Denver Botanic Gardens Guild is an organization centered around herbs. The group staffs the Herbs Division at Spring Plant Sale, provides support in the York Street and Chatfield Farms herb gardens and harvests and dries herbs to use in Guild creations. Herb education and outreach are a large part of the Guild’s mission.</p> The Guild’s members craft numerous products that are sold in the Shop at the Gardens</a>. Cat toys filled with a mixture of dried catnip and catmint engage the fussiest felines. Our dog biscuits are approved by canines across the country. Bakery goods and hot drinks are enhanced by the five sugars we create: orange chocolate, lemon, peppermint, lavender and rose petal. Complex herb vinegars fly off the shelf. The stock changes by season but includes the pale lavender chive blossom vinegar, the mellow orange mango ginger vinegar, the mahogany-colored Black Mission fig balsamic vinegar, golden tarragon vinegar, deep purple basil vinegar, the beloved Denver Botanic Gardens Guild Herbal Blend and many others. </p>
We’ve all been there: Work is piling up and your staff seem to be more stressed than ever. It’s time to stop and hit refresh. </p> Doing so can be as simple as scheduling some teambuilding or by creating an opportunity to get your staff out of the office, away from the stress, and back to a happy baseline. </p> Chatfield Farms</a> offers you and your staff or coworkers a natural hideaway to refresh and reengage with each other in a healthy and sustainable environment. From luncheons to teambuilding and corporate parties to retreats, we offer a wide range of natural space to refresh your mindset and help your colleagues and staff reconnect.</p> One of our favorite spaces is the yurt, which can host between 20-35 people as a central gathering space for an out-of-office experience. If the occasion calls for a luncheon or party, the Green Farm Barn, Deer Creek Stables, an 1870s schoolhouse and the Polly Steele Center are perfect for large to small events that can be catered.</p> Each site at Chatfield Farms is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens and views of the foothills. Take advantage of the myriad of trails we have running through the property and explore nature, or if you’re looking for something a little more engaging, Corn Maze</a> is a fun challenge for any team.</p> Whatever your need, we would love to accommodate you at Chatfield Farms. </p>
So, you have walked, biked, bused, scootered or driven to Denver Botanic Gardens on York Street and are ready to explore all the beauty that is within our 24-acre property. Before you make a beeline for the entrance, stop. Take some time to explore just beyond our walls.</p> What many visitors might not know is the gardens that surround our main property are curated with as much care as the ones inside and are some of the most sophisticated and transformative gardens we have. An added perk is these gardens are accessible 24/7!</p> If you begin along the Josephine Street streetscape</strong>, you can explore a naturalistic grassland area. This garden gives you an innovative idea of what is to come in the world of residential landscaping in the coming years. Stroll along Josephine Street throughout the year and observe the transformation that happens from spring through winter. As the idea of adding water-smart meadows to our yards takes hold, you can be inspired by this sophisticated design and beautiful shadows of species from sagebrush (Artemisia</em>), evening primrose (Oenothera</em>), beardtongue (Penstemon</em>), grasses (Poa secunda, Koeleria macrantha</em>) and more. </li> Walk up Josephine Street and turn left onto 11th Avenue</strong>. Here you will find the perfect shrubs for a Colorado Front Range garden. You will see several Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa</em>) and curly-leaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius</em>), which offer feathery plumes and year-round interest.</li> Now, head across York Street to our newest building, the Freyer – Newman Center</strong>. You can enjoy a tasty beverage and read a book in Copper Door coffee shop’s courtyard and admire a different kind of leaf – one of our newest sculptures. Leaf</em> is a sculpture by Lesley Change and Jason Klimoski and highlights the relationship of our art and science collections housed in the Center. Each of the panels contain a cutout of a Colorado native plant specimen held in the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium. If you continue south, you will come across our medicinal courtyard</strong>. You will find many medicinal herbs here like pot marigold (Calendula officinalis</em>), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea</em>) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis</em>).</li> Are annuals and perennials your passion? Head down York Street and enjoy the beautiful blooms of our Mile High Garden</strong>. Not to be outdone by the flashy trumpet vine (Campsis radicans</em>), the annual and perennial blooms put on a real show from April through October. As you get closer to the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center</strong>, go a little bit further to see the intricate willow artwork of our very own Horticulturist Coordinator Jennifer Miller. The woven gold-leaf willow (Salix</em> × fragilis forma vitellina</em> ‘Kaat’) might not be found in any garden center, but maybe it will inspire you to see what you could add to your own garden.</li> </ul> August is the height of gardening season and one of the best times to have a look at what Denver Botanic Gardens has to offer; no ticket required, anytime of day, access to all, just outside our walls. Enjoy the journey.</p>
As the newly established floristic and outreach coordinator, this year I joined our Research & Conservation Department on various field adventures across Colorado. From the prairie of the Eastern Plains to the canyonlands of the Western Slope, I collected data and asked questions with the intent of better understanding the work of scientists in this department, from their research objectives to methods of collecting data. </p> Early in the season, I joined an expedition studying populations of Colorado hookless cactus, or Sclerocactus glaucus</em>, on the Western Slope. Previously classified as a Federally listed threatened species, our team has been monitoring this species’ population dynamics since 2008. This data contributed to the cactus being de-listed from the Endangered Species Act, ideally freeing up resources to protect other rare species. Although this area near Grand Junction can be dreadfully hot in the summer, in April it was perfect—chilly and overcast. The red of the canyons contrasted strikingly with the green junipers. Although afternoon thunderstorms would threaten our ability to conduct field work, throughout the week we set up transects based on previously monitored plots and collected data on the cactus.