The Gardens’ mission is to connect people with plants. The actions we take in pursuit of that mission are guided by our core values, one of which remains especially relevant today: diversity. We have an incredible and obvious diversity among our plant collections, but we also strive for a diversity in the people we are connecting with those plants. </p> Unfortunately, contributions from members of underrepresented groups often lack visibility. In an effort to raise the voices of those struggling to be heard, we are highlighting some contributions that people of color have made (and continue to make) in fields related to botany and horticulture in this monthly series.</p> Below are two members of the Hispanic community we are highlighting in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.</p> From the Past:</h2> Ynés Mexía (1870-1938), Botanist</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Ynes Mexia © California Academy of Sciences</a>. "Young Black-headed Grosbeak."</span></span></span></p> Ynés Mexía was born in Washington, DC to a Mexican diplomat and his wife. She then spent time in Philadelphia before moving to Mexico City to care for her ailing father and take over the family’s ranch. It wasn’t until she moved to San Francisco after her father’s death that she joined the Sierra Club and found her passion among plants. Even though she was over 50 years old when she began her formal education in botany, she quickly became known as an accomplished – and the first! – Mexican American female botanist.</p> Initially working as a social worker when she moved to California, Mexía enrolled in a natural sciences program at the University of California, Berkeley in 1921. She began participating in plant-collecting expeditions a year later. Although she wasn’t awarded a degree from UC-Berkeley, she was still one of the most celebrated plant collectors of her time. She was known for adventuring where others would not go – even falling off a cliff didn’t stop her! She was the first botanist to collect from Denali National Park, and in her 13 years of collecting she found 500 new species, some of which were named after her.</p> Explore More! Ynés Mexía was recently featured in PBS’s American Masters film, “Unladylike2020: Unsung Women Who Changed America” – watch her clip on PBS’s website </a>to learn more about her accomplishments.</p> Active Today:</h2> Pat Mora , Poet and Author</p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Pat Mora. Image source</a>. </span></span></span></p> Pat Mora is a well-known author and poet – the Helen Fowler Library has a variety of her children’s books, available in English and Spanish – who has been working to increase the visibility of Latinx culture in literature. Mora was born in El Paso, Texas, where her grandparents had arrived after emigrating from northern Mexico. Many of her stories come from family history, the Chihuahua desert or her own travels. </p> Mora is also the founder of El día de los niños, El día de los libros (Children’s Day, Book Day). The celebration comes from the Mexican tradition of El día del niño, or the Day of the Child. Mora felt the holiday should also be celebrated in the United States and saw it as an opportunity to promote early literacy and pleasure reading. Now, every April 30 in libraries across the U.S., you can find events celebrating children and the joy of reading. The celebration’s nickname, Día (meaning “day” in Spanish), also conveys the daily commitment we all have to ensure children and families have access to books that reflect a variety of cultures and backgrounds.</p> Explore More!</h3> Pat Mora posts “Poetry Pauses” to her website, where you can take a break from the world to listen to some of the poems she’s written. Listen to Mora read her poem, “Ode to Sunflowers.”</a> </p>
Food is a major part of community. It is a pillar of culture, a source of comfort and most importantly the basis of nourishment. For my internship this summer, I was able to grow food in two different communities for the betterment of the residents. Being able to provide produce during this unprecedented time helped me better comprehend and appreciate the value and necessity of community. </p> Unfortunately, the limitless benefits of food do not come equally to all. Food security is an ever-present issue in our society. For a lot of members of our community, where and how they grew up impacts the amount of food on their table. In Denver alone, 11.9% of the population was food insecure in 2018</a>. Currently, due to COVID-19, food insecurity has soared past this number, with a current estimate of 25% of the population facing food insecurity</a>. Now, more than ever before, people need access to clean, nutritious foods. Denver Botanic Gardens’ Urban Food Initiatives</a> (UFI) works to help mediate this issue by growing produce not only to supply our neighborhood markets, but also to donate to other incredible organizations around the city working toward the same goal, including Sun Valley Kitchen, Osage Café and S.A.M.E Café. Throughout my internship, I worked at our Mariposa and Sun Valley farms. Although these farms are small, they make a mighty impact. During our weekly neighborhood markets, we offer the food we grow on a pay-what-you-can basis. This way, everybody has fresh, nutritious foods, no matter their situation, grown right around the corner from where they live. At the markets, residents come together and chat about their day-to-day life, but also about food they are growing, and my favorite part – how they used our produce in their recipes. This is also a time where we can encourage folks to step out of their comfort zone and try vegetables that they have never tried before. It is always the best when residents come back a week later looking for more! While working on our farms, I was tasked with projects to create resources for community farmers. Firstly, I created a post-harvest handling guide specific to our UFI farms. This document is filled with proper harvesting techniques, food standards and donation standards for the crops that we grow. Now, when people visit and volunteer at the farm, we have a guide that will answer any