Author: Kim Snowdon
-
Year-round gardening: Take water-saving steps when designing your Colorado garden
“When the well is dry, we’ll know the worth of water.” — Benjamin Franklin Beautiful, water-saving gardens are intentional, using principles of waterwise landscaping when it comes to planning and designing for water conservation, beauty and function. The most effective garden plans include consideration of plant selection and placement, use of the space, and maintenance.…
-
Year-round gardening: Extra space in your Colorado garden? There’s so many great ways to fill it
“Gardens are the result of a collaboration between art and nature.” – Penelope Hobhouse All too often homeowners believe that any uncultivated space in their garden will best be used as turf. There is an idea that installing a lawn is easy, but lawns require a lot of maintenance, water and fertilizer, and they have…
-
Year-round gardening: Mulch is ideal way to reduce watering, enrich soil and suppress weeds
My garden sure wood be nothing without mulch! Like choosing the right plant for the right place, mulch should match the conditions and plants growing in your garden. Mulch can be plant-based: compost, shredded bark, wood chips, and dried leaves or grass clippings. Mulch can even be living. Or it can be inorganic (pea gravel).…
-
Year-Round Gardening: Growing and caring for amaryllis
As the holidays approach and we put our gardens to bed for the season, we can bring color to our indoor spaces with flowering bulbs. The exotic and showy blooms of amaryllis are just the thing! Amaryllis are easy to grow and make lovely gifts; available as bare or potted bulbs, hybrid varieties come in…
-
Year-round gardening: Improve your Colorado soil with compost
“Never plant without a bucket of compost at your side.” — Elsa Bakalar, Garden Designer, 1919-2010 One way to improve garden soil is by incorporating compost. According to the Oxford dictionary, compost is “decayed organic material used as a plant fertilizer or used as a growing medium.” It’s also a verb, meaning “to make (vegetable…
-
Year-round gardening: Now’s the time to divide irises
Iris are deer resistant, drought tolerant, have showy blooms that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and are lovely as cut flowers. Late summer is a great time to divide iris clumps. Ideally, plan to divide the clumps at least four to six weeks before the first hard freeze to allow the replanted iris to establish before…
-
Year-round gardening: Growing and harvesting herbs in Colorado
If you have herbs in your garden, it’s harvest time! Herbs have ornamental value, contributing color, texture, scent and sometimes flowers, and they are often grown for culinary use, enhancing the flavor of food. In addition to their culinary value, the flowers of herbs like thyme attract beneficial pollinators. Herbs grow well in containers on…
-
Year-round gardening: June checklist for Colorado gardeners
June is Colorado Pollinator Month, so it’s a great time to think about ways to add pollinator habitat to your garden. Planting native species is one way to encourage native bees and butterflies to visit. Think about varieties that help every stage of a pollinator’s life cycle. While recent rains have provided much-needed moisture to…
-
Year-round gardening: Planning a shade garden in Colorado
During the summer, shady places become a welcome refuge in gardens. Colorado is known for sunshine, but shade in gardens can be found under trees and shrubs. Selecting plants that tolerate dry shade conditions can be challenging since many found at nurseries require ample moisture. The amount of shade, defined by hours of direct sunlight,…
-
Year-round gardening: Tasks to prepare for spring
One day it’s warm and sunny, and the next it’s snowing. Such is gardening in Colorado. But there are signs of spring, so it’s time to tackle some tasks. Raking leaves and debris from the lawn allows light and air into the soil, encouraging growth. April is an ideal month to have a lawn aerated,…