The Gardens on Spring Creek

The Gardens on Spring Creek is honored to be a recipient of a recent OtterCares Foundation grant award totaling $19,523 in support of our established Project Hort and new Junior Hort Programs ! These two teen educational initiatives are an essential part of growing the future of horticulture and environmentalism in our community , and we thank OtterCares for providing foundational support to help this program expand!   Started in 2022, Project Hort is a program for teens who are passionate about gardening, plants, animals, and the environment. Th is summer -long volunteer and stewardship program combine s service learning, community building, and horticulture education.   In the first two year s of Project Hort , 35 dedicated student s volunteered over 5,000 hours , completing projects focused on building new gardens, facili t ating education around plants and mental health, assembling garden exploration backpacks, and organizing our Garden Animal Fest.   For

Harvesting Your Own Christmas Tree By Jessica Clarke, Horticulturist It’s the holidays, and no matter what you celebrate this time of year, seeing the trees glowing around town brings warm cozy feelings during this dark season . To bring that feeling home , m any people have been going back to the traditional live tree and even going so far as cutting down their own tree. Fortunately for the adventurous type in Colorado , there is easy access if you want to harvest your own Christmas tree . With a permit through the local Forest Service , individuals are allowed to harvest a tree on Forest Service land .   H ere a re a couple of factors you will want to consider: Even though most of us in Colorado live at or above 5,000 feet in elevation you will still have to go higher up in elevation to use your permit . This elevation in the wintertime will be cold and , h opefully , have a good snowpack. Be prepared for winter driving , the roads can be snow-packed, icy, and someti