When it comes to the Gardens’ commitment to water stewardship, thinking 'Inside the Box' can make a difference. Today we will stop selling bottled water at our two restaurants – the Hive and Offshoots. Instead, visitors will be able to purchase Just Water’s boxed water.</p> </p> This move accomplishes two goals: first, it reduces the waste generated by single-use plastic water bottles; second, it provides visitors with responsibly sourced packaged water. More than 80 percent of the packaging for Just Water comes from renewable sources – and the box’s manufacturing process produces 74 percent less carbon emissions than a similarly sized plastic bottle.</p> Bottled water has attracted a lot of negative attention in the last few years for its often irresponsible sourcing – stories of aquifers being depleted by over-pumping have been common. Just Water partners with a town in upstate New York to buy excess municipal water (at six times the local water rate). This premium helps fund infrastructure repairs for an aging system.</p> </p> In Denver, we are fortunate to have high-quality drinking water straight from the tap – a bottle refill station is located inside the Boettcher Memorial Building for those of you who BYOB (bottle!). But, together with concessionaire Catering by Design, we’re pleased to offer this alternative.</p>
</p>Whether you have a tiny apartment balcony, a weathered urban stoop, or a broad, wrap-around deck, container gardening is a great way to be creative and experiment with new plants and designs. The possibilities and combinations are endless, and each gardener has a unique style and vision.</p>At our annual Spring Plant Sale, our horticulturists in the Container Garden in a Bag division have assembled six stunning collections</a> of plants designed to create beautiful container gardens on your porch or balcony. Or, if you’d rather design one yourself, they’ve put together some guiding principles to guarantee a successful container garden.</p>Location, Location, Location</strong>The type of container you use, and the area where it will be placed, should be considered to make sure your container garden will thrive.</p>Choose a well-thought-out and hospitable location for your container.</li>Factor in the paint color and lighting on your patio or balcony.</li>Choose plants that complement or contrast with your container so the colors of both are highlighted.</li></ul>Choosing Plants: Thriller, Filler, Spiller</strong>A well-designed container usually includes three kinds of plants: thrillers, fillers and spillers.</p>Thrillers </strong>are showy, ornamental plants that act as the focal points of the container and usually have interesting flowers or foliage.</li>Fillers</strong> tend to grow bushy and fill in empty spaces in the container, typically with showy flowers or foliage, but not in a way that distracts from the thriller.</li>Spillers</strong> have hanging or trailing growth habits that can cascade out of the sides of the container, softening its appearance and making it look more natural.</li></ul>Plants That Live Together… Well, Live Together</strong>A good container showcases plants that have similar growth requirements.</p>Light, water, and fertilizer needs should match fairly closely for all the plants in your container.</li>Choose plants with heights appropriate for the container you are planting in.</li>Low maintenance plants will be your friends!</li></ul>Beyond the Plants</strong>Once you have the right spot, the right container, and the right plants, you need just a few more things for a successful container garden</p>A quality fertilizer, used regularly throughout the growing season. Organic fertilizers are ideal as they do not burn the roots of the plants as easily as chemical fertilizers.</li>Quality potting soil that allows oxygen to the roots and retains moisture well. Look for soil that contains perlite or slow-release fertilizer</li></ul>But most importantly? Be creative and express yourself! Experiment with new plant or color combinations to personalize your garden and make it unique from any other. Stop by the Container Garden in a Bag division in Oak Grove for more expert advice on creating a container garden you’ll enjoy all summer long.</p>Admission to Spring Plant Sale and the Gardens is free on Friday, May 11 from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. and on Saturday, May 12 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. </strong>Get here early to get the best pick of the plants, and don’t forget to bring a wagon to haul them around! </em>Here is more information about Spring Plant Sale.</em></a></p>The Plant Sale Preview Party on May 10 is SOLD OUT.</em></p>
</p> Book your family or corporate summer picnic with us at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms! We are offering an early booking incentive</strong> if you book before May 31, 2018</strong>.</p> We will waive your Facility Prep Fee, include table and chair rentals based on availability, and no hourly rental minimum. This incentive offer is for picnic rentals only.</p> CHATFIELD FARMS</strong></a> 8500 W Deer Creek Canyon Road Littleton, CO 80128</p> Schedule a site visit today!</strong> 720-865-4339 | chatfieldrentals@botanicgardens.org</strong></a></p>
</p> In late 2017, the All-America Selections Garden (directly west of the Steppe Garden) was re-named the Annuals Garden and Pavilion. The garden remains a display garden with ever-changing displays of annuals that are winners of the All-America Selections (AAS) program.</p> The AAS program was started in 1932 by seedsman W. Ray Hastings. Prior to 1932, consumers had little to no information on what types of flowers and vegetables performed well in their part of the country. Hastings encouraged seed companies to set up trial grounds to test new varieties and rate which ones were superior in performance. Plants that performed well by generating abundant produce or showing extraordinary large or vibrant flowers were given the All-America Selections award. Consumers could see this stamp of approval and know that seeds they purchased would be winners in their gardens. The program continues today with AAS trial gardens and AAS display gardens all over North America and has expanded by trialing not only annual flowers and vegetable varieties, but also perennial plants.</p> There are so many wonderful All-America Selections plants to create amazing gardens at your home. Look for plants and seed packets with the AAS logo at your local nursery or seed catalog. For a full list of All-America Selection Winners from 1932 to present visit the All-America Selections website</a>. </p> Below are some of my AAS favorites to look out for in the Annuals Garden and Pavilion this summer.</p>
