Editor's Letter & E-Magazine

The recent hard frost hit a lot of the too-early spring growth on trees and shrubs when they were already struggling after so many hot, dry, windy days. It's been cloudy & cooler this week but we didn't get much moisture. I abandoned surface watering in favor of deep root waterers for trees. The late Steven Pfeifer, my go-to arborist for many years, always recommended them. It’s more time-consuming but more effective. I topped off all my woody plants and trees with small bark

For over two weeks now the huge ‘Carol Mackie’ Daphne that’s right outside our front door has been delighting us and all visitors with its sweet scent. One of the first and best Plant Select offerings, it has put up admirably with very dry years and it never needs pruning or fussing over. Though I’ve heard these shrubs can die suddenly, mine is close to 25 years old.

I moved to the house where I now live in the spring of 2001. There was a lot of tall, lush brome grass in the pasture that year and I learned from my neighbor how to irrigate, to use the few shares of water that came with the place and feed my horses. There was plenty of ditch water that year and I had someone cut and bale my own hay. But the following year everything dried up. We couldn’t see any snow on the back range from the plains. Our ditch water didn’t come. Weeds emer

Last week we had a freezing, foggy morning before the sun broke through. I happened to be outside feeding my horse at that moment when the fog dissipated and the iced trees were suddenly glittery against a bright blue sky. As I walked back toward the house tiny white flakes floated down around me, melting before they reached the ground, and I looked up, wondering how it could possibly be snowing under a blue sky with no wind, but it was just the trees shedding their icy coats

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.

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.

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...

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...

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

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,...

Q: What are some good pollinator plants that support bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial insects? Swallowtail on...

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

The Heat is On…. Of course, the heat has been on for weeks now. Other parts of Colorado have been rained and hailed on but in the Hygiene...

Hard to believe it’s June already but there we have it. I just bought a new electric lawnmower, taking advantage of the state rebate. ...

Garden Phlox What’s Getting up Your Nose & Making You Sneeze When to Plant Warm Season Veggies Fernleaf Peony The bright and bloomy month...

I am loving this so-far cool, wet spring. The bees are visiting all the cheerful blue chionodoxia flowers that have spread around in my...

New Plant Select list for 2024 & Tree Diversity Conference Wrap-up It seems fitting to wish you Happy Almost Spring on the cusp of the...

Greetings Readers! Summer at 7th Ave & Detroit gravel garden, Denver. Unlike woodchips, deep gravel retains moisture without rotting the...

The plains landscape where I live near Hygiene is decidedly horizontal, especially in winter when late day shadows of trees or people...

I’ve been walking my daughter’s dog around Old Town Longmont where there are lots of big, old, splendid trees. The streets are thick with...

SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWS Hello Colorado Gardener Readers, It’s amazing to see how green it is here at this usually brown & dusty time of year....

It’s been a good long run—27 years. When my plant-loving mother died in 1996 she left me enough cash to pay the first three printing...

Has Spring arrived? Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this Spring – not Summer – will finally be here. March certainly didn’t go out...

Longing for color the other day, I went to my local garden center, The Flower Bin in Longmont. I was expecting to see Christmas cacti in...

If you’ve been wanting to tear out your lawn and replace it with water-wise landscaping, the time has come. You already know about our...

Building a garden over time is one of the pleasures of this earth. We add new plants each year while others proliferate on their own....

I’m not sure why people assume that it’s difficult to find content for a magazine like this. If anything I have the opposite problem....

Our Late Spring issue covers a particularly wide range of topics, from a simple individual science project sparked at a community garden...

This spring really does feel like a new beginning. For one thing, with two feet of wet snow outside, what had been shaping up as an...

It was easy to practice social distancing and enjoy myself at Gail Felzien’s family ranch/farm outside of Sterling last month, even in...

With this quarantine a lot of us suddenly have time on our hands and no place to go. That’s a really big shift. Welcome to plant...

March 23 Two weeks after I wrote the letter below, everything has changed. One by one the states where my sisters (and friends) live have...

At Northern Water’s Annual Water Symposium in late May I had the opportunity to hear and meet Kate Greenberg, Colorado’s new Commissioner...

Ah, Spring. So far it’s a cool, moist, forgiving season. Even better, I now have a schedule that lets me spend time in the garden when it...

Here’s what you’ll find inside the issue. Entomologist Eric R Eaton tells you about human inventions - everything from paper to GPS...

I really love my job. Still, after 21 years as editor/publisher I‘m yearning to cut back. Those four spring deadlines are tough. As a...

Our Cover Hellebores are early bloomers in Colorado gardens. My dark red ones start in February and continue for months, while the...

In this issue we feature several plant and plant family profiles. Amaranth, on our cover, is a nutritional powerhouse grain alternative....

It’s a great feeling when the May issue goes to press. The veggies are coming up, and the tulips and daffodils are still cheerful and...

It’s always a little frustrating to be gardening virtually and vicariously instead of getting my hands in the dirt this time of year. But...

It’s time to reap the harvest in the veggie garden. Even my scaled back garden is cranking out way more food than we can eat. My sister...

This year marks Colorado Gardener’s 20th anniversary. We’ve published over 100 issues for our semi-arid climate with a focus on beauty,...