Dalea candida, White Prairie Clover
On Saturday morning, I headed down to Kendrick Lake Park in Lakewood to participate in our local rock garden society’s annual fundraiser, the members’ sale. I always donate some plants, and I always come home with some, too, though I vow not to! It’s also a great time to catch up with friends and fellow members of the Rocky Mountain chapter of NARGS (N. American Rock Garden Society)[Read More]
Colchicum ‘Waterlily’
Autumn brings surprise treats for gardeners and pollinators alike, in the form of fall-planted, fall-blooming bulbs! Plant bulbs like ‘Waterlily’ colchicum (pictured above), Saffron crocus and Autumn crocus NOW to start richly colored colonies of these hardy fall bloomers that will grow larger and longer-blooming each year! You will love their surprise appearance just when you thought there’d be no more flowers, and so will your local bees.[Read More]
The most cold hardy privet, the least likely to die back in cold winters. Tall shrub 8-10′. Stand alone, or plant 3′ apart to make a shorter hedge. White flowers attract butterflies and bees. The blue-black berries are poisonous to people and animals, but eaten by birds. Makes a dense screen. Low to moderate water needs. Zone 3, 8500′
Pink Velvet Honeysuckle
Lonicera Korolkowii ‘Pink Velvet’ Pink Velvet Honeysuckle Reg $36, On Sale $25
A large, tough shrub with rose pink flowers and some red berries. Grows 8-10′ tall with blue-green foliage. Cold-tolerant to zone 3. Fairly fast-growing and water-wise. Very attractive to bees and butterflies.
Tall shrub to 8′ with gorgeous copper-colored foliage turning maroon in summer. The showy white/pink flowers look great against the copper foliage. Best color in sun with once a week deep watering.
Western Catalpa
Catalpa Western Catalpa Reg $85, On Sale $45
Successful big tree to 40-50′. Showy clusters of beautiful white flowers and huge, roundish leaves. Often a big vertical shade tree. Water-wise and tough.
Cotoneaster racemiflora soongorica Redbead Cotoneaster Reg $35, On Sale $25
Big, tough, and beautiful shrub to 6-9′. White flowers in the spring, then red berries eaten by birds in the summer. Drought-tolerant, dense screen or windbreak. Very attractive. Hardy to Zone 3.
Autumn Brilliance fall color
Amelanchier grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’ Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry. Reg $160, On Sale $55.
Small tree/ large shrub 12-15′ with beautiful white flowers in spring, delicious small berries in summer, and brilliant red to orange fall color. The nectar-rich flowers are a favorite of birds. hardy to zone 3. Is good growing in full sun to part shade with deep watering once/ twice a week.
Chinkapin Oak
Quercus muehlenbergii – Chinkapin Oak
40-50’h x 40-50’w Cold-hardy to USDA zone 5
This handsome spreading oak has proved very successful locally, grows faster than other oaks, tolerates our alkaline soils, and resists oak gall insects. It makes an excellent, long-lived shade tree with strong branching. The attractive foliage has yellow to russet fall color.
Quercus undulata – Wavyleaf Oak
8-15’h x 8-10’w Hardy to USDA zone 4, 9,000’ elevation
A drought-tolerant Southwest (including CO) native oak with small leaves varying in shape,[Read More]
Chicago Hardy Fig
Sorbus amurensis – Amur Mountain Ash
20-30’h x 15-25’w Hardy to USDA zone 3
Clusters of showy white flowers in mid-spring are followed by bright red-orange berries that persist through winter and are enjoyed by birds. Attractive dark green pinnate foliage turns purple, red and orange in fall. Plant in full to partial sun. Avoid planting in a heavily watered lawn. Water once a week, deeply. Native to Korea, China, Russia.
