Posted February 25, 2010 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
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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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Posted February 16, 2010 by Anna Sher, Director of Research & Conservation
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”?
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Posted February 16, 2010 by Doris Boardman, Web Technology Manager
A new decade brings more exciting transformation–to the Gardens, to our Botanic Buzz
e-newsletter (sign up here to receive your copy), and soon, to our Web site. How do you like our new blog design?
We have so many authors from all parts of the Gardens (click on the “More Authors” link in the right column under “authors” to see all of our most recent bloggers) that we wanted to make it even easier for you to learn some of our points of view about Denver Botanic Gardens and Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield by navigating through our new blog layout. I’ll be posting photos of our authors soon so you can see who we are.
Continue to enjoy our blog and these topics:
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Posted February 10, 2010 by Sarada Krishnan, Director of Horticulture
All of us had been waiting for this day…the highlight of the trip. The Sierra Chincua Monarch Sanctuary is one of four publicly accessible sanctuaries, two of which are in the state of Mexico (El Rosario & Sierra Chincua) and two in the state of Michoacán (Cerro Pelón & La Mesa). A 45-minute drive from Tlalpujahua takes us to the Reserve entrance. The butterfly site is another 45-60 minute hike from the entrance and some opt to go on horseback while others hike through the forests. The predominant tree species is the Oyamel fir (Abies religiosa), named so because of the branching structure that looks like a cross.
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Posted February 7, 2010 by Nick Daniel, Gardener Tropical Collection
What makes a tropical plant a tropical plant? This is a question I have been asked several times, and it may sound like it’s an easy one to answer, and sometimes it is, but today, I’m going to dive a little deeper. It would be easy for me to just say, “A tropical plant is any plant
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Posted January 28, 2010 by Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator & Director of Outreach
Claret Club in bloom late April near Moab
It’s hard to believe that in a mere three months the giant mounds of claret cup all over the west will be studded with their waxy, badminton birdie flowers. Wouldn’t you enjoy seeing this in person? Well,
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Posted November 8, 2009 by Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator & Director of Outreach
The Great Plains where we live (and which we have transmogrified incidentally) are meadows. Our stunning alpine tundra
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Posted October 12, 2009 by Panayoti Kelaidis, Senior Curator & Director of Outreach
Pueblo Nature Center on the Arkansas River
Xeriscape sometimes suggests harsh, crispy, scary landscapes where a few perennials struggle in a sea of mulch. WRONG! Plant Select and the new wave of cutting edge gardening
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