potential harvesting questions. I also created a crop planner to help the everyday farmer plan their season. This resource will estimate the harvesting date, how many transplants or ounces of seeds are needed and give an estimated yield, among other useful information. This allows the tedious planning process to be more efficient for farmers at any level. By creating these resources, I hope to make urban farming more accessible and inclusive for all communities. Working at our UFI farms has given me some of the most fulfilling, sweaty and dirty months of my life. Working under my mentor, Brien Darby, and alongside our seasonal farmer, Chloe, was one of the most valuable aspects of my internship. Both women are urban farming powerhouses that taught me how to not only be a better farmer, but also helped expose me to the larger farming community. Throughout my time at the Gardens I also worked with other horticulturists at York Street, where the other interns and I were able to explore their specialties and learn more about what they do. Through these experiences, I stepped out of my comfort zone and refined my horticultural skills. </p> I feel incredibly lucky to be able to learn and work with the some of the best horticulturists in the nation! I can’t thank Denver Botanic Gardens enough for making this summer unforgettable. This post was written by Marcelle Condevaux, a Colorado native and the Urban Agriculture intern. She is currently a senior at Colorado State University studying horticulture with a concentration in floriculture. In the next few years, she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in food studies where she hopes to bring communities closer together through food cultivation. </em> </p>
Every spring, I eagerly await the tulips blooming at the Gardens. Usually in April, the Annuals Garden and Pavilion explodes in color, cascades of beautiful tulips and complementary flowers officially ringing in the spring season. </p> Since I started at the Gardens, I have taken great pleasure in the tulips – until this year. Like most everyone, I spent this spring largely confined to my house, working from home for months while the Gardens was closed to the public and only essential staff were allowed onsite. Looking back at this unprecedented time now, I have realized that the Gardens has been more to me than an employer; it also helped me get through the first few months of pandemic-induced isolation and grief.</p> </picture> </div> </article> </p> The Gardens is celebrated as a place of healing, a beautiful oasis that offers space to breathe, reflect and connect with plants. While the Gardens was closed to the public, the therapeutic horticulture staff went to work to find ways to safely provide these restorative benefits to people in a time of great need. They created Therapeutic Thursdays, a regular web series led by the Gardens’ registered horticultural therapists utilizing techniques from the Gardens’ therapeutic horticulture programs. </p> On the recommendation of a coworker, I signed up for a Virtual Meditative Plant Walk, thinking it would be fun to see how other staff were navigating the online world into which we had all been thrust. As we followed a video of a quiet stroll through various gardens, I could feel my blood pressure lowering. The tulips in full magnificent bloom, the birds lightly chirping in the background, the shimmering reflections on Monet Pool, the shady stroll back through Gates Montane – all of it brought me back to the Gardens and the sense of peace it evokes.</p> </picture> </div> </article> </p> I soon signed up for another program on water lilies and grief. Below the surface, water lilies grow out of clay soil that other horticulturists typically avoid. On the surface, a beautiful bloom is visible, but—like people—it is hard to see what may be happening below the surface. </p> Grief was everywhere in the pandemic, from mourning projects and plans that had to be scrapped to grieving the losses and milestones we missed. I could look at the water lilies, however, and see a symbol for resilience, perseverance, and beauty out of the worst conditions, making a difficult time in life more livable. </p> I invite you to explore nature as healing yourself. The next Therapeutic Thursday</a> takes place September 24.</p> </picture> </div> </article>
The Colorado Mycological Society’s (CMS) Annual Mushroom Fair has always been a major summer event for Denver Botanic Gardens, sometimes drawing more than 2,000 visitors in a single day. While we were unable to see the usual crowds, the 43rd Annual Mushroom Fair still carried on, this year as the 2020 CMS Online Mycology Expo. The fair was a combination of live-streamed lectures featuring guest speakers and organizations, with a small in-person component for mushroom enthusiasts to bring their fungal collections to be identified and preserved by Gardens scientists and mycology volunteers.</p> The keynote speaker was Montana State University’s Dr. Cathy Cripps, longtime friend and colleague of CMS and Gardens staff. Gardens scientists and mycology volunteers lectured on topics ranging from tree identification to poisonous mushrooms of Colorado. Other speakers and organizations affiliated with CMS spoke on identification, cultivation and cooking of mushrooms.</p> A total of 170 specimens were brought in this year by about 10 collectors. Although it has been a very dry year for mushrooms, collectors had several successful forays and found a diverse collection of species. All specimens came from Colorado, and locations ranged from high altitude mountain zones to downtown Denver. Many of the specimens were featured live on assorted guest lectures, as many of the lectures took place at the Gardens. These specimens will be databased and find their new home in the Gardens’ Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi</a>, where they will be used for fungal research in biodiversity, morphology and genetics for years to come.</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>
