Tatroe Godwattery
I think sometimes we Americans take cuccooning a bit too far! You have to call friends ahead of time before you visit nowadays (was I the only one whose family would “drop in” on friends growing up?) preferably we make arrangements weeks in advance, we are so important
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Ambassador Jan here! Can I just tell you that the Chris Isaak concert last Sunday at Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield was a LUMINOUS event?!!
I arrived before the gates opened so I could prepare to help you find the BEST spot in the coolest, greenest grass-carpeted venue around. This event marked the first summer concert at Chatfield since the amphitheater has been renovated and it was, dreamily, like stepping into a classic movie. The Wizard of Oz comes to mind….
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Reflecting on Darwin's Garden
We think of gardens as a kind of craft or art, aesthetic objects designed for pleasure, contemplation or perhaps for the stimulation of the senses. It could also be argued that the garden is a laboratory where the gardener grapples with chemistry, ecology and the complex workings of biology. After all, it was an apple falling in a garden that set in motion the entire legacy of Newtonian physics.
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Typically plants fall at the bottom of the food chain, eaten by almost all other creatures. The exceptions to the rule are the carnivorous plants, displaying a role reversal from prey to predator. These plants have developed evolutionary mechanisms to trap insects and digest them in order to survive in the nutrient poor habitats they grow in. There are about 600 species of carnivorous plants belonging to 7 families and 15 genera. Carnivory in plants are exhibited by two types of trapping mechanisms – active trapping and passive trapping. The Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) fall under the active trapping category and the pitcher plants (Nepenthes spp. and Sarracenia spp.) fall under the passive trapping category.
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Escobaria echinus
Golf originated in Scotland, but Cactus are all-American: the family is essentially restricted to North and South America (one renegade Rhipsalis has snuck into the Eastern Hemisphere). Most cacti in North America are found
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Gentiana paradoxa
Mention gentians, and die-hard wildflower lovers will sigh, or maybe even squeak with delight. No group of native wildflowers elicits such deep emotional devotion (except maybe columbines…but I digress). There are fantastic gentians growing across the world’s high mountains blooming from earliest spring to the last bitterly cold nights of early winter. But August to me is gentian month
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Ambassador Jan here! Summer is in full bloom and we look forward to seeing you at the Gardens soon. We want to help make your experience as magical and enjoyable as possible, so here are tips for planning and preparing for your next visit:
John Greenlee
There is a battle waged over the merits of lawns versus meadows, and one might expect John Greenlee to come down on the meadow side. An author, nursery owner, designer, consultant, and speaker, his resume is extensive–he even has film credits for his grasses!–and his work shows how beautiful meadows can fit different situations.
But what interests me is his approach. In his eyes, grasses are found in every ecosystem, every possible habitat. Similarly, horticultural grasses on sale today include not just turf, lawn seed and a few tall ornamentals for winter interest, but groundcovers, borders, natives for reclamation, meadows for aesthetic preferences, and a vast array of cultivars for use in almost any garden composition.
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