Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

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Groundcovers

Natives We Often Have for Sale

These are native plants that we often have for sale. Availability does change every year, but we grow and buy a wide variety of natives because they are so successful in our gardens.

KEY: t = tree, s = shrub, v = vine, gr = grass, gc = ground cover, p = perennial,

b = biennial, a = annual

Abronia fragrans (Sand Verbena) (p)

Acer glabrum (Rocky Mt. Maple) (t)

Acer grandidentatum (Bigtooth Maple) (t)

Achillea lanulosa (Native White Yarrow) (p)

Agastache cana (Hummingbird Mint) (p)

Agave parryi (Hardy Century Plant) (s)[Read More]

2011 Plant Select Winners

Plant Select is a 25 year old cooperative program combining the efforts of Denver Botanic Garden, Colorado State University and some members of the local green industry. Their intention is to chose, propagate and promote plants that are well-adapted to Colorado conditions, colorful and are either little known or underutilized. The 2011 choices are a particularly excellent group.[Read More]

Testing Xeriscape Groundcovers

TESTING XERISCAPE GROUNDCOVERS TO REPLACE LAWN AREAS

Whether this turns out to be a drought year or not, the idea of conserving water is probably as vital to our future as educating our children. As long as the human population grows, the demand on our water reserves will continue to rise, forcing eventual water-rationing even if the supply stays the same. And as we have seen this year, we can’t count on a bountiful supply from the heavens. Ten years ago these ideas, and the fact that my own water source is a very low-producing well, got me to thinking about how much water we use in Colorado to water our lawns. We know that xeriscape plants use less water than bluegrass, so why couldn’t we use large areas of certain low-water plants to replace lawn, which could greatly reduce the demand on our valuable water? In order to test a variety of xeriscape plants that might function as replacements for Kentucky Bluegrass, I built a 104′ x 6′ demonstration garden which will be on the 2002 Xeriscape Garden Tour, taking place in Boulder June 29th and 30th.[Read More]

What’s Blooming in July?

Many gardeners think of Spring as the height of the ornamental gardening
season. Sure, so many of our best-known flowering plants – Tulip,
Crocus, Daffodil, Primrose, Peony, Lilac, Forsythia, Oriental Poppy,
Basket of Gold, Bearded Iris, are at their showiest in spring. But as we
pass to the other side of the Summer Solstice, a whole new palette of
blooms arises, including many Natives, lots of Prairie-dwellers and
Steppe plants, and hardy plants from South of the Border, bringing bold
color and attracting more and different beneficial insects and
pollinators to the garden. Here’s a list of many of those flowers to
inspire you![Read More]

Flood Recovery for the Garden

Flood recovery is not a problem most of us have had to deal with before so we can only try to solve the problems individually and make adjustments in the future.

The main problems seem to be:

1) Soil washed away-erosion

2) Soil dumped on top of plants, trees and existing soil

3) Plants washed away

4) Weed seeds deposited on the soil 5) manure and sewage and unknown contaminants deposited on the land[Read More]

Will The New Lawn Be a Meadow?

I used to be prejudiced against grasses because I associated grasses with the American monoculture of Kentucky Bluegrass that we all know as “the lawn”. But after testing many kinds of xeriscape plants for over 20 years I finally realized that most sustainable ecosystems have grasses mixed with the other plants. And I also came to appreciate that grasses are strongly self-replicating and that they can be more easily grown from seed than most perennials, so that installation and maintenance costs could be much less. I still think low-water shrubs and Colorado-adapted perennials have an essential place in a sustainable landscape, but I have been wondering how grasses could fit in. Of course Piet Oudolf and Kurt Bluemel have shown the potential for using grasses in a garden, but their examples look well watered and seem like they would be high maintenance. The prairie model so successful in Wisconsin and the Midwest focuses on tall-grass prairie that is out of place here, and so I have been wondering how grasses could be used in a Colorado-sustainable landscape.[Read More]

Fine-Textured Plants for the Rocky Mountain Region

As gardeners mature, we begin to loosen our fixation on flowers and learn to see and appreciate other aspects of plants that can be equally beautiful and enjoyable. Besides foliage color and sculptural form, texture is one of the important aesthetic elements in a garden.

Fine-textured plants can move with the breezes, glow when backlit and express gentleness and a delicate grace which is appreciated here in the rugged west. At the same time, fine leaves can be an aid to drought and heat tolerance.[Read More]

Groundcovers Project in its 18th Year

In 1993 I sent a survey to 29 local horticulturists to get their suggestions on the best groundcovers for a demonstration project we were planning at Harlequin’s Gardens. I asked them to list 5-10 groundcovers that could be used to replace bluegrass in low traffic areas, that would need a quarter to a half the water of bluegrass, have few pests and diseases, would grow densely to limit weeds, would look good in most seasons and would not be invasive in gardens. The survey was typed on a typewriter and most of the replies were hand-written. People did drive cars back then. But that was a long time ago and I had a lot to learn.[Read More]

Hardy Geraniums

Hardy Geraniums are one of most versatile an adaptable perennials for our area. Available in many colors and habits, they can be useful in sun and shade, moist and dry, as a single specimen, as companion plants and as ground covers. These are not to be confused with the Pelargoniums which are the house plant, container and bedding plant “geraniums” which are not hardy outdoor plants in Colorado. The name “geranium” is derived from a Greek word meaning little crane, hens the common name “cranesbill” which refers to the appearance of the seed heads. The majority of the species of geraniums are native to the northern and mountain regions of Eurasia and North and South America although some are found in South Africa, India, Indonesia etc. Most grow in grasslands, meadows, roadsides and open woodlands. Therefore the natural habitat for most hardy geraniums seems to be sunny and moist or part-shade and moist or dry.[Read More]

Heat-Tolerant Plants

Most of our native plains plants and shrubs including:

Sumacs
Penstemons
Rabbitbrushes
Desert Four O’Clock
Saltbrush
Heterotheca
Artemisias (Sages)
Thelesperma
Gambel Oak
Sulfur Flower (Eriogonums)[Read More]

Lavandula – The Lavenders

Lavenders are great xeriscape perennials for Colorado, which bloom in the heat and dry of July and August. They are native to the rocky hillsides of the Mediterranean region. Here as well, they like good drainage, full sun, our alkaline soil and dry, loamy humus. Lavenders are aromatic herbs with gray foliage, the leaves as well as the flowers being strongly fragrant.[Read More]

Lawn Alternatives and Groundcovers

In our American communities, one of the responsibilities of home-ownership is to keep the ground covered. Bare earth, like weeds, indicates lack of care. So then, how do we cover the ground? The cheapest, fastest, and easiest way is to roll out bluegrass sod. “Instant” landscapes can be accomplished with a supervised construction crew that knows little about plants. And as long as water was plentiful, bluegrass was the unquestioned solution.[Read More]

Plants for Bees and other Pollinators

“You can join the fight to save the honeybees by planting a pollinator-supporting garden.” This is a recommendation made by a Penn. State Master Gardener program. Is this weird? Not at all. The European Parliament has approved creating bee “recovery zones” across the Continent. These recovery zones will provide bees with nectar and pollen in areas that are free from pesticides. Why is it a big deal that honeybee populations around the world are declining? One reason is that one third of the human diet comes from plants that are pollinated by honeybees. Another reason is that honeybees may be the “canary in the coal mine”; just the first to show that there is a problem that hasn’t yet surfaced in other pollinators and other beings.[Read More]