Blog

Baxter & Jones – NEW!

Their name may lead you to believe that they are a law firm. But to the contrary, Dana Jones and Amy Baxter are two Niwot moms who began sewing face masks at the onset of the pandemic and found they enjoyed working with fabric so much that they kept going, making charming, retro-styled all-cotton aprons (for grown-ups and kids), tea towels, placemats, and napkins. Amy and Dana use soft, absorbent cotton flour-sack material for their casual towels and tableware, and source their accent fabrics from local independent shops.

Gifts for Foodies and other eaters

The Front Range is a hotbed of innovation and passion for quality food with real flavor and real nutritional value. Whether it’s the micro-brews, coffee, chocolate, heirloom vegetables, pasture-raised meats, or ancient grains, or the gluten-free, paleo, keto, or vegan diet, Front Range Coloradans have shown great support and enthusiasm for slow, locally-grown, organic, fair-trade and creative, locally hand-crafted foods.

You can pick up a mouth-full or a basket-full of some of our favorite locally crafted specialty foods this month at our Holiday Gift Market all of them will easily keep through the holidays and beyond. [Read More]

Cathy Abelsonn Garlic Keepers

Cathy is a nationally exhibited potter making stoneware functional ceramics. She has been a Boulder resident forever. Most of her work gets shipped out, but she was able to spare us a few of her perfect garlic keepers!

Courtland Hacker Woodturning – NEW!

We met Courtland at a Loveland art fair this summer, where his work was drawing crowds. When we got close enough to see, the reason was obvious – displays of beautiful turned wood urns, bowls and trays in elegant shapes. Courtland’s favorite woods to work with are burls and other ‘figured’ woods – spalted, birdseye, etc., which lend fascinating pattern and color variation.

We chose a collection of maple burl pieces, and a group of more casual cottonwood bowls and trays. All bowls and trays have food-safe finishes.

Coy Ink Postcards

Inspired by Colorado’s wildlife and the outdoors, Amanda Maldonado makes delightful drawings of local animals in pen and ink. This year, we’re selling postcards and prints of these fun, hand-illustrated critters, and her brilliant, NEW Watercolor Postcard Kits!

This kit has everything you need to color in some fun barn animal postcards using watercolor! Watercolor allows you to blend and customize the color you want on the paper more easily than markers, crayons, and coloring pencils. The kit includes 5 postcards, a palette of 6 watercolors, and a free water brush pen. Amanda has hand-made her own luscious watercolor paints from locally collected plant materials!

Diane’s Temari – Harlequin’s Exclusive

Our customer and friend Diane Patterson makes these wonderful ornaments, called Temari, which date back to ancient Japan, where Temari was originally a handcraft of upper class women. Intricate designs were embroidered on handmade balls using silk threads from kimonos. The balls were used as toys.

Temari are unique, beautiful, colorful gifts. Attractive hanging as a single ornament, grouped in a bowl, used in a centerpiece, given as a housewarming gift, or simply to hold and admire, they will be treasured for many years.

Declining Daffodils

Have you noticed that your daffodils and narcissus have been struggling and lost their vigor? Here are several possible reasons why and ways to address reviving them.

FERTILIZER ISSUES

As with perennials, many flowering bulbs do best with fertilizing when planted, as their leaves emerge, and as they bloom, with a slow-release organic fertilizer such as Root Rally, from Age Old. [Read More]

Dilia Salvador monoprint cards – NEW!

In the same nature-inspired spirit that imbues her jewelry and scarves, Dilia has created one-of-a-kind, original, monoprinted cards. They are blank inside, awaiting your own greeting. Or you can frame them as works of art!

Heather Borden Ceramic Plants

Heather Borden brought us her ceramic plants – flower bouquets in vases and succulent rosettes crafted in great detail from clay.

Photo coming soon!

Bee Boulder Festival 2021

September has been designated Pollinator Appreciation Month, and Harlequin’s Gardens will be participating in the Bee Boulder Festival this Saturday from 10:00am to 2:00pm in Central Park, 1236 Canyon Blvd, Boulder.

