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I was lucky enough to grow up in Colorful Colorado, where spending time outdoors was the daily norm. Apart from the pansies on my front porch, the tomatoes in my backyard and the cottonwood trees I

I was lucky to grow up in a family who had a fondness for art and nature. Frequent trips to various museums, zoos and to Denver Botanic Gardens helped me grow this affection myself –especially when

Three Google searches. That is all it took. Next thing I know, I am driving three days to get to Denver to spend my summer working as the Bonsai and Shofu-en Japanese Garden Intern. My internship at

In the foothills of Colorado where I live, growing a vegetable garden with the intent of eating any of the harvest for yourself would make you an optimist. That is unless you had installed a sturdy

I grew up working in my family’s gardens and volunteering in community gardens. This developed my passion for both people and plants. It was this upbringing that led me to choose a double major of

Less than a year and a half ago, I stumbled into hobby gardening as a distraction from stress. My fascination with the alchemy that is plant science and development grew, and I switched my major from

One of the most frequent questions I get around this time of year is “what is growing on my leaves?” while being handed a hackberry leaf with knobs on the back. These knobs are galls – abnormal

Japanese beetles ( Popillia japonica) have become numerous around Denver Botanic Gardens – I can’t walk near grapes, roses or other flowering plants and not see them. Even though these insects are

While on one of my scouting tours through the Gardens, Mike Bone, curator of steppe collections and one of the horticulturists that manages the Steppe Garden, informed me that the red hot poker plant