By Deb Lebow Aal In these semi-arid parts, at least half the year your garden will not be green. It will be brown, and red, and maybe yellow, and it can be gorgeous. The beauty of a winter garden can be in its structure, but also in its color. You just have to pay a […] Continue reading "Give Your Colorado Native Plant Garden Winter Interest"
This question and answer are part of our Ask CSU Extension Anything (About Native Plants) series. We appreciate CSU Extension for answering these questions to expand our community’s knowledge of native plant landscaping. Send us your questions to the Ask CSU email account. FULL QUESTION: In a drought with significant wind erosion, are there any strategies […] Continue reading "What Drought Tolerant Plant Species Can Help Prevent Wind Erosion and Rebuild the Soil?"
This question and answer are part of our Ask CSU Extension Anything (About Native Plants) series. We appreciate CSU Extension for answering these questions to expand our community’s knowledge of native plant landscaping. Send us your questions to the Ask CSU email account. FULL QUESTION: I have 35 acres in Elizabeth. Rolling hills, native grasslands and […] Continue reading "What Native Plants Work Well as Both a Windbreak and a Shelter Belt for Native Birds and Insects?"
By Deborah Lebow Aal If you are reading this, you have some familiarity with, and/or, some interest in the interdependence of native plants and native insects. Some native plants provide the ecosystem with more benefits for insects than others. The measure I am using for ecosystem benefits is how many species of caterpillars a native […] Continue reading "Colorado Native Plants for Caterpillars and Birds"
By Christine Gust Note: You may learn more about soil biology from Christine on January 24, 2024, when she hosts a Wild Ones Front Range webinar on soils and native plants. Registration details will be published in the upcoming weeks. Plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into energy (sugars). Plants release some of these […] Continue reading "Fostering Soil Biology in our Native Plant Gardens"
This question and answer are part of our Ask CSU Extension Anything (About Native Plants) series. We appreciate CSU Extension for answering these questions to expand our community’s knowledge of native plant landscaping. Send us your questions to the Ask CSU email account. FULL QUESTION: I’ve been hearing/reading a lot about using a combination of native […] Continue reading "What combination of drought tolerant native grasses and sedges would you recommend as a “green mulch” between masses of flowering plants?"
Primary Author: Deb Lebow Aal One of the biggest challenges we face as native plant gardeners is how to design a garden with native plants. After all, we are challenging the norm. We are not planting the default landscape of an expanse of turf with a few bushes around the foundation of the house, and […] Continue reading "How to Approach Designing Your Colorado Native Plant Landscape"
We had a great group come out to tour the Greenverein Garden, which was started in 2019 as a collaboration between Denver Turnverein, Uptown on the Hill, and Front Range Wild Ones on a former Denver hell strip located on Clarkson Street! The garden is 100′ long and 11′ wide and uses berms, swales, check […] Continue reading "Colorado Native Plant Demonstration Garden | Tour of Denver’s Greenverein “Hell Strip” @ Turnverein"
The Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference planning committee is now accepting proposals for next year’s in-person conference on February 24, 2024. The conference’s theme is “Making our Landscapes Count.” If you have expertise with designing, growing or maintaining native landscapes and would like to be considered as a Conference speaker, submit your proposal by […] Continue reading "Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference | Call for 2024 Presenters"
Photo credits (left to right): W.D. and Dolphia Bransford, Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, and Thomas Muller, all courtesy of Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center One of the showiest native shrubs on Colorado’s front range is Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa). It has a wild look about it, and can get rather rangy if untended, but that, we […] Continue reading "Plant Spotlight: Apache Plume"