Colorado Gardener Articles

Snow is falling at last! My truck is still half full of dairy compost from Soil Rejuvenation just east of Longmont. Brian, the owner, is a lanky farmer with the gift of gab. His crop is soil and it excites him. For almost 10 years he has been researching and experimenting with materials and learning in depth about soil biology and what makes it thrive.

By Idelle Fisher: Dr. Samuel Ramsey Dr. Samuel Ramsey of CU's Boulder Bee Lab was the engaging keynote speaker on the first day of this year’s Pollinator Summit. With a good dose of humor, he addressed the “wrong bees" topic, describing how our non-native honeybees have gotten a bad rap in recent years because they can negatively affect our important native bees. Honeybees are important for agriculture, but he stressed how vital it is to treat honeybees like pets or livestoc

It’s been a beautiful fall and there are plenty of leaves everywhere for the garden beds. I find there’s nothing better for building soil in veggie and perennial beds, and well as around roses and shrubs, than adding compost and leaves in the fall. Shredding the leaves, especially any thicker, leathery cottonwood leaves, helps them break down faster without matting.

Q: Over the last few years, I’ve collected a number of cacti and succulents. When I look them up online, it shows that they have gorgeous flowers. Mine never bloom. I have them in various windowsills and on tables near the window. Do they have to be older to flower? Do they need a certain kind of fertilizer?

By Penn Parmenter: “All men all the time.”  That’s what I say to people when trying to explain how I live.  Then I say, “In a tiny house – all men – all the time.” 

Fall Harvest The other day my friend Nina stopped by with some sweet corn from Munson’s in Boulder. Munson’s Farm is well known around...

By William J. Dagendesh: Harvest supply kit Children’s old backpacks and giveaway canvas tote bags make a handy harvest kit. Fill with a...

By Pam Sherman: Do you have too many zucchinis now, but not enough in winter? How can we enjoy our garden's bounty throughout the cold...

By Jennifer Bousselot: Jump start your spring vegetable season. Growing up on a small family farm I remember how the demands of the crops increase as the season progresses.

Here is a short video from Bella Cloude, an herbalist for 50 years, who sent a short video clip showing some of her favorite immune...

In the proposed "Rescission of Conservation and Landscape Health Rule" (aka The Public Lands Rule), the Feds plan to strip conservation...

Editor’s Letter As always, just as I’d given up on watering to keep everything alive in the heat, the rains came. The big cube where I...

By John Hershey: In the hard-charging workplaces of America, a popular motivational mantra is “Failure is not an option.” At least it was...

Native columbines dominate a rocky slope. Photo: Mary Jensen Editor's Letter Last weekend I was able to escape the heat because Panayoti...

Photos: James Cencer By James Cencer: The Montrose Botanic Gardens thrives at 5,879 feet in the high desert country of southwest...

By R. Gary Raham: I’m old enough to remember the original Alien movie. An arthropod-style alien attacks crew member, Dallas, by latching...

Photo: Jane Shellenberger Editor’s Letter After spending much of the weekend irrigating my pasture and trees in the heat and into the...

Photo: Jane Shellenberger This gloriously cool, rainy spring, plus the number of years that many plants have had to establish, mature,...

By Kelly Grummons: ESTABLISHING NEW PLANTS Ensuring Success with New Plantings I can’t tell you how many times a customer has failed with...

Allium bulgaricum (formerly known as Nectaroscordum siculum) Photo: Jane Shellenberger May is bursting with blooms of all kinds and the...

By R. Gary Raham Frog enjoying a dip in a duckweed-laden pond. Illustration by Gary Raham. As a biologist I always enjoy time in the...

By Cindy Jones, PhD Cindy on her Herb Farm, East of Longmont Gardening in Colorado is a joy and a challenge. The dry climate,...

Dwarf Leadplant (Amorpha nana) Zones 3-7 By Marilyn Raff Native to The Great Plains, this small shrub called to me at a plant sale with...

Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla), an early spring bloomer and North American native, thrives in challenging environments and offers nectar to...

By Mikl Brawner: French Lilac Lilacs were brought to America by the earliest settlers and have been popular landscape shrubs ever since...

By Jane Shellenberger: When I traveled to Peru years ago to visit my daughter, we took the bus from Arequipa, in the south, to...

Edward Alan Rollinger (“Al”) passed away in Denver on February 25, 2025. When young, Al moved with his family from Minnesota to Denver. ...

Springtime in the Rockies The recent thaw and warmup is certainly welcome after that cold snap. Our continental climate means we rarely...

By Keith Funk & Jane Shellenberger: Biochar kiln Biochar is biomass (wood, leaves, straw, manure, or other biosolids) heated at high...

By Marilyn Raff: Genista Lydia • Zone 5-9 A floriferous low-mounding deciduous shrub native to the Mediterranean region, Lydia thrives...

By Penn Parmenter: We lost a young visionary and rising star in the high altitude seed breeding movement last month when Casey Piscura...

By Penn Parmenter Homemade, deep wooden flats for Seed Starting Seed starting for the upcoming season is now underway! If you’ve never...

Winter and some Front Range snow finally arrive. While having brunch on a balmy Christmas Eve morning with my meteorologist friend, Matt...

Fernbush – Chamaebatiaria millefolium – zone 4-8 By Marilyn Raff: Fernbush,  Chamaebatiaria millefolium.  Photo: Plant Select A Colorado...

DECEMBER 2024 E-MAGAZINE The Garden Against Time I’ve been reading The Garden Against Time: In search of a common paradise by Olivia...

NOVEMBER 2024 E-MAGAZINE This must be a record setting dry late summer and fall. We’ve only had about a quarter inch of rain in the last...

A Xeriscape Garden After 32 Years By Mikl Brawner: You might think a nurseryman would have a collector’s garden with rare and choice...

Keep Veggie Garden Soil Covered: Add Leaves Now By Jane Shellenberger: Excerpts from Jane's book: Organic Gardeners Companion: Growing...

OCTOBER 2024 E-MAGAZINE It doesn’t feel much like Fall yet though the trees are getting colorful. The grasshoppers have discouraged me...

By David Salman: Plant a surprise this fall. Get some spring blooming bulbs into the ground in October or November, water them in and...

By Penn Parmenter: Pumpkins are King in the Parmenter mountain gardens. We love everything about them and have grown them for over 25...

SPONSORED CONTENT Marking trees with a “No Vacancy” sign for bark beetles, ISCA®’s SPLAT® Verb goes to work at Tahoe National Forest As...

By Penn Parmenter:   Right now seed is hanging heavy and abundant in your garden; all you have to do is go get it!  It’s the greatest...

August sailed by quickly. It’s been an interesting summer – certainly one to test those “drought-tolerant” plants. Heat stress is...

By Maggie Gaddis: Now is the time to think about starting next year's garden from seed. As summer flowers senesce, keep an eye out for...

Flavored Vinegar in the Spotlight By Deb Whittaker: Move over Pepsi and Coke.  After 5000 years, vinegar drinks have morphed into the...

By Keith Funk: It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Jim Borland, a towering figure in the world of horticulture and beloved...

AUGUST 2024 E-MAGAZINE Like most people, I've been avoiding the hot sun as much as possible during this very hot summer. But I see a lot...

How to pick a plant By John Murgel. Summer is here and most gardeners are working on keeping things growing and happy in the heat. Still,...

Rooted in Stone: A Geologist Connects with Gardeners By Lee Recca: Dr. Bob Raynolds kicked off the Global Steppe Symposium by taking us...