The focus of this family event is on appreciation of pollinators and education about who they are, what amazing things they do, what they need, and how we can help and protect them. Bring the kids for activities that combine education, fun and prizes! [Read More]

Bulb Tips from Eve

Species Crocus are the earliest Crocus to flower, at least two weeks before their Large Flowering siblings, and are the best for early spring lawn tapestries: hold off mowing the lawn until the foliage has died back. Drifts are also lovely in garden borders and rock gardens. Plant 4” deep and 3- 4” apart, about nine bulbs per square foot for a dense planting. (Crocus are also good for forcing indoors over the winter. Pot them up in mid-October and pre-cool them at a consistent, dark 38 to 45 degrees F for eight to ten weeks with moderate watering. Bring them into the house ~ they will bloom about four weeks later.)

Narcissus (Daffodil) Culture

Narcissus are easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best in organically rich, sandy to loams that drain well. Plant bulbs 4-6″ deep and 3-6” apart in fall. After the flowers have bloomed, the top portion of each flower stem may be removed, as practicable, to prevent seed formation, but foliage should not be cut back until it begins to yellow.

All daffodil flowers face the sunniest direction they can locate, so if planted along a wall or with shadow at their backs, they will always face outward. With daffodils, it is a good idea to ponder which way they are going to face before selecting their position, as a grouping that faces toward sunlight through a picket fence and away from the yard might seem to have been planted backwards, their heads bowed away from the garden’s viewer.

Best known for their wonderful scent, Jonquillas are floriferous, late blooming, and extremely durable, with slightly shorter, smaller blooms that look like miniature versions of many of the larger daffodil favorites. Typically, at least three flowers are borne on each stalk. Jonquilla Daffodils like hot, baking summer sun and naturalize well, creating beautiful sweeps of color.

Allium amplectens ‘Graceful Beauty’ – SOLD OUT!

Circa 1857, this delicate-looking yet easy-growing North American native has composite 3″ globes of star-shaped, sparkling white flowers with pale lavender stamens tipped with purple anthers and sturdy stems.

Bloom time: May/June. 12″ to 16″ tall. Zone 4-8.

A Taste of some GREAT GIFT BOOKS COMING SOON!

Time to store this year’s bounty! The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest is a dependable classic source of instructions and recipes for drying, pickling, canning, and freezing the fruits of your labors. And after the garden has been put to bed for the winter, there will be time for reading! The most useful, practical, and enlightening books on gardening, nature and natural healing are on our shelves now, with more of the following titles arriving any day now! Don’t forget that one of the benefits of being a Harlequin’s Gardens Member is a 25% discount on all books, all season long! [Read More]

Boulder County’s First Botanic Garden!

In mid-August, Mikl and Eve had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful, newly created and planted Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens in central Lyons, CO. Envisioned and designed by herbalist, botanist, and educator Garima Fairfax (a beloved former Harlequin’s staffer!) and brought to fruition with a team of dedicated volunteers and grant money, the non-profit botanic garden is a delightful and educational display of native annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines, and trees. It is easily accessed along popular walking and cycling trails. [Read More]

Our Fall Sale is in Full Swing

We’ve been in high-gear this season, propagating more plants and stocking more soil products than ever so we wouldn’t be vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and extreme weather events. So now we have a wonderful selection, and most of them are on sale!

In our experience, fall is the most successful time establish most plants, especially when mycorrhizae are applied to the roots during planting (and we’re well stocked with soluble mycorrhizae, too!).

We have increased the discount on our 2021 seeds to 60% off! [Read More]

Pollinator Pathways: Rewilding Boulder Landscapes

We’re excited that the City of Boulder is gathering feedback from the community about how we use our yards, preferences for landscaping and interest in a citywide effort to create pollinator habitat patches and pathways. Pollinator pathways connect safe, pesticide-free native plant patches of habitat for bees, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife to provide food and nesting sites. Native pollinators are vital to our ecosystems and pathways support pollinator populations, as well as safe passage for movement across the city.

[Read More]

All about Basil

Basil is one of the great culinary pleasures of summer, and it’s definitely NOT TOO LATE to plant Basil and enjoy a good crop! Basil plants are beautiful, grow equally well in the ground or in pots, thrive in hot weather, provide a continuous, bounteous crop, and Basil’s many different flavors are essential to a variety of distinctive cuisines. It can be used fresh, dried, or frozen in oil or as pesto. Though basil leaves lose most of the aromatic oils when dried, we have still found that basil dried from your garden is so much more flavorful than commercial dried basil.

