</p> The holiday season is in full bloom at York Street as Blossoms of Light™</a> delights thousands of guests each night with mesmerizing displays of light and color. Though it is a tradition for many Front Range families, the new designs and features provide a new adventure every year for even the most seasoned visitors. In fact, CNN has ranked</a> Blossoms of Light as one of the top places to see lights in the entire country! </p> As you wander the lights, keep in mind that it takes a lot to get to this point! Here are some fun facts about Blossoms of Light that, if they don’t make you enjoy the lights even more, may at least shed some light (ha) on the scope and scale of this massive public event.</p> Blossoms of Light opened its first season of illumination over 30 years ago, in 1988.</li> Blossoms of Light is the Gardens’ largest single event of the year, drawing in more guests and revenue than any other.</li> It takes 13 months to design, plan, and execute the event. </li> Installation of lights begins on the Tuesday after Labor Day, and every light is removed by the end of February. Lights are installed with poles, lifts, climbing harnesses, waders and cherry-picker buckets.</li> Custom-strung lights are built by hand starting in early summer. Unusual light colors, such as teal or purple, must be ordered 6-8 months in advance because manufacturers only produce limited quantities each year.</li> We estimate there are more than half a million individual lights in the entire display. The exact number is very difficult to calculate!</li> 100 percent of the decorative lights used are LED.</li> Squirrels and wind are the biggest enemies to the lighting equipment.</li> The eagle-eyed visitor may notice that we double-dip in a few areas – we turn on some of the spookiest lights for Glow at the Gardens in October.</li> This is the first year in over a decade that we have extended Blossoms of Light more than a week past New Year's.</li> </ol> Tickets are selling quickly, so get yours before they are gone. We look forward to celebrating the season of light with you!</p> Blossoms of Light is open nightly (closed December 25) through January 16, 2021. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Get your tickets today!</a></strong></p> </p>
In part two of this series, we talked about carnivorous plants that use passive traps to catch insects and other small prey. Next, we cover the third and final trapping mechanism used by predatory plants — adhesive traps.</p> These traps can be divided further into the following categories: flypaper, fixed tentacles and mobile tentacles.</p> Flypaper Traps</strong></h3> Carnivorous plants with flypaper traps ensnare their victims with a sticky mucus that also acts as an attractant. Butterworts (Pinguicula</em> spp.) fall into this category. This genus currently contains over 80 species with new discoveries still being made in recent years. They can be found growing in native habitats throughout the northern hemisphere and southward into Central and South America. The richest species diversity can be found in Mexico.</p> Butterworts catch smaller insects such as gnats and fruit flies. These insects are drawn in by the sweet scent of the sticky nectar produced by the plant on short stalks attached to the leaf surface. Once the insect lands, it is unable to free itself and is digested on the leaf surface by a mix of digestive enzymes and acids secreted by the plant, with only their exoskeleton remaining as evidence of their demise.</p> These beautiful but deadly plants are beloved for their general ease of cultivation as well as their brightly colored flowers which range in color from white to yellow to scarlet red.</p> Fixed Tentacles</strong></h3> A second form of adhesive trapping mechanisms can be found in Portuguese sundew (Drosophyllum lusitanicum</em>) and rainbow plants (Byblis</em> spp.). These plants use a technique similar to butterworts to capture their prey, but the sticky mucus they produce is held further out from the leaf surface on fixed tentacles. This allows the plants to capture prey that is a bit further from their leaves and also larger in size than those caught by butterworts.</p> Portuguese sundew is unique from other carnivorous plants in that it is native to the relatively dry western Mediterranean regions of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It can be a bit trickier to grow since it requires a faster draining soil media and more infrequent watering than its bog loving kin. The sticky mucus produced by this plant has a thicker, more resinous consistency than that of species found growing in boggy areas. This allows it to function better in the more arid conditions of its native habitats.</p> Rainbow plants are native to Australia and New Guinea, with seven species currently known to exist. Some are annuals and others are perennials. All live up to their common name, giving off a rainbow effect from their glistening leaves when struck by rays of sunlight.</p> Mobile Tentacles</strong></h3> Finally, the last example of adhesive traps can be found in sundews (Drosera</em> spp.), which have tentacles that move slowly to encompass their prey, smothering them in digestive enzyme-rich mucus. I love this quote from Peter D’Amato in his book, The Savage Garden: "If an insect ever evolved the brains to write a horror novel, the monster in that novel would probably be a sundew."</p> Sundews can be found growing on every continent but Antarctica, with the richest species diversity occurring in Australia. Over 125 species have been named in a wide range of forms, with many pygmy sundews staying the size of a small coin and other species like the South African king sundew (D. regia</em>) growing to over 2 feet tall.