Posted July 22, 2010 by Anna Sher, Adjunct Research & Conservation Researcher
Jorgenson (nee Barnett), born May 2, 1939 in Chicago, died July 13, 2010 in Denver.
Denver Botanic Gardens mourns the loss of a dear friend and long time volunteer, Mary Jorgensen. Mary began volunteering at the Gardens in 2004, contributing over 2,140 hours of volunteer time. Few areas of the gardens did not directly benefit from her; she volunteered in:
- Research & Conservation
- Development
- Marketing / PR
- Special Events (Pumpkin Festival…she always staffed the pumpkin
daycare booth, Plant Sale Cashier, Birdhaus Bash, Concerts, Corn Maze, Fall Plant Sale, Blossoms of Light & Trail of Lights
Mary was willing to take on difficult, often computer-based, tasks that few others were able or willing to do. Recalls Dina, curator of the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium, “She … helped us enter data for each collection into our electronic database which she did with great ease as she was a terrific typist.” Marcia Korinek in Development says, “She always rose to the challenge and gained the satisfaction of a job well done. Mary was loyal, dependable, hard-working and loved challenges.”
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Posted July 20, 2010 by Nick Daniel, Horticulturist
When it is as hot outside (and inside the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory), as it has been, I tend to find myself eating more ice cream. Last night as I was enjoying a mixed bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, it made me think about two of my favorite plants in the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory: Theobroma cacao, or chocolate, and Vanilla planifolia or, you guessed it, vanilla.
Chocolate pods maturing in the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory
Theobroma cacao is native to tropical Central and South America, and is a strong representative of the Sterculiaceae family, although it was formerly placed in Malvaceae (the Hibiscus Family) until recently.
Chocolate has been a very important crop world wide for a very long time. In fact, it was so important to the natives who first started cultivating it, that they called it the “food of the gods.” Nowadays, the Latin botanical name of the genus, Theobroma, translates to “Food of the Gods.”
The tree is often of smaller size, around 15 to 26 feet high, and is evergreen. One of my favorite characteristics of Theobroma is its cauliflorous flowering and fruiting habit. This means that the flowers and later the fruit grow directly from the stem and branches of
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Posted July 20, 2010 by Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator & Director of Outreach
Parry's lily (Lilium parryi)
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin…(Mathew 6:28)
Botanists tell us that those lilies may actually be tulips,
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Posted July 19, 2010 by Brian Vogt, Chief Executive Officer
Marmot near Mount Goliath
The first one I ever met followed me up 3,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. At each turn, he stood at attention to cheer me on, or was he scolding me? Since arriving at the Gardens, I have heard tales of one who dead-headed petunias for a few years and now stands frozen (actually stuffed) in our Library.
Any mountain hiker in Colorado has heard a strange chirping noise that has caused them to scan the tops of peaks in search of a large, mysterious bird.
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Posted July 16, 2010 by Ellen Hertzman, Manager of Volunteer Experience
St John's Wort
Who better than our own Horticulture staff would know what merits your attention in their gardens? I asked a couple of them for their recommendations on what to look for this week.
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Posted July 12, 2010 by Anna Sher, Adjunct Research & Conservation Researcher
Denver Botanic Gardens and University of Denver (DU) are currently collaborating to conduct research that documents climate change effects on native flora in Colorado. We have been using preserved specimens from the Gardens Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium and other regional herbaria to determine if flowering time has changed over the last 100 years. A preserved plant with reliable label data is proof positive that it existed in a specific place at a specific time in the state it is shown. Such specimens show that some Colorado species were blooming on average as much as three weeks later 100 years ago than today– a reflection of warming temperatures that are causing earlier springs.
Amelia Bowman, ‘09 University of Denver (DU) graduate, first discovered this trend investigating a set of six early blooming species that were collected in Colorado
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Posted July 9, 2010 by Ellen Hertzman, Manager of Volunteer Experience
A lot of visitors come here to investigate plants to grow in their own gardens. They often have specific needs: plants that will grow in shade, plants that will bloom in late summer, plants that can tolerate hot sun. This week, take a look at a few examples of plants that creep and plants that climb.
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Posted July 8, 2010 by Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator & Director of Outreach
Monardella macrantha 'Mavis Simpson'
Although I have walked the paths of Denver Botanic Gardens for over three decades, hardly a day goes by without something surprising me. Or in this case blowing my mind!
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