ALL of our Basil plants are organically grown! [Read More]

New Seeds for Fall, Winter, & Early Spring Planting!

Sow Fall Crops and be ready for the 2022 growing season! We’re bringing in fresh seeds, packed for 2022, from our local Botanical Interests Seed Company, and should have them on display sometime this Thursday. Most of these seeds are certified organic.

Now is a great time to plant seeds for fall crops such as spinach, lettuce, mesclun, kale, swiss chard, arugula, mustard greens, and watermelon radish. Sow seeds this fall for mache, which will provide tasty salad greens in late winter, before the more conventional spring greens are ready. Fall sowing is also ideal for hardy, drought-tolerant annual flowers like borage, California poppies, cornflower, larkspur, love-in-a-mist, breadseed poppies, and Shirley poppies.[Read More]

Easier Online Gift Certificate Giving!

We’ve just made it much easier to purchase a Harlequin’s Gardens Gift Certificate online!

Our Gift Certificates can be purchased online year-round, and at any time of the day. You can select from 15 thematic designs, customize the amount that you would like to give, and add your own personal message.

You can then choose to send it via email immediately or on a future date, or to print it out and hand-deliver or mail it yourself. Following receipt, your recipient will be able to research their balance at any time. [Read More]

Take Part in PLASTIC FREE JULY

Eco-Cycle (Boulder County’s public recycling service) has alerted us to a world-wide challenge to stop producing plastic waste, which is causing so many problems with our environment and with Life on earth, including human health.

Started in Australia, PlasticFreeJuly.org has challenged the world. In 2020 the challenge attracted 326 million people from 177 countries. Sign up at their website to get weekly emails during July about how to participate. [Read More]

The Ups & Downs of July

First, let’s count our blessings: the cool and wet spring has been great for plant growth (and of course, weeds galore!). The profusion of wildflowers this spring has been glorious, the foothills are still green going into July, and conditions for gardening are now quite pleasant. And we will have fruit on most of our fruit trees! Don’t forget to thin them to keep branches and trunks from breaking.

Colorado is well known for surprising weather events, but this year has been exceptional and, in some cases, record-breaking. [Read More]

Woody Plant Die-back and Pruning

October 2020 went from record high temperatures in the 80s to record lows, 19 degrees by October 25. May 2021 also made some shocking temperature changes. These rapid and dramatic changes can cause woody plants to die back, lose branches or die completely.

Mikl has been waiting and waiting before pruning this spring, because sometimes our woody plants can leaf out very late. Here is a way to tell when to prune: [Read More]

Spring Unfolding

The procession of spring flowering continues to unfold and is heading toward a glorious crescendo! It has been so exciting to witness the constant shifting of focus in the garden from one species or group of plants to the next. Hellebore, Daphne, Creeping Phlox, Golden Currant, and fruit trees, along with Crocus, Tulip, Narcissus, and other early bulbs give way to the first Penstemons, Basket-of-Gold, Catmint, Filigree Daisy, Sunrose, Evening Primrose, Blue Flax, hardy Geranium, and the dance goes on through the season! (Pictured left, Eve’s garden the week of May 24.)[Read More]

Q: Can I plant now?

A: It depends!

Yay! For those of us gardening at about a mile high, the threat of frost is nearly gone! If you’re planting hardy perennials, shrubs, vines, grasses or trees, you’re good to go now (as long as your soil isn’t too wet to work), and we have a remarkable selection! Our stock of seeds and starts for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, summer & winter squash, melons, pumpkins, and watermelons are excellent. We also have plenty of seeds for beans – bush, pole, runner, and dry. A hint about bean seeds: white-seeded beans are more tolerant of cool soils, so they can be planted sooner. [Read More]

Our Best Selection of Plants for the 2021 Season is Here Now!

Our best selection of plants for the 2021 season is here now! Our selection of plants for shade and part shade has never been better, including Hosta (many kinds!), Ferns (5 kinds!), Bergenia, Hellebore, Foxglove, Geranium (many), Coral Bells (many), Monkshood, Persicaria, Pulmonaria, Golden Wood Poppy and Clematis (lots!), and some new selections, like Solomon’s Seal (2 kinds)!

