</p> The world is changing. </strong> Merriam-Webster defines the word baseline</em> as a starting point. This is a very simple yet hopeful concept in a world that is changing so quickly. It suggests a chance to plant our feet, catch our breath, and start the work of conserving biodiversity so that future generations can experience an enriching natural world.</p> As more of us do take the time to plant our feet and look around at the places we love, we see vast changes. Thousands of new houses dot the horizon along open space trails where we walk in the evenings. Vast swathes of beetle-killed pine trees blanket the High Country where we ski and hike. These kinds of change are easy to see. We know they mark a departure from some initial condition under which plant and animal diversity was more intact.</p> But not all changes are so clear-cut. Many processes that alter biodiversity unfold slowly over time, in a way that is difficult to track unless there is a clear starting point for comparison. Biologists use these clear starting points, or baseline data</strong>, to explore some of the most critical questions of our time.</p> It may come as a surprise that natural history collections, including the plant and fungal specimens housed in the herbaria at Denver Botanic Gardens, are in fact treasure troves of baseline data. Our plant collections date back decades and even centuries, serving as a lens through which to view the historical distribution of plants in our region.</p> Building on the efforts of past collectors, a primary goal of the Research & Conservation Department at the Gardens is to make thoughtful and targeted collections of contemporary plant communities throughout the state. The collections we make today serve as data that will be used by researchers one, ten or even 100 years from now to answer questions we have not dreamed of yet. With their scientific value in mind, we link each specimen with detailed information that anchors it in time and space.</p> This past summer we worked with two private landowners, Chris and Jaclynn Peterson, who have the same forward-thinking vision for their land as we have for our plant collections. The Petersons own 200 acres of montane habitat in Douglas County that will be protected from development in perpetuity. This protected status makes the property a valuable place to do research, because it can be monitored over time without the threat of development.</p> The property is extremely varied and therefore provides habitat for many plants and animals. Its topography ranges from rugged, exposed slopes with boulder outcrops that support dryland plants like yucca and cacti, to several year-round springs that bubble beneath shady canopies of Douglas fir, aspen, alder and hazelnut. The temperature and light conditions vary so widely that our staff and volunteers spent field days dashing from sun to shade, ranging high and low across exposed and protected habitats like thermoregulating lizards! Given these marked environmental differences, a main goal of our survey was to characterize the plant communities that occur across the property – that is, to document the valuable biodiversity this protected land harbors.</p> The collections we made on the Peterson’s land this year – all 1,050 of them – provide a snapshot of which plants are growing, and where, under present-day conditions. We systematically sampled across different slopes, aspects, and elevations, and in upland and wetland locations. Specimens collected in this way have great scientific value as a strategically constructed, permanent record of plant diversity across an underlying ecological template of hill and valley and spring.</p> This baseline assessment can be revisited in the future to determine whether and how the plant communities have changed. For example, the cooler, wetter areas of the property act as refugia habitat for species like pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica</em>), which typically occurs at higher latitudes in Canada and New England. Will the pin cherry persist over the next 100 years as temperature and precipitation patterns change along the Front Range? We now have a starting point for answering that question.</p>
</p> Each year, we enhance the winter wonderland of Blossoms of Light with more lights, new colors and innovative features. But there’s a lot more to the event than just the lights! After two record-breaking years of attendance, we spent the better part of this year making changes to the event that will improve our visitor experience for all.</p> More Time in the Lights!</strong> This year, the Gardens will close each day at 4 p.m., which will allow us to open the doors to Blossoms of Light at 5 p.m. – half an hour earlier than last year.</p> More Restrooms </strong> In addition to those in the Boettcher Memorial Center and Marnie’s Pavilion, the restrooms at The Hive Garden Bistro are now available all year long.</p> Early Exit Points</strong> Because the Blossoms of Light path is one-way, departing the event early has been a bit of a challenge. This year, we’ve added three early-exit opportunities to guests who need to leave the path for any reason.</p> Ticketing Changes </strong> Limited tickets each night will help us avoid over-crowding. While this does mean that our visitors will need to plan a little farther in advance, it should make even our busiest evenings feel less crowded. In addition, door pricing offers visitors an extra incentive for purchasing in advance – tickets are $5 less than if you purchase at the door the night you attend!