Planning a Garden for Thrills Spring to Fall

By Terry Deem-Reilly, CSU Extension – Denver County Master Gardener since 2003

One of the most satisfying aspects of gardening is seeing dormant sticks, clumps, and bulbs that were placed so hopefully in the soil leaf, blossom, and fruit. At the same time, one of the most daunting aspects of gardening is ensuring that all of that leafing, blossoming, and fruiting doesn’t occur all at one time. A garden that ceases to bloom after the last tulip has disappeared or browns up from the fall equinox until the following spring won’t satisfy the senses nearly as much as one that displays continuous interest. Moreover, landscapes which produce pollen and nectar throughout the season provide important nourishment for pollinators.

Hellebores kick off the season. Pixabay.com

Other posts in this blog have stressed the necessity of matching plants to sites, soil, and sun exposure that will allow them to flourish. Horticultural considerations don’t disappear when the goal is season-long color and interest; selecting plants that like the same conditions and grouping them into the areas where they’re most likely to flourish are indispensable to having the three-season garden of your dreams.

The detailed first steps to success with any perennial garden can’t be adequately covered here but are well-explained in the Extension fact sheet Perennial Gardening. Remember the conditions in your site when reviewing plant lists.

Next, consider whether you’d like to include non-native or xeric/native trees, perennials, and shrubs; this decision will determine the amount of time and attention (not to mention water) you’re going to devote to a three-season garden. Xeric plants and Western natives won’t need much maintenance after the first season or two, but a lush English-style bed of roses, delphiniums, and pinks demands careful soil amendment and regular irrigation, mulching, and fertilization. Decide what look you’re after and what it will take to achieve it.

Mid-summer morning & the garden’s in full bloom. Photo: Linda McDonnell

To make plant selection a little easier, here are suggestions from plant lists showing seasonal bloom by non-xeric and xeric/native varieties, with links to the complete lists for easy reference.

Nonxeric or Non-Native Perennials

• Spring: early blooming bulbs, primrose, candytuft, viola, creeping phlox, hellebore, peony, geranium
• Summer: garden phlox, dianthus, lily, verbascum, hosta, campanula
• Fall: aster, chrysanthemum, Japanese anemone, lobelia

For the complete list, see the Plan Your Garden with our Perennial Flowering Plants by Season Guide. Some of the plants shown above also appear in 25 Perennial Flowers That Bloom From Spring To Fall. Timberline Landscaping in Colorado Springs has published a bloom calendar of perennials that do well on the Front Range.

Xeric and/or Native Perennials

• Spring: early blooming bulbs, columbine, amsonia, windflower, pasque flower
• Summer: chocolate flower, poppy mallow, asclepias, eriogonum, penstemon, oenothera
• Fall: helianthus, asclepias, winecups, hyssop, agastache

These plants, and many others, can be found in these Extension fact sheets: Native Herbaceous Perennials for Colorado Landscapes and Xeriscaping: Perennials and Annual Flowers. These resources also indicate water needs, light requirements, and plant heights and descriptions.

Want to see more native plants? CSU’s Low-Water Native Plants for Colorado Gardens: Front Range & Foothills includes not only common and botanical names; height; color, size, water and sun requirements; and wildlife value, but also design plans and photos of great local native gardens. Mountain residents will find the Extension fact sheet  Flowers for Mountain Communities useful for plant selection and advice on cultivation.

Shrubs and Trees

Hawthorn tree in fall. Pixabay.com

Our guide wouldn’t be complete without recommendations for suitable trees and shrubs to supplement your perennial display. Many plants in these categories offer blossoms, fruits, and/or color that add interest throughout the season; a number of them offer all three!

Here are examples of shrubs that add color and interest through the seasons:

• Serviceberry
• Fremont mahonia
• American plum
• Buffaloberry
• Western sand cherry

For a complete list, consult the Extension fact sheet Native Shrubs for Colorado Landscapes. Again, you’ll see botanical and common names, size, and sun, moisture, and sun requirements for each shrub.

Some trees that add interest include:

• European mountain ash
• Pine
• Colorado blue spruce
• Aspen (Foothills and submontane areas only!)
• Maple

See the fact sheet Native Trees for Colorado Landscapes and the CSU publication Recommended Trees for Colorado Front Range Communities for more details. Mountain gardeners should consult the fact sheet Trees and Shrubs for Mountain Areas for suggestions.

Finally, don’t discount the value of roses when planning for season-long color. Even with the plague of the Japanese beetle, roses (especially hip-bearing and species roses) dependably add color through the growing season. The Denver Rose Society publishes a list of the best roses for our climate: Recommended Roses for Colorado.

If problems arise, always, ALWAYS rely on research-based information to answer your questions;  Denver Extension stands ready to help!

Planning a Less-Lawn Yard

By Linda McDonnell, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2013

Many Coloradans are swapping out their bluegrass lawns for less water-hungry and more regionally appropriate landscapes. This change in attitudes may be motivated by this summer’s brutal heat, need to conserve water, wildfires, desire to support pollinators, or the goal to spend less money on lawn upkeep – or a combination of these factors.

Governments are also getting behind the concept. Aurora recently approved legislature limiting the installation of turf grass in new housing developments starting in 2023.

