Denver Botanic Gardens is excited to announce that our Sensory Processing and Autism Resource Kits (SPARK) are available for use, free of charge, on a first-come, first-served basis! They may be checked out from the Helen Fowler Library in the Freyer – Newman Center at our York Street location. The backpacks were designed and created by the Autism Community Store in partnership with the Autism Society of Colorado.</p>The packs are a resource for people of all ages with autism or sensory needs, to help them feel safe and supported while exploring the Gardens. Each pack includes a garden-themed Seek & Find weighted lap pad, wiggle seat cushion, noise-reducing headphones, visor, fidget keychains, hand-operated fan, turquoise sunglasses, calming strategies card and an outdoor blanket.</p>What’s included:</p>Garden-themed Weighted Discovery Lap Pad – </strong>Weighing in at over two pounds, this lap pad does double duty. The therapeutic weight can be calming to the nervous system, helping the user stay seated more comfortably. The lap pad’s garden-theme contents provide tactile and visual stimulation that can offer a calming distraction in a challenging environment.</li>Wiggle Cushion – </strong>“Wiggle seats” can be an effective seating option for people who have a difficult time focusing or staying put in their seats. These helpful self-regulation seating devices provide subtle movement input (gentle bouncing and/or rocking) without getting up from your seat! The calming (or alerting) movement input makes it easier for many children and adults to stay calm and focused.</li>Noise-reducing Headphones – </strong>Noise reduction headphones provide an auditory buffer. They can help people with noise sensitivity explore environments that might otherwise been too uncomfortable for them.</li>Visor – </strong>The visor is a comfortable means of shading the eyes from natural and artificial overhead light while also providing a sense of enclosure and protection.</li>Fidget Toys – </strong>The fidget toys attached to the zipper pulls of the backpack help keep busy fingers engaged. Contrary to what many people believe, fidgeting actually helps sensory seeking people stay calm and focused.</li>Hand-operated Fan – </strong>The fan is manually operated with a crank. It is a fidget toy that will be enjoyed by visitors who like spinning things or a cause-effect toy. The fan also empowers a guest with a cooling tool.</li>Turquoise Glasses – </strong>For some people, colored glasses can be relaxing and may help the brain process the information it sees. Each person has a unique color preference, but turquoise is one of the most popular.</li>Calming Strategies Card – </strong>This card offers opportunities for non-verbal cues.</li>Outdoor Blanket – </strong>The outdoor blanket unfolds to offer a comfortable nest for a visitor who craves a sensory break.</li></ul>Be sure to check out our sensory friendly events that provide an opportunity to explore the Gardens with fewer visitors and hands-on sensory activities. The low-sensory SPARK mornings and evenings are offered during the summer and are free with advance registration. Call 720-865-3500 for more information or find out about low sensory mornings and other therapeutic horticulture programming</a>.</p>
This spring was the first growing season of my prairie restoration experimental research plot at Chatfield Farms. Millions of pounds of seed are planted every year for ecological restoration and the demand for native seed exceeds its supply. I am interested in understanding how the source of seeds used in restoration relates to plant performance. </p> What performs better, seeds from cultivated plants or wild-collected seeds? For wild-collected seed, how does the environment from where they were collected relate to their performance (size, growth rate and reproductive output) at the field site? Do plants from more similar environments to Chatfield Farms perform better than plants from different environments? Are these relationships the same across many species, or do they vary among species? The results from this experiment will help land managers and restoration practitioners to choose appropriate seed sources to maximize restoration success.</p> To answer my research questions, I conducted an experiment on five study species commonly used in shortgrass prairie restoration: prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida</em>), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis</em>), prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha</em>), dotted blazing star (Liatris punctata</em>), Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon strictus</em>) and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda</em>). For each species, I planted seeds from six wild-collected populations across the western U.S. and from commercially available cultivated seed.