Gardening After Five: Growing your own (vegetables)

When asked why they’d rather grow their food when vegetables are cheap and plentiful at the store, all gardeners can do is shrug, smile knowingly, and offer a garden-fresh carrot for the questioner to chew on.  Two bites into that crisp, sweet root and the answer is clear: “because it tastes better.”
Growing your own means [...]

Think your sweetie doesn’t want Valentine’s flowers? Think again

My spouse tells me I’m a difficult person to give flowers to because I spend every day immersed in plants.  My job has me talking about blooms daily, poring over everything from design to growing and troubleshooting them.

Though I itch to tell him it’s not wall-to-wall beauty – they’re often diseased or bug-riddled – I [...]

Gardening After Five: Cluster flies are an aggravating, but harmless winter guest

T he tell-tale drone of their wings is enough to make the calmest person pick up a swatter and flail about.  As they aimlessly spiral past your face, you lash out, ending up knocking yourself silly instead of taking out the bug.  If the flitting as your sitting is making you buggy, you might have [...]

Gardening After Five: Snow molds won’t permanently hurt lawn

I f you think cleaning out the refrigerator is a scary task, wait until you see what waits for you out under the snow. Months after the first big dump, the white stuff continues to linger on the lawn, especially in shady, north-facing areas.
As a result, many Front Range lawns might see gray snow mold [...]

Top gardening stories of 2009

W hat a year 2009 was for gardening. The too-dry spring was merely an overture to a season of wild weather that had us ducking hailstones, celebrating rain and growing great greens. Before launching into another season of planting, here’s a quick look at some of the top stories in gardening for 2009:
5. Denver Botanic [...]

Gardening After Five: Ancient roots of holiday traditions

This close to so many holiday celebrations, a gardener can’t help but notice how many plants are part of our traditions. Evergreens seem particular favorites; their roots in decking the halls go far back to ancient times.
History credits Martin Luther in the early 1500s with the first Christmas tree. Walking through the frosty forest one [...]