Field Season Frenzy
Every summer and fall, when Colorado’s plants and mushrooms are in peak season, scientists at Denver Botanic Gardens rush outside to collect new specimens for the herbaria, as well as ecological data
Build a Butterfly Garden in 5 Steps
It's National Pollinator Week, and what better way to show local pollinators some love than to create a special habitat just for them? Follow our five easy steps below to build your own butterfly
450 Acres of Unexplored Botanical Treasures
Denver Botanic Gardens is excited to partner with the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation on a floristic study of the soon-to-be newest Denver mountain park – Axton Ranch – which was recently acquired by
Wildfire
Nature’s stage is (re)set: How might plant communities respond to disturbance by wildfire? In ecology, the word disturbance has a specific meaning. While our everyday use suggests a disruption to a
2020 Science: Year in Review
Despite the challenges our community faced throughout the global pandemic, the Research & Conservation Department is grateful for the many accomplishments we were able to celebrate in 2020. Our
Operation Pollination: Support Vs. Attract
Now that it really feels like spring, some of our early pollinators are more visible: Honeybees have been active on warm days for a while, I’ve heard of multiple hummingbird sightings in the Denver
To the Community Researchers, to Make Much of Time
A poem for the City Nature Challenge. Gather ye photos while ye may, April 30 – May 3 will be fast a-flying; And this flower picture from today, Tomorrow we’ll be identifying. The glorious app for
Specimens as Source Information
In 1995 I published a book titled "Illustrated Keys to the Grasses of Colorado." This little book was well received and is still used today to identify Colorado grasses. Three years ago, I decided to
Anxiously Awaiting Spring
Spring is the season where I switch from working in the office on a quest to discover patterns in our data that predict the behavior of rare plant populations to venturing out to the field to view
Operation Pollination: Who are our pollinators?
When we think of bees, we usually think of honeybees ( Apis mellifera) that are kept by a beekeeper. But honeybees were originally wild bees native to Europe. Honeybees are naturally social and live
Like a Phoenix: Fungi That Arise from the Ashes of Forest Fires
The scientific study of fire in nature is a growing field known as fire ecology. In this field we have learned that trees like lodgepole pines ( Pinus contorta) require fire to complete their
Operation Pollination
Would you like to help save pollinators? In this new monthly series, I will show you some of the pollinators in our region, the plants that nurture them and what you can do to support them. Why am I