</p> I am tracking growth stage and life stage of each individual plant for two growing seasons, and biomass at the end of the experiment. With more than 1,000 plants involved, volunteers were integral in every step of my experiment: planting seed and repotting seedlings in the greenhouse, plot set-up and construction, planting seedlings into the ground and assisting with weeding and data collection.</p> Out of all the different types of measurements I am collecting, I am especially interested in phenology. Phenology is the timing of when organisms progress through their life stages or life cycle events. Plants are known to alter when they start leafing, flowering and set seed in response to environmental conditions. However, some of their phenology is also genetically determined – e.g. plants from environments with shorter growing seasons may always flower earlier than plants from environments with longer growing seasons. If some plant populations are not able to alter their phenology enough to keep up with the pace of climate change and the environmental conditions at the restoration site, then they may die out in the future, leading to restoration failure.</p> This blog post was written by Katherine Fu, Ph.D. student at University of Colorado Denver. Katherine is planning a career in plant ecology and conservation. Specifically, she is interested in focusing on research questions related to restoration, plant communities, succession and plant/animal interactions.</em></p>
With cooler weather and an overnight hail storm punctuating the early weeks of our growing season, the water gardens got off to a slightly slower start this year. Fortunately, our extensive collection of aquatic plants has made a triumphant comeback, and August is a great month to take a walk around the ponds to see them in their full glory. </p> Begin your stroll at the small pool in the Ellipse garden, home to the Chihuly sculpture, Colorado. A unique plant displayed in this pool is mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides</em>). This South American native thrives in warmer water, making this small pool the ideal spot for it to show off its intricate pattern of tiny floating leaves arranged in a mosaic pattern on the water’s surface. Hardy and tropical waterlilies (Nymphaea</em> hybrids), along with Colocasia </em>and Canna</em> hybrids, round out the display in this pond.</p> Head west to the Romantic Gardens’ pool, where you will find a display of Australian waterlily species and hybrids. These waterlilies are also a bit finicky, requiring consistently warm water and sunny weather to grow. Too many cloudy, cool days and they can quickly decide to go dormant. The Romantic Gardens’ pool is not connected to our recirculating waterway system and therefore the water temps stay an average of seven to 10 degrees warmer, making it the perfect summer home for these tropical day-blooming waterlilies. Flowers can reach up to 10 inches in diameter and are held high above the water, making for a show-stopping scene. In the center of this pool, two Santa Cruz water platters (Victoria cruziana</em>) surround a central recirculating fountain.</p> Continuing to the west, you will find the Four Towers Pool. This pond borders the south and west sides of the Science Pyramid and showcases a collection of hardy intersubgeneric waterlilies (crosses between hardy and tropical waterlilies that have proven to be winter hardy here in Denver) as well as gorgon plants (Euryale ferox</em>), hardy waterlilies, tropical waterlilies and an assortment of marginal plants (plants that typically grow in shallow water around the margins of a pond), including Canna</em> ‘Ermine’, C.</em> ‘Blueberry Sparkler’, Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus</em>), Mexican papyrus (C. giganteus</em>), swamp hibiscus (Hibiscus </em>‘Peppermint Flare’), and golden reed (Phragmites australis</em> ‘Aurea’).</p> As you follow the waterway heading west to the Steppe Garden, you will find bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata</em>) flanked by islands planted with marginal plants including marsh marigold (Caltha palustris</em>), calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica</em> ‘White Giant’) and monkey flower (Erythranthe guttata</em>). Curators are currently experimenting with other steppe region species to see if they will also thrive in the boggy soil on these islands—stay tuned!</p> The next pool on our walking tour can be found at the west end of the Steppe Garden just as you enter the Annuals Garden. This pool is home to a collection of taro (Colocasia</em>) hybrids that showcase the range of foliage and stem colors that have been developed in this genus. Colocasia esculenta </em>is also displayed in this pond with an interpretive sign detailing its importance as a food crop in tropical regions. Hardy and tropical waterlilies accent the display along with the native mare’s tail (Hippuris vulgaris</em>).