</p> If you are looking for a great carnivorous plant for beginners, the Cape sundew (D. capensis</em>) will be your best bet. Simply plant it in a mix of half peat and half sand, place it in a shallow saucer of distilled water in a sunny windowsill, and watch it catch any fly or fruit fly that dares to come near it. This plant seeds easily, and we often have seedlings available at our spring plant sale each year.</p> Butterworts and sundews can be found in the terrariums located at the east end of the Orangery. They can also be viewed during Free Days at the Gardens at the Carnivorous Plant Education table. Our Portuguese sundew lives in our aquatics greenhouse, where it has a steady supply of insects to keep it well fed. It can be viewed in some of our behind the scenes tours at the Gardens.</p> </p> For additional information about Carnivorous Plants, be sure to check out the International Carnivorous Plant Society’s website</a>. "The Savage Garden," by Peter D’Amato and "Growing Carnivorous Plants," by Barry A. Rice are both great books on the subject that offer more in-depth information about these amazing plants.</p>
From the moment your lungs take in that first breath of warm, comforting and humid air you know you have entered the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory. The Tropical Conservatory is home to over 550 species of plants spanning 306 genera from 87 plant families from all over the world. You have probably seen many epiphytes on previous visits but maybe didn’t know what they were. Read on and I shall cast some light on these wonderful oddities!</p> Epiphytes are organisms that grow on the surface of host plants, often attaching themselves with strong roots. They obtain moisture from the air and nutrients from debris around them. A common example of this would be Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides</em>) growing off of a tree branch. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they attach only for physical support, not for food or water. They are found in every major group of the plant kingdom, including some species of algae growing under water. The Tropical Conservatory is host to many epiphytes, and they come in many different forms.</p> As you enter the Tropical Conservatory from the east end, take a few steps in and look up to the right. In a planter pocket of the rock ledge grows an exciting epiphytic orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum</em>. Native to Indonesia, it is also known as the sugar cane orchid, because of the appearance of the pseudobulbs. The largest plant was recorded as weighing more than a ton and each raceme can bear up to 80 scented flowers. It can remain in bloom for up to 2 months.</p> Continue down the path, past the duck pond and up the stairs to the main level. From the top of the stairs turn right and look at the wall. Here you will see Platycerium bifurcatum</em>, or staghorn fern, mounted here. It is native to Java, New Guinea and southeastern Australia. They require consistent moisture and shady locations. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. Its common name comes from the appearance of the dissected fronds.</p> The final plant on our epiphytic journey is an amazing silvery plant called Tillandsia tectorum</em>. It is found at the top of the treehouse, the highest point you can get to in the Tropical Conservatory. It has many thin, very silvery leaves and loves high light and heat. This plant is native to Peru and Ecuador. In late summer it gets a lovely light purple/pink bloom that can last for several months. This species is well suited to Colorado because of its love of low humidity and intense sunlight and makes a great plant for you to try at home.</p>
In the 1860s, pioneers settled on the land next to Deer Creek in what is now Littleton. The stream provided the settlers with the only water around for miles. Frank Hildebrand bought a log cabin and a large piece of land where he and his family constructed barns and other structures for their ranching business. Being in the arid grasslands up against the foothills, the Hildebrands understood that they needed to find a working relationship between the environment and their family farm. Their house, garden and summer kitchen were built near the creek to take advantage of the steady flow of water.</p> But building their structures near Deer Creek was a double-edged sword for the Hildebrands. The convenience of having close access to a vital resource was offset by the possibility of flooding caused by high-flow events. Our experts speculate that to mitigate the risk of flooding, the Hildebrands worked to channelize Deer Creek. Deepening the ravine and steepening the banks would increase the capacity for flow volume so floods could move through the system efficiently, causing less damage to the upper terrace and the Hildebrands’ livelihoods.</p> Today, the property is split between an open space park in Jefferson County and Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. Hildebrand Ranch is on the National Register of Historic Places and many of the original buildings are still standing. Deer Creek is also an important wildlife corridor for bears, beavers, deer, coyotes, raccoons and many species of birds; however, channelized streams are not very productive for native species. Our conservation ecology team is developing a stream restoration plan that will find a balance between restoring the natural meanders of Deer Creek while also protecting the historical buildings on site.</p> This blog post was written by Margo Paces, M.S. student at University of Colorado Denver. Margo studies stream restoration along Deer Creek at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. She quantifies plant communities along the riparian corridor to gauge the effectiveness of restoration efforts.</em></p>