The state of Colorado is developing a turf replacement program for homeowners to go into effect next year, possibly with monetary rebates, and administered by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. (Keep up with the board’s progress by subscribing to their newsletter.)

If you are considering converting all or part of your turf grass to a water-smart landscape, fall and winter are good times to begin the planning process.

Late summer at The Gardens at Spring Creek in Fort Collins. Photo: Linda McDonnell

Here are some practical suggestions to help you get started.

Form follows function is a time-honored design principle. Applied to a yard rehab it means considering how your yard is used before you ever think about how it looks. Do you need space for kids to play? Dine or entertain outdoors? Have dogs? Consider practical needs such as wide pathways to doors and seating areas (36-42” is recommended), storage for trash carts and clearance to roll them to the curb, and landing spots for passengers getting in and out of cars.

Lawn conversions don’t have to be all-or-nothing. Consider starting with a back or front yard, or a difficult to irrigate section of the lawn. Xeriscaping: Retrofit Your Yard offers excellent suggestions on selecting a site.

Keep what you can. Take a hard look at the plants in your yard and how they fit in the new scheme. You can’t move a 25’ conifer but relocating shrubs and xeric herbaceous perennials is doable and budget-friendly.

Hardscape – pavers, gravel, and rocks – may already be in place or can be relocated. Think about it: hardscape doesn’t need to be watered or mowed! If the budget allows, be generous with the use of hardscape in your new plan.

Gather inspiration and knowledge. Visit public gardens with xeric gardens such as Denver Botanic Gardens, Aurora’s Water-Wise Garden, or The Gardens at Spring Creek. Take photos and note plant names and combinations. If you need help identifying plant names, send your photos to the Denver Master Gardeners at the Denver Botanic Gardens for identification (gardeninghelp@botanicgardens.org).

CSU has a treasure trove of helpful information here.  Colorado Native Plant Society, Plant Select, and Denver Water are good resources, too.

Be realistic. Consider how much time you have to devote to this project, your skill level, and your budget. Will you do all or some of the work, hire help, or enlist family and friends? If you are not sure where to start, you may want to consult a garden designer who’s in sync with your goals.

Expect less work, but not no work. Xeric plants need to be irrigated until established, which could run one to two seasons, and during periods of prolonged drought. It is also critical, especially in the early days, not to let weeds take over. Initially there will be a lot of open ground and weeds would love to fill it up.

Don’t forget community regulations. If your neighborhood has covenant restrictions or a review process for landscape changes, you will need to submit your plan with enough lead time to have it approved before the project begins.             

Denver neighbors embracing less-lawn gardening. Photo: Linda McDonnell

Once you’re armed with your plan you can tackle removing grass. Fall is a good time to start, particularly if you want to use the solarizing process, an herbicide-free method to kill grass. Find instructions here. CSU also provides instruction on the proper and safest use of herbicides to eliminate turf here.

Exchanging traditional lawns for creative, ecologically sustainable landscapes is a smart practice that is likely here to stay. If you’ve converted a traditional lawn and have additional tips, we welcome your input in the comment section.

Planning a Dry Shade Garden: Making Lemonade with Dusty Strawberries

Lori Williams, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener Since 2016

Bergenia cordifolia is well-suited for dry shade. Photo: Flickr

This is a dry shade garden story of happy accidents, fortunate timing due to 100+ degree temps, and purely unexpected research wrapped in a beautiful day at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms.

After more seasons than I’d like to admit there is part of my yard that has silently been waiting for attention for many years. It’s fully dry shade, anchored with a lovely oak tree that has reliably made this space look pretty good despite lacking design and plantings, and receiving water only for the tree’s sake. Lackluster turf is more grayish than green and sparse to say the least. Hello Sad Spot, it’s finally time for your makeover.

With these hot temps I’ve retreated inside and have been pouring over xeric plant guides, watched the uber helpful presentation ‘Dry Shade Planning and Planting’ by Amy Lentz of Boulder County Extension, and investigated various garden designs and plant suggestions offered by the fine folks at Plant Select, Denver Water, and our very own CSU Extension.

The added bonus was finding myself immersed in a treasure trove of design and plant specimens at Denver Botanical Gardens Chatfield Farms a few weeks ago. Dry shade garden inspiration abounds!

A clear pattern of attack is laid out for not only dry shade but any new garden spot:

• plan ahead
• improve the soil
• limit turf
• efficient irrigation
• select plants
• mulch
• maintain

Plan ahead…hmmm…plan ahead….me? Oh but it’s a heat wave and due to travel plans and work obligations I’m doing research for a garden spot that I won’t be able to implement or plant until early fall. That sounds like I’m planning ahead!

Step one? Check! I even have time to have my soil tested.  And I’ll have time to actually amend the soil. This is going great! Look at me, planning ahead. It’s a new and different approach but I think I like it.

Next, I literally trip over one of the oak’s roots while collecting dusty soil samples and find myself looking at something that wasn’t half scorched turf but rather a mixture of barren and fruiting strawberries with yellow and pink blossoms. They were as dusty as the grass, but they’ve voluntarily planted themselves in this neglected space. Brazen little things! Congratulations, guys – you’ve just won the ‘Right Plant, Right Place’ award. Based on your gumption I decided on the spot that strawberries are the ground cover of choice.