</p> As you walk through the Annuals Garden, you will come to the next ponds on our tour which are situated on either side of the walkway at the north end of this garden. These pools highlight the Rocky Mountain Legacy Collection—waterlilies that have been tested for performance at Denver Botanic Gardens over the years and which have historical significance. This collection includes the hardy waterlilies ‘Colorado’, ‘Denver’, ‘Denver’s Delight’, ‘Joey Tomocik’, ‘Bea Taplin’, ‘Attorney Elrod’ and ‘Cynthia Ann’. Tropical waterlilies in the collection include ‘Stan Skinger’, ‘William McLane’ and ‘Bob Hoffman’.</p> The Sacred Earth waterway to the south of The Hive Garden Bistro is next on our tour. This small pool is home to a collection of native aquatic plants including Rocky Mountain pond lily/spatterdock (Nuphar polysepala</em>), bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata</em>) and broadleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia</em>).</p> Finally, the last stop on our walking tour is Monet Pool, our largest display pond situated just north of The Hive and stretching west to the border of the Japanese Garden. This water garden features the always popular Victoria</em> ‘Longwood Hybrid’ water platters as well as hundreds of hardy and tropical waterlilies, water-loving Canna</em> hybrids, aquatic Iris</em> and other marginal plants including pickerel plant (Pontederia cordata</em>), lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus</em>), powdery thalia (Thalia dealbata</em>) and common rush (Juncus effusus</em>). Be sure to find the display of miniature hardy waterlilies and star waterlilies in the area near Le Potager at the southwest end of the Monet Pool to end your tour.</p>
For most of us Tibet summons images of mystery, lofty mountains, monasteries on high perches and, of course, yaks. Tibet has been called the Rooftop of the World, just as Colorado could claim to be the “rooftop” of the Continental United States, although Tibet’s 4,500-meter mean elevation is more than double Colorado’s mere 2,000! For the last 10 years, touristic travel to Tibet has been restricted and at times brought to a standstill. I had little hope to ever have a chance to go there until Harry Jans (a passionate world traveler from the Netherlands with great savvy) invited me to join a group of 20 keen alpine gardeners on a botanical trek from Lijiang (in northernmost Yunnan) where we boarded a small bus that will bring us ultimately to Lhasa.</p> Although I’m in the last leg of the journey, I feel it safe to say that few of the trips I’ve been blessed to take have reached so many heights, both literally and figuratively. Most every day for more than two weeks now we have driven well above 4,000 meters (higher than the highest peaks in Colorado) and from the tops of many passes (some above 5,000 meters) we have climbed to 17,000 feet on occasion. It is astonishing that not one of a bus full of travelers seems to have experienced altitude sickness or other mishaps; but Harry has selected carefully, perhaps, picking seasoned travelers.</p> I have read many books by the early great explorers of this region, including Frank Kingdon Ward and Frank Smythe. They invariably describe a region of virtually non-existent roads, the most primitive accommodations and almost stone-age living conditions of peasantry. I can only imagine what they would think. The highways that we’ve sped along are smooth and beautifully maintained. The hotels we’ve stayed at, even in the most modest towns, are of a level of luxury that one rarely finds outside large cities in America – immense chandeliers, marble floors, walls, often beautifully and decoratively patterned. Spacious, comfortable rooms and bathrooms with gleaming fixtures you’d not likely find in many towns in America — or Europe for that matter.</p> The homes of the farmers in the countryside are likewise sturdy, often large and attractive with beautiful patterning of bricks and trim fields everywhere, typically within stone walls crowned with thick bundles of rose canes to discourage trespassing.</p> There is a fly in the ointment, perhaps. Or better put, a yak in the pasture. More accurately, thousands, likely millions of yaks that have mown the landscape down to the nubbins in many areas, leaving only the most toxic and unpalatable herbs to proliferate. Fortunately, these are some of the showiest wildflowers: primulas in many species forming vast throngs of yellow or red; giant rhubarbs of several kinds; the daphne cousin Stellera chamaejasme, forming domes of vivid yellow (in Yunnan) or pink and white (elsewhere). But once you venture far enough or high enough you find areas that are too far for yaks to venture from their nighttime corrals, and here a flora of breathtaking variety and beauty prevails.</p> Just as each “summit” across the Great Basin seems to have its own Penstemon, Phlox, Eriogonum or Astragalus, every “La” (Pass) in Tibet unfurls a tremendous variety of new Meconopsis (poppies), Primula or Androsace. I have already accumulated more than 3,000 images in my database, and we still have a pass or two before arriving in Lhasa!</p>