Denver Botanic Gardens recently installed four solar-powered atmospheric water harvesters – three at York Street and one at Chatfield Farms. Using the power of the sun, these SOURCE units accelerate the condensation process to convert water vapor into water.</p> All but one of the harvesters, which are made by Phoenix-based Zero Mass Water</a>, are helping irrigate plants. The other offers visitors to the York Street location the opportunity to take a taste! Each SOURCE will generate between five and seven liters each day (not quite two gallons), storing up to 30 liters (almost 8 gallons) each in a built-in tank.</p> This is one example of many partnerships the Gardens has with entrepreneurs as well as government and corporate entities to showcase and test water-efficient innovations. These are the first SOURCE units to be incorporated into irrigation. The Gardens is showcasing this technology as a potential solution to growing vegetables in areas without reliable fresh water supplies.</p> Here is more information on other Gardens water-efficient partnerships, programs and initiatives</a>.</p>
</p> Though we began booking events for this summer over a year ago, we’ve had a handful of excellent dates become available on the calendar, and we want to fill them with YOUR events! Celebrate with your friends and loved ones while the Gardens show their true colors during our peak blooming season. </p> On select dates June-August, you can save up to 25% off your facility rental fee when you book a new event.</strong> With daytime and evening availability at both indoor and outdoor rental sites, our venues can host intimate gatherings for small groups or large parties of up to 1,000 plus.</p> Give your guests a party to remember, surrounded by the horticultural delights of Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street, and we’ll provide you with memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime. </p> To learn more and to set up a tour appointment, contact us at private.events@botanicgardens.org</a> or call 720-865-3551.</p> Offer applies to new bookings only. Some exclusions apply. Cannot be combined with any other discounts. </em></p>
Denver Botanic Gardens’ Center for Global Initiatives</a> and the One World One Water Center (OWOW)</a> are part of a binational effort to spur more collaborative management of the Colorado River for social, economic and environmental benefit on both sides of the border. The River Sisters Partnership will work to strengthen the protection and restoration of the Colorado River.</p> The Gardens is a signatory to a recent memorandum of understanding (MOU)</a>, signed March 22, 2018 between the City of Denver and the city of San Luis Río Colorado (Sonora, Mexico) that lays out several cross-border collaborations.</p> As part of the agreement, the Gardens will spearhead the development of a master plan for a botanic garden incorporating wastewater from the Mexican city’s wastewater plant. This work is part of the Gardens’ commitment to helping build and expand capacity for botanic gardens globally through the Center for Global Initiatives and to furthering water-wise landscape and agricultural practices through OWOW, a collaboration with Metropolitan State University of Denver.</p>
Mirroring the natural alpine and woodland habitats that the Rock Alpine Garden is inspired by, spring is a great time to walk through this garden. Both alpine and woodland plants bloom early in the year in response to the physical restraints of their native environments.</p> Alpines are programmed to bloom as soon as the snow melts in their native environments. Plants you might find on Loveland Pass or Trail Ridge Road blooming in late June or July bloom in Denver in April.</p> One of the best areas to see true alpines in the Rock Alpine Garden is the crevice garden on the south side of the main path — Draba</em>, Potentilla</em> and Erigeron</em> bloom in tight north facing crevices. Additional areas to see true alpines are in the various troughs scattered through the garden — Silene acaulis</em>, Polemonium viscosum</em>, and Hymenoxys grandiflora</em> should flower by the end of the month. The north side of the Cactus and Succulent house is another great place to focus on the early flowers of Draba</em> from Eurasia, and the mat and cushion forming plants that creep and crawl amongst the rocks.</p> One of my most favorite “secret areas” in the Rock Alpine Garden is the far southern path that takes visitors along the far southern edge of the garden along the perimeter fence. It passes through some of the best woodland areas in the rock garden. Take time to enjoy the full variety of plants in the densely-planted area. If one enters the path near the crevice garden at the east entrance near the South African Plaza and you continue on this path, it will take you into more woodland areas of the rock garden which rarely get the visitation they deserve. Passing down a slight slope take in the various Lenten roses (Helleborus</em>) and woodland sweet peas (Lathryus vernus</em>) along the path.</p> A spectacular show awaits visitors in the far southwest corner of the Rock Alpine Garden along the stucco wall at the boundary with the neighbors. Here a beautiful display of Helleborus</em>, Corydalis</em>, wind flowers (Anemone</em>), bloodroot (Sanguinaria</em>) and violets (Viola</em> odorata</em>) create a tapestry of color in April. Many woodland plants are programmed like alpines to bloom during a short season. Unlike plants high on top of a mountain which are delayed until warm temperatures melt the snow, woodland plants bloom in early spring before the trees above leaf out and block out the sun. This means the woodland areas are at their best in April as well.</p> I hope you can make it to the Rock Alpine Garden in the month of April. While you are at the Gardens make sure and check out the alpine section of the Mordecai Children’s Garden</a> — it should be in prime color as well.</p>
