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David Montgomery, geomorphologist and author
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Dr. Montgomery
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Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization by David Montgomery cover shot.
When gardeners dish the dirt, they may speak of soil, either their own or the soil they wished they had. It really is the bed in which you make your garden lie. So 2008 MacArthur ‘Genius’ award recipient David Montgomery, author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, is the perfect speaker to help peer into our soil’s soul and see what sustainable means to the planet’s soil.
Speaking at March 4th’s Down and Dirty: the Scoop on Soil, Dr. David Montgomery will share his thoughts on the human relationship with soil. Today’s gardeners interested in growing food, enjoying beauty and living sustainably have many of the same challenges that humans have faced throughout history. Plant nutrition, soil erosion, healthy harvests, sustainable production all have underground dimensions: any garden’s foundation is literally the soil.
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June’s PlantAsia in February
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Contrasting plant colors and forms stand out against the snow.
Its when it gets cold that you appreciate warmth. Thick socks, long underwear, hats with ear flaps and home-knit scarfs become some of my favorite things. Standing over the heat vent while the furnace is running is not far behind.
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Dr. Heuchera himself!
Wednesday night at 7:00 PM — Container Crazy
I’ve been hearing about Terra Nova Nurseries ever since I brought a grown-up’s interest to public gardens. In particular, I remember installing coral bells (Heuchera) and foam flower (Tiarella) in a naturalized orchard in the midwest. The project lead told me the plants were all from Terra Nova Nurseries, paused, then continued “also known as I-need-another-Heuchera nurseries.” He grinned, and started to explain just how many recent introductions could be traced to Terra Nova. It was a much fuller orchard by the time he had finished.
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Botany gives gardeners a closer look.
I think botany is neat—fun, surprising, and engaging. While parts of plant biology are counter-intuitive, it’s a marvelous world of interactions. But some people aren’t into botany that way… Rumor has it that some people just want their plants to grow!
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Photograph by Jonathan Singer
Anything about Magnificent Botany is bound to get my attention, so it was with great joy that I realized that the publication of this stunning book was bringing Dr. W. John Kress to Denver. He’s a curator at the Smithsonian Muesum of Natural History, and I’m delighted to hear him speak! Jonathan Singer, the book’s equally famous and remarkable photographer, will also be here and I am eagerly anticipating this Saturday’s event . Mervi Hjelmroos-Koski had a great post about the book on her blog.
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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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Dr. Karen Chin delivered a great talk last night at the Gardens. She is the Curator of Paleontology and an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. One of her areas of expertise is coprolites: fossilized feces. I have to admit that I thought that part of the appeal of the talk was that dinosaur dung is exactly what appeals to our inner grossed-out juveniles. Dr. Chin did not disappoint, delivering puns, double-entendres and low humor that was still all science. I learned things about dinosaurs, ancient plants, wood, paleontology, coprolites, and, yes, dung, both ancient and modern.
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A street tree shows signs of spring under the snow.
The weekend’s snow and slush is a perfect reminder that all the work we gardeners do, the plants work every day, in the same place, no matter the conditions. I spotted this maple streetside in a Denver neighborhood and thought “The new leaves look so green under the white snow.” I returned with my camera as evening was falling and discovered something quite different!
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