by CONPS SD | Mar 25, 2023 | CoNPS Blog
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...
by CONPS SD | Feb 3, 2023 | CoNPS Blog
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...
by CONPS SD | Jan 24, 2023 | CoNPS Blog
You’ve been yearning to design a garden, yard, or meadow space but can’t seem to get a grip on which plants to include or how to design the site. Or maybe you’re in the middle of planning one of those spaces but myriad choices have you frozen with indecision. Help has...
by CONPS SD | Nov 9, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
Pasqueflowers, Pulsatilla nuttalliana, are among the first natives to bloom in spring, providing rest and food for the earliest native bees. More about early bloomers. Well! Here we are again! When the winds of spring came and blew the doors open, we were outside in a...
by CONPS SD | Aug 24, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
The first Annual Native Plant Summit, led by the Colorado Native Plant Society and the Colorado Springs Horticulture Department, took place in Colorado Springs on Saturday, August 20 at the the city’s Horticulture Headquarters. It was a both a sold-out event and a day...
by CONPS SD | Aug 18, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
Let’s touch on a prickly kind of subject. Know your thistles before you kill them! When I was a young kid, I clearly remember my beloved Welsh pony eating thistle heads while I was riding him. From my vantage point I could see his soft lips stretch away from his teeth...
by CONPS SD | Jun 5, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
All orchids, including this Colorado native orchid, Coralroot, Corrallorhiza maculata, are completely dependent on mycorrhizal fungi to begin their life cycle and and this reliance continues to varying degrees throughout their life. Photo credit: SPD Unseen, unheard,...
by CONPS SD | Apr 14, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
Purple partners: Pulsatilla nuttalliana, commonly known as Pasqueflowers. Often found in colonies one of the first showy blooms in spring. The first flowers of the year always bring a boost of exhileration, don’t they? And when spring comes to Joder Ranch lucky...
by CONPS SD | Apr 1, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
The leaves of Gambel oak are pinnately lobed at least halfway to the midrib, and are rounded. The lower leaf surface has stellate hairs, with five or fewer arms. Fall colors are vibrant! It’s no gamble at all with the Gambel oak, Quercus gambelii, which is Colorado’s...
by CONPS SD | Feb 24, 2022 | CoNPS Blog
A multitude of insects will be feeding on this native plant, Yucca glauca, in spring, just in time for the Western Meadowlark to feed them to its nest of chicks. The majority of songbird babies must have a high-protein, easily eaten, and digestible diet of insects. ...