Visitors walking in the Gates Montane Garden may notice something strange through late spring: black velvet bags on the tips of one tree near the Cheesman Park gate. It is not trash or a new art installation — the Gardens' horticulture staff is attempting to propagate the tree, a bigtooth maple, which has recently come under attack by our local squirrel population.</p> The bigtooth maple Acer grandidentatum</em> is a Colorado native that thrives in dry conditions and tolerates heavy soils much better than other maple species. It’s a smaller tree that can have either a tree-like or shrub-like form and has excellent fall color.</p> This specific tree was collected near Logan, Utah because of its good fall color and more tree-like form. In an effort to save the genetics of this tree from marauding squirrels, we are using propagation techniques pioneered by researchers at Utah State University. This species is usually very hard to propagate by cuttings, but by placing dark bags over the stems, the tree is forced to grow in darkness — a process called etiolation. Cuttings taken from this etiolated growth root much easier than cuttings taken from stems that grew in full sunlight. The bags will be removed after the tree begins growing in late April or May.</p> If successful, the propagated clones of this tree will be planted in other locations at the Gardens. Perfecting vegetative propagation of bigtooth maple will allow us to provide trees with a predictable habit and fall color, since trees grown from seed take a long time to grow and can be very variable in their appearance.</p> If this experiment is successful we hope to propagate more bigtooth maples in the future to make them available at the Grown at the Gardens division of the Spring Plant Sale.</p>
Saturday and Sunday, March 17 and 18, 2018 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day Mitchell Hall Included with Admission</p> For the first time in nearly a decade, the Denver Orchid Society will be bringing its spring show and sale to Mitchell Hall at Denver Botanic Gardens this weekend. Focusing on a theme of “Mother Nature’s Masterpiece,” exhibitors from the society will enter plants in a variety of categories for evaluation by accredited judges from the American Orchid Society.</p> Orchid Society members are eager to share their expertise and will be available throughout the weekend to answer questions and offer advice on how to grow these beautiful plants. While display plants will not be for sale, hundreds of plants from nurseries around the country will be available for purchase. Be sure to shop early for the best selection.</p>
</p> Right this minute, despite the cold snaps of recent days, the glorious Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas</em>) at Denver Botanic Gardens’ Romantic Gardens is shimmering with golden glory. It reminds me of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II</a>,</em> and the tree has almost as rich and lurid a history as the painting looted by Nazis and featured in a recent movie (the painting, not the tree).</p> </p> What fascinates me about this tree is that it is so dazzling in bloom, so attractive all year in habit, leaf and bark, with blazing fall color. I only know of one other in a garden in Denver. We need to talk tree diversity, folks! The elms all go with Dutch elm disease, and we plant way too many ash trees. Now the Emerald Ash Borer is dooming these. What monoculture will we trot out to replace the millions that will come down, that will itself succumb? The cost for removing ashes may tally in the billions of dollars just for the state of Colorado. As the joke goes, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance!</p> 5th Tree Diversity Symposium 2018</strong></a></h3> Thursday, March 15 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.</strong></p> For five years the issues of street trees—what works, what doesn’t and what to do next—has been the subject of a day long series of incredible talks by tree experts from across the Continent (and the best locals too!) right here at Denver Botanic Gardens. A large percentage of Denver’s professional arborists attend regularly, yet homeowners can benefit enormously from the day’s presentations. Everyone says they love trees, but why then do we keep planting the same old, same old?</p> This year four stellar speakers—two from Arboreta in the Midwest and two from Colorado—will bring the latest information on issues we all face: what to pick, how to site, how to properly maintain these trees and what does the future hold for our tattered urban forest?</p> As I drive back and forth to the Gardens to work, I often marvel at Denver’s amazing urban tree forest: so many trees! And practically all of them a deliberate and conscious act on the part of a homeowner or landscape professional. These trees provide us oxygen, clean our air, lower temperatures dramatically (saving incalculably on air conditioning), provide food and habitat for pollinators and havens for birds. They suck up excess rain to help mitigate flooding. They stand, silent sentinels, like guardian angels watching us scurry by. We all say we love trees: we can do much better. Do sign up!</p> Nothing Gold Can Stay</strong> Robert Frost</strong></a>, 1874 - 1963 </strong></em></p> Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.</em></p>