Aspen leaves
Populus tremuloides ‘Erecta’ – Columnar Swedish Aspen
30-40’h x 10-15’w
One of the narrowest of hardy trees, great for small spaces and as a screen or lining a drive. Its white bark is stunning and the leaves with scalloped edges turn shades of orange and yellow in autumn and tremble with the faintest breeze. An underused ‘architectural’ tree and striking exclamation point in the landscape. Supports butterflies and birds. Exceptionally cold-hardy to USDA Zone 2, 10,500’. Water deeply once a week (not lawn watering).[Read More]
Here’s some of the new plants available this weekend (7/25/25)
Artemisia ludiviciana, Silver Sage, Native
Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Milkweed, Native
Echinacea pallida, Pale Purple Coneflower, Native
Heliomeris multiflora, Showy Goldeneye, Native
Hymenoxys hoopesii, Owl’s Claws, Native
Liatris pycnostachya, Prairie Gayfeather, Native
Mirabilis multiflora, Desert Four-o’clock, Native
Oenothera macrocarpa, Missouri Evening Primrose, Native
Ratibida pinnata, Grey-Headed Coneflower, Native
Rudbeckia occidentalis, Western Coneflower, Native
Solidago ‘Fireworks’, Native
Solidago gigantea, Native
Solidago ptarmicoides, Native
Solidago rigida, Native
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, Aromatic Aster, Native
Thermopsis rhombifolia, Golden Banner, Native
Tradescantia occidentalis, Western Spiderflower, Native
Vernonia fasciculata, Native
Allium senescens ‘Blue Twister’
Delopserma: Alan’s Apricot, Carlisle Pink Firespinner, Granita Orange, Lesotho Pink
Iris versicolor, Harlequin Blue Flag
Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’
Penstemon hirsutus, Hairy Beardtongue
Phlomis cachmeriana, Kashmir Sage
Rheum rabarbarum, Glaski’s Perpetual Rhubarb
Sedum: reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’, rupestre ‘Angelina’, sediforme ‘Turqoise Tails’
Sisyrinchium campestre, Prairie Blue-eyed Grass
Veronica liwanensis, Turkish Speedwell
By Eve Reshetnik Brawner
On Saturday, I had the great fortune to participate in a botanical field trip to Wyoming with a small group of rock gardeners – members of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the North
American Rock Garden Society. The exploration was led by the incomparable, world-renowned rock gardener and plantsman, Panayoti Kelaidis, whose knowledge of the high steppe region and alpine plants is encyclopedic.
[Read More]
A cornucopia of stunning, hardy bulbs will be arriving in August and early September at Harlequin’s, so get ready! Now is a great time to peruse our list (at the link below) and to look at your garden to identify areas where you can add fall-planted bulbs for (mostly) spring blooms (a few special Crocus and Colchicum bloom later in the fall!). Consider the gentle drama of a drift of mixed daffodils (Narcissus) that bloom from early to late spring[Read More]
Japanese Beetle is an invasive insect pest that feeds on over 300 different plants. It emerges from a grub stage in the ground in late June, peaks around mid-July and continues until early September. There are no natural enemies for Japanese Beetle in the US, and no one seems to have a successful strategy for eliminating them. We recommend a cumulative approach which combine to be helpful. [Read More]
Penstemon secundiflorus
To every thing there is season – like sowing and reaping. However, right now we can still be sowing seeds for fall crops (see below) at the same time we are reaping fruits and vegetables, and seeds. In nature and in our gardens at the nursery and at home, we have begun collecting seeds from wildflowers such as Sidebells Penstemon, Blue Flax and Blanket Flower. And in my vegetable garden, the tomatoes were planted late, so it will be a while before I can begin saving seeds[Read More]
Remember that encouraging phrase, “Yes we can!”? Well, at least one thing we can apply it to right now is planting. Here is a list of steps you can take to ensure your success establishing new plants even in summer heat. We have tested all these ideas in-house and at home.
1) Before planting , prepare the soil by spreading a 2″ layer of compost and digging it into the top 6″-8″. OR spread 1″- 2″ of expanded shale with the compost, then dig it in. [Read More]
Solstice in the Garden, photo by Pacha Edica
Last Friday, June 20th was the longest day and the shortest night of the year. This event is called the Summer Solstice. What does that mean? Sol means Sun. North of the Equator, where we are, the earth has its maximum tilt toward the sun and the sun is at its highest in the sky.
This is often a very hot time of year, when spring flowers have peaked and soils are drying. You may have noticed that our very green foothills have suddenly started turning brown. From the Summer Solstice until the Winter Solstice on Dec 21 this year, the days will be getting shorter and the nights longer.
For gardeners, this is a good time to remove spent flowers so the energies in the plants are not spent making seeds. Dead-heading followed by a deep watering will help to revive or keep the garden looking good, and can help support the plants to flower more. If you do want seeds, you can remove half the dead flowers, leaving half to make seeds and that will still save energy.
