Serviceberry flowers have distinctive long narrow petals and clustered in racemes, leaves are oblong to rounded, with teeth mostly at tip. Late May is a special time of year for many of us. It’s the beginning of the gardening season, and a good time to have outdoor...
On a summer hike in a burn area, people point to pink-purple understory patches and ask, “What’s that?” After a fire, this native perennial re-carpets our land in striking stands. Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, was one of the top-producing plants re-colonizing...
Conservation is fun! Residents celebrate progress by holding Pollinator puppet parade at Manitou Springs’ Pollinator Party. Photo by Amy Yarger Pollinators play a critical role in the food supply for wildlife and people, making pollinators keystone species in most...
Yes, you can plant natives in containers! You can attract birds, butterflies, and native bees with them, too. And as you build your container garden you will also be contributing to the corridors of connectivity that environmentalists are trying to encourage...
The year 2023 did not always carry good news, but one star always shone brightly for me, and that was the activity of the Colorado Native Plant Society. Throughout our beautiful state there were opportunities to hike, to learn, to write, to gather seeds, and to help...
Flowers on willow trees are usually dioecious, or with female flowers on one tree and male flowers on others. The male flowers as pictured here can be quite colorful. In our snowy and variable spring this year the bright yellow and orange colors of willow twigs were...
When talking about native plants for landscaping or restoration we normally think of colorful flowers that can grow well out in the sun in dry landscapes. But ecologists learned long ago that diversity and ecological function in most places is tied to a diversity of...
By Paul Alaback, Professor Emeritus of Ecology, University of Montana How can early spring wildflowers produce seeds when it is so cold and pollinators are scarce? I have been following the parade of flowers that emerge each spring for many years. It is usually quite...
This time of year exploring around our grasslands and forests you can see many interesting things relating to native plants even before the official growing season starts. For example the other day I saw these galls on a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) that are called...
This article is re-printed here from The Bog Blogger, with the kind permission of Grant McKown, author, and Sarah Dodgin, blog owner. Great photos all by Mr. Mckown. My crew and I were expecting a nice graminoid meadow – one that had been flooded early on in the...