</p> Skip the Parking Hassle</strong> We’ve partnered with Lyft to offer Blossoms of Light visitors two different discounts. New users save $5 off their first three rides with code GARDENS17. Existing users save 20 percent on a single ride to or from the Gardens with code BOL2017. And don’t forget: the Gardens is easily accessible by two RTD bus lines, has several Car2Go spots (for the smaller smart fortwo cars) and has a B-Cycle station just outside the main entrance.</p> Got a Question? Drop us a line!</strong> Send us an email at info@botanicgardens.org</a> or call us 720-865-3500 if you have any questions about the event or your tickets.</p> Blossoms of Light is open 5-9 p.m. every night from November 24 - January 1. Advance reservations are highly recommended: purchase in advance for the best price and to ensure admittance on your desired date. Get your tickets today!</a></em></p>
It is hard to believe that the summer months are already behind us! With the arrival of fall, our water garden team begins the work of preparing our pond plantings for the winter months. Throughout October, staff and volunteers were found winterizing each of the following aquatic plant groups.</p> Hardy Waterlilies</strong></h3> The majority of the waterlilies (Nymphaea</em> hybrids) grown and displayed at the Gardens are winter hardy, meaning they will survive the cold winter temperatures and will grow as perennials here in Denver. These plants are left in their containers and the foliage is cut back in late October. They will go into dormancy with new growth appearing the following spring. As long as the root systems of hardy waterlilies do not freeze solid or dry out, most do very well over the colder months and actually benefit from these months of dormancy.</p> Tropical Waterlilies</strong></h3> Just as the annuals throughout the gardens are removed each fall, so are the tropical waterlilies found throughout our water gardens. Each plant is pulled out of the water and removed from its container. The soil is then searched for tubers and these are washed, labeled and stored in bags of water in a fridge maintained at 55°F. The plants are then composted, unless the hybrid is more rare, in which case it is brought into the aquatics greenhouse and placed in a heated tub of water to grow throughout the winter months.</p> Hardy Marginal Plants</strong></h3> The term “marginal,” when used in water gardening, refers to plants found growing along the margins of a pond. These plants are also referred to as “emergent” with their foliage growing above the water line. Hardy marginal aquatic plants in our collection include Lotus (Nelumbo</em> hybrids), pickerel plant (Pontederia cordata</em>), cattail (Typha</em> species), lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus</em>), powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata</em>), aquatic iris (Iris virginica</em>, I</em>. versicolor</em>, I</em>. pseudacorus</em>, and I</em>. louisiana</em>) and sweetflag (Acorus calamus</em>).</p> To prepare our hardy marginal plants for the winter months, the foliage is cut back to just above the water line in mid- to late October. This is to prevent water from entering the plants’ root systems through the freshly cut stems, which could cause them to rot. The plants go into winter dormancy and will put up new growth the following spring. Our lotus plants are also screened with heavy black plastic netting in the fall to prevent Canada geese from eating the tubers, which they will do with gusto each spring if they can gain access to the containers!</p> Tropical Marginal Plants</strong></h3> Tropical marginal plants in our collection include cannas, taro (Colocasia</em>), red-stemmed thalia (Thalia geniculata </em>forma rheumoides</em>), Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus</em>), dwarf papyrus (Cyperus prolifer</em>) and Aztec arrowhead (Sagittaria montevidensis</em>).</p> At least one large plant of each tropical marginal hybrid is saved in our aquatics greenhouse. These will be divided the following spring and divisions will be potted up for that year’s displays as well as the spring plant sale.</p> Other Floating-Leaved Aquatic Plants</strong></h3> Aquatic plants in our collection which don’t fit into the above categories include floating-leaved species such as water hawthorn (Aponogeton distachyos</em>), mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides</em>) and Water Snowflakes (Nymphoides</em> species). Water hawthorn is hardy here in Denver and is left out in the ponds year-round. It tends to go dormant in the hottest months of the year and looks its best in the fall and spring, when it produces white, vanilla-scented blooms that float on the water’s surface.</p> Mosaic plant is a tropical floating-leaved plant native to South America. It is grown in a heated tub in our greenhouse year-round and cuttings are taken in early summer for our displays. Therefore, the plants on display are simply composted in the fall.</p> Finally, water snowflakes vary in hardiness depending on the species. Most species grown here at the Gardens are brought indoor for the winter months. It should be noted that we do not grow or display Nymphoides peltata</em> in the water gardens due its inclusion on the Colorado noxious weed list and its tendency to root into the containers of plants growing nearby.</p> Floating Plants</strong></h3> One floating plant species (an aquatic plant that floats on the water’s surface with its root system trailing freely in the water below) is included in our collection: water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes</em>). This tropical species resembles a floating head of lettuce and is displayed each summer in small pools or water bowls throughout the gardens. It is composted each fall with a few plants saved in heated tubs in our aquatics greenhouse.</p> As the autumn colors fade, replaced by a snowy white landscape, our hardy plants will slumber peacefully outdoors while our tropicals cozy up to life in the greenhouse. Stay tuned for a final seasonal blog post about the water gardens during the winter months.</p>