In part one of this series, we talked about carnivorous plants that use active traps to capture their prey. Next, we cover another trapping mechanism used by multiple species of predatory plants: passive traps.</p>While the active traps of Venus flytraps, waterwheel and bladderworts capture insects by either snapping shut on them or quickly sucking them in, passive traps do not use any motion to catch their prey.</p>These inactive traps can be further broken down into “pitfall,” “lobster pot,” and “pigeon” traps.</p>Pitfall Traps</strong></h3>Modified leaves are used as individual pitfall traps by many types of pitcher plants, including hardy, tropical, Australian and sun pitchers. Hardy pitcher plants (Sarracenia</em> spp.) can be found growing in nutrient poor bogs throughout the United States and into portions of Canada, while tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes</em> spp.) are natives of Madagascar, Australia and Southeast Asia. Sun pitchers (Heliamphora </em>spp.) are native to swampy areas on high plateaus in South America, specifically Venezuela, Guayana and northern Brazil. Australian pitcher plants (Cephalotus follicularis</em>) consist of a single species which can be found growing in swamps or alongside streams and creeks in southwestern Australia.</p>Pitfall traps often have a nectar producing portion near the entry of the trap and may also be brightly colored. Both features aid in luring insects. Downward-pointing hairs can often be found inside these traps, which make it easy for insects to crawl in but much more difficult for them to get out. Some of these pitfall traps have liquid in the base which contains digestive fluids produced by the plant. Others do not have a pool of water but exude digestive enzymes once the insects starve in the trap. Some large species of tropical pitcher plants have even been known to draw rodents into their traps!</p>Lobster Pot Traps</strong></h3>One hardy pitcher plant that uses a slightly different passive trapping mechanism is the parrot pitcher plant (Sarracenia psittacina</em>). The method of trapping used by this species is referred to as a “lobster pot” trap and encourages insects to crawl deep into a trap with the lure of nectar. Once inside, the bug is confused by the presence of glassy windows, known as areoles, which allow light into the trap. It cannot find its way out through the darker trap opening and is slowly digested by the plant.</p>California pitcher plants (Darlingtonia californica</em>), which are native to a small range in northern California and southern Oregon, also use these types of traps in combination with a pitfall trap. Insects are drawn to the mouth of the trap by the sweet scent of nectar. The pitcher is lined with areoles, which allow light into the trap, confusing the insects. It becomes easier for the bugs to find their way further into the trap then to find a way out through the darker opening, and they eventually reach a portion with slick, downward-pointing hairs—the pitfall portion of the trap. Unfortunately, it is all downhill from there for the insect—both figuratively and literally.</p>Pigeon Traps</strong></h3>The final type of passive trap used by carnivorous plants can be found in the multiple species belonging to the genus Genlisea</em>, commonly referred to as corkscrew plants. Native to Central and South America as well as Africa, these plants grow in aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats and feed mostly on protozoans. Researchers are still studying how prey are drawn into the plants’ traps, but once there, the trap uses a technique also used in pigeon traps. Prey push past inward-pointing hairs as they enter the trap, which prevent them from backing out.</p>At the Gardens, you can see examples of carnivorous plants with passive traps in the terrariums located at the east end of the Orangery. Sun pitchers live in two of these terrariums and hardy pitcher plants are often rotated into the displays during the summer months. A tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes alata</em>) can be found in the largest terrarium, while other Nepenthes</em> species can be viewed through the glass panels which divide the Orangery from the easternmost greenhouse.</p>In the third and final part of this series</a>, we will examine carnivorous plants that use sticky “flypaper” type traps to capture their prey.</p>
As Halloween draws near, it seems fitting to highlight a group of bloodthirsty plants that lure, capture and devour insects (and sometimes even small mammals) in order to survive in the nutrient-poor soils of their native habitats.</p>These carnivorous plants can be found growing around the world. The trapping mechanisms they use to capture their prey can be divided into three main categories: active, passive and sticky “flypaper” traps.</p>In this series of blog posts, we will take a look at predatory plants that exhibit each of these types of traps along with where they grow in the wild and where you can find them in the gardens.</p>Active Traps</strong></h3>Carnivorous plants that use active “snap” traps to capture their prey include Venus fly traps (Dionaea muscipula</em>) and waterwheel (Aldrovanda</em> vesiculosa</em>).</p>Venus flytraps are the most easily recognizable predatory plants. Their native habitat is limited to a stretch of coastal plains in North Carolina and South Carolina. Trigger hairs are located inside each trap, which lies open waiting for an insect to crawl in. The sweet scent of nectar produced by the plant helps to draw in its unsuspecting prey. Once triggered, the trap closes and digestive enzymes are released to break the insect down into nutrients the plant can use to grow. Once digestion is complete the trap reopens, revealing the remaining exoskeleton of its prey.</p>A waterwheel plant has a trap that is very similar to those of flytraps, but they are submerged in water, much smaller in size and faster in action. They consist of a single species that is distributed around the world in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Its common name is derived from the way the traps are arranged in whorls around a central stem. Tiny aquatic insects trigger the traps to quickly snap shut when they brush against the trigger hairs.</p>Another variation of the active trap is the “suction” mechanism used by the traps of Utricularia</em> species - commonly known as bladderworts. These remarkable carnivorous plants can be found in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats around the world. In terrestrial species, the tiny traps are located in the soil around the plant. These traps have trigger hairs located at the mouth of each trap which are activated when an insect brushes against them. Aquatic species also have traps which are activated when insects swim by and brush the trigger hairs. Bladderworts are the fastest acting of any carnivorous plants, taking less than a millisecond to suck in their prey.</p>Venus flytraps</strong> can be found in a large terrarium located at the east end of the Orangery. Be sure to stop by to take a peek at them as you visit our Fiendish Flora</em> exhibit in the Orangery, which features natural and manmade plant mutations.</li>Terrestrial and aquatic bladderworts</strong> can be viewed on some Free Days at the Carnivorous Plant Education table.</li>We hope to add waterwheel</strong> to our plant collections in the near future!</li></ul>In the next blog post of this series</a>, we will explore carnivorous plant species that use passive traps to lure, capture and devour their creepy, crawly victims.</p>
</p> With only a few days to go before Glow at the Gardens</a>™, we are eagerly awaiting the nights that our pumpkin sculptures will come to life. And we’re not the only ones: jack-o-lantern events are becoming increasingly popular, popping up in more and more cities all over the country. Most of these events, however, share one common trait: their elaborate sculptures are created using fake pumpkins, or “funkins.” But not Denver Botanic Gardens! For each night of the event, every pumpkin we use is the real deal. We’re proud of our pumpkin realness, but we must admit, they do present us with some interesting challenges.</p> Where Do We Get Them?</strong></p> It’s harder than you may think to find 3,000 pumpkins that are about the same size, are fully ripe at the same time, and can be delivered to the middle of Denver during peak pumpkin harvest season. Each year of Glow at the Gardens, we’ve worked with local growers to stake our claim on pumpkins early in the summer. Then we just cross our fingers and hope that hail storms, insects, bears and drought will let them reach maturity by the time we need them!</p> Where Do We Put Them? </strong></p> Once the pumpkins arrive onsite, we work quickly to store them in areas that offer them some protection against the weather. Since October in Colorado can feature wild swings in temperature and precipitation, we want to be ready for anything. However, even if weather wasn’t a factor, finding places to store 75 pallets of pumpkins is no small feat during what has become one of the busiest seasons at the Gardens.</p> Carving on a Clock</strong></p> While funkins can be carved weeks, months, even years in advance and stored for future use, carving real pumpkins is a different ballgame. To make sure the pumpkins will still be in good condition for two nights of the event, our team only has two and a half days to get all the pumpkins washed, gutted, carved and displayed.</p> Variation – Not Necessarily Helpful</strong></p> Harvesting fresh pumpkins means you never quite know what you’re going to get. If pumpkins are too green, they are too hard to cut; if they are too ripe, they turn to mush as soon as they are carved. Also, designing armatures to hold pumpkins can be challenging when you don’t know exactly what shape will show up on delivery day.</p> Pumpkins are Heavy!</strong></p> Because real pumpkins are far heavier than foam ones, we must 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> Squirrels</strong></p> Those little creatures just love October at York Street. It seems that there is nothing more enticing to our squirrels than the exposed flesh of freshly carved jack-o-lanterns! We frequently have to replace jack-o-lanterns just hours after they have been displayed because, well, the squirrels gnaw and nibble through their faces.</p> Ephemeral Art</strong></p> Like a bouquet of fresh flowers, a pumpkin sculpture is at its prime for just a couple of days before nature takes its toll. As the jack-o-lanterns begin to shrivel and decay, the designs that have been carved into them morph and fade.</p> Our goal for Glow at the Gardens is not only to provide an incredible Halloween experience, but also to push the very boundaries of pumpkin carving. Could we have more displays if we used funkins? Sure. Would we be able to carve them farther in advance and reduce the hustle and bustle of the days leading up to the event? Absolutely. But the Gardens’ mission is to connect people with plants: what better way to do so than by designing and carving the fruit of the most popular plant of the season? </p> Glow at the Gardens is open October 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25. Tickets are extremely limited and are expected to sell out. </strong>Purchase tickets online</strong></a> or at the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center at 1007 York Street. </strong></p>