</p> In the alpine, we trekked up Hoosier Pass to search for the rare Weber’s saw-wort (Saussurea weberi</em>) for seed collection. The seeds of this and other rare, alpine species are stored in ex-situ collections to help with potential population recovery amid climate change and other threats. We also conduct experiments on the seeds to determine their germination preferences and ability to be stored for long periods of time. Our quest was frequently impeded by breathless pauses and sightings of curious pika, but we found several of the little plants, nonetheless.</p> Moving further east to the plains, we surveyed the Ballyneal Golf Course’s rough areas, aiming to expand the collections in the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium</a>. Our natural history collections focus on Colorado, but the Eastern Plains tend to be under-collected, due to private land and agriculture. We roamed through the billowing needle-and-thread grass (Hesperostipa comata</em>) and prairie spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis</em>), which sparkled like purple jewels across the verdant prairie. By collecting species with flowers or fruits, we aimed to document the area’s biodiversity. </p> These snapshots offer only a glimpse into our team's remarkable work. From uncovering species new to science to understanding Denver's urban ecology, our endeavors have local and global scientific significance, all while fueling our passion for exploration. </p> This post was contributed by Floristic and Outreach Coordinator Alissa Iverson</strong>.</span></em></p>
It may be years before I fully process my experiences in Tajikistan. The scale of the land, the richness of the flora and the ferocity of our travel schedule still boggles me. As I reminisce, the most extreme impressions are the first to flash across my mind: countless bands of jagged mountain peaks stretching across the horizon like brain coral, idyllic aquamarine rivers loaded with rock flour from ancient glaciers, endless colonies of spined cushion plants coating miles of bone-dry scree.</p> From August 24 to September 6, Associate Director & Curator of Steppe Collections Mike Bone and I traveled through Tajikistan with our colleagues from the Chicago Botanic Garden, Jess Goehler and Lindsey Muscavitch. We were on a seed-collecting expedition to expand the steppe and alpine collections of gardens in the Plant Collecting Collaborative (an alliance between North American gardens supporting important domestic and international collecting trips). Additionally, our goal was to facilitate exchanges of plant material, resources and education between our countries and botanical institutions. In Tajikistan, we primarily worked with Dr. Hikmat Hisoriev of the Institute of Botany, Plant Physiology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences Tajikistan</a> and Dr. Mario Boboev, director of Kulob Botanic Garden, who acted as our botanic guides and cultural emissaries.</p> Our explorations took us across much of the navigable country, from the northern lake preserve of Iskanderkul in the dramatic Fann Mountains to the eastern city of Murghob deep on the ancient Pamir Highway. Although our focus was primarily on steppe and alpine species, we explored and collected adventitiously along our route, which took us through breathtaking and often treacherous landscapes. Geographically and climatically speaking, Tajikistan is an incredibly diverse country. More than 93 percent of Tajikistan is mountainous, with the highest peaks reaching over 24,000 feet. These topographic extremes create quickly shifting ecoregions ranging from arid desert to polar tundra and subtropics to semi-arid steppes.</p> By the end of our trip, we had made 110 seed collections, representing 97 unique species. Following USDA-APHIS guidelines, we cleaned, inventoried, packaged and shipped our seeds directly to their ports of entry for inspection. This ensured that any pests or pathogens we might have missed during cleaning were detected. While most of the seeds will be grown at the Gardens for inclusion in our steppe and alpine plant collections, some will be cultivated by our Plant Collecting Collaborative partner gardens, and others will be saved in our seed herbarium for further research.</p>
Gardening is a complex endeavor. A symbiosis with countless living things, both seen and unseen, and the management of numerous interactions with the nonliving world. As such, it can be challenging to troubleshoot the underlying causes of poor garden performance or unexpected behavior of plants in the garden. Sometimes, it's best to go back to basics. And soils are often, quite literally, at the root of it all.</p> This year, the horticulture research team implemented a large field experiment at Chatfield Farms to determine the most effective combinations of soil amendments and mulches to improve soil characteristics, reduce water loss, limit weed growth and promote healthy ornamental plant growth. In early spring, we prepared over 16,000 square feet of land at Chatfield Farms. We removed existing vegetation, incorporated amendments into the soil, and applied mulches to the soil surface. Our team monitored plant growth, phenology and weed invasion throughout the season and sampled soils for physical and chemical analysis. Instruments were also installed in each plot to continuously measure the soil temperature and moisture content throughout the study.</p> Despite a dizzying amount of information in magazines and on the web, there is relatively little empirical research on this subject, especially for semi-arid regions like the Front Range of Colorado. The results from this work will help to inform our Sustainable Landscape Services</a> program and our general horticultural practices at the Gardens.</p> An exciting feature of our study is that only native and regionally adapted plants with low water requirements are included. Generally, this group of plants does not require high soil fertility or lots of organic matter. Instead, excellent drainage and open pore space are thought to be more important, which goes against common horticultural wisdom urging gardeners to apply composts and organic mulches to improve soil fertility and texture. We hope the results illuminate best practices for this understudied group of landscape plants.</p> Mulching and soil amendment practices have also been shown to significantly influence how water from precipitation and irrigation infiltrates the soil and how much of that water is lost through evaporation. Through this study, we can compare how unique combinations of amendments and mulches differ in their ability to capture and retain precious water, recommendations that will further our goal of water conservation horticultural practices.</p> If you are interested in hearing about the preliminary results from this work or taking a deeper dive into soil science, members of our horticulture research team will present at the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference</a> this February. </p>