I’ve spent time on cool mornings removing the patchy grass with my hori hori, providing more space for the strawberry tendrils to reach out and set roots. It’s delightful to see them take hold.

When Mother Nature gives you strawberries, make a strawberry lawn. Photos: Lori Williams

Thankfully, we have a sprinkler system, but the heads are all wrong (have been forever) for this area and I’ve been hose watering this dry shade zone instead for years. Once I fully determine the plants’ placement and they are well established, soaker hoses will replace the sprinkler heads to water the new guys more effectively. I’ll stick to the garden hose with my ancient frog eyed sprinkler during the establishment phase.

Photo: Lori Williams

One of my best-ever gifts from Mom was Denver Water’s series of xeriscape books.  They developed the whole xeric gardening concept to begin with, so Colorado-proud of them. Highly recommended reading!

Mulch selection is still a bit up in the air, but I am a diehard fan and believer. I feel like mulch is kind of the reward topper-offer at the end of newly planted garden spaces. It really makes things pop and look fully finished while stealthily helping manage weeds and providing moisture retention in the garden. Win Win Win!

As mentioned earlier, I happily found myself at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farm recently. I was expecting a lovely visit of course, involving a great stroll while surrounded by beauty. Perfect! Embarrassingly, I think I’ve only been to the arboretum for holiday lights during the winter.

This visit turned into Christmas in July as I opened my eyes and mind and phone camera – a dry shade plant selection opportunity extraordinaire! Lenten rose? Bergenia cordifolia? Siberian Bugloss? Now I only need to ‘weed’ through approximately 47 plants to select the 3-5 for my make over garden. But as I’m planning ahead, ahem, I have time.

Additional sources:

Kinds of Shade

Zero Water Gardening

Dry Shade Solutions

Designing a Garden Using Xeriscape and Colorado Native Plants

By Terry Deem-Reilly, CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardener since 2003

Sustainability has become a byword in many areas of life, so why not apply the concept to our gardening by using the plants best suited to the challenging Colorado climate, as they love sun and low irrigation and flourish in soils with very little organic material and no fertilization? 

Planting xeric and Colorado native species in our gardens isn’t only a smart choice during drought conditions, but will save time in the garden, improve the looks of our properties and our neighborhoods, and support necessary pollinators and other wildlife in our ever-expanding urban areas.

Island Grove Demo Garden, City of Greeley (Flickr)

Basic Garden Design

Before selecting and buying plants, consider basic design principles (as slightly modified for a xeriscape/native garden):

• How big is the garden going to be, where will it be placed, and what other uses will be made of the site and the surrounding area? 
• Is the ground level, sloped, or a combination of the two? (Water will run down a slope to collect at its foot, which will affect the placement of plants: more xeric plants belong at the top, less xeric at the bottom.)
• Consider the soil type (clay, sand, or loam), sun exposure (full sun, part shade, or full shade), wind exposure, and accessibility of water. (Xeric and native plants require regular watering in their first year.) Organic amendments are not indicated for this type of garden, but drainage can be improved by tilling in pea gravel.
• How much time are you willing to spend to establish and maintain the plantings? (Native and xeric plants are easy-care after their first season, but tasks like weeding and pest and disease control are forever.)
• David Salman of High Country Gardens recently posted a great article incorporating basic design pointers with suggestions for the xeric garden: 9 Tips for Professional-Looking Garden Design. 
• If you’re converting a yard from turf to xeric/native plantings, consult the Extension fact sheet Xeriscaping: Retrofit Your Yard for ideas on how to proceed and suggestions for xeric substitutes for popular plants.

Swallowtail on Jupiter’s Beard, City of Greeley Xeriscape Garden (Flickr)

Think About the Contents of this Specific Garden

• What varieties of plants do you like, and what does well in your area? Take a look at neighbors’ yards, demonstration gardens, and local-nursery offerings to find your preferences. 

• Look at the ‘Native Plants’ section of this list of CSU Extension fact sheets to read and download information on Colorado’s native trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses.
• Links to the native plant guides for five regions in Colorado published by the Colorado Native Plant Society are available on this page.
• For xeric plant suggestions, consult the page listing xeric demonstration garden plants on the Adams County Extension website. Most nurseries here have caught on to xeriscape principles and have added many xeric plants to their stock, so spend some time prowling their aisles.
• Will you plant for a lush look, which may entail buying many plants and a great deal of work, or space plants widely and use groundcovers or mulch to fill in between them? (This might be a good strategy for the first-year garden.)
• What are the space requirements for the selected plants? Remember that perennials, trees, and shrubs will take more than one season to attain their mature sizes. Take the mature sizes listed for xeric and Colorado native plants VERY seriously; these plants like our short growing season and will grow to the sizes shown much more readily than plants that originated in less rugged climates and longer growing seasons than ours.
• What are the cultivation requirements for the plants? Group plants that have similar water, soil, and sun requirements together – many Colorado natives have adapted over the centuries to our clay soils and might falter in the sharply-draining soil loved by xeric varieties. Check the tag for water needs or research the plant to be sure.
• Be prepared to mulch; what is used is a personal choice, but DO NOT use landscape fabric. Groundcovers are a good living mulch if you like them.
• Consider how the garden will look throughout the year. Plant tall grasses and evergreen shrubs and groundcovers and leave stems and seedheads on perennials for winter interest (and to feed and shelter wildlife in colder months). Look for plants that fruit and/or display colorful fall foliage.

