Posted September 5, 2009 by Ellen Hertzman, Manager of Volunteer Experience
When you visit this week, here are a few things to see:
A Touch of the Tropics: Though we think of hibiscus as a tropical or house plant, a number of hardy varieties make a splash this time of year. Hibiscus moscheutos has nearly dinner-plate size flowers in reds, pinks, and white. Check out the pink-streaked version along Shady Lane, which features a beautiful reddish leaf as well. The lovely Rose of Sharon bushes that bloom in lavenders, whites, and pinks all over town in late summer are also a hibiscus: Hibiscus syriacus.
Happy to be Dry: Sprays of tiny lavender flowers characterize the Sea Lavender, seen in the Water-Smart Garden as well as in the Perennial Walk. Not a lavender at all, these plants are similar to Statice, in that they are dry to the touch.
Likewise, check out the brilliantly colored Strawflowers,
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Posted August 27, 2009 by Anna Sher, Adjunct Research & Conservation Researcher
The mushroom discovered that may be a new species
Gary A. Monroe @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Denver Botanic Gardens staff were among the thirty-six scientists who donated their time in the first Soapstone Prairie Natural Area Bioblitz, surveying all species in a 24-hour period. Ten scientist teams inventoried insects, mammals, fungi, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and of course plants.
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Posted August 7, 2009 by Dominique Bayne, Former Senior Horticulturist
Echinopsis 'Romance' flower
The South-American natives, Echinopsis, are not the most attractive cacti. They are often slightly off color with yellow or brown patches instead of a healthy green, they do not have particularly interesting spines and yet I cannot help but always have a few around. So what is their appeal? Why when space is limited to I feel the need to keep them in the collection?
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Posted April 18, 2009 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
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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Posted June 9, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
Did the jade vine’s blooms reach June? Maybe… But I didn’t see it. The end of May appears to have brought the the end of the blooming run. Still, that’s almost twice the time I first expected.
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Posted May 9, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
Flowers don’t wave to gardeners. They grow, they bloom, they wave gently in the breeze, but they don’t wave to gardeners, even if gardeners wave first. They reserve their flirtatious side for pollinators. They only wave to catch the roving eye of insects.
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Posted May 5, 2008 by Matt Cole, Director of Education
Just an update: I thought it was finishing (first photo above), this green-blossomed liana of a legume shows that it has the long haul in mind. I’ve discovered that there are several more inflorescences on the jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) and that you might
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Posted May 2, 2008 by Cindy Newlander, Associate Director of Horticulture
This past couple of weeks while wandering the Gardens and around Denver it seems that there is another fantastic scent greeting my nose around every corner. The cool spring seems to have slowed down the early blooming shrubs and now we have a profusion of flowers that are lasting longer than usual with the cooler temperatures that keep hitting every week (usually with a few snow flakes) helping to keep the flowers lingering.
At the Gardens, lilacs are just starting to bloom, with their sweet scent wafting throughout the Lilac Garden. And while we’re in the Lilac Garden, you cannot forget to kneel down and
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