. . . and extreme ecological importance in high-elevation wetlands.</p>It’s likely that at some point, you have been out for a stroll and admired a pretty grass fanning gently in the wind…or maybe it was a sedge? Or a rush? It’s also likely that to solve this puzzle you looked musingly to the sky and recited to yourself: sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses have knees that bend to the ground</strong>. And voila! You were botanizing, if only for a second, as you made your way in nature.</p>While the first and fundamental step of botanizing is naming what plant you have, the next is understanding how it shapes the ecosystem in which it occurs. With sedges, many of us know about the useful diagnostic clue of the angular stem. But less well known is that sedges of the genus Carex </em>comprise one of the largest plant groups in the world, with more than 2,000 species occurring worldwide. Many sedges have expansive circumboreal distributions spanning from Russia, to the Great Lakes, to Canada.</p>Carex </em>is also the largest genus of plants in Colorado, containing over 100 species. While sedges may not be showy, they are ecological superstars, forming the botanical backbone of one the state’s most important habitat types, the wetland. There are many types of wetlands including marshes, riparian corridors along creeks and streams and peatlands such as bogs and fens. Such habitats are oases in our otherwise semi-arid region, supporting a high diversity of plants and animals, many of which do not occur outside of their wetland refugia.</p>Importantly, wetlands cover only 3-6 percent of Earth’s land area, and they are increasingly threatened by land use change, invasive species, and altered temperature and precipitation regimes. Our hope of dynamically managing wetlands under future conditions rests upon knowing which species occur in the here and now, under contemporary conditions.</p>To contribute to this effort, a crew of staff and volunteers from the Gardens’ Research & Conservation Department made plant collections (to be curated for decades to come in our herbarium) at a high-elevation fen in Gilpin County, CO. From above, the fen glitters like a bright jewel, with a lush carpet of lime-green sedges punctuated by sun-lit pools of water.</p>Take flight over the fen yourself! </a>The abundant sedges, along with water-loving wildflowers like grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris</em>) and elephant’s head (Pedicularis groenlandica</em>), root themselves into deep, peaty substrates that take thousands of years to accumulate. (The slow work of peat formation makes fens extremely hard to restore and much of our team worked from the upland sidelines during collection.) </p>While some sedges grow in drier habitats, they often prefer or are restricted to wetlands. Because of this affinity, sedges speak volumes about wetland type and health. For example, “obligate wetland” species are just that—obligated to grow in wetlands—so their presence helps to define wetland boundaries and suggests a relatively intact hydrologic regime.</p>Our survey of the Gilpin County fen turned up 11 species of Carex,</em> five of which are obligate to wetlands and four of which highly prefer them (these being “facultative wetland” species). The presence of another beautiful sedge, Eriophorum angustifolium</em>, told tale of the ecological integrity of the fen. This species, sometimes called cottongrass for its fluffy shock of snow-white seed heads, is dependent on relatively pristine wetland habitat to survive. We were happy to include it on our plant list of 160 species found at the site this year!</p>In closing, let’s return to the first and fundamental step of botanizing: naming what you have. Sedges are an extremely difficult group to get to know. Sedges having edges is the tip of the diagnostic iceberg (with even this well-known ID hack having many exceptions), and taxonomically defining this one slice of the botanical menagerie is a feat. Luckily for folks who botanize in Colorado, Dr. Janet Wingate has just made the world of sedges more accessible with her illustrated publication titled Sedges of Colorado</em>. Check it out and make room for it in your backpack on your next hike!</p>
