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.”
Read more »
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
Read more »
Biologists, ranchers, and other interested folk who participated in the first JE Canyon Ranch Bioblitz
Q: What do you get when you set loose over three dozen passionate biologists who study animals, plants, and fungi in a nearly pristine ranch in Southeast Colorado for a 24 hour period?
A: A BIOBLITZ!
Last week was the first ever comprehensive biological survey of JE Canyon Ranch, an area east of Trinidad, Colorado. The primary organizers were Dina Clark, Curator with Denver Botanic Gardens, and Renée Rondeau of the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. Jerry Wenger, the owner of the ranch, hosted the event, opening his amazing property to the 50+ individuals who participated, representing (in no particular order): Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP), the Division of Wildlife (DOW), Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO), Colorado State University (CSU), Nature Serve, University of Colorado (CU), Colorado College (CC), University of Denver (DU), and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT).
Read more »
Volunteers plant at the Bluff Lake Nature Center.
Denver Botanic Gardens has been involved in restoration of damaged ecosystems around the state of Colorado through its Research and Conservation programs for at least a decade, but none have been quite as satisfying as the one at Bluff Lake Nature Center.
“Over the past four years Bluff Lake Nature Center staff and volunteers have removed hundreds of Russian Olives and numerous tamarisk from around the site and along Sand Creek. We estimate that within the next two years Bluff Lake will be completely free of these invasive tree species,” says Bluff Lake Site Manager (and former Denver Botanic Gardens horticulturalist) Chris Story.
THE HISTORY:
The partnership between the two organizations began in 2003 when the Research Department at Denver Botanic Gardens was looking to put volunteers on
Read more »
Denver Botanic Gardens researchers monitor a rare penstemon in Kremmling.
Happy Plant Conservation Day! Today the world (or at least, the plant conservation-interested public) celebrates and recognizes conservation of our national, natural heritage. Denver Botanic Gardens’ Research and Conservation department is committed to documenting and protecting our region’s flora through our two herbaria and extensive research programs in rare plants, invasive species, and habitat restoration. Our field season is just beginning, including:
Read more »
What tamarisk trees taught me
Managing the environment versus managing people surely should be very different… or are they? Lately I have been challenged to make such an analogy and found it surprisingly compelling. Through the course of my 15 years studying invasive species biology and restoration ecology, as well as learning from the horticulturists here at Denver Botanic Gardens, I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a bad plant… but that certainly there is plant “behavior” that we may deem harmful, such as when tamarisk trees dominate a riverbank to such an extent that nothing else can possibly grow.
Are tamarisk inherently “bad”?
Read more »
The new colleciton will be housed with the existing two herbaria, in its own case
Did you know that Denver Botanic Gardens is a museum accredited by the American Association of Museums? We are proud to announce the addition of an ethnobotanical herbarium to the list of official museum collections at DBG. The other collections are:
The 12th collection, the Ethnobotany Collection, documents those plants that are being used or have been used in the past by humans in our region. These include medicinals, plants used for spiritual purposes, plants used to track the seasons, aphrodisiacs and others. There are three main components of the collection: The Market Collection (specimens purchased at Botanicas and other Native and Hispanic markets), Colorado Native Plants (species that grow in our region that are used by people), and Plants Used by Native Americans. The collection will be a resource to educators, DBG staff, researchers, and the interested general public.
This newest collection is made possible by the donations and expertise of Dr. Don Hazlett, DBG Adjunct Researcher, who has volunteered many hours compiling and curating the collection. He has been aided by Virginia Till, another valuable DBG volunteer with particular interest in ethnobotany.
“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Hazlett doing this work” says Dina Clark, Curator of the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium who made the presentation of the proposal to the board last week, “The Ethnobotany Collection is a real asset to Denver Botanic Gardens that supports each of our core values of sustainability, diversity, relevance and transformation.”
For more information about our plant collections, visit our website, soon to be updated to include our newest collection.
Three new Colorado records of mushroom species were discovered among our collections of our Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi, thanks to a visit from Gasteromycete specialist, Dr. Scott Bates. Dr. Bates identified a Tulostoma and a Geastrum (an earth star, pictured above) which have never been documented as occurring in the state before now. The Geastrum has been collected three times throughout the last decade right here in the Botanic Gardens, presumably brought in by landscaping projects and then the spores have migrated with the help of our gardeners. It has not been reported here in the wild but Scott Bates has recorded it from Arizona in natural habitats.
These are puffball-type mushrooms, fungi that form pretty, bulbous, white fruiting bodies; what we know as mushrooms are the fruiting body or reproductive part of the fungi,
Read more »
