Despite working from home these last two months, the exhibits team has been busy! We had a long-planned exhibition installation for the new galleries in the Freyer – Newman Center set to begin in April, but due to the threat of COVID-19 these plans had to be postponed. We did not want to leave our gallery spaces empty over the summer, however, so we had quite the task set out for us to quickly plan new exhibits!</p> Over the last several weeks, the exhibits team came together while working remotely and have successfully planned a new slate of art exhibits for all four new galleries opening this summer. Creating exhibits for a new space with team members scattered throughout the metro area was quite the challenge. There were pieces to research, departments to collaborate with, labels to write, layouts to design and art objects to prepare for exhibition. After relying on the outstanding individual talents and experience of each of our team members, the exhibits team successfully created a brand-new schedule for installing the newest gallery exhibits.</p> Two local artists, Koko Bayer and Melanie Walker, will be sharing their talents, as well as a selection of illustrators from the Gardens’ School of Botanical Art and Illustration. The fourth gallery space will be filled with an exhibit showcasing some of the weird and odd objects from the art, research and library permanent collections, as well as pieces from the educational collection at Chatfield Farms. These plans will soon be put into action as staff begins to slowly return to the Gardens, all masked up and practicing social distancing of course!</p> The team wants to show off the new gallery spaces, local Colorado artists, and be able to display some of our favorite oddities from the non-living collections at Denver Botanic Gardens, most of which have never been exhibited. We hope you are all as excited to see these shows as we are to get them installed and open!</p>
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>
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has designated May 18 as Plant Conservation Day.</p> Denver Botanic Gardens participates in many plant conservation initiatives. Our botanists collect seed of native plant species to be used in future restoration projects. Our ecologists actively work to protect and restore riparian and grassland habitats at Chatfield Farms. Our geneticists study rare plant populations and assess their genetic diversity to determine appropriate conservation strategies.</p> This year, citizen scientists are joining our conservation initiatives via the Denver EcoFlora Project. The Denver EcoFlora Project</a> calls on citizens of the Denver – Boulder metro area to document the plants and fungi in their communities using iNaturalist</a>, the citizen science app. This application allows users to publish photos of plant, animal, fungal or insect observations with data on when and where it was seen.</p> Over time, this data will create an ecological flora that will show how plants fit into the web of life in the Denver – Boulder metro area. This comprehensive set of data will be shared on a publicly accessible website for use in research about urban ecosystems, environmental education and conservation planning.</p> EcoFlora participants discover and document biodiversity in new and different ways through monthly EcoQuests. Join our EcoQuest mailing list here</a> and consider participating to support plant conservation at Denver Botanic Gardens. </p>