[Read More]

Self-sowing Hardy Annuals

Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’

Some customers wonder why we are selling starts of self-sowing hardy annuals like Larkspur, Rocky Mt. Beeplant, California Poppy, Peony-flowered Poppy, Pheasant’s Eye, Sweet Alyssum, Nodding Dragonshead, Bee’s Friend, and Desert Bluebell. Shouldn’t they be grown from seed sown directly in the garden? The answer is Yes, they certainly can be, and if you find a source for the seeds and sow them at the optimal time, usually in the fall, you can get great results. But some gardeners report having little or no success with direct sowing: their timing is off, the seeds are watered in and then dry up and are no longer viable, critters eat the seeds, etc. [Read More]

May Day Plant Sale 2021!

Don’t Miss our May Day Plant Sale and Celebration!

Historically, May Day is a festival of spring and flowers; an old-fashioned holiday that has been celebrated for many centuries, although it isn’t commonly celebrated any more in the modern US. This earth-based celebration is inspired by gratitude for fertility and set at a time when seeds sprout, plants begin growing and baby animals are born. For Harlequin’s Gardens, this is not just a time to hold a sale, but also a time to share a true celebration with you, our friends, with live music and dancers. [Read More]

Earth Day 2021 – Thursday, April 22

We hope you will celebrate Earth Day, maybe all week. It is good to acknowledge that we have a planet and that it has been supportive of life and human life for a long time. Unfortunately, we humans have not treated Her well, Gaia, our Mother Earth. We were told the story that we humans are the masters of the earth and that all the creatures and resources are here for our use and glory. Not everybody believed that story. Chief Joseph told our ancestors: “The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.” [Read More]

Solar Caps – A Cozy Sweater for your Veggies!

We’ve passed the average last frost date but know that unexpected cold snaps can still occur. Just as we need to add another layer of clothing during cold snaps, our warm-season veggie starts also need additional insulation as the spring season and soil slowly begin to warm up. This layering can come in several forms, each with their own advantages and applications: low-tech overturned plant pots, row cover anchored over wire or plastic pipe frame (as illustrated in the “Hardening-Off” portion of this article), and Solar Caps.

Because of their versatility and re-usability, Solar Caps have been one of our favorite garden tools for over a decade. [Read More]

Tips for Root Vegetable Success

Some veggies seem to shy away from the limelight, flourishing underground to provide a surprising, beautiful, and nutritious surprise later in the season. Growing root vegetables is generally easy, and can be a fun way to engage children in gardening. In addition, mountain gardeners often find that root veggies thrive in their cooler conditions.

Once planted, root veggies do not like to be disturbed and therefore are best planted by seed. (We do sell Bull’s Blood Beets as a starts, but these are generally grown for their greens.) We have Botanical Interests, Masa, and Seed Savers Exchange seeds for many root veggies including: [Read More]

Support our Local Beneficial Insects

A couple of days ago, I decided to trim back the clumps of Narbonne Flax in my garden, which had been bent over by the heavy snow in March. I grabbed my hedge clippers and cut the first clump down to about 8”. Then I took a closer look at it. Something was in there, and it wasn’t a wad of dry redbud leaves. I had just missed cutting through a Praying Mantis egg case by about a quarter of an inch! A little shaken and much relieved, I inspected all the other clumps carefully before trimming the rest.

This was a vivid reminder that our garden allies need safe habitat during their dormant and larval stages, and undisturbed places to hide their eggs. [Read More]

Mason bees are flying!

It’s official – Mason bees are flying! Make sure you have new, clean nesting materials for them and for the other bee species that follow throughout the summer. If you have overwintered cocoons, get them out now. You can use one of our release tubes (pictured left) that allow the bees to emerge but not to renest in the same old dirty straws.

Mason bees only fly from about mid-March to early June. If you don’t have plants blooming then, such as fruit trees or Mahonia, you won’t be able to support mason bees. Don’t worry though because there are many other cavity nesting species that are happy for a clean safe place to nest. [Read More]

Get your Plants Moving!

Do you have plants that you like, but that need to be moved to a different location in your garden? Or has your clump of Shasta Daisy, Daylily, Hardy Geranium, etc. become too wide and now needs to be divided? By dividing your mature perennials, you get free plants to expand your garden, to give to neighbors, or pot up and donate to a fund-raising event like KGNU FM Community Radio’s Spring Plant Sale! The next couple of weeks bring the very best opportunity to accomplish these moves without stressing your plants too much. Search the web for instructions from a trusted source for dividing the specific plant you’re working with.

[Read More]

SEEDS – 2022 Newsletter

This year we continue to offer a wonderful selection of seeds from our local BOTANICAL INTERESTS for tried-and-true vegetables, herbs, flowers, and sprouts, microgreens and cover crops, and local BEAUTY BEYOND BELIEF (BBB) seeds for individual and mixed wildflowers. And from SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE, preserving and sharing heirloom varieties, we offer some of our favorite time-tested veggies and flowers.

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

– Howard Zinn

TREES – 2022 Newsletter

The TREES we sell are smaller than ball & burlap trees that are dug in the field, leaving at least 75% of their roots in the ground. Ours are grown in a container so they have a complete root system and begin growing immediately and are not stressed. Here is a sample of some of our selection.

RUSSIAN HAWTHORN
Very tough and xeric, grows 15’ high and wide, white flowers and red berries, loves Colorado conditions!

ROCKY MT. MAPLE
Native to our foothills, likes to grow in the protection of other trees, red fall color, 10’-15’.

GAMBEL OAK and WAVYLEAF OAK
Both natives that grow 10’-15’, with little water and poor soil, support birds.

HACKBERRY
Good shade tree to replace an ash, a fast-growing hardwood, the most drought tolerant shade tree.

WHITE MULBERRY
The hardiest mulberry, 25-30’ tall and wide, very xeric, white fruit is tasty and does not stain. Brings Western Tanagers, Orioles to your garden!

GOLDEN RAIN TREE
25′ xeric tree with golden flowers in July, orange lantern-like pods, orange fall color, seeds abundantly.

CHOKECHERRY
Native, suckering tree to 15′-25′ with white flowers, edible fruit; great for birds and butterflies.

SUCKER PUNCH CHOKECHERRY
Leaves start green then turn red all season, non-suckering, white flowers, berries.

SILVER BUFFALOBERRY (Shepherdia)
10′ native small tree with edible red fruit on female plants,, silver leaves, very xeric, few thorns.

MAYDAY TREE (Prunus padus)
20′-30′ with clusters of white flowers, then bird fruit, fast screen.

WESTERN CATALPA
40′-50′ with vertical habit, fragrant orchid-like flowers, huge heart-shaped leaves, 12″ beans, xeric and special.

ARIZONA CYPRESS
20′-30′ hardy evergreen, blue foliage is fragrant, not scratchy, quite fast growing, bird favorite.

Plus, Honeylocust, Crab Apples, Silver Maple, Bur Oak, Thornless Cockspur Hawthorn, Aspen, Ptelea, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Ohio Buckeye, Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry, Hot Wings Maple, Alder, Native Birch, Bigtooth Maple, and More!

We have to suck carbon out of the atmosphere naturally — by planting trillions of trees…

– Senior Climate Scientist Brenda Ekwurzel

PERENNIALS – 2022 Newsletter

Harlequin’s huge choice of pollinator-supporting Perennials. Including:

NATIVES

Eriogonum umbellatum var. aureum ‘Psdowns’ (Kannah Creek® buckwheat). Photo Credit: Plant Select

SULFUR FLOWER KANNAH CREEK
Mahogany fall color. Eriogonum allennii – 3′ wide, very xeric, yellow flowers, a winner. Eriogonum umbellatum – yellow blooms cover xeric native mat, feeds butterflies, bees.

ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA
1′-3′ Full Sun, Attracts butterflies, native and honeybees, hummingbirds.

ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA
Butterfly Weed, orange flowers, 1’-2’ high, essential Monarch food and nectar.

NATIVE PUSSYTOES, ASTER, Arnica, Skyrocket Ipomopsis, Blazing Star, Navajo Tea, Prairie Sundrops (Calylophus serrulatus)

NATIVE BEE-BALM
–Monarda fistulosa: Showy purple blooms bring bees, hummers, butterflies; deer-resistant.

MANY PENSTEMONS INCLUDING P. VIRENS
2”x 8”, short spikes of blue flowers; shiny, dark evergreen leaves.

MANY COLUMBINES INCLUDING
Rocky Mt., Denver Gold, Western Red, Barneby’s

Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover)

PURPLE PRAIRIE CLOVER
Long lived xeric native loved by many bee species, bright purple-pink, nitrogen-fixing.

GAILLARDIA ARISTATE – BlanketFlower

LIATRIS PUNCTATA – Gayfeather

OENOTHERAS – Evening Primroses

CHOCOLATE FLOWER
12″ x 24″ wide, yellow daisies with chocolate fragrance, very xeric native.

SPHAERALCEA MUNROANA
Hardy, 18” vivid orange blooms all spring, bee-loved, low-water, silver leaves, rare.

ERYSIMUM WHEELERI/WHEELER’S WALLFLOWER
Tall, long-blooming biennial, vivid burnt-orange flowers, exclusive!

GEUM TRIFLORUM/PRAIRIE SMOKE
Colorado native, handsome foliage, reddish flowers, feathery seedheads, sun/part shade.

Engelmannia peristenia (Engelmann Daisy)

ENGELMANNIA PERISTENIA/ENGELMAN DAISY
Plant Select, neat golden daisies all summer, 18”h low water beauty

TOWNSENDIA HOOKERI & KIN
Native ‘Easter Daisies” grow dry, begin bloom super-early in neat little clumps.

ECHINACEA ANGUSTIFOLIA/NARROW-LEAF CONEFLOWER
Premier immune herb, large pink or white summer blooms.

PLUS, MANY GREAT NON-NATIVES INCLUDING:

MANY AGASTACHES
Blue Fortune, Coronado, Black Adder, A. rupestris.

SAGE
Culinary, Purple, Berggarten, Blue Hill, May Night, Caradonna, Furman’s Red, Mojave, S.azurea, S. argentea.

Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Firewitch’

DIANTHUS
Tuscan Honeymoon – grassy foliage, 2’-3’ stalks of pink flowers late summer D. gratianopolitanus – very tough groundcover. very fragrant pink flowers, durable. D. Blue Hills – the bluest foliage, fragrant flowers, 12” diam. D. Firewitch – fragrant; D. petraeus noeanus – Jasmine Dianthus, powerfully fragrant.

HARDY GERANIUMS
Biokovo, Splendens, St. Ola, Crystal Rose, Cambridge, Ballerina,G. macrorrhizum, G. sanguineum

ECHINACEA
purpurea, Magnus, White Swan, E. tennesseensis, E. pallida, E. paradoxa, Cherokee Sunset

ROSEMARY
Arp, Madeline Hill, Tuscan Blue, Prostrata.

HARLEQUIN’S SILVER GERMANDER, T. rotundifolium, T. chamaedrys

MANY LAVENDERS
Royal Velvet, Grosso, Twickle Purple, Munstead, Hidcote, Thumbalina Leigh, Vera, Wee One.

ORNAMENTAL OREGANO
Kent’s Beauty, Amethyst Falls, etc, cascading groundcovers, long blooming, bee-loved.

PLUS
Scabiosa Fama, Sedum nevii, Corsican Violet, Limonium gmelinii, Lallemantia canescens, Firefly Coralbells, Fancy Heucheras, many Hostas, and many, many more!

TOUGH ANNUALS

Datura meteloides

Snapdragons, Zinnia, Lauren’s Grape Poppy, Petunias, Datura, Pansies, California Poppy, Nicotiana, Salvias, Larkspurs, Peony-flowered Poppies, Swan River Daisy, Sweet Alyssum, Calendula, Kiwi Blue Honeywort, Cleome, Cuphia, Dahlia, Sacred Datura, Gomphrena, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Baby Blue-Eyes, Love-in-a-Mist, Sun Rose, California Bluebells, Wax Begonia, Blackeyed Susan Vine, Annual Periwinkle, Canterbury Bells, and more!

SHRUBS & VINES – 2022 Newsletter

We have a large selection of natives and non-natives Shrubs AND Vines

This includes Amorpha, Manzanitas, Mt. Mahoganies, Big Sage, Fringed Sage, Sand Sage, Lilacs, Butterfly Bushes, Pea Shrubs, Gambel Oak, Viburnums, Spireas, Potentillas, Sand Cherry, Rabbitbrush, Fernbush, Mountain Ninebark, Cliff Rose, Lewis Mockorange, Mikl’s Pick Mockorange, Boulder Raspberry, Boxwoods, Cotoneasters, Honeysuckles, New Mexican Privet, Flowering Quince, Ephedra, Euonymus, Sumacs, Currants, Yuccas, and many more!

VINES

Honeysuckle, Trumpet Vine, Wisteria, Silver Lace, Clematis, Euonymus and MORE!

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

– The Lorax (Dr. Seuss)

ROSES – 2022 Newsletter

We are known far and wide for our selection of sustainable roses and for our expertise in helping people choose the best varieties for their gardens and landscapes. We sell roses on their own roots not grafted, which makes them more cold hardy, longer lived, with more flowers.

This year we will have more David Austin English roses in June/July; and more patio roses in May.

See our 2022 Rose List.

Monsanto-Bayer announced it will end US residential sales of glyphosate (RoundUp) in 2023.

– Center for Food Safety

HOME-GROWN FRUIT – 2022 Newsletter

CURRANTS, GOOSEBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES

One of our specialties is fruiting plants that are adapted to Colorado conditions. All the apples we carry are resistant to fireblight and good tasting. And the cherries we sell are all proven successful in Colorado. Our grapes are the hardiest of any you will find, delicious fresh, in juice and a few are good for wine. And we have productive & good tasting currants, gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries including: [Read More]

FRUITING PLANTS – 2021 Newsletter

CURRANTS, GOOSEBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES

Crandall Clove Currant and Gwen’s Buffalo Currant

Both are 5’x4’ with very fragrant yellow flowers in spring and annual bearing of sweet-tart berries full of healthy phytonutrients and reddish fall color; these are native currants selected for better fruit.

Triple Crown Thornless Blackberry

Late blooming so avoids late frosts, medium to large sweet berries, semi-trailing, best pruned to 8’.

Orient Nanking Cherry

Selected for flavor; it’s good; same 6’ height, xeric, red cherries.

Johns, York and Adams Elderberries

Larger berries, 8’, better edible elderberry, need two to pollinate, beautiful white flowers, berries are high in nutrition, loved by the birds.

Hinnomaki Red Gooseberry

Excellent flavor, tangy skin, sweet flesh, 3′, productive.

Invicta Gooseberry

Very large greenish white sweet fruit, very productive, vigorous.

Imperial White Currant

Clusters of white fruit with rich flavor, early ripening, from 1895.

Alagan Black Currant

Sweet and strong flavored European, culinary and medicinal, need 2.

Niwot primocane Black Raspberry

Bred in Longmont, fruits on new wood, excellent flavor.

Also, Anne yellow raspberry, and Heritage and Polana red raspberries.

Bali Cherry

Semi-sweet cherry, very hardy to -54F, good for fresh eating and baking.

North Star

A natural dwarf 6-8′, good tasting fruit, dependable, good ornamental too.

Also, Montmorency, Mesabi, Carmine Jewel, Juliet, Romeo, Crimson Passion.

STRAWBERRIES

We will have a wonderful selection of Colorado-adapted strawberries with REAL Strawberry Flavor.

Ogallala

Finally found this old-time favorite cross between wild Rocky Mt. strawberry and garden varieties. Okay with less-than-ideal soil, everbearing, productive.

Fort Laramie

Everbearing, large, sweet, aromatic fruits, heat & cold tolerant.

Mara des Bois

Intense flavor, June-October.

EarliGlow

June-bearing, some say THE best tasting.

Alexandria Alpine and Yellow Wonder Alpine

Runnerless, small intense fruit.

PLUMS

Mount Royal

Deep blue sweet, juicy flesh, mid-late Aug, self-fertile, tough.

Toka

Rosy-red, freestone, spicy & sweet, ripens Aug/Sept, very productive, needs pollinator.

Also, Stanley, Italian, Red Haven, Superior, Toka, Green Gage, Alderman.

PEACHES

Reliance, Contender, Red Haven.

APPLES

Cortland

Crisp, juicy, delicious fruit, for fresh eating, baking, cider; successful.

Sweet 16

Sweet and juicy, aromatic, stores well, Zone 3, successful.

Dakota Gold

Large, yellow fruit is good fresh, for sauce and pies. Zone 2-3, keeps for 1 week.