The Summer Solstice is also the best time to prune trees and shrubs for maximum dwarfing effect. Do you want that fruit tree to grow only 15’-18’ instead of 25? Does your Forsythia, shrub rose or Privet get too big? Prune them every year mid June to early July to keep them smaller. Why does that work? In the spring, plants use their stored energy to grow and make lots of leaves. By Summer Solstice, much of the spring energy is stored in the leaves and new growth. When plants are pruned at this time, you are removing resources from the plant so it has less energy to grow.
Two of the world’s top weather agencies predict upcoming years of extreme heat, which can lead to extreme wind and drought. We are already in this trend, so best to be prepared as best we can. We will have more to say in the future about making your garden more resilient. For now: grow more natives and Colorado-adapted plants, feed your soil biology, water deeply and seldom, and mulch.
This is last week of Pollinator Month…..if you’re looking for all-summer assistance, this week annuals are buy-one-get-one (of an equal or lesser price).
And: Mikl and Eve will be taking next week off to celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary! Congratulations for being business partners for all those years and still in love!
The cool, cloudy and rainy days of this year’s uncommonly long spring brought us many blessings – among them, a spring superbloom, both in the natural world and in our gardens. Now we are headed into a season of intense heat and sun, and probably not a whole lot of rain. There are many stunning plants we can add to our gardens that will bloom non-stop through the summer and beyond. We still have loads of these annuals (plants that complete their life-cycle in one season), as well as choice, long-blooming perennials (plants that return year after year from their roots).
[Read More]
The squirming, sucking infestations of aphids are not exactly lovable, but they do have real value and they are not that hard to manage. Aphids are the bottom of the food chain, like plankton in the ocean: everything eats them and they are plentiful nutrition. I have even watched small birds like wrens and chickadees lean under leaves and eat the aphids. Aphids are a food source for many beneficial insects including lady bugs, lacewings, syrphid flies and parasitic wasps, and if we kill off all the aphids, the beneficial insects will not have enough food to prosper and will not lay their eggs in your garden.
June is Pollinator Month, bringing awareness to the vital importance of pollinators for the survival of native plants and ecosystems, and their crucial role in producing so many of our food crops. Pollinating insects, birds, and bats need our protection from a broad range of threats. These threats include habitat loss, polluted environments, and toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used in agriculture, landscapes, and home gardens.
Harlequin’s Gardens recently renovated our main xeriscape garden.
On Monday, we had the great pleasure and honor of receiving a busload of several dozen public garden professionals from American Public Garden Association member institutions around the US and Canada. They represented prestigious arboretums and public gardens like the historic Vizcaya estate in Miami FL and Lotusland in Santa Barbara CA, and gardens from Guelph to Pennsylvania to Phoenix. . They had come to Denver for APGA’s annual conference, which began with for a tour of public gardens, hosted by Denver Botanic Gardens’ senior curator and director of outreach, Panayoti Kelaidis. Panayoti arranged a brilliant itinerary, including both the Hardy Roses Demonstration Garden at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, and Harlequin’s Gardens Nursery!
I’ve often talked to you about native and water-wise plants, but I am still referred to as ‘the Rose Lady’ at Harlequin’s. I still love roses, and still grow some choice favorites for their fragrance, beauty and ease. Some of them have been in my garden far longer than I have – Banshee and Desiree Parmentier, and a few others that are particularly fragrant thrive and require with little care – Darlow’s Enigma, Stanwell Perpetual, Scotsbriar, Sharifa Asma and The Prince. They are all on their own roots – not grafted – and that’s a big reason they are still alive, robust and beautiful!
We currently have an excellent selection of many dozens of roses.[Read More]
Spring rains have awakened a wonderful show of wildflowers on the Front Range this year. And along with all the smaller species, we see that our local Yucca glauca is having a boom bloom year. The flower stalks are pushing upward and will soon be blooming profusely, looking like big white candles dotting the landscape. The large bell-shaped, lily-like, fragrant flowers are creamy white to pale green and hang downward from a central stalk. They have thick, waxy petals that conserve moisture for a long bloom time.[Read More]
The gardening movement that places soil health at the center of plant health has been where Harlequin’s Gardens has experimented, succeeded and educated for the past 33 years.
