</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>
This summer Denver Botanic Gardens conducted a multi-faceted project along the 71-mile High Line Canal that traverses the Denver Metro Area. In this post, you’ll receive some insights into one aspect of this project, the High Line Canal bee survey.</p> While honey bees and bumblebees are easily recognized and well-known, most people don’t know that the state of Colorado is home to nearly 1,000 bee species! The majority of these species are solitary and ground-nesting, and often go unnoticed by many of us. However, these bees are vital to our Colorado ecosystems, both natural and unnatural (urban and agricultural areas).</p> The High Line Canal bee survey aims to document the diversity of bees along the High Line Canal and to examine how the surrounding urban development and local ecology of the Canal is influencing this diversity. As part of my graduate research at the Gardens and the University of Colorado-Denver, I conducted the High Line Canal bee survey.</p> For two weeks each month from May to July, I set out to collect bees from 30 locations along the Canal with the help of several volunteers. These bees were brought back to the Gardens to be identified under the microscope. All insects collected are currently being processed and stored for long-term future research at the Gardens. I sorted and identified 3,826 bees in 32 bee genera. This includes some rare genera such as the squash bees (Peponapis</em>) and the carpenter bees (Xylocopa</em>).</p> The hope of the larger High Line Canal project, which includes ecological monitoring and a comprehensive floristic inventory, is to guide the management of the Canal, to ensure it is a quality ecosystem for pollinators, plant communities and for visitors from the Denver Metro Area and beyond. </p> This blog post was written by Liam Cullinane, Denver Botanic Gardens & University of Colorado-Denver graduate student. </em></p>
As an American, learning what I could from books and professors, Japanese garden design seemed almost sacred. I quickly found myself focusing on individual symbolic details of traditional Japanese gardens and how to ‘correctly’ and ‘authentically’ translate these elements within a different cultural context. This train of thought easily led to a seemingly inaccessible perception of Japanese garden design that followed me to Denver Botanic Gardens and made me initially wary of everyday tasks for fear of ‘tainting’ the sanctity of the Japanese Garden, Shofu-En.</p> After working extensively in Shofu-En’s sand, tea and strolling gardens, however, I came to understand that the importance of these design elements lies more in the overall experience they help create rather than their correct representation—a concept I had heard before but never fully grasped.</p> In Shofu-En, meticulous tamamono (rounded shrubs) and character pines along with a central pond and island create an uplifting and expansive strolling garden in a surprisingly small corner of the overall campus of the Gardens, while naturalistic trees and shrubs create an introspective tea garden along with indirect paths and traditional water features. Whether this experiential emphasis within Japanese gardens developed more recently due to the current popularity of international styles or has always been integral to Japanese gardens I cannot be sure, but it has definitely affected my present understanding.</p> To preserve the atmospheric nature of this garden, a community of volunteers and interns alike work together with the curator to manage the constant maintenance and data collecting Shofu-En requires.</p> Plant records are essential to the maintenance of any garden, providing the curator a tool with which to keep track of any recent work or changes and compare those to changes occurring over the years. This summer, I contributed to an ongoing records project measuring the growth of the many character pines intrinsic to Shofu-En and recording the overall maintenance occurring throughout my internship.</p> Records such as annual growth can indicate tree health, while recording maintenance practices provides a good reference point for the curator in charge and can serve as a rough schedule outlining future projects. Although invisible to the public eye, plant records are essential to the seamless enjoyment of any garden—Shofu-En being no exception.</p> This summer, the trees on Shofu-En’s central island were reduced dramatically to help visually emphasize a single central tree. Due to the abundance of water in their current home compared with their original mountain habitat, the trees on either side of the island had grown too large, reverting to a strong, vertical growth habit and consequently cluttering the hierarchical composition dominated by a central pine. Strategic pruning and needling of these trees returned them to a more desired, horizontal form, diminishing their impact and returning the focus to the larger, central tree while also highlighting the intriguing structure inherent to character pines.</p> This blog post was written by </em> Sophy Fitzcollins. Sophy grew up in Minnesota and is currently a junior at the University of Minnesota, studying plant science and architecture. While uncertain of her career path, she is excited to be the Japanese Garden intern at Denver Botanic Gardens to discover new interests. </em></p>
