Alexis Alvey, Horticulture Agent, CSU Denver Extension
I hail from the East Coast and moved to Denver last
year. By no means am I an expert yet on
Colorado native plants, but having gardened all my life, I AM an expert on
making gardening mistakes and learning how to fix them. And
during the past year, I’ve learned that there are a lot of things that can go
wrong when trying to garden in Colorado!
Like many Coloradans, in my spare time, I enjoy going up to
the mountains and going hiking or trail running. I love checking out the vegetation and the
stunning landscapes that Colorado has to offer.
And I always think, oh, wouldn’t it be so awesome if I could recreate
this in my own backyard! How nice it
would be to have wildflowers blooming in my garden like these on the trail to
Mt. Evans….
Or how relaxing it would be to create a meadow instead of
lawn like this alpine meadow near Dillon….
Or how enchanting it would be in the fall to have a grove of
aspen outside my window like these at Willow Creek Reservoir, near Granby.
And based on all the inquires we get at the
Denver Extension office, I know that I am certainly not alone in my desire to
recreate a little piece of natural Colorado in my backyard. But unfortunately, what we want, we often do
not get, especially when it comes to native plant gardening. For example, this aspen which is in the front
yard of an avid Denver gardener is nearly dead.
To learn some tips on how to garden successfully with native
plants and avoid common pitfalls, click on the link below to listen to a free,
recorded webinar I just did on this topic!
Great presentation, Alexis! I found it fascinating that when you increase in elevation 1000', it's the same as driving 600 miles...talk about diversity in plants!
ReplyDeleteNice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back to more times this year! Thanks for informative post.
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