To this date, our most popular post continues to be one that Elizabeth Bublitz of Paw-Friendly Landscapes wrote on ‘Paw-Friendly Gardening.’ Luckily for us, she is back in blogging mode and sending us new posts! Here is one for those of you who have or want to install a garden fence. If you enjoy Elizabeth’s posts, be sure to check out her class on August 13 at the Gardens (visit our calendar page to register!).
Healthy Fences
The number one deterrent of dogs escaping, or wildlife entering, is investing in a fence. There are numerous types of fence – cedar or vinyl privacy, picket or three rail. They vary in height as well.
Many dogs jump up on fences when they are triggered by people passing by, especially dog walkers, squirrels and other “exciting” noises that grab their attention. However, 6’ cedar and vinyl fences lose their upright pitch and can eventually fall or break defeating their purpose. When dogs jump on the fence, their nails can also get caught in the slats and be pulled out. What follows is a trip to the veterinarian and many days or weeks of rest.
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This Thursday night, Denver Botanic Gardens is hosting an independent film screening of the movie The Real Dirt on Farmer John. Acompanying this event will be a “Local Food Open House” featuring local farmers, farmer’s markets, co-ops, bakers, community gardening organizations and more. (if you’re coming, please pre-register! We’re expecting a full house).
A couple of our participants represent farms that raise grass-fed beef. What does this have to do with plants and botanic gardens? Grazing has co-evolved along with grasslands to produce an ecosystem that is totally dependent on the specific relationship between grazing animals and plants for its vitality, health and diversity. Farms, with their substantial acreages, can also play an important role in sequestering atmospheric carbon and thus mitigating the effects of global warming. The following essay by Sara Puharich of The Farm at Sunrise Ranch explains this in greater detail.
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Here is another guest blog post from our friend and colleague, Elizabeth Bublitz, at Paw-Friendly Landscapes. If you are enjoying her posts, don’t forget to check out her Pet-Friendly Landscapes class this coming September, where you can get all your questions answered in a fun, practical evening program.
Hot Dog!!!!
Boy is it July! It is so hot these days with very little rain. It’s hard to believe my last blog was about too much moisture, now it’s taken a 180 degree turn (literally!) and I want to address dogs and gardens in heat stress. As a Colorado native, I should be use to these extremes, but I’m always in disbelief.
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The advent of our new Urban Homesteading classes, it seems, has coincided with a national resurgence in interest in backyard “farming.” Everything from urban vegetable gardens to backyard chickens to beehives is making big news. Recently, Michael Pollan wrote eloquently of the importance of growing your own food as a first line of defense against global warming. Even more recently, the topic came up again in the context of rising global food prices. And chickens have been in the news over and over again as the latest must-have chic pet (I’ve fallen victim myself – more on that soon). This past weekend, the bees made the news – all over Denver,
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Well, it seems that our recent guest blog by Elizabeth Bublitz on ‘Paw-friendly gardening’ was a popular topic, judging by the busy comment queue! Luckily for us, Elizabeth is turning out to be an enthusiastic blogger. In addition to taking the time to respond to comments (thank you!), she has plenty more to teach us about making our gardens as safe and friendly as possible for our cherished pets. With all the rains we’ve had recently, she’s just contributed a new post that you might find very informative. Read on…
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“Our new puppy ate our yard.”
“Help! Our terrier cut himself on the edging.”
“My cat wants ‘outside.’ How do I keep her safe?”
If you find yourself empathizing with these comments, or have even uttered one or two of them yourself, you might be interested in a new book called “Paw-Friendly Landscapes: How to Share the Turf When Your Backyard Belongs to Barney,” by Elizabeth Bublitz. Bublitz, who is teaching a class next week at the Gardens on pet-friendly landscaping, is the owner of a unique landscape design company called “Paw-Friendly Landscapes” – reputedly the only company in Colorado that specializes in designing child- and pet-friendly yards. The quotes above are from her book; her excerpt continues, “Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? Have you found yourself wondering
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Who was the best, most inspiring or thought-provoking speaker you’ve seen recently? I’m sure a couple of people stand out above the noise for each of you. We have the honor of hosting such a speaker next week. On Tuesday, April 1st at 7 pm, Rick Darke is promising us a provocative, edgy (his word) view on urban ecology – the human landscape.
Both Panayoti Kelaidis, our Senior Curator and Director of Outreach, and I heard Rick talk at ProGreen, and although it was 7:30 in the morning and the topic was supposed to be “Grasses,” we found ourselves engrossed. Rick combines the intellect and wit of Michael Pollan with the plant-driven perspective of your favorite traveling horticulturists. His thoughts on what defines a livable landscape have never been more relevant. Rick’s photography is phenomenal; this talk is likely to be a visual and intellectual journey to remember.
Quoting Panayoti:
“I think Rick Darke is far and away the greatest mind and finest artist in American horticulture today. I have heard him speak three times in the last year or so, and each time I have been more deeply impressed with the breadth and depth of his artistic talent and his intellectual prowess. He is a giant talent who has a fascinating story to reveal. You must not miss this.
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What does Feng Shui have to do with gardening?
Gary Hendrickson of Feng Shui Design International tells us the answer. Look for him at our Feng Shui for Your Secret Garden workshop which starts this weekend. Sign up by 5 p.m. Thursday to participate!
What does Feng Shui have to do with gardening?
Lots. Over 6000 years ago, the early principles of feng shui, the ancient Asian art and science of design and placement, were used to create the largest gardens – farms to feed the masses in China. Masters of the discipline evolved and were sought after to guide farmers to find the best location that would produce the most food.
Feng shui developed into many more uses over the years including siting new building locations, and improving the beauty and comfort within existing buildings. Segueing forward to today’s world, entire community developments are now being designed embedding feng shui principles into the very core of the design.
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