It’s a little hard to believe, but fall truly is upon us. The days are shorter, the air is crisper and, any day now, the trees will let go of their leaves and keep us busy raking until November. During this time of the year, many visitors ask if there are still plants worth seeing in the outdoor displays. Certainly, many flowers are still putting on a show. The easiest way to find them is to follow the hordes of bees and butterflies collecting the last bits of pollen to aid in their journey south or to prepare for their winter break. However, fall is also the best time to appreciate some of the plant features that are overlooked in the warmer months. Among these are berries, evergreen foliage and interesting bark patterns.</p> The snowberry shrub (Symphoricarpus albus)</em>, so called because of the many clusters of small, white berries, is a plant that becomes more beautiful as its leaves begin to drop. Most seasons, the berries persist through the winter providing food for foraging birds. A large group of these shrubs can be seen along the Monet Pond as you enter the Japanese Garden.</p> Another group of plants with a spectacular late-season fruit set are the prickly pear cacti (Opuntia spp.</em>). Throughout several of our gardens, including Water-Smart Garden and Dryland Mesa, Opuntia phaeacantha</em> are covered in fruit that is not only beautiful, but also quite delicious once all the spines are removed!</p> In addition to thriving in dry conditions and producing a gorgeously scented bloom in late spring, the semi-evergreen foliage of Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’ (Daphne x burkwoodii </em>‘Carol Mackie’) also provides an interesting texture to the fall landscape. Deciduous evergreen shrubs are somewhat hard to come by in Colorado; for some of the best examples at the Gardens, check out the Romantic Gardens.</p> My last suggestion for appreciating the Gardens in fall is to admire the tree bark that is so often overshadowed by leaves and flowers during the growing season. That being said, my number one recommendation happens to be the bark of an evergreen tree, Pinus bungeana, </em>or the Lacebark Pine. You must make a visit to the Birds and Bees Walk to see the camouflage-like bark of this gorgeous specimen!</p>
I am a horticulture student from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln entering my junior year. My hometown is the very small, rural town of Ulysses, Nebraska, home to maybe one hundred people. I was chosen to be the propagation intern at Denver Botanic Gardens, an experience that has proven to be unforgettable in many ways. I never fathomed what a city like Denver could be like, so my seven-hour drive to Denver was both terrifying and exciting.</p> When I met Senior Horticulturist Katy Wilcox-Wieczorek, I knew without a doubt that I had a special mentor. She guided me through my daily work and my intern project, answering any questions and making sure that all of our practices were at the highest standards and our methods were scientifically sound.</p> I did many different tasks daily including collecting seeds and cuttings from the Gardens, planting seeds, preparing seeds for long-term cold storage, cleaning seeds, preparing plant cuttings for propagation, transplanting seedlings and rooted plant cuttings, controlling insects and weeds through integrated pest management practices and lots and lots of watering.</p> My intern project focused on determining how well old seed germinated and had three main parts. First, I identified seed from several different plant families that we were interested in studying and that we currently had in long-term storage. Next we germinated those seeds to discover the rate of germination, and lastly we compared time in storage with the rate of germination.</p> I planted about 110 samples of seed (over 50 different species of plants) and collected data on germination rates, times and growth rates every Monday through Thursday. After recording and interpreting the data, I could give Katy a clear chart calculating how long she could potentially keep seed until it became unviable. It also provided data on how often she should collect seed.</p> This unforgettable summer was filled to the brim with excitement, entertainment, hiking and of course more knowledge and education than I could have ever dreamed. I loved every minute of it and I can’t wait to come back and visit.</p> I would like to thank everybody at Denver Botanic Gardens who made this opportunity possible and made this experience so incredible. I would also like to thank my host family, who was extremely welcoming and supported me 110% throughout this whole internship. I cannot thank them enough for graciously opening their doors to me. I encountered so many spectacular opportunities this summer and realized “terrifying” could translate into “momentous!”</p> By Propation Intern Olivia Fiala</em></p>
</p>Today, the first batch of pumpkins arrived on site for Glow at the Gardens™. Our pumpkin carving team will spend the first half of next week cleaning, gutting and carving hundreds of giant gourds to create our one-of-a-kind pumpkin sculptures. And while all this carving is a challenge in such a short time, the harder part is actually coming up with the designs in the first place.</p>Know Your Canvas</strong>Each year, we brainstorm dozens of ideas for sculpture designs. The possibilities seem endless! However, we’ve learned that certain kinds of designs may sound great at first, but they don’t necessarily render well when carved into pumpkins. What will the pumpkins look like in the dark, with only the carved portions visible? Will the design require a level of detail that will be too time-consuming and challenging for our carvers to achieve? Is the design one that will look good when pieced together across multiple pumpkins rather than on a single canvas? If you’ve ever struggled with a design for one jack-o-lantern, imagine sculpting 50-60 together to create a unified image!</p>Unpredictable Colorado Weather</strong>If we know anything about Colorado in October, it’s that the weather is highly unpredictable. As you probably know if you’ve left a jack-o-lantern on the porch during an October snowstorm, pumpkins don’t fare so well when it’s cold. They also don’t like unseasonably hot weather. With this in mind, we’ve worked to think about designs that will allow us to wrap or move pumpkin sculpture to protect them from the elements.