The Wild Companions Entrance Garden at Colorado State University (CSU)
A wonderful new garden at Colorado State University's Arboretum Continue reading "The Wild Companions Entrance Garden at Colorado State University (CSU)"
Book Review: A New Garden Ethic
By Benjamin Vogt Book review by Deborah Lebow Aal A New Garden Ethic, by Benjamin Vogt, is a call to action to completely shift our ideas of how to garden, and what a garden should be. Vogt is calling for a time of “defiant compassion.” He wants us to stop thinking of gardens for human […] Continue reading "Book Review: A New Garden Ethic"
Plant Spotlight: Smooth Sumac
Rhus glabra By Karen Vanderwall and Kristine Johnson Smooth sumac is a multi-stemmed woody plant or shrub native to the Front Range of Colorado as well as southwestern Colorado. A special feature of this shrub is that the leaves turn bright red in the fall, often forming wide brilliant swaths of scarlet across the landscape. […] Continue reading "Plant Spotlight: Smooth Sumac"
Top Autumn Native Plants
By Karen Vanderwall By the end of August, native plant gardeners sigh and can enjoy the fruits of their labor – beautiful blooms, numerous species of bees, hummingbirds, perhaps fluttering monarchs and feeling the joy, the pride of a successful gardening season. But wait – the season isn’t over yet! Native fall-blooming plants and shrubs […] Continue reading "Top Autumn Native Plants"
Habitat Gardening is for the Birds!
By Kristine Johnson A few years ago, I applied for and received a Terra Foundation Grant from the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference. This meant $1000 toward native plants which supported birds, while also requiring turf removal and tracking biodiversity in some way in my yard. We removed the last of the lawn in […] Continue reading "Habitat Gardening is for the Birds!"
The Nature of Fort Collins
by Karen Vanderwall People living along the Front Range are becoming more aware that conserving water and establishing native habitats is vital to managing our regional drought and supporting local pollinators. The City of Fort Collins is innovating and leading, locally and nationally, by weaving together the built environment and natural ecosystems. Driven by community funding […] Continue reading "The Nature of Fort Collins"
Cues To Care
The absolute key to getting the public (including our spouses, municipalities, and skeptical neighbors) to accept and appreciate ecological landscaping by Kenton Seth Colleagues and mentors have all made passing comments—usually in the parking lot after a breakfast meetup, or later at night after a few glasses of wine—that there is a trick to making landscape designs […] Continue reading "Cues To Care"
Connecting Native Plant Gardening and Rain Gardening
By Kristine Johnson I’ve written a series of articles for Wild Ones Front Range on precipitation harvesting, and I’ve recently interviewed Brad Lancaster, Jace Lankow and Luis Salgado–all water harvesting practitioners in Tucson, Arizona–for insights into the connections between native plant gardening and rain gardening. Look for that article in the national Wild Ones Journal […] Continue reading "Connecting Native Plant Gardening and Rain Gardening"
Ecological Gardening Best Principles
By Deborah Lebow Aal Wild Ones isn’t only about native plants. Yes, plant choice is critical, but your overall gardening techniques and what you do before, during and after the planting of these native plants can have an equally large impact on your home ecosystem. So, here are our top ten tips for caring for […] Continue reading "Ecological Gardening Best Principles"
Book Review: The Nature of Oaks
Review by Karen Vanderwall Written by Doug Tallamy in 2001, The Nature of Oaks–his homage to oaks (genus Quercus)–is a pleasure to read from cover to cover. Although I had known of the book, I assumed the book would not be very relevant to me as I now live and garden in an area where […] Continue reading "Book Review: The Nature of Oaks"