Although I didn’t know much about Denver Botanic Gardens, I was immediately drawn to a horticulture internship opportunity there. I envisioned a summer of exploring, enrichment and education. That is exactly what the Gardens’ provided. Even with all the national issues that have ensued, Denver Botanic Gardens has proven that in times of adversity, the culture that has been built here stands strong. The staff at the Gardens have a united goal of enriching the community through the power of plants. Throughout the summer I found that even though our internship was rearranged, and experiences had been altered, I was able to explore the multitude of careers within public gardens. </p> I was fortunate enough to become part of the plant records family for the summer and worked on mapping the gardens of the new Freyer – Newman Center. I had entered the position with background experience in herbarium record keeping and insect collection sorting at the Davey Research Institute; nevertheless, I looked forward to gaining practical experience with Auto-CAD. As they say, be careful what you wish for, but I had expected nothing less than to be pushed to the limit on my skills. All in all, I had the tools I needed and a team of people willing to answer any questions along the way. </p> In the plant records world, we not only work daily on the computer, but also with the horticulture staff, which help us navigate the numerous gardens with their varying plant material. We begin by mapping all the material that is readily identified by tags or labels, as well as plant material that has determinant growth such as trees and shrubs. We build this foundation so that when we map unidentified plants, we can ensure accuracy when placing the other masses of plant material on the map. Furthermore, we often take note of any new phenology or history offered to us by the staff to ensure those details are being recorded for the living collections database, which the public can access through Garden’s Navigator</a>.</p> I also worked with various staff members to learn about their positions and get hands-on training. These opportunities ranged from learning about water gardens to learning of the importance of future water conservation in the xeric gardens. Each new week I observed that it takes a village to keep the Gardens running and that everyone has niche skills that go hand-in-hand with building such a compact, diverse botanic garden. In addition, all of us as horticulture interns were consistently improving upon our plant identification skills through our weekly plant family classes that focused on those families that are the most dominant within Colorado and relevant within the horticulture industry. Lastly, we had video and discussion Fridays, which showcased horticultural films that broadened my perspective on the work being done within the industry. </p> Having had this experience, I feel that I can head into my next position with more knowledge of the processes behind the scenes of public gardens. Also, I take with me an appreciation for all that goes into maintaining a garden space and working with the community to create something that improves the city. </p> The job of a plant recorder is one that is quite diverse. I love being out in the field and getting my hands in the soil, but also having time to research and learn about plants and new emerging ideas. Additionally, I think it is fair to say that diversity is something that is deeply instilled within the industry; whether that be with the people you work with and meet, or the material and cultural practices you learn. It is something I have learned to love because it keeps us all on our toes and consistently evolving as horticulturists and humans. </p> I am thankful for my time here at the Gardens and their emphasis on educating the next generation of professionals. This post was written by Kasandra Hernandez, an undergraduate at The Ohio State University studying sustainable plant systems with an emphasis in horticulture. Being at the Gardens has helped Kasandra navigate her future career and solidify her passion for public gardens, education and outreach. </em> </p>
What will the future hold for the rare and imperiled plants of Colorado? </p> When projections are dire, efforts can be made to protect a species in several ways: • It could be petitioned to be added to the Endangered Species Act list of threatened or endangered species. • Federal land managers that steward populations may increase efforts to remove threats such as noxious weeds and create a buffer from development or recreation. • Members of the Center for Plant Conservation</a> (including Denver Botanic Gardens) may collect and store seed that could be used to bolster declining populations or bring a species back from the brink of extinction. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Image caption: Monitoring Astragalus microcymbus</em>, a species we have been monitoring for 25 years.</p> Prioritizing and determining needed actions to conserve a rare plant species takes a lot of data and a large effort to create thoughtful and meaningful management plans, which often include modeling populations and climate. Species respond to environmental changes, interactions with other species and past conservation actions by expanding or contracting their ranges as conditions improve or decline.</p> Understanding how rare plant populations respond to variable environments and pressures combined with our best understanding of future climate predictions allow us to make a prediction of how a species will respond to future conditions and which possible actions may be most effective to reverse downward trends. </p> </picture> </div> </div> </article> Image caption: Eriogonum brandegeei</em>, a species we have been monitoring for 13 years.</p> Though somewhat hampered by the current pandemic, Denver Botanic Gardens continues to collect annual data on how several rare Colorado endemic plants are faring over increasingly variable climates. Visiting the populations to take data on hundreds of individual plants is a time consuming and thoroughly enjoyable part of the process but there is also beauty in the resulting models and predictions we can make. Additional data makes the predictions stronger, allowing us to plan and practice better conservation of these rare plants. </p>