</p>Structure & Safety</strong>Because real pumpkins are far heavier than foam ones, we carefully think through the structural integrity of the armatures that form the base of each sculpture. The last thing we want to see is a sculpture with pumpkins tumbling off of it!</p>Lighting & Props</strong>Lighting our pumpkins is almost as important as carving them. Inside lighting, outside lighting, accent lighting, and non-pumpkin props all add to the sculpture and help our audience interpret them. This year, we’re even adding sound effects to a couple of the designs!</p>We’re looking forward to seeing the pumpkin sculpture designs for this year’s Glow at the Gardens finally come to life, and we hope you’ll join us to see them too!</p>Tickets are limited and a sellout is anticipated.</strong> Purchase tickets online or at the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center.</p>
Colorado is known worldwide for its lush mountain habitats with towering forests of pine, fir and aspen. This grand topography, tied to a romantic history of silver mining and pioneer grit, shapes much of the state’s identity. Yet it is only one part of Colorado’s unique ecological and human story.</p> The Eastern Plains of Colorado comprise 40 percent of the state’s land, boasting their own natural beauty and rich history of people forging close ties to the land. In an age when people are aggregating in cities and, some might argue, losing touch with the faraway lands that provide their food and fiber, rural landowners are becoming critical stewards of our ecological treasures.</p> Cattle ranching is a major part of the agricultural economy on the Eastern Plains. In contrast to planting crops, which is a (necessary) land use that displaces native plants and animals, grazing can support diverse and ecologically important habitat. This is because sustainable cattle grazing mimics historic conditions, when bison roamed the prairies feeding on native grasses. The result is that many ranchers in eastern Colorado steward healthy grassland habitats that reduce soil erosion, filter water and enhance groundwater recharge, and support abundant wildlife. Now consider two things: private grazing lands cover nearly one-third of the nation, and many of these grasslands are woefully under-studied from a botanical perspective.</p> Botanical inventories form the foundation of plant biodiversity research, which aims to understand where different species occur and why. Such understanding has far-reaching applications, from documenting where medically important plants occur, to determining how species will respond to global change. During a botanical inventory, individuals of different plant species are collected and accessioned into a herbarium, where both the specimen and its associated data are curated in perpetuity.</p> At Denver Botanic Gardens, we have more than 60,000 plants accessioned in the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium. We are still growing the collection to expand knowledge about Colorado’s plant communities. A look at the numbers reveals a striking gap in what we know about grasslands: of more than half a million plant collections made in Colorado since the early 1700s, less than 30,000 (5 percent) are from the 14 counties that make up the state’s rural Eastern Plains. This lack of data represents a serious challenge to conserving one of the nation’s major ecosystems.</p> This past summer, staff and volunteers from the Gardens had the opportunity to survey well-stewarded, private grazing lands in Kiowa County, which is in the southeastern corner of the state on the border of Kansas. Unbroken (never ploughed or tilled) grassland habitat provides the closest representation of pristine prairie available to researchers today. We surveyed beautiful sandhill sage prairie habitat on the properties of Cardon G. Berry and Cathryn Anderson, both of whom have long-time family ranches.</p> If you have not seen sandhill sage prairie, Go East, young men and women! This habitat occurs on deep, sandy soils associated with dune systems and ancient floodplains. Sandhill sage (Artemisia filifolia</em>) shrubs have thread-like silvery leaves filled with aromatic compounds that perfume the sun-warmed prairie air. A sea of visually and taxonomically diverse grasses, including blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis</em>), sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii</em>), and western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii</em>), grow within the shrub matrix. During the team’s September survey, many of the grasses had dehisced (let loose) their anthers, presenting an explosion of miniature yellow, magenta, and orange streamers to those with a keen eye. Several species with showy flowers streaked the prairie with late-season color. One of our favorites of the trip, a golden beauty of the daisy family, Pectis angustifolia</em>, smelled of the freshest lemons in Italy when crushed (true to one of its common names, Limoncello).</p> Despite the lure of so many olfactory and visual distractions, the field team, led by Dr. Janet Wingate, collected over 48 county records in Kiowa this year! This fact is both inspiring and sobering: inspiring because our own backyards still hold the promise of fresh discovery; sobering because until we document what is in our own backyards, we cannot hope to conserve them for future generations. We thank the private landowners who helped us explore another corner of the world this field season!</p>