That’s the skinny (or most of it) on xeric and Colorado plants. Remember to take your time with selection and establishment, and to contact your local Extension office with any questions. 

Denver Master Gardeners Look Back at the Growing Season – Part 1

Compiled by Linda McDonnell, Denver Master Gardener since 2013

It’s time to take stock of the gardening year – the ups, downs, and lessons learned. In this two-part series, eleven Denver Master Gardeners share the highs, hiccups, and take-aways from the season. Let’s see what they’ve been up to!

A NEW ROCK GARDEN Steve Aegerter, Denver Master Gardener since 1999

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  Photo by Steve Aegerter

If you attended the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Rock Garden Society’s 2021 Spring tour, you had the opportunity to visit Steve’s new rock garden, which was planted only a month before the June event. Steve explained that “Plants were either grown from seed or obtained through Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado Native Plant Society, or the local American Rock Garden Society.”

The garden contains fourteen low-water plants including  ‘Butterfly Yellow’ mullein (Verbascum roripifolia), Freemont’s evening primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa freemontii), and a unique pale yellow upright bellflower, Campanula thyrsoides.

Steve is pleased with the garden’s progress and looks forward to it thriving on little to no supplemental water soon.

PILL BUG INVASION Felicia Brower, Denver Master Gardener since 2020

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  Photo by Felicia Brower

Heartbreak is waking up early to check on your plants, only to find them withered and discover that their stems have been destroyed. The majority of my cucumbers, squash, and beans were decimated no matter how many times I tried to replant them. I had three varieties of cucumbers, six varieties of squash, and five varieties of beans. All but two varieties of beans were killed. Out of the two beans that survived, half of the black-eyed peas were eaten but my Zuni Gold beans, a regional bean cultivated in the Southwest over many generations, were left untouched.

Moisture and too much organic matter in my raised beds lead to this explosive pill bug population. I’m working on amending that now, and next year I’ll take pest control seriously early on.

PICTURE PERFECT ‘RED ACRE’ CABBAGE Latasha Dunston, Denver Master Gardener since 2020

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  Photo by Latasha Dunston

Seed grown ‘Red Acre’ cabbage (Brassica oleracea) was a highlight of Latasha’s West Washington Park community garden. An earlier attempt to grow this plant didn’t work, but this year, the results were stellar. “I kept the base leaves and root in place when I harvested, and the plant produced four new heads!” She’s hoping for more in a fall harvest, too.

ADD THIS ONION TO YOUR “MUST GROW” LIST Jill Fielder, Denver Master Gardener since 2013

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  Pixabay.com

This season, Jill’s best new find was bunching onions also known as spring or Welch onions (Allium fistulosum).

Jill reports that these flavorful gems can be planted when the weather is still chilly and harvested at any point during the growing season. Early on, use like tender scallions. Later, use the greens for stir fries and the bulbs as you would any small onion. Seed in a full row so you have plenty to harvest as the season progresses. Eat the entire tasty plant. There’s even a French Purple variety that offers rich beautiful color for snipping into salads or sprinkling over bubbly enchiladas. Didn’t plant enough the first part of the season, so planted more mid-summer. All were delish!

DAHLIA ADVENTURE & DREADED TWO-SPOTTED SPIDER MITES Cindy Hanna, Denver Master Gardener since 2010

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  Photo by Cindy Hanna

Last fall I was given a treasure trove of dahlia bulbs that had been dug out of a bed in Park Hill. I was told to, ‘clean them off, split as needed leaving a bud on each piece, make sure they are dry, and store in a bin of perlite in a dark room until Spring. In Spring when they begin to sprout, plant according to varied directions online.’ High maintenance. They were slow to sprout and bloom but, wow, worth the work and wait!

When it comes to pests, I’m a bit of a live-and-let-live gardener. So, when my Master Gardener friend who is an avid plant and bug expert visited, I feared the worst. She identified two-spotted spider mites in my vegetable beds. If there had only been two, I could have ignored them. But there were thousands living on the underside of the yellowed foliage, sapping the energy and beauty from my cucumbers and beans.

RAVE REVIEWS FOR “GARDEN IN A BOX” Lynn Ireland, Denver Master Gardener since 2020

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  Photo by Lynn Ireland

Rather than starting from scratch, Lynn decided to add pollinator-friendly plants to her established gardens. A highlight of her project was “Garden in a Box”, a collection of low-water plants, purchased through Resource Central in Boulder, which also comes with planting directions and design tips.

Several water districts offer “Garden in a Box” programs, some with rebate offers. Lynn suggests “It’s the perfect way for a novice gardener to begin or add to their gardens.”

Stand-out plants in the garden expansion included Agastache, Aster, Sea Kale, Mexican Sunflower, and Pitcher Salvia. “According to the hummingbirds, native bees, and Japanese Beetles, these two gardens have been bountiful all summer. I’m already excited for next season!”

Watch for more garden recaps next week…

Selecting The Best Mulch For Your Plants

By Linda McDonnell, CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardener since 2013

Canva.com

Mulch makes an impact in so many ways – from water conservation to weed suppression, improved plant health to enhanced visual appeal – mulch seemingly has superpowers.

