Author: Fredricka Bogardus
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Year-Round Gardening: Holiday gift ideas for the gardener on your list
While you are shopping for the holidays, don’t forget to check out our six locally owned and operated garden centers in Colorado Springs. While all of these stores are great sources of quality garden tools and supplies, they also have many really interesting unusual gift options. If you can’t decide, consider a gift certificate. I…
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Year-round gardening: Winter sowing in gallon jugs
Winter sowing is a great way to get a head start on summer flowers and even some vegetables. Using gallon-size plastic jugs, you can create just the right conditions for seeds to germinate and start growing. The process works best for seeds that require a chill period and are frost tolerant during the germination process.…
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Year-round gardening: Bring back the flowers, forcing bulbs indoors
We are approaching the Persephone period, when daylight is less than 10 hours. This is the time when outdoor growth is dramatically halted, even if temperatures remain hight. Greek legend says that Persephone, the Goddess of Harvest, is lured to the underworld during this time of the year. If you want flowers, they must be…
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Year-round gardening: Colorado roses require extra care before winter
As the winter begins, roses need extra care to get them ready for winter. Hybrid tea roses are most often grafted woody shrubs. Ornamental rose varieties might be grafted on to a hardier rootstock for more winter resilience. There are also hybrid teas that are on their own roots, so it is important to determine…
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Year-round gardening:
“One daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is too few.” — William Wordsworth Nothing says spring like crocus and daffodils. Early blooms poking up through the snow are welcome, not just for gardeners but also for hungry pollinators emerging from nests as the days lengthen and the air warms. Planting bulbs in autumn…
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Year-round gardening: Now’s a good time to divide herbaceous perennials
Late summer to mid-September is a good time to divide perennial plants that may have overgrown. And you can get some plants to fill in your garden or share with fellow gardeners. Cooler weather in fall makes it easier for these plants to recover from being dug up and cut up. Small divisions that are…
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Year-round gardening: Gambel oak trees offer rewards and challenges
If you live in the foothills, you probably have Gambel oak, aka scrub oak (Quercus gambelii), in your landscape. This native tree has some great attributes and some big management challenges. Good qualities of this tree is that it is native, drought-tolerant, resilient and provides shelter and food for wildlife, including larval food for butterflies.…
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Year-round gardening: Be on lookout for noxious weeds
July is the month that weeds seem to be everywhere. When you are considering weed control priorities, pay attention to those weeds designated as noxious in El Paso County. The term noxious weed is a legal term used to define those weeds that cause economic and/or environmental damage. They are associated with regulatory controls. Homeowners…
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Year-round gardening: Evaluating tree damage; when to remove a tree
2022 has been a tough year so far for trees. Starting with a January windstorm that upended trees all over town, followed by months of drought and dry winds, trees were stressed. The culminating event was heavy snows and late freezes the third weekend in May. Many trees suffered broken limbs in the storm. It…
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Year-round gardening: Look for climate resiliency when replacing trees
During the devastating windstorm in December, many trees were lost. Large evergreens were uprooted or simply split into pieces by the wind gusts. When thinking about replacing these trees, it is a good idea to consider the climate resiliency of the new trees. Trees are a long-term investment — they may live up to a…