Colorado Gardening Calendar for February 2024

By Margerie Hicks, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2010

Blue fescue grass poking through snow at Denver Botanic Gardens. Photo: Margerie Hicks

February is one of the best months to enjoy the interesting patterns, textures, and shapes that dried grasses and perennials form in contrast to the snow. It is also a time to read or otherwise educate yourself about gardening trends and ideas. And finally, it is a time to complete the few but important tasks needed in February to prepare for the coming growing season.

Winter Interest

Autumn joy sedum keeps its color and form. Photo: Margerie Hicks

If you refrained in the fall from cutting down ornamental grasses, perennials with balls of seeds like echinacea, or plants that keep their color and form, you now have interesting winter patterns and shapes to enjoy. You have also helped provide shelter and food for wildlife, such as birds and insects.

If you don’t already have any sedum Angelina, make a note to plant some in the spring to enjoy next winter. It is a ground cover that is light green in the spring, yellow in the summer, and orange with green accents in the winter. It provides a wonderful splash of color in the winterscape.

Sedum Angelina adds multi-season beauty. Photos: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Gardening Edification

• Expo: The annual Colorado Home and Garden Show runs from February 24^thto March 3^rd. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer gardening questions at the large CSU Extension display. Be sure to stop by and say hi.
• Books: You may have some gardening-related books waiting to read on a cold winter night, but in case you want suggestions check out our earlier post,  Winter Reading for Gardeners.
• Websites: CSU Extension’s website offers research-based fact sheets and videos on a wide range of gardening topics. Additionally, the internet is filled with gardening information and pictures. The most reliable sources have an “.edu” extension on the address, indicating an affiliation with university horticulture/agriculture research.
• Gardening classes:  Local garden shops and the Denver Botanic Gardens offer classes on many topics that may pique your interest. You can also find a wide array of webinars offered by CSU Extension here.
• Take our reader survey:  We’d love your feedback and ideas for future posts. Find the survey here. Survey closes February 18^th.

February Tasks

Deep watering tool. Photo: Margerie Hicks

There are a few tasks that should be done and many that could be done this month. A good overview can be found in this Late Winter Garden and Lawn Care fact sheet. Key tips include:

• Water:  All trees, shrubs, and perennials will benefit from regular winter watering, especially those that are less than two years old. Water once a month on days when the temperature is 40 degrees or warmer with no snow cover. Click here for a fall and winter watering fact sheet that will make your efforts most effective.
• Mulch:  Woody plants benefit from mulch to preserve soil moisture. Rock or gravel mulch is useful in retaining heat. Apply as needed.
• Prune:  This is a good time to prune broken and unwanted branches from trees and shrubs, especially fruit trees.

Enjoy your gardening leisure in February. May will be here soon enough.

Speaking of May don’t forget to mark your calendars for our amazing plant sale!

Holiday Gifts from Your Garden Bounty

By Lois Margolin, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2011

The garden is put to bed, autumn is in full swing, and the holiday season is near. Luckily this summer and fall I planned ahead for holiday gifts by drying herbs, freezing grated zucchini, making tomato sauce and salsa, pickling cucumbers, and green beans, preserving fruit into jams and jellies, and more. If you’re also interested in making homemade gifts from the garden, consider some of my favorites below.

Salsa: Too many tomatoes and enough spaghetti sauce? Switch to making salsa.  Freezing the salsa in small batches is much quicker than canning. 

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  “Salsa Snack” in gift basket with chips and a salsa bowl. Photo by Lois Margolin.

Herbs d’ Provence: Friends return the decorative jars and containers I use for this herb blend in hopes that I’ll refill and return them as “bread and butter” gifts during the holidays.

Zucchini bread: I bake loaves in large tin cans (about 30oz.). Remove the paper labels and clean the cans thoroughly. Grease the inside well and pour in the batter until a little more than half full. Remove the breads as soon as they are cool enough to handle. The loaves cut beautifully into round serving pieces. Wrap loaves in colorful cellophane available in craft stores and tie with a pretty bow.  To make the gift more special, include a topping. Soften a package of cream cheese. Add orange or lemon rind and a small amount of sugar. Mix well. Package the cream cheese mixture in small disposable containers. The spread tastes great on zucchini bread.

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  “Canned goods basket.” Photo by Lois Margolin.

Canned food in jars: Assorted garden goodies such as my homemade dill pickles, dilled green beans, pickled green cherry tomatoes, peaches, apple sauce and jams are a welcomed gift. Dress up the jars with fabric lids by cutting square or round eight-inch pieces of cotton fabric with pinking shears. Remove the ring that holds the lid in place. Put the piece of fabric over the lid and reattach the ring. Purchase rectangle, oval or round labels at an office supply store. Design your label on the computer or attach a nice holiday card to the jars.

Pies, crisps, crumbles and cobblers: I froze a lot of apple slices this fall after harvesting a bumper crop. Thaw apples and drain off some of the liquid. Use your favorite recipe and disposable pie tins for delicious gifts. I also froze sliced rhubarb and strawberries. This combination makes for a great pie. If you grew pumpkins, now is the time to cook them for Thanksgiving pies. I’m convinced fresh pumpkin makes the best pie! Dress up the gift by baking it in a pretty, reusable pie plate or 9 x 9 baking pan.

Teas: I love to create my own herbal teas. I find cute containers at craft stores, make labels and give these as gifts. My favorite blend is lemon balm and lavender used either as an herbal tea or combined with black tea for a stronger flavor. All varieties of mint are good, and rosemary also makes a nice winter drink when steeped in boiling water.

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  “Teatime” gift with a teapot and several containers of blended herbal teas. Photo by Lois Margolin.

Dried flower arrangements: Homegrown gourds, cattails, pussy willows, lavender blossoms, long stems of herbs, hydrangeas and dried grasses make pretty fall arrangements. Mason jars, baskets, carved out pumpkins and old teapots make nice, inexpensive containers.

If you want to use your homemade goodies but make the gift more expensive, get creative. Create a gift basket or double spaghetti pot (bottom pot for water, insert strainer on top) around a theme such as an Italian dinner. Place your homemade spaghetti sauce up front. Add several packages of spaghetti, spaghetti serving spoon, garlic bread spread, and a loaf of Italian bread. Wrap it all in cellophane and tie with a huge bow. 

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  “Pasta Dinner”. Photo by Lois Margolin.

A breakfast bread tray for two can hold homemade jam, scones, a cute spreader, mint and black tea with a brewing strainer, and two large mugs.

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  “Breakfast for Two”. Photo by Lois Margolin

For detailed directions on making some of the above-mentioned edible gifts, please refer to my Aug. 8, 2021, blog post: “The Fun Begins: Harvesting and Preserving Garden Fresh Vegetables.”