Mikl’s taking the movement well into the 21st Century! Here are his key points for sustainable gardening:
Solidago ptarmicoides
Looking for a really different native Goldenrod? Solidago ptarmicoides (aka Oligoneuron album) is distinctive within the Solidago genus in having white to cream-colored daisy-like flowers, in heads arranged in a flat-topped cluster rather than in an elongated raceme. Known as Prairie Goldenrod or White Upland Aster, one plant can sometimes produce as many as 50 small heads, blooming from August to October. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows in clumps 12 to 24” high and wide, native to dry, sandy, usually calcareous soils, cracks in rocks, limestone pavements, rocky outcrops, grassy slopes and prairies from Quebec to Saskatchewan south to Arkansas, and west to Colorado. It’s cold-hardy to USDA zone 3.
[Read More]
Just because it’s July doesn’t mean vegetable planting season is over! This is the month to ensure an abundant fall harvest.
First, prepare your beds. Remove any plant residue from early and mid-season plants like peas and lettuce. Clear out any weeds, make sure your irrigation is still working, and add a general 4-4-4 or similar gentle fertilizer (like Down to Earth’s Fish and Kelp) and an inch of compost if you haven’t already done so for your first crops. Use a garden fork or broadfork to lift and loosen the soil (but don’t turn it all the way over – you want to protect your soil structure). Consider setting up low hoops with a light row cover for greens[Read More]
This season’s early rains, followed by heat, have resulted in an herbal harvest bonanza! If you’re finding you have more herbs than you can use fresh, here are four easy ways to taste a bit of summer freshness all year round. We’re saving dill, basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, lemon balm and mint this month!
Dry Them – Create small bundles and hang until dry, or, remove leaves and dry in an oven on the lowest possible heat (below 180 degrees) to preserve essential oils and flavor, or use a dehydrator. Once dry, place in a jar and store out of the sunlight. Dried herbs can be used for a year or longer.
Freeze Them – Place leaves on a baking tray until frozen and then transfer to a freezer container or bag. We like to store in single-serving sizes. Use for up to a year.
Herbal Tea
Infuse Them – Pack a mason jar nearly full of cleaned, fresh herbs, then cover with any vinegar and seal with a lid. Place on a counter away from direct light for a month, strain out the herbs, and use for up to 6 months, or, fill ice cube trays 2/3 full of chopped herbs, add olive oil, and after frozen place in a freezer container and use for up to 6 months, or, add chopped herbs to softened butter and freeze till needed. Infused vinegar is terrific in salads and brightens vegetable dishes. The flavored oils and butters are great in any recipe that calls for either.
Turn them into Flavored Salt – Add one cup fresh herb leaves, packed, to one cup sea salt, blend in a food processor until finely chopped. Spread mixture in a thin layer onto a lined baking sheet, and bake on very low (under 200 degrees) until dry for 35 – 40 minutes, stirring halfway. Once cool, break up the mixture and store in an airtight container away from direct light. Use for up to a year!
And if your herbs are flowering and going to seed, no worries! Many of the seeds are useful and delicious, too. Cilantro’s round seeds are coriander, and dill’s yellow flowerheads produce many dill seeds. Collect coriander when 2/3 of the seeds are brown and dry, let them fully dry indoors or in a protected area, and store out of direct light in jars. Collect dill seed when brown and dry, and store in jars for use once fully dried.
Parsley, Giant of Italy
Salvia Windwalker ‘Ruby Red’, courtesy Plant Select
Create a Hummingbird Haven
If your garden is missing that unmistakable buzz, planting Salvias will fill the void!
Not only do Salvia species and cultivars contain nectar that draws hummingbirds like a magnet, but they also feed a wide spectrum of native bees and butterflies, as well as honeybees.
In addition, Salvias (sages) provide spectacular, saturated color for long periods of time. Our perennial varieties bloom either continuously[Read More]
So many very special experiences!
We were delighted with the turnout for our May Day festivities and sales, and loved seeing and helping old friends and new, first-time customers and loyal Harlequin’s supporters. The live music and gentle weather kept us all smiling and we so appreciate everyone’s cheerful patience in the check-out line. The Mothers’ Day weekend was equally exciting and heartwarming.
Walks in the neighborhood and the foothills reveal a superabundance of flowering right now! We hope you get a chance to enjoy nature’s show!
When we garden with a mission of sustainability, driven by our conviction that plant (and all) life depends on vibrant soil health, we don’t always realize that we’re part of an alternative lineage grounded in an understanding that everything is deeply connected.
Mathew Ingram’s “The Garden: Visionary Growers and Farmers of the Counterculture” invites gardeners to meet the legendary outside-the-box thinkers and growers who quite literally broke new ground and transformed our contemporary practices.
