Posted February 25, 2008 by Doris Boardman, Web Technology Manager
We’ve had the poison dart frogs here in the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory since early November when they were still pretty young. Conservatory staff members have been raising fruit flies, dusting them with vitamins, and feeding them to the frogs every day since then, and we are amazed at how much the frogs have grown.
The calling is done by the male frogs, who are trying to impress potential mates with their beautiful trilling song.
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Posted February 22, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
As I was walking through the crossroads toward the Boettcher Memorial Education Building, I met local garden writer Marcia Tatroe and her husband Randy photographing Yucca and Dasylirion. We chatted about the lovely day, and then Marcia turned me on to some Crocus blooming in the Water-Smart Garden. What a lovely cheerful yellow! It was perfect for the day and the hour.
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Posted February 18, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
During our recent stairwell work in the Boettcher Memorial Education Building, all of our staff and visitors had to avoid the public stairwell and use the elevator or the stairs near my office. One day, I found a child and chaperone looking for their school group. I volunteered to guide them to the classrooms to see if their group was there. We stepped behind the scenes, through a shadowed hallway to the stairs. At the bottom, the stairs open into a hallway between the research department offices and the herbarium. As we passed through, I explained “This is where the scientists work.”
And as we headed towards the classrooms, I realized how cool that was.
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Posted February 14, 2008 by Doris Boardman, Web Technology Manager
A native of Turkey and the Balkans, Galanthus elwesii (giant snowdrop) is found throughout these countries and into Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, eastern Serbia and Montenegro on into the Southern Ukraine. It differs from the common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis in its galucous leaves and more eastern distribution. It is traditionally one of the first flowers to open outside at Denver Botanic Gardens each year and often opens by mid-January. Right now it is about 2″ tall but as the month progresses it will reach about 5-6 inches.
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Posted February 13, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
Rocky Mountain Gardening is just that–gardening through the length of the Rocky Mountains, which means that the climates are vastly varied. Denver is a mile above sea level and seems dry and windy, but compare that to the top a fourteener (that’s a mountain reaching 14,000 feet)! I’ve already heard stories about gardening in idyllic mountain towns, in sheltered valleys, in urban college towns, and on windswept steppes. So it’s a very diverse experience and books (or blogs) should be crafted to the challenges here and avoid recycling untested information from other parts of the country. I think for many of us moving into the Rocky Mountains the challenge is adapting to new gardening, growing and best-use assumptions.
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Posted February 7, 2008 by Doris Boardman, Web Technology Manager
If you are looking for something amazing to do at the Gardens right now, visit our Cloud Forest Tree exhibit, at the west end of the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory. The Cloud Forest Tree and the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory always have something blooming, so even when it is cold and snowy in Denver, you can escape to the tropics at Denver Botanic Gardens.
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