There are two general types of mulch – organic and inorganic.  Organic mulches include bark chips, straw, grass clippings, and dried leaves; gravel and small rocks are inorganic choices.  Which mulch to choose? The best advice is to match the mulch material to its intended use. Let’s take a look at some common mulch applications.

Shrubs, Trees and Perennial Beds

Bark Mulch

Three to four inches of bark mulch laid directly on the soil helps maintain moisture, reduce water use, and lower the soil temperature. Skip the landscape cloth and plastic barriers, which when left in place for multiple years, will impede water penetration, limit essential oxygen exchange, and inhibit root development.

Spring hyacinth bulb poking through bark mulch. Pixabay.com

Leave a few inches of bare soil around the base of the plant (more for large shrubs and trees) to allow the plant to absorb moisture. Avoid mounding mulch around the trunk of trees – a “volcano” of mulch will hinder healthy root development. Do not mulch over the root ball of a newly planted tree.

When adding plants to the bed, rake the mulch away from the space before digging to avoid mixing the bark into the planting hole. Bark chips break down in soil and as they decompose, can rob soil of essential nitrogen. 

How much mulch do you need? A two cubic yard bag of mulch provides three inches of coverage over 216 square feet. This online calculator is handy for determining the quantity needed based on depth and coverage area. It calculates the number of bags or bulk quantity needed, or at least gives a good estimate.

Pea Gravel

Gulley Greenhouse.com

Pea gravel (stones with diameters of less than one half inch) are highly effective mulches. Three inch deep coverage provides weed control and even more effective moisture infiltration than bark chips. During cold months, gravel mulch’s warming effect can increase biological activity down to one foot below ground, resulting in healthier, more resilient plants. Pea gravel is frequently the mulch of choice for xeric plants because it offers excellent drainage.

As with bark mulches, do not use landscape cloth or black plastic beneath pea gravel and move the mulch away from the crown of plants.

This Colorado State University (CSU) publication offers a complete review of mulch options; xeriscape mulches are discussed here.

Vegetable Gardens

According to CSU, “In general, mulching minimizes evaporation of water from the soil surface, reducing irrigation needs by around fifty percent. It helps stabilize soil moisture levels, thereby improving vegetable quality and encouraging the beneficial activity of organisms.”

Mulching also helps reduce soil compaction, can add organic matter to the soil, controls weeds, and modulates temperature extremes.  Bark chips are not recommended around vegetable plants but are useful as a garden path.

Black Plastic

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and vines such as cucumbers, summer and winter squash, pumpkins, and numerous melons benefit from a layer of black plastic placed on the soil early in the season. The plastic warms the cool soil, allowing for earlier crop growth. Be sure to remove the plastic in the fall to preserve soil health. 

Early season zucchini plant in black plastic. Note the cutout around the plant’s base. Canva.com

Grass Clippings

Grass clippings from lawns that are untreated by herbicides or pesticides make excellent vegetable garden mulch. Build up the mulch coverage by adding up to a quarter-inch of clippings, allow them to dry, and then repeat with another layer. This layering process prevents the grass from forming a thick, impenetrable mat which restricts the plant’s moisture absorption.

At the end of the season, turn the grass into the soil; it will break down and add organic matter.

This CSU publication contains more options for mulching a vegetable garden.

Turf Alternatives and Garden Containers

Many are rethinking conventional bluegrass lawns and opting to use mulch to replace portions of turf. Large rocks, pea gravel, and bark mulch are popular landscape accents, paths, or borders that reduce water use and create an interesting, practical aesthetic.

Ornamental garden containers can be topped off with a layer of mulch to help retain moisture and add a finished look to the planter.

For a rewarding and plentiful garden, don’t skimp on mulch this season!

Meet the Garden Squad—Connie Rayor

Meet the Garden Squad is a way to get better acquainted with some of our CSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers.

Meet Connie Rayor

Connie Rayor is a CSU-Denver Master Gardener Emeritus who still volunteers for the Habitat for Humanity outreach program. (photo provided by Connie Rayor)

Connie Rayor thinks she’s been a CSU-Denver Master Gardener for 26 years, but who’s counting when you’re having so much fun?

Fun seems to be Connie’s watchword when it comes to being a Master Gardener. She’s been involved in just about every outreach project since she began volunteering years ago. In fact, some of the programs weren’t on the Master Gardener radar until Connie got involved.

“Oh, the early days were great,” she said.

Xeriscape may be a well-established method of landscaping now, but in the 1980s it was a new idea. Tasked with finding what xeriscaping was all about, she thoroughly researched the process so it could be put into practice as part of the Master Gardener program.

Connie was also instrumental in setting up the first Master Gardener information booth at the Cherry Creek Farmers Market.

“We had lots of customers coming up to talk to us and they were delighted to see us there. We didn’t have all the materials they do now, but we did have some materials. That was a fun gig, let me tell you.”

Another enjoyable project was being on the Garden Line 9 television show in the early years, she said. The Master Gardeners group would go in on Saturday mornings and be on camera as people called in with their gardening questions.

She said it was “great fun” to field questions on the fly. “We wouldn’t know what they were going to ask.”

But of all the projects she’s been involved in, starting the Habitat for Humanity outreach program is the one that’s closest to her heart. Early on she had taken a tour of some of the homes in the Habitat program and was surprised to see such pitiful landscaping.

“There were these miserable little junipers there, and I asked about the plants. It wasn’t anything I did with thought, I just asked if they’d like some help with them.”

During the first several years, Master Gardeners supervised on planting days, helping direct how to properly place and space plants in the landscape. But now Master Gardener volunteers teach landscape maintenance classes to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners. Connie developed the original landscape maintenance manual that’s been updated over the years.

At a time when she could kick back and relax as a Master Gardener Emeritus, Connie’s still involved in teaching the landscape maintenance classes about three times a year. Together with Master Gardener volunteers Marti Holmes and Beth McCoy, the team teaches how to care for trees, plants, lawns and how to deal with insect pests among other topics.

“It’s been glorious working together with them,” Connie said. “It’s really been the highlight of  being a Master Gardener. It’s my very favorite long-term project because it provides a real service.”

Connie recommends that Master Gardener apprentices get involved in a project or task they’re really interested in, instead of just putting in their hours. “It will make you a better Master Gardener and create a lot of satisfaction,” she said.

Connie’s love of gardening started as a kid helping her mom in the vegetable garden at their west Denver home. Her lifelong love affair with gardening really took off after she retired as a Denver Public Schools teacher.

After retiring, she followed her husband Harold into the Master Gardener program, but then he dropped out. He had retired earlier and joined because he knew how much she liked to garden.

While she’s unable to do much gardening these days, two of her three daughters and her grandson, Daniel, still carry on the tradition.

“He lives in Boston and was showing off the seedlings he planted in the community garden,” Connie said. “He’s taken a Master Urban Gardener class, but he still calls me for gardening advice.”

By Jodi Torpey
Master Gardener volunteer since 2005

Meet the Garden Squad’s Kim Douglas

Meet the Garden Squad is a way to get better acquainted with some of our CSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers.

Meet Kim Douglas

Denver Master Gardener Kim Douglas enjoys a day in Crested Butte.

If anyone is cut out to be a Denver Master Gardener, it’s Kim Douglas. She’s as passionate about learning as she is about sharing what she’s learned.

This comes naturally to Kim, a retired English as a Second Language teacher and a current Library Program Associate on staff at Denver Public Library.

Her part-time work at the library includes programming that ranges from helping people learn how to use their smartphones and tablets to hands-on work with sewing and embroidery.

“I’m on my third chapter,” she said. “I’m excited about getting and giving training.”

One of the library programs she’s involved with is called Plaza. This special program is designed to meet the needs of immigrant, refugee, and asylee populations. Kim helps participants learn and practice English, prepares them to take their citizenship test, and lends a hand to children with arts and crafts projects.

“It’s very rewarding and a wonderful experience to help people in a way where they really need help,” she said.

Kim became a Master Gardener apprentice in 2018, something she always wanted to do and the first thing she did when she retired from teaching.

Fourth of July fireworks in Kim’s garden.

Part of the attraction was gaining a sense of accomplishment by taking her gardening hobby to the next level.

“I knew I’d get a lot of information about gardening and get a good grasp of the science behind gardening in Colorado, even though I had been doing it for years,” she explained.

One of her big “aha” moments was when she learned about soil compaction and how important it is to not work in wet soil, something she used to do on weekends when she was working fulltime.

Kim’s advice to Master Gardener apprentices is to take advantage of all the information and experience within the organization. “Be active, be involved, go to meetings and special events, get to know people.”

She’s taken her own advice to heart. At last season’s DMG plant sale she designed a better system to standardize the plant signage. From her experience the previous year, she realized signs could be more descriptive to help customers find exactly what they wanted.

‘Queen of the Night’ tulips add stunning color to Kim’s garden.

Kim said she also enjoys volunteering at the Master Gardener booth at the Farmers Market and helping with the Plant Select plants at the Denver Botanic Gardens annual plant sale.

“It’s fun, interesting and I develop a relationship with those plants,” she said. “I guess it’s just lust—plant lust—that makes me say, ‘I must have that plant’ like the ruby muhly ornamental grass I saw there.”

Her garden is filled to the brim with those love-at-first-sight plants. Part of the front yard is xeriscaped with native and low-water plants displayed in a big swath.

“In my garden I strive for an explosion of colors like gems and fireworks.” One of her favorite displays is a combination of plants that is in full flower around the Fourth of July.

It includes dark red daylilies planted with white Shasta daisies and highlighted with sea holly (Eryngium). She said the “funky, spiky” sea holly plants produce striking purple-blue flowers that look like small glowing thistles.

It’ easy to see why’Black Nigra’ hollyhocks attract attention.

When it comes to the gem colors, she selects plants that have such rich and vibrant flowers that passersby have to slow down or stop to appreciate them.

Some of the show-stopper plants include ‘Dark Magician Girl’ daylilies, ‘Ebony Dream’ iris, ‘Black Nigra’ hollyhocks, and ‘Queen of the Night’ tulips.

In the backyard vegetable garden she plants tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, and tomatillos – “everything to make a nice salsa” – plus eggplants and potatoes.

Kim said she’ll be combining her passions for teaching and gardening this season. She’s on the schedule to present programs on propagating plants and raised bed gardening at several library branches this spring.

Images provides by Kim Douglas

Text by Jodi Torpey
Master Gardener volunteer since 2005

A Denverite Visits New Orleans in July, Leaves in Awe That Anything Grows in Colorado, Like, Ever.

Image by McKenna Hynes

I recently returned from a little summer vaca in the South. New Orleans in July (a questionably timed vacation, albeit) is showy and fragrant; the ferns suckle lovingly to any crack and crevice providing green brush-strokes and blots everywhere, palms fill beds and pots alike, all of my houseplants are thriving in the wide open, the sun is scorching, and as our pilot reminded us as we prepared to de-plane, its humid enough to confuse a frog. I was constantly amazed at how effortlessly everything seemed to grow.

While in New Orleans, I was frequently amused by how the rest of the country (mis)understands Colorado living conditions. For the most part, folks think we spend most of the year dreaming of gardens as we stare out our frosty windows waiting for the snow to melt, visiting floral places abroad, and wearing multiple layers of socks at all times. Soooo… basically gardening at 10,000+ feet? While these perceptions are laughable, I started thinking that even though we don’t live in perpetual wintry wonder, the challenges we face to make anything grow aren’t necessarily less surmountable than our fam in the lofty-actual-mountains.

We were welcomed back to Denver with a remarkable storm featuring lightning, torrential rains, booming thunder… and hail. Of course, the very next day was smokin’ hot with nary a whisper of the siege.  Maintaining a vibrant garden in the Front Range is an extreme sport with our baffling daily fluctuations; the entire notion of keeping anything alive here seems impossible at times, but we’ve gotten pretty good at strategizing. Here are a few resources I’ve tracked down this year to help us all maintain beauty, build our skills, and be stewards to our land and community.

Image by McKenna Hynes

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Resource Central is a nonprofit organization based in Boulder that helps communities conserve resources and build sustainability efforts simply and cost-effectively. Their water-saving initiatives include native plant sales with simple designs for home gardens and often include low water perennials. They also have a tool library in Boulder where you can borrow for a couple of bucks per day so you don’t just buy the tamper, hedge trimmer, turf roller, or post hole diggers you need so infrequently. 

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The cities of Boulder, Lafayette, and Louisville partnered with Resource Central to give customers a Garden In A Box for turf-removal. Their Grass to Garden initiative is available to all communities with tips and resources to convert high water-consuming turf to low water garden areas. For the North Metro area, they have resources for assistance removing and disposing of turf, landscape architect recommendations, and more.

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Denver Water coined one of our most successful water-wise strategies with xeriscaping. And to keep sharing the good water word, Denver Water also partnered with local landscape architects to provide us mere civilians with some FREE! FREE! FREE! creativity. For those of us who are new (it’s me) who struggle with vision (all me), and are easily overwhelmed by the thought of starting fresh with a blank canvas (still, totally, all me), they’ve curated a bunch of plans for a variety of situations. They have plans for sloped xeriscaping, budget-friendly xeriscaping, narrow bed xeriscaping, year-round beauty designs, and many more. July is also Smart Irrigation Month! Head to Denver Water for tips on maintaining irrigation systems, watering rules, and efficiency strategies.

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And for the grand finale top-notch gardening game-changer, check out Plant Select for all your future dreaming. Plant Select is a nonprofit partnership between Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens, and professional horticulturists to identify smart plant choices for the Rocky Mountian Region. Their mobile-friendly site has a tool to help you find plants that will suit the conditions you’re facing. I tend to challenge the tool to see how obscure or specific I can get, and it always provides me with something unique and gorgeous. Plant Select: taking “right plant right place” to an accessible and fun platform. Say So Long! to the multiple Google tabs researching the same plant with contradicting information on each site; Goodbye! Big Box Store swindlers promising “You REALLY can’t kill this one!” and go get yourself some good, wholesome, ACCURATE information quickly and easily from Plant Select. They also feature some garden designs and ideas.

Image source

By McKenna Hynes

Apprentice Colorado Master Gardener since January 2019

Reimagining a Denver Hell Strip

 

A typical hell strip in “Any Town USA”

The hell strip (more politely called a tree lawn) is that pesky rectangular area between the street and the sidewalk. It’s a challenging spot – surrounded by concrete surfaces which make it super hot in the summer and subject to harsh elements in the winter.  Apprentice Denver County Master Gardeners (CMG’s) Elizabeth and Daniel Neufeld challenged themselves to redesign their hell strip by working with, not against the conditions at hand. Their new strip garden incorporates xeric native plants in a creative design which complements their early 1900’s Mayfair bungalow. Here’s a step-by-step description of the project in Elizabeth’s own words.

Site Description and Preparation
The 8.5’ by 16’ site had been a weedy portion of our hell strip. This section of our lawn was never irrigated and though we used a manual sprinkler on it for years, it never really thrived. Weeds from an adjacent bed also crept in and began to take over our lawn.

In June 2017 – after talking to CMG’s at East High’s Farmers Market – we put down 5 mil black plastic over the entire area to solarize the soil and kill the weeds. In March of this year, we removed the plastic and started to work on the soil.

The top several inches of soil was relatively good. Below that, though, was hard packed clay. Based upon our classwork to become CMG’s, and discussions with other CMG’s, we knew that we wanted to create a Native, drought resistant, garden. In order to have the appropriate depth of 2”-3” of pea gravel on top, we needed to dig out the clay. MUCH harder than we anticipated.

First I took every trash can we owned (about 5), and another 3 from a neighbor, and filled them up with just the first 4-5 inches of the topsoil. Then what to do with the clay below?  You can’t put it into the regular trash bins, nor into the city’s green compost bins as  they do not accept soil, primarily because of its weight. I secretly thought I could add just small amounts of dirt weekly and they wouldn’t know the difference. Yet this wasn’t right, and would take forever. We went online and called several places about renting a dumpster, yet the smallest dumpster we could find was going to cost $500, and we’d need to get a permit from the city to place it on the street. We needed another plan.

Perhaps you’ve seen smaller, heavy plastic canvas bags in people’s front yards as they do small remodeling jobs on their homes. These “bagsters” can be bought at a big-box store, and they hold up to 3300 pounds. Once filled, Waste Management will come and collect them for a fee. So we purchased one of these, set it up on our sidewalk next to the hell strip, and completely filled it with about 4” of the clay subsoil. It was truly a Herculean task, and it weighed over a ton, literally.

After the Waste Management dump truck removed the bagster and all its contents, we then put back all of the topsoil we had previously removed. Another day of heavy lifting.

Plant Selection
What to choose, what to choose?! Thank goodness for the CSU Extension fact sheets on Xeriscaping, Low Water gardening, and Native Plants. We also had Pretty Tough Plants, a book by the experts at Plant Select. We  spent a fair amount of time at the Jefferson County Extension office xeric garden, and the Denver Botanic Gardens, and took pictures of plants we liked. We spent a huge amount of time debating which and how many plants to include. The mix and quantities of plants we decided on follow. Click images for plant names.

Berlandia lyrate “Chocolate flower”

Agastache “Sonoran” hyssop

Agastache “Coronado” hyssop

Delosperma “Firespinner”

Eriogonum umbellatum “Kannah Creek” buckwheat

Schizachyrium scoparian “Little Bluestem”

Tannacetum densum “Partridge Feather”

Prunnus bessyi “Pawnee Buttes” Sand Cherry

• Berlandia lyrate,“Chocolate Flower” (4)
• Agastache, “Sonoran” (2) and “Coronado” hyssop (1)
• Delosperma, “Firespinner” and “Red Mountain Flame” iceplants (4)
• Eriogonum umbellatum, “Kannah Creek” buckwheat (2)
• Schizachyrium scoparian, “Little Bluestem” (3)
• Tanacetum densum, “Partridge Feather”  (3)
• Prunus bessyi, “Pawnee Buttes” Sand Cherry (3)
• Amorpha fructosa, False Indigo Lead Plant (1)  not shown
• Miscanthus sinesis  (1) not shown

Design

In talking with a fellow CMG apprentice, Brenda Reum – who has her own landscape firm – we decided to put a false arroyo diagonally through the rectangular site. We also wanted a few larger accent rocks, and some medium size rock around the edges. We went to a local sand and gravel company and selected some larger rocks, and got several 5-gallon buckets of mid-size rock. During this time period (late April/early May), we also went camping in Western Colorado for a week. While driving on a dirt road along the Delores River, we came upon a pile of rocks – and collected a few dozen we liked and brought them home!

After creating an outline of the arrangement of the arroyo and the planting on paper, we commenced planting. Like many a good idea, the execution was more time-consuming than anticipated.

Once the planting was complete, we used an online calculator to estimate the amount of pea gravel needed. To have 3” of pea gravel on the site as large as ours, we would need 1 ton of rock. We put a large tarp on the street adjacent to the garden and the delivery truck dumped it on top. We spent hours shoveling the gravel over the dirt, then carefully placed our ‘trophy’ rocks through the arroyo and around the edges. Some clusters of rock are near some of the plants, and we placed a piece of weathered cedar (also found during the camping trip) and a piece of ‘rust art’ in the bed.

Now
The bed has been in for about 6 weeks, and it’s looking great and seems to be happy. We initially watered the plants every 2-3 days for the first 3 weeks, and have now cut back to once weekly. The ice plants and partridge feather are already spreading out, the chocolate flower and hyssop have been blooming. The little bluestem has yet to fully take off, but those plants were the smallest of all when we purchased them. We left plenty of space for the eventual growth and spreading of these plants, and look forward to their ultimate size and height.

Time and Cost of Materials
It is hard to calculate the total amount of time we spent — yet it was easily 3 times more than we thought it was going to be. It was approximately 100 – 150 hours of our own labor.

We found the plants at several independent garden centers as the big box centers did not have any of these. And because of this, the cost was more than we had anticipated, too. We spent approximately $400-$450 on 23 plants.

We spent $30 on purchasing the ‘bagster’, and $120 to have it carted away. We spent $85 on the pea gravel (including delivery), and another $40 on the larger rocks we purchased. All totaled, we spent $675-$725 on the new Native garden.  We are so pleased with the results and hope to expand our collection of native plants in other parts of our garden.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for sharing your experience! If you have a question or comment for Elizabeth, she’ll respond in the comment section.

Photo Credits: Plants: Plant Select.org,  Street Image: Bing Free Images, Garden diagram and completed garden: Elizabeth Neufeld

Posted by Elizabeth Neufeld and Linda McDonnell