This is your best chance for big savings on healthy, highly desirable, container-grown trees that are very successful in our challenging Colorado conditions! We grew these healthy ‘seconds’ ourselves since they were little babies, in our own soil formulas and without any chemicals, in #5 (5-gallon) pots and larger. The only difference between these and their full-price counterparts is that the sale plants are a little shorter or slightly less full.
Choose from the following valuable plants:
Washington Lustre Hawthorn – on sale $65
Tatarian Maple – on sale $50
Swedish Columnar Aspen – on sale $55[Read More]
Rosa nutkana
Alba suaveolens
Autumn Damask
Banshee
Baronne Prevost
JoAn’s Pink Perpetual
Marchesa Bocchella
Sidonie
Zephirine Drouhin
AUSlot – Sophy’s Rose
AUSmove – Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Autumn Sunblaze
Autumn Sunset
Awakening
Bill Reid
Bridal Sunblaze
Brilliant Veranda
Burgundy Iceberg
Carefree Beauty
Carefree Spirit
Carefree Delight
Celestial Night
Champlain
Cinco de Mayo
Cream Veranda
Denver’s Dream
Diamond Eyes
Dortmond
Earth Angel
Fairmount Proserpine
Firecracker Kolorscape
Fred Loads
Fun in the Sun
Gail’s Glauca Seedling
Gourmet Popcorn
Home Run
Iceberg
Jacqueline du Pre
Jasmina
Jeanne Lajoie
Julia Child
Lady in Red
Laguna
Lemon Fizz Kolorscape
Life’s Little Pleasures
Mandarin Sunblaze
Margaret Merril
Millie Walters
Morden Belle
Morden Blush
Morden Fireglow
Parkdirektor Riggers
Peach Sunblaze
Playboy
Plum Perfect
Red Meidland
Red Ribbons
Red Sunblaze
Rise n Shine
Robusta
Roxanne Veranda
Sally Holmes
Sister Soul Sunbelt
Sunbeam Veranda
Sweet Chariot
Trumpeter
Twilight Zone
Westerland
William Baffin
I recently attended a public conversation on the subject of ‘Avant Gardening’ at the Longmont Museum. Host Emily Maeda, co-owner of Tree of Life Landscaping, conversed with accomplished front range horticulturists and landscape designers Bryan Fischer and Kevin Phillip Williams about what constitutes the current avant-garde in gardening. I didn’t really feel that their discussion was conclusive, but the question has been in my thoughts. I now realize that in my mind, the definitive answer is habitat gardening.
Showy Fleabane, courtesy SW Colorado Wildflowers
Erigeron is a large genus in the Asteraceae/Sunflower family, with about 460 species world-wide, 170 of them native to N. America. Our Rocky Mountain region is home to some of the most garden-worthy species. Fleabane, the common name in English, appears to be derived from a belief that the dried plants repel fleas or that the plants are poisonous to fleas. Erigeron species are host plants to the larvae of some butterfly and moth species,[Read More]
We are grateful to have one day to acknowledge the value of the Earth. Wendell Berry said, “Earth is what we all have in common.” Pope Francis said we all have a shared responsibility for protecting the Earth, our common home, and he urged us to care for the environment. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
If we poison our water, choke our air with carbon dioxide, kill off the diversity of beings, and in general make our living environment weak and unhealthy, we won’t have a decent home for our children and our children’s children.[Read More]
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye Tomato
These are the plants we’re expecting this weekend. They may not all arrive when we expect them – but there are so many great plants to choose from that we’re sure you’ll be satisfied with the selection in store!
TOMATO
Extreme Bush
Carmello
Gold Medal
Magic Bullet
Orange King
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye
PEPPER
Capriglio Rossa
Gatherer’s Gold
King of the North – Sweet
Marconi Red
Poblano
Beaver Dam
Anaheim
Pueblo/Mosco
NuMex 6-4
Sweet Banana
Surmeli
TOMATILLOS
Grande Rio Verde
Purple Blush
Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’
We now have a Big Influx of native plants, including many Penstemon species!
PERENNIALS, etc.
Achillea mil. ‘Paprika’
Agastache cana
Agastache ‘Firebird’
Agastache foeniculum, Anise Hyssop (native)
Agastache rupestris
Agastache ‘Sinning’
Akebