You know what they say—home is where the heart is and also where the lichens are. Actually, as far as I can tell I’m pretty much the only one who says that part about lichens. (I’m trying to get it started though—pass it on.) But it’s true, and it’s not just the lichens—it’s also where the cacti, pikas, grasses, cows, cottonwoods, sunflowers, trout, sagebrush and dung beetles are, among many others. You probably don’t have lichens growing on your couch or dung beetles hanging out in your living room watching Netflix, but your home is not just the place where you can wear your ratty old sweatpants without judgement. Your home is also the broader habitat in which you live, and the deeply interconnected network of organisms of all shapes and sizes that you share it with.</p> Welcome Home: Meet Your Habitat</em> is a new exhibition in the Science Pyramid that explores these interconnections, featuring natural and human-made objects combined with interactive digital stories about the invisible depths of our bonds with nature. Meet the plants, animals and fungi that share our home across landscapes, from prairies to ponds to cities.</p> They might not have brought you cookies when you moved in, but these organisms share our neighborhoods just like our human neighbors do. Take a look around Denver and you’ll see crows complaining to each other on top of telephone poles, mushrooms sprouting along sidewalks, moths searching for a tasty dinner in gardens and flowers soaking up the sun in parks. And that’s just the urban spaces—we also share habitat and resources with rural and even alpine areas. Relax in a bubble bath and you’re using water that once originated as snow from a pika’s chilly mountain home; water your garden and that water may end up as a cool drink for a cottonwood further downstream.</p> Welcome Home</em> features some easy, practical things you can do to steward water and other natural resources to support both our human and non-human neighbors and the health of our shared home. Need a breather? Pull up a comfy chair in the Habitat Lounge area and learn about the ways that organisms are adapted to their habitats and how you can adapt your behaviors to your own environment.</p> Don’t miss meeting the neighbors with this new Science Pyramid exhibit (also a great way to warm up if you’re enjoying the Gardens on a snowy day). Admission is included with admission to the Gardens. And if you could help me get that whole "home is where the lichens are” thing going, I would appreciate it.</p>
If the short days of winter have you longing for colorful tropical blossoms, there is no better place to get your flower-fix than the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory. There are hundreds of plants to see and many are in bloom and ready to chase your winter doldrums away.</p> As you enter from the main lobby, you are immediately greeted by a clump of Dichorisandra </em> thyrsiflora</em> </em>or blue ginger. While the common name suggests this plant is in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae</em>) it is actually in the same family as Tradescantia</em> or wandering Jew (Commelinaceae</em>). This plant blooms sporadically throughout the year and warrants a close-up look.</li> While you are in the area, look in the pond and see if you can spot our new bird residents. The Denver Zoo has loaned us a pair of Hottentot teal (Spatula hottentota</em>) for our visitors to enjoy. These small ducks are native to eastern and southern Africa as wells as Madagascar where they hang out in shallow pools and marshy areas. Having an animal presence in the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory helps underline the importance of complete ecosystems – where plant and animal life both flourish.</li> Across from the pond and along the south pathway, you can see Clerodendrum </em>x speciosum</em> or glorybower putting on a big display. There are many colorful parts to this flower. The bright orange-red petals, the pink/lavender calyx and the metallic green sheen of the fruits. This colorful vine is native to tropical Africa.</li> Along the north wall next to the elevator is a beautiful clump of Seemannia sylvatica</em> or Bolivian gloxinia. This colorful member of the African violet family (Gesneriaceae</em>) is native to South America – mainly in Bolivia and Peru. Take a look inside the flower and enjoy all the detailed patterns.</li> At the west end of the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory near the exit, you will find a cute little ornamental pineapple – Ananas lucidus </em>‘Red Smoothie'. The species parents of this cultivated variety would be found growing naturally as a terrestrial bromeliad across much of South America. The brightly colored fruit is mainly ornamental and too "woody” to be worth eating.</li> Behind the pineapple is a large clump of Costus barbatus</em> or spiral ginger. Although these look like large flowers, the red segments are not part of the actual flower itself. The true flowers are the small yellow blossoms at the top which are pollinated by hummingbirds. This plant is native to Costa Rica.</li> </ul> There are many more flowers to discover as you explore the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory. We hope you’ve enjoyed your winter escape.</p>
</p> The holidays are gleaming brighter than ever at Blossoms of Light™</a> this year at York Street, and thousands of visitors have already booked their tickets to enjoy the dazzling display of lights. We love welcoming first-time guests to this annual event, but we also work hard to redesign the show every year so that long-time members and visitors always have something new to look forward to.</p> How long does it take to design Blossoms of Light?</strong></p> The lead coordinators will start designing next year’s show while the current display is still up. It’s much easier to identify the areas where we need more lights, the color palettes we like and the changes we’d like to make while the gardens are still aglow with lights. After the initial walkthrough, we continue to adjust the design, modify color palettes, add or subtract trees and evaluate the experience as a whole before finalizing the design in late spring.</p> How much of the design stays the same from year to year?</strong></p> We re-assess the entire display every year, and to keep things fresh, almost every garden gets a new color palette. Usually, even if we really love the way an area looks, we won’t keep it the same for more than a couple of years. But don’t think that we forget our favorites! Palettes we like might simply move to a new location. We may also bring back colors to a certain feature after a break – this year, the teal tree in the Annuals Garden made a triumphant return! We are also always working to bring new special features to life to round out the display. This year, be sure to check out our immersive 360-degree lighting experience in Oak Grove, or the all-new projections on the Science Pyramid!</p> What factors do you consider when choosing color palettes? </strong></p> This is one of our favorite parts of the design process, but also one of the most challenging! When selecting colors, we think about the balance of “cool” and “warm” palettes, which colors look good together, where to incorporate traditional holiday palettes as opposed to more unique combinations, which colors are available in each size of bulb and more. We also think about the plant material we are decorating: would a garden look better with lots of colors, or would it be better to only select one or two colors?</p> How do you decide whether or not to decorate certain trees or plants? </strong></p> We work closely with the Gardens’ horticulturists to determine which trees and plants can be decorated. Some trees have fragile bark or branches or may be healing from a heavy spring snowfall, so we avoid those trees and exclude them from our design. For other trees, it comes down to basic logistics: if the trunks and canopies cannot be reached by ladders, buckets or climbers, then we won’t be able to decorate it. Finally, there are some areas where we would love to add more trees, but we’ve maxed out our electric power in the vicinity and don’t want to risk blowing a circuit.</p> Why are certain gardens not open during the event? </strong></p> While we’d love to open the entire property for Blossoms of Light, there are some realities of operating a night-time event in a snowy city that we must accept. Certain pathways are difficult to keep clear of snow, ice and water. We also consider how wide a path is and whether or not it is paved. Welcoming thousands of guests each night can cause crowding on narrow pathways, and unpaved paths would get messy very quickly!</p> Blossoms of Light is open every night through Jan. 3, 2020. Advance purchases are highly recommended to get the best price and to ensure admittance on your desired date. </strong></p> Get your tickets today!</a></p>