Water can be a fickle friend to ephemeral streams that go dry for part of the year. Water levels can change dramatically over the course of only a couple days. But when the rains come and water levels rise, so do the critters. Chatfield Farms is jam-packed with furry and feathery friends, which we have captured with trap cameras strategically positioned along Deer Creek. Some are shy and cautious…others, like the ducks, are much more outgoing.</p> A healthy stream helps support high biodiversity of both plants and animals. Riparian zone plants, like our native cottonwoods and willows, are adapted to moist soils and stream overflow into the floodplains they colonize. These trees, along with other riparian plant species, help to stabilize stream banks, reduce erosion and provide vital food and shelter for both aquatic and terrestrial animals.</p> One of the hardest working (and cutest!) creatures that rely on these riparian plants is the North American beaver (Castor canadensis</em>). These busy little guys are ecosystem engineers, which means they significantly modify their environment and the surrounding area to suit their needs. Beavers use riparian trees to dam up rivers and streams, which slows the water and forms pools and ponds. These new ponds help to keep water within ephemeral river systems for longer than would be possible with precipitation alone. This means that the plants and animals that live within this system have a home and greater supply of resources for a larger part of the year. Chatfield Farms is fortunate to have resident beavers along Deer Creek helping to maintain wetlands and healthy ecosystem functioning.</p> In areas where the beavers aren’t active, we are conducting restoration activities to help restore healthy riparian areas. This not only boosts stream productivity, but also gives us more time to observe our furry animal friends.</p> This blog post was written by Meghan McGill, seasonal botanist in the Research & Conservation Department.</em></p>
A garden area has awakened at the south end of the Welcome Garden. Stalks tipped in tiny purple pompoms lean into a new path, as if watching for their first visitors, while tendrils of vines consort to turn trellises into cone topiaries.</p> Their quiet arrival, coming weeks after bricks were laid for the path, was fitting for a space that doesn’t want to make its presence terribly known. For this space is a secret garden – a garden that wants to whisper visitors inside, then cheerfully gather around them like fairies to a child.</p> If you believe as I do that there’s a spirit to every place, this area has long felt like it wanted to be a secret garden. For years, it was part of a children’s garden, then in 2009, when the Welcome Garden was created, it was walled in on two sides and fenced in on another, giving it a secluded feel. A lack of public access into the area made it feel discreet and murmuring fountains in the Welcome Garden added serenity.</p> The area sat for almost 10 years – barely noticed, but by the horticulturists who tended it, much like a secret garden waiting to be discovered. An eclectic collection of plants was allowed to romp around and weeds tried to stake their claim. Then last fall, I put pencils to work sketching a design and by winter, a proposal was born.</p> But a secret garden next to a group gate and near a visitor center? How can a garden feel secluded in such a busy place? That’s where a few key design elements come in, a bit of patience as plants mature and a willingness to imagine such a thing can be true. Though it may be hard to think of this space as tucked away just yet, try to imagine it as it longs to be.</p> This spring we began navigating a path from hoping the garden can be done to seeing it done. Thanks to a generous gift from The Ladd Family, we completed the first phase of the garden: a wrought iron gateway, a privet hedge, a sunken brick path and stone wall, and trees to fill in the woods of the space. In addition, beds were dressed in a tapestry of purple and pink annuals for their debut.</p> Each of these elements has helped anchor the space, separate it from the wide-open design of the rest of the Welcome Garden and create an air of quiet and repose.</p> The entrance, welded from antique window covers by Roadrunner Fabricators, gives away the theme of the place the moment patrons step out of the Visitor Center. Aged and exaggerated in size to convey a sense of the fantastical, it is the “hole in the wall” of the secret garden, beckoning visitors closer.</p> In time, an arbor framing the gateway will be thick with vines and a privet hedge (Ligustrum vulgare ‘</em>Cheyenne’), will become a living fence for the gate, furthering a sense of mystery, as well as concealment.</p> The path, laid by the Gardens’ master mason Robert Smith, meanders like a river, hiding views so that they can then unfold and providing another path into the heart of the Gardens. Bricks are placed lengthwise to draw visitors along and the path is partly sunken to allow wheelchair access and raise the height of beds on either side.</p> As time goes on, something will be in blossom from the time winter goes away until it comes again, and vibrant bark and branch structures will keep the garden lively in between – and, if we are lucky, visitors will feel more and more of the abiding spirit of this space, a delicious sense of retreat and enchantment.</p>
When my professor, Dr. Gerber of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, suggested that I apply for an internship at a botanic garden, I jumped at the opportunity to see what working at an institute that values conservation would be like. I have always been interested in living out west, so I was hoping to find an internship that was in Colorado. When I found Denver Botanic Gardens, I knew it would be the perfect place for me to learn about native plants, continue my plant biology education and explore the mountains.</p> The Plant Records Department consists of a group of women who work year-round to stay up-to-date on the location, blooms and new additions of plants to the collection. Every year, the Horticulture Department sits down to discuss the most important mapping projects for the summer. My main project was to map the new Nexus Garden that Nick Daniel, Gardens horticulture specialist for the cactus and succulent collection, installed with hardy cacti, highlighting a collection of Opuntia </em>hybrids that were developed by a local nursery. Holly Parrott, Gardens plant mapping specialist and one of my amazing mentors, and I would go out to the garden with a tape measure in order to accurately map plants by scaling down the size of the garden into a map-appropriate size.</p> In addition to measuring distances for accuracy, we relied on the stones in the garden that had been precisely mapped using a drone to aid in placing plants on our map. Identifying plants and the sources of plants required either help from the horticulturist of this garden or the help of accession tags placed near the specific species. We often refer to ourselves as “plant investigators” when going through this multifaceted process. After the “plant investigation” was done, I would submit plant locations and photographs into our database.</p> In the future, the plant records team will periodically check on the garden to update the status of the plants and note accordingly. Keeping the database up-to-date is a never-ending process. It is important to map plants so that both the public and the staff can find where a plant is. In addition, a physical description, habit, blooming nature, health, source and important dates are all recorded to maintain accuracy. All of this information can be accessed by the public through the Gardens Navigator</strong></a> plant database website.</p> One of my other minor projects included weekly mappings in the Steppe Garden with Holly. We would frequently map in the Rock Alpine Garden with Mike Kintgen, the curator of the vast rock alpine collection. These gardens are constantly changing and thus need to have continuous attention from the plant records team. In addition, my job included photographing current blooms and measuring hardscape such as troughs, raised beds or stones for the base map. I became proficient in AutoCAD by creating these new map features, which was a bonus to this internship.</p> Through my work, I learned about many of the plants that are native to Colorado, such as spotted evening primrose, yucca, and the vast amount of Penstemon</em> species. Learning these species from the horticulturists at Denver Botanic Gardens was a once in a lifetime experience. The Gardens taught me so much about the Colorado flora, and the importance of mapping plants. I will carry the experiences with me through the rest of my undergraduate degree and will use my acquired skills to apply for graduate school. Through this internship I discovered that I would love to further my studies in native species conservation. This internship made me eager for my future endeavors with all that the plant world has to offer.</p> This blog post was written by plant records intern</em> Skylar Burg. Skylar is a senior at University Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she is majoring in biology with an emphasis on plants and fungus, and a minor in geography. Skylar loves exploring the native flora of Wisconsin in her free time and takes care of her campus greenhouse. As the plant records intern, she is excited to learn about Colorado’s native flora and to experience working with plants and conservation. </em></p>
This summer we began a new research project surveying the High Line Canal to understand the botanical and ecological resources along this corridor through the Denver Metro Area. The High Line Canal spans 71 miles across Colorado from Waterton Canyon in Littleton to Green Valley Ranch east of Denver. Once used to ferry water to the eastern plains for irrigation, the High Line Canal has transformed into a popular biking, walking and horseback riding trail.</p> Many changes occur across these 71 miles in both the trail itself, as well as the surrounding plants and environment. The trail transitions from a wide, hard-packed dirt walking path to a cement sidewalk and to a barely discernible, unmanaged dirt path that could be easily mistaken for any other social trail. The canal, too, goes through a dramatic transformation as it progresses north. The southern reaches of the canal maintain the most reliable water levels throughout the year, but the canal runs dry for most of its length as it winds northward.</p> As the water level changes, so does the associated vegetation. The southern reaches are characterized by very large, very old cottonwoods that tower over the canal like patient sentinels. Long-time hikers of the canal trail (and Denver Botanic Gardens researchers), appreciate the long stretches of shade and cool relief these trees provide on hot summer days. Willows and other moisture-loving shrubs, forbs and grasses make up the understory of these reaches.</p> However, as one follows the trail northeast towards more urban areas, the vegetation changes dramatically to a drier, grassland prairie habitat. Cottonwoods and willows still grow directly adjacent to the canal along some reaches, but grasses and drought tolerant shrubs become the dominant species. Invasive, weedy species such as dandelions, thistles and escaped cultivated species also take over in the drier, more disturbed canal areas.</p> These shifts and transitions make the canal an evolving, dynamic being and allow those who utilize this area for recreation to experience the wide range of plants that Colorado has to offer. We hope that the ecological surveys we conducted this summer will help guide future management and enjoyment of the High Line Canal.</p> This blog post was written by Meghan McGill, seasonal botanist in the Research & Conservation Department.</em></p>
Located in the very heart of Denver Botanic Gardens, the Steppe Garden generates much curiosity and interest. The garden, along with the monumental volume “Steppes: The Plants and Ecology of the World’s Semiarid Region” written by Gardens staff members, has elevated awareness of the importance of steppe regions around the world. The Steppe Summit brings researchers and gardeners from far corners of the steppe to Denver, providing a powerful and fresh perspective on our native ecosystem.</p> This year, three speakers have flown from Eurasia to join with Mike Bone, curator of steppe collections at Denver Botanic Gardens. Each has produced ambitious books filled with unique photographs featuring hundreds of spectacular wildflowers, most of which would thrive in Denver with little or no supplemental irrigation.</p> </p> Rocky Mountain Steppe Summit </strong></h3> Saturday, Sept. 15, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.</strong> Join the Gardens for its second annual Rocky Mountain Steppe Summit, featuring four leading speakers on the steppe regions. Learn about Denver’s unique ecosystem – one of the steppe regions of the world. $69 PUBLIC, $62 MEMBER, $36 STUDENT (lunch is on your own)</p> Get Tickets</a></p> Speaker Lineup</strong></h3> Silk Road Flora</strong> Christopher Martin Gardner See some of the most beautiful wildflowers on the planet during this session. Chris is an Essex, England-born horticulturist who leads tours in the various Steppe regions – including Turkey, Central Asia, China, Chile, Morocco, Borneo – and lives in Turkey. He received a bachelor of science degree in horticulture from Reading University, England and spent fifteen years as a professional horticulturist and garden designer. He co-authored “The Plant Hunters” and “The Flowers of the Silk Road.”</p> The Tian Shan</strong> Vojtech Holubec Learn about Tian Shan, a 1,000 mile long mountain range in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang in northwest China. Peaks reach more than 20,000 feet high. The flora is unique and full of choice endemics and the climate is similar to the Rocky Mountains. Vojtech co-authored the first ambitious book on this range that is being published right before the Symposium takes place. Agricultural botanist and plant geneticist by education, Vojtech is the director of the Czech Gene Bank for agricultural crops, working on projects dealing with crop wild relatives and plant conservation.</p> The Beauty Slope</strong> Zdenek Zvolanek This session covers lessons on growing steppe plants in a home landscape. Zdenek’s home garden in Karlik near Prague, Czech Republic, requires no irrigation and features Mediterranean and steppe climate plants that thrive on the challenging southern exposure. Zdenek is credited as one of the originators of the Czech crevice gardens style and has built gardens across North America, Scandinavia, Germany, England and the Czech Republic.</p> In Steppe with Lesotho</strong> Mike Bone This session summarizes the last two years of field work in the highest mountain kingdom of Africa, where the native vegetation is poorly studied. Mike, curator of steppe collections at Denver Botanic Gardens, documented new locations of Aloe polyphylla</em> on these trips—the spectacular official flower of Africa’s Kingdom. Mike led two exploratory trips to Kazakhstan and Mongolia and has been on two collecting trips to Lesotho, South Africa. He spent part of the last two winters with Munich Botanic Garden and the Katse Botanic Garden to teach propagation techniques to local horticulturists.</p> </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>
The verdict is in: Here are our research team’s favorite botanical finds along the High Line Canal!</p> If you’ve ever spent time on the High Line Canal Trail, you may be familiar with some of the common trees and shrubs. Maybe you’ve walked beneath the snowy arms of the cottonwood trees (Populus </em>sp.), ridden your bike past a stand of American plums (Prunus americana</em>) or marveled at the beautiful chokecherry blossoms (Prunus virginiana</em>) while out for a run. And it’s no wonder; these larger species are hard to miss!</p> But good things come in small packages, too. More than 30 days of botanical fieldwork on the High Line Canal has revealed many interesting native species that are easily overshadowed by their taller neighbors. Here are five such treasures to search for on your next visit to the Canal Trail.</p> Smilax lasioneura</em> (Blue Ridge carrionflower), Smilacaceae (catbrier family)</strong></h3> Distribution and habitat</em>: The Blue Ridge carrionflower is distributed across the central plains as far west as Montana. In Colorado, it is found in only a few counties along the eastern foothills of the Front Range. Its habitat includes forests and shaded slopes as well as open areas such as old pastures. Our research team found it growing along the High Line Canal on a shady slope near Waterton Canyon.</p> Fun facts</em>: As the name “carrionflower” suggests, the flowers smell like rotting flesh and attract flies, which act as pollinators. It is dioecious, which means the male and female flowers are found on two different plants (dioecious is derived from the Greek word “-oikos” which means home, and “di-“, which is Latin for two).</p> Etymology</em>: Lasioneura</em> is derived from “lasios”, which is Greek for hairy, and “neur”, which is Greek for nerve or vein. This name describes the hairy veins on the undersides of the leaves.</p> Ethnobotany</em>: The Blue Ridge carrionflower provides food for wildlife and, in some regions, domestic stock. The seeds were occasionally used by Native Americans as decorative beads, and the woody roots were used to make a brown dye or carved into pipes.</p> Quick guide</em>:</p> Unarmed (lacking thorns) perennial vine that climbs using tendrils</li> Large heart- or oval-shaped leaves that are slightly hairy on the underside</li> Small green flowers in a round, golf ball-sized umbel (a cluster of flowers attached to the stem at the same point)</li> Dark blue-black berries</li> </ul> Ipomoea leptophylla</em> (bush morning glory), Convolvulaceae (morning glory family)</strong></h3> Distribution and habitat</em>: Bush morning glory is native to the mixed-grass prairies of the Great Plains, and it is common in the Eastern Plains of Colorado. Our research team has found it in several places along the High Line Canal, from near Chatfield State Park in Littleton to Green Valley Ranch in northeast Denver.</p> Fun facts</em>: Another common name is manroot because its roots grow deep into the dry prairie soil in search of water. The massive taproot can grow up to 10 feet long and 6-24 inches wide! This extensive root system is used to store water and nutrients, which help the bush morning glory survive drought and live for as long as 50 years.</p> Etymology</em>: Ipomoea</em> is Greek for "worm-like", referring to the viney, twining habit of many other Ipomoea</em> species (but not this one). Leptophylla</em> is derived from the Greek words “leptos”, meaning delicate or slender, and "phyllos", which means leaves.</p> Ethnobotany</em>: Native Americans had several purposes for the large root. It was burned and the smoke was said to alleviate nervousness or bad dreams. It was also scraped and eaten raw as a gastrointestinal aid to relieve stomach problems or roasted and used as a starvation food source. This particular use is not surprising, as it is in the same genus as the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas</em>).</p> Quick guide</em>:</p> Bushy perennial that can grow 1-4 feet tall and up to 5 feet wide</li> Narrow green leaves that tend to grow on the same side of a yellow-green stem</li> Large, showy funnel-shaped pink-purple flowers</li> </ul> Sphaeralcea coccinea</em> (scarlet globemallow), Malvaceae (mallow family)</strong></h3> Distribution and habitat</em>: Scarlet globemallow is found in dry areas of the Intermountain West, the Great Basin, the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. It is extremely drought-tolerant and grows in desert, semi-desert and prairie habitats, as well as roadsides and disturbed areas. Although our research team has found it in several places along the High Line Canal Trail, it is not abundant, so you’ll have to look carefully to find this lovely native flower!</p> Fun facts</em>: The flowers and leaves of scarlet globemallow provide food for many wild animals, including pronghorn antelope, deer, bighorn sheep, bison, prairie dogs and jack rabbits, as well as domestic sheep. Livestock will also eat the plants when grasses are dormant.</p> Etymology</em>: Sphaeralcea</em> is derived from the Greek "sphaira", which means globe (referring to the shape of the fruits) and “alcea”, which refers to the mallow family. Coccinea</em> is Latin for "scarlet".</p> Ethnobotany</em>: There are several uses for scarlet globemallow, including as a tonic to improve appetite. The chewed roots and dried leaves can also be applied to sores as a disinfectant.</p> Quick guide</em>:</p> Small perennial wildflower that only grows 4-16 inches tall</li> Lobed leaves that are densely covered with stellate (starburst) hairs, giving a grayish-green frosted appearance</li> Deep orange to orange-pink flowers with a yellow column in the center</li> </ul> Argemone polyanthemos</em> (crested prickly-poppy), Papaveraceae (poppy family)</strong></h3> Distribution and habitat</em>: Although the crested prickly-poppy’s native range extends from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the central and western Great Plains, it has been introduced in several adjacent regions, including west of the Rockies. It grows in sandy or gravelly soils in prairies, foothills, and mesas, as well as disturbed areas like roadsides or fields. During the summer, the brilliant white flowers are easy to spot! Look on the side of the High Line Canal Trail opposite the canal in sandy areas.</p> Fun facts</em>: All Argemone</em> species have a milky sap that ranges in color from white to reddish-orange; the sap of the crested prickly-poppy is bright yellow. Plants often use sap as a deterrent to avoid being eaten.</p> Etymology</em>: Argemone</em> stems from the Greek word "argemos", a white spot or cataract on the eye, which the plant was used to treat. "Poly" means "many", and "anthemos” refers to the pollen-containing structures, called anthers.</p> Ethnobotany</em>: Although all parts of this plant are poisonous, it was once used to treat cataracts.</p> Quick guide</em>:</p> Deep-rooted annual or biennial that grows 1-3 feet tall</li> Pale blue-green leaves with spines along the veins on the undersides</li> Showy white poppy-looking flowers with yellow centers</li> Broken stems ooze a bright yellow sap</li> </ul> Abronia fragrans</em> (snowball sand verbena), Nyctaginaceae (four o’clock family)</strong></h3> Distribution and habitat</em>: Snowball sand verbena is distributed in the shortgrass prairie of the western Great Plains and at lower elevations of the Southern Rocky Mountains as far west as Utah. It grows in desert, grassland, pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine communities. Our research team has found it in multiple places along the High Line Canal Trail, and it is abundant in sandy areas near Chatfield State Park.</p> Fun facts</em>: Like many other members of the four o’clock family, the flowers of the snowball sand verbena open in the evening and close again in the morning.</p> Etymology</em>: Abronia</em> is from the Greek word "abros", which means delicate. Fragrans</em> is Latin for "fragrant”, referring to the sweet-smelling flowers.</p> Ethnobotany</em>: Snowball sand verbena has been used medicinally and for food. Native Americans of the Southwest use the plant to treat insect bites, sores, and stomachaches, and the roots can be ground up and eaten in a mixture with corn flour.</p> Quick guide</em>:</p> Sweet-smelling white flowers that form a spherical umbel (a round cluster of flowers attached to the same point on the stem)</li> Stems that sprawl on the ground before growing upright</li> Sticky, oval-shaped leaves</li> </ul> </p> This blog post was written by Audrey Dignan, seasonal botanist in the Research & Conservation Department.</em></p>