We often think about the rose as a focal point of gardens in spring and summer, however sometimes we forget that late summer and early fall are some of the best times to enjoy their great displays of flowers, even though they are not blooming as prolifically as they do in the spring.</p> Under our harsh mid-summer weather conditions, hot temperatures, dryness and the stress of strong sunlight, the colors of the flowers may fade. And the Japanese beetles feast on our roses from late spring to mid-summer, causing damage to some of the blooms. The absence of these conditions can make later in the summer a delightful time to see the roses!</p> During the cooler weather in early fall (especially morning and evening), the color of the flowers intensifies as it is meant to do. When our horticulturists identify a rose by its flowers, fall is the best season to do so.</p> Some of the more popular modern roses we see in the Gardens today are shrub roses, such as Floribunda, English rose and hardy Canadian rose. They were cultivated to have a longer blooming season from spring to fall, a greater variety of colors and compact sizes, and cold hardiness and disease resistance habits. These better accommodate our sustainable ways of Western gardening.</p> Be sure to see the displays of roses in the Ellipse garden and the Romantic Gardens on your next visit.</p>
Annual Flowers Curiosities of the Gardens</h3> August, during the "dog days" of summer, is the perfect time to view all the fantastic annuals at Denver Botanic Gardens. During this time, annual flowers are at their peak, revealing their mature height and showy blossoms. This walking tour highlights some of the more unusual annuals the Gardens has to offer. These plants’ strange and odd qualities rival any shockingly bright blossom of a traditional annual flower.</p> Begin your walking tour at the lowest point in the Sensory Garden. Near the tranquil water feature, you will see a living wall that is planted with an array of plant delights. In these wooly pockets that allow one to plant vertically, you will find a peculiar annual flower. This yellow button-shaped blossom has a red spot on the top giving it the common name of eyeball plant. </em>What’s curious about this plant, Acmella oleracea</em>, is when the flower or leaves are chewed, it causes numbness in the mouth, and a tingling sensation on the tongue. It is an herbal remedy to treat toothaches, giving it another common name, toothache plant.</p> Look just below the row of toothache plants and rest your eyes on a pink powder-puff shaped flower. Something unexpected happens when you touch the green compound leaves of sensitive plant, or Mimosa pudica. </em>Also known as touch-me-not, it becomes “alive” and closes its leaves over the stem. This almost extraterrestrial movement is an example of plant adaptation to protect itself from environmental harm or from predators.</p> Now walk westward and find yourself outside on the plaza of Marnie’s Pavilion. Continue to walk west and find the walkway lined with citrus trees. Here the West Terrace planters are adorned with an annual flower display of warm tones of orange, burgundy and russet. Here you will find a bizarre specimen plant with jagged, silvery-green leaves holding bright orange spikes decorated with purple flowers. This Madagascar native is called Solanum pyracanthum, </em>or devil’s thorn. Its freakish display of armor reveals in the language of plants that it is poisonous.</p> Towards the northwest end of the planter, you will find a trailing vine with small insignificant white flowers. Cardiospermum halicacabum, </em>or love-in-a-puff, holds a secret surprise inside its papery round lanterns. Inside are three, dark bean-like seeds with a white heart-shaped spot on the top. The genus name Cardiospermum </em>is derived from the Greek language meaning “heart shaped”.</p> Now turn to the east and double back to end your walking tour at the Science Pyramid. Flanking the main entrance on the east side are clusters of container plantings full of wild and avant-garde annual flowers. It’s easy to spot the dark purple, almost comical inflorescence of Amarnthus tricolor, </em>also known by its common name elephant head amaranth. The flower head resembles an elephant with a protruding trunk. This modern day fetish for fertility, phallic in form, is said to bring quick pregnancy to a bride if carried in her wedding bouquet. Juxtaposed to the towering elephant head amaranth is A. caudatus </em>‘Dreadlocks.’ The exceptional inflorescence of this amaranth is aptly named as its fuzzy pink dreadlocks cascade to the ground.</p> These are just a small sample of the remarkable and unfamiliar annuals planted at Denver Botanic Gardens. These more obscure varieties are just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps you’ve been inspired to create your own garden of curiosities for next season.</p>
