May 16, 2023 e-News

photo: Thermopsis rhombifolia, Golden Bean, Maggie Gaddis

CoNPS Annual Native Plant Sale

Pick-up Information

Thank you for your support! Our plant sale was a huge success.

If you missed the opportunity to purchase plants, check our calendar for lots of native plant swaps!

Pickup Locations 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Plants will be available for pick up only at the site you indicated on your order. They will not be shipped.

• Boulder – Pickup June 3rd, Harlequin’s Gardens, 4795 North 26th St., Boulder, CO 80301
• Colorado Springs – Pickup June 4th, Old North End, private residence, will email address to buyers
• Denver – Pickup June 10th, Chatfield Farms, 8500 W Deer Creek Canyon Rd, Littleton, CO 80128
• Fort Collins – Pickup June 11th, Nix Native Plant Garden, 1745 Hoffman Mill Road, Fort Collins, CO 80524

photo: Berberis repens, Creeping barberry, Sue Dingwell

A Unique Native Shrub for Shade:

Creeping Barberry

Barberries give a garden yellow flowers in early spring, interesting leaves through all seasons, and berries that mature to a deep blue in fall. Read about this uniquely successful family in a post by Paul Alaback, who explains the special adaptations of our native barberry species, and reminds us that the more diversity we have in our gardens in terms of and lifeforms, the ecological value we will create in these habitats.

photo: Townsendia hookeri, Hooker’s Townsend-Daisy, Maggie Gaddis

Planning for 2023 Garden Tours

Offer your garden to be included in this year’s CoNPS Garden Tours! This is a great way to share with the public our knowledge about gardening with Colorado native plants and to support the Society. To include your garden in the 2023 CoNPS Garden Tours, please fill out this survey.

Earth Day!

In April, we served 416 children in Earth Day programming. We gave this Earth Day presentation to 6th, 7th, and 8th students at Bradford Intermediate School in the Ken Caryl Valley, Denver. Many thanks to CoNPS members Tim and Donnell Berg who facilitated this relationship. The Bergs are also grant recipients of the People and Pollinators Action Network (PPAN) Habitat Fund to support Bradford school gardens and habitat.

We also served Howbert Elementary School in Colorado Springs with our pilot youth education programming called Meet the Natives. 12 CoNPS volunteers, including nine UCCS students, made this program possible. Thank you for your efforts!

We also delivered the Meet the Natives curriculum as a six-week afterschool program at Steele Elementary School, Colorado Springs.

If you are interested in volunteering, please join the Education Committee. See the calendar below for details on our upcoming meeting.

Originally Recorded April 2023

Help Wanted!

Would you like to support the organizational structure of CoNPS? We need help with basic administrative tasks like producing this e-newsletter and helping chapter and committee leaders by producing calendar items. This work can be accomplished remotely and provides important non-profit management experience.

Get your Low-Water Guides on our website!

Upcoming Chapter Events
and
Committee Meetings

SE Chapter Field Trip- Aiken Canyon Preserve
May 19, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, botany hike
Led by Tom Green
Since 1991 the 1600-acre Aiken Canyon Preserve has been managed by the Nature Conservancy to protect a “treasure trove of plant and animal communities,” such as Pinyon-Juniper-Needlegrass and Gambel Oak-Mountain Mahogany habitats. Over 100 bird species and 300 species of plants are listed for the preserve.

TGIF with Colorado Native Plant Society at Phelan Gardens
May 19, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, volunteer event

Denver Purge the Spurge – Native Plant Give-Away
May 20, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm
Harvard Gulch Park, Denver
Denver Parks and Recreation is holding their annual “Purge Your Spurge Event” that encourages Denver residents to eliminate myrtle spurge, an invasive plant species, from their yard in exchange for native plants donated by DPR’s greenhouse.

Durango Skyline Trail Hike
May 20, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, botany hike
Led by Karen Hwang

Some of the plants to expect are Townsendia, Lupines, Balsamroot, Bluebells, Candytuft, Rockcress, Early Larkspur, Clematis, and much more, including several species of cacti on the ridge.  We will hike through a shrubby woodland of Ponderosa Pine and Gambel’s Oak, then enjoy a cool Douglas Fir forest, a small grove of White Fir, and then pinyon-juniper habitat on the sunny, sandy ridge top.

Horticulture Committee
May 22, 8:00 am – 9:00 am, zoom meeting
This month’s agenda:
1. plant sale pick-up volunteers needed
2. garden tour recruitment
3. summer tabling opportunities

Tour of Houston Gardens in Greeley
May 22, 11:30am-2:00pm
Led by Ann Grant and Suzi Muttei of Front Range WildOnes
Houston Gardens, Greeley
Join us for a tour of Houston Gardens in Greeley.  Billed as “Greeley’s Best Kept Secret”, this community garden features five ecosystems of Colorado.

Volunteer at Harlequin’s Gardens
May 23, 10:00am – 12:00pm
Hosted by Harlequin’s Gardens
Help us prepare for the June plant sale pick-up dates!

Enchanted Mesa Wildflower Walk
May 24, 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, botany hike
Led by Barbara Fahey
Come explore the spring wildflowers of Enchanted Mesa on a short but at times steep and rocky hike that has a diversity of wildflowers, shrubs and trees along with stunning views of the Flatirons.

SE Chapter Field Trip – Spruce Mountain Open Space
Friday, May 26, 2023, 9:00 am to noon
Led by Maggie Gaddis
Spruce Mountain Open Space, Larkspur
We should see Prairie Pasqueflower, Pulsatilla nuttalliana, and Rocky Mountain Spring Beauty, Claytonia rosea.  Anyone who wants a longer and more strenuous hike can take the Eagle Pass Trail/Service Road to the top where you may find Larkspur, Delphinium nuttallianum. Blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia parviflora and Slender Phlox, Microsteris gracilis.

Joder Jaunt
May 31, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, botany hike
Led by Pat Butler and Lynn Riedel
Late afternoon stroll on the west side of the city’s Joder Ranch Habitat Conservation Area to see what’s blooming – always something interesting in a relatively short (1.5 mile) distance.

Everyone is invited, regardless of chapter affiliation.