Also, Liberty, Haralson, Honeycrisp, Hazen, Macfree, Mandan, Zestar, Freedom, Honeygold, Red Baron, Zestar, Snow Sweet, Haralred, Rhuby, Sharon, etc.

PEARS

Summercrisp, Parker Pear, Nova and Loma.

GRAPES

St. Theresa

Zone 4, purple with excellent flavor, seedless, fresh eating & raisins.

Swenson’s Red

Zone 4, red, seeded grape, high sugar content, delicious flavor, superior.

Also, Swenson’s White, Trollhaugen, Valiant, Lacross, Concord, and Marquette.

BEE BARN – 2021 Newsletter

Our BEE BARN has a great selection of Bee Equipment for Honeybees and Native Bees!

BUZZZZ ON BY TO CHECK IT OUT!

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

Winston Porter

CACTI & SUCCULENTS – 2022 Newsletter

Harlequin’s Gardens has many winter-hardy cacti: chollas, ball cacti and prickly pears.

Succulents: Hardy Agave, Yucca, Hesperaloe, Ice Plant, Sedum and more.

At least 14 countries have now given legal rights to rivers and other ecosystems.

– The Sierra Club

SOIL LIFE PRODUCTS – 2022 Newsletter

VERY SPECIAL PRODUCTS TO BENEFIT YOUR SOIL LIFE & YOUR PLANT LIFE

The Garden Center at Harlequin’s Gardens is stocked with the best products to enhance your garden and allow you to grow organically. These include local bagged composts, mulches, garden tools, fertilizers and minerals, seeds, organic pest repellents, pots, compost tea and so much more! Below are descriptions of many of the products we have available only at our store.

[Read More]

PRODUCTS – 2021 Newsletter

VERY SPECIAL PRODUCTS TO BENEFIT YOUR SOIL LIFE & YOUR PLANT LIFE

Products from PAONIA SOIL COMPANY

This company located in Paonia, Colorado uses more than 20 products in their soil blends, scientifically designed and balanced to provide organic minerals, organic matter, and beneficial biology. We welcome your feedback and experience with Paonia Soil Company products. [Read More]

MEMBERSHIP & WEEKELY E-NEWSLETTERS – 2022 Newsletter

MEMBERSHIP IN HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS

Memberships help Harlequin’s to do those extras that are so valuable to the community but that are not profitable, like: 5 demonstration gardens of Natives, low-water groundcovers, the New Western Garden etc.; plus, plastic pot recycling; plant and pest identification for customers; hand-outs on many subjects like pollinator plants, how to plant, what blooms in July etc.; local seed collecting and propagation, and more.

Please become a member to support what we do and receive special benefits too!

Here is our expanded current offer

Members will give us $22 or more for a one-year membership and in direct return will receive these benefits:

1) Half-price Harlequin’s Class of your choice.

2) 25% discount on books all year.

3) During the May Day Week get $10 off a $50 or more purchase of plants (except roses & fruit trees).

4) During May Day Week, take 10% off roses (except quarts), then

5) In August begin the fall sale a week early with 20% off most everything.

You can become a member anytime you are at the nursery or mail a check for $22 or more to Harlequin’s Gardens (4795 North 26^th St. Boulder, CO. 80301) or CLICK HERE.

With our new system, memberships are good for one year from the purchase date.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MEMBERS!!!

A significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided from composting all organic waste…Taking your food scraps out of the garbage is about the same as purchasing an electric vehicle. It starts to add up. It’s not small potatoes.

– Monique Di Giorgio, Table to Farm

E-NEWSLETTERS

Please, subscribe to receive our weekly newsletters by email!

You can get both hardcopy and emails by letting us know at 303-939-9403, or you can pick up a hard copy when you visit the nursery. Our e-newsletters have timely garden advice and reminders, as well as news of stock arrivals, upcoming classes, special events and sales, etc. This is the best way we can give you detailed and up-to-date information at the time when it is relevant. Subscribe here, and please remember to add us to your Contact List so your email server doesn’t throw us in the trash!

Please LOVE and follow us on Facebook!

The rate of hunger in Colorado has tripled since the start of the pandemic. Denver Urban Gardens is now the largest urban garden network in the nation supporting more than 180 community gardens and 17,000 gardeners on 31-acres of land, donating 60,000 lb. of organic veggies, distributing seeds and seedlings, and teaching empowering classes. Support them!