooms, chanterelles, and truffles. Of course in the natural world, large is relative term. The team collected puffballs that were a foot across as well as mushrooms with caps less than one-tenth of an inch in diameter. Even in a dry summer, a diverse and colorful array of fungi can be found in Colorado. No doubt whether you have hiked the hills and mountains this summer or lounged in your backyard you have noticed at least a mushroom or two, and have possibly even wondered what these organisms do. Why are they living in your lawn or pushing up through two inches of pine duff? Join us on Wednesday, September 12 at noon in Gates Hall</strong> to have your questions answered at the next installment of Research & Conservation’s lecture series “Re-search the Gardens: Meet our Scientists.” Vera Evenson, curator of the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi, will present on the vital role of fungi in the life of plants as well as share stories and images of a few of Colorado’s beautiful and fascinating mushrooms. The bi-monthly series presented by our staff scientists and adjunct researchers takes you behind the scenes and out into the field to share the stories of the species with which we work and the amazing areas we visit as we conduct our research. Please join us for this informal seminar series as you’re always bound to learn something new. All talks are free with admission to the Gardens and are presented at noon. Feel free to bring your lunch. Read more about the series.</p>
