Posted January 27, 2009 by Ellen Hertzman, Manager of Visitor Experience
January interns in the herbarium
The Gardens welcomed two interns from Oberlin College during the month of January. The young women, who between them are majoring in Plant Biology, History, Creative Writing, and Environmental Studies, lent their energy to numerous projects. They spent time measuring champion trees, finding and creating children’s activities for our upcoming Jurassic Gardens exhibit, working on a Green page for our Web site, archiving old photos and documents in the library, and generally making themselves useful! Here you can see them preparing plants in the Herbarium, where their work will be immortalized in our museum of plant specimens. The interns wanted to learn more about the workings of a botanic gardens; in the process they advanced the work of Denver Botanic Gardens on many fronts!
Posted January 22, 2009 by Doris Boardman, Web Technology Manager
It was a record-breaking 71 degrees and sunny yesterday, too. Just enough warm weather lately to coax out some early bloomers. The hellebores (Helleborus spp.) and witch hazel (Hamamelis species) are already starting to bloom in the garden just south and southeast of the Waring House at 909 York Street. And the hellebores are just covered with bees! Truly an early sign of spring . . .
Posted January 22, 2009 by Dominique Bayne, Senior Horticulturist
This is one of our most frequently asked questions. In the middle of spring insanity I look forward to the peaceful time in winter when I can finally catch up on all those things I have been ignoring; yet now, in the middle of January, most of those same things are still waiting to be done. I know this is not just true for me but for most of my co-workers, but what are we so busy with?
Read more »
Posted January 5, 2009 by Michelle DePrenger-Levin, Research Associate
What is it? Who does it? Why?
Obviously we study new species to add to your gardens. We have trial gardens, develop germination protocols, even breed new species. We also head out into Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region to study plants where they grow (in-situ) and sometimes collect seed to preserve genetic material, study the plants in the lab, or grow individuals for reintroductions (ex-situ).
The species we study may very well never contain the cure for cancer, might not become the next best specimen to have in your collection, and might go unnoticed as a single species loss. However, these primary producers are part of the ecosystem
Read more »
Posted in: At the Gardens, Education, Green Living - Comments(1)