The Gardens on Spring Creek

  Malachite butterflies on Tropical Hydrangea blooms What’s Blooming:   Tropical Hydrangea by Kelly Kellow, Horticulturist, Gardens on Spring Creek When the snow comes to The Gardens, outside plants are in their winter slumber.   But, in the Butterfly House you can find plants that are in full bloom, making it a sweet, summer-like oasis.   There is one special specimen in the flight house that is blooming just in time to chase the winter chills away.   Its giant, light pink spheres hang from the tree like shooting stars that smell like buttery cake batter – a true delight during the cold winter months!   Dombeya x walichii (DOM-bay-ya) or Tropical Hydrangea is in the Malvacea family and has large pendulous umbels of light pink flowers and large bright green leaves that have short hairs, giving them a velvety soft texture.   It is native to East Africa and Madagascar and does not handle temperatures cooler than 30 degrees Fahrenheit, making it...

What a year 2020 has proven to be. From bringing the Spring Plant Sale and education classes online, to reimagining community events like Urban Homestead Tour, Pumpkins on Parade and Garden of Lights, everyone involved in the organization has made extraordinary adjustments to provide our Members and guests with the world-class visitor experience you have come to know and love—whether in-person or online.  As The Gardens’ non-profit partner, 2020 has also been one of tremendous change for Friends of The Gardens. With your help, we made an initial investment of $25,000 to Gardens for All, developed our own website ( friendsgosc.org ), hosted more Member Mornings than ever before and created the very popular dinner and music experience called Date Night at The Gardens.  It has required a enormous amount of work and pivoting to meet COVID-19 guidelines. And despite our best efforts, the pandemic has left its mark on our organization, just like everyone else. Between revenue shortf...

Gardens on Spring Creek Visitor Center  Achieves LEED Gold ®   Certification Through the collaboration numerous industry leaders, the City of Fort Collins Gardens on Spring Creek has achieved LEED Gold ®  certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for The Gardens’ Visitor Center expansion. The building was awarded the V4 ID+C: Commercial Interiors certification with 65 points.   LEED   (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world, providing a framework for healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership.   “It was a pleasure to work with a creative and resourceful team of experts to achieve LEED Gold on this unique project,” said Michelle Provaznik, Director of the Gardens on Spring Creek.  “The Visitor’s Center is beautiful, functional and sustainable...

  What's Blooming:  Poinsettias by Jenna Poncelet, Gardener, Gardens on Spring Creek You may know poinsettias best as the potted houseplants that pop up for sale around Christmastime, but have you ever wondered how they became a holiday tradition? Poinsettias were first introduced to the U.S. as a holiday plant by a minister and botanist named Joel Roberts Poinsett, who found them on a visit to their native range in Central America. The tradition of displaying the beautiful bright green and red plants comes from a Mexican Christmas legend. The story goes that a young girl wanted to give a gift to her church on Christmas Eve, but had no money to spend. Instead, she picked green plants that she thought to be weeds and laid them in front of a nativity scene. Overnight the green “weeds” transformed into beautiful red flowers, which was treated as a Christmas miracle. We now display the colorful plants all holiday season long as a show of festivity.  Unfortunately, the ...

  Preparing for the First Freeze by The Gardens on Spring Creek Horticulture Team From the high 90s to below freezing in one week, Colorado weather always keeps gardeners on their toes.   Here are some tips from the horticulture team at The Gardens on Spring Creek on how to prepare your garden for the first freeze of the season. Check Your Zone:   As you look to the forecast and decide what plants to protect, check what plants have been matched to your site in terms of hardiness. The Gardens on Spring Creek sit at a USDA Hardiness Zone 5b, but you might be in a different zone or microclimate.   Established perennials, grasses, trees and shrubs that are appropriately hardy will withstand a freeze.   They may lose their leaves or go dormant, but you should have to be concerned about plant loss. Water Well:   For newer perennial plantings, be sure to water your plants well the day before an expected freeze.   Cold stress and drought stress damage...

  Liatris pycnostachya  (purple bloom) , Pycnanthemum muticum (upper right foliage) , Symphyotrichum laterflorus (dark purple foliage in foreground) What’s Blooming in August:   The Prairie Garden by Bryan Fischer, Horticulturist, The Gardens on Spring Creek   While the “dog days” of summer represent a quiet time in many gardens in our region, emblemized by plants that brown-out or resort to a scorched, stupor-like state of semi-dormancy, these hot days usher in the fashionably-late arrival for the  bloom  of many prairie natives. Thriving off warm nights, which take longer to arrive here on the Front Range than in much of the Midwest due to our elevation, the residents of our Prairie Garden have finally made their gaudy entrance onto the scene.  Guara lindheimer  and Artemisia frigida Perhaps the first arrival this year from the late season bloomers in the Prairie Garden,  Oenothera (Gaura)  lindheimer  (commonly called...

Newly replanted Green Roof Shelter in Children's Garden What's Blooming in July: Greenroof Shelter by Josh Cornell, Horticulturist, The Gardens on Spring Creek   During the summer of 2019, the Green Roof Shelter in the Children’s Garden underwent a much-needed renovation. With new waterproof underlayment, as well as a new soil retention system and redesigned irrigation, it was all set for a new plant palate. A garden space mimicking the ecosystem of a shortgrass prairie is replacing the sedums that had taken over from the previous planting. These plants often deal with the some of the same challenges in their natural settings as they will on the green roof – including shallow soil depth and fluctuating seasonal extremes in temperature. Blue gramma ( Bouteloua gracilis ) Based on a shortgrass prairie, one would obviously expect to see...grasses. On our green roof you will find blue gramma ( Bouteloua gracilis ), sideoats gramma ( Bouteloua curtipendula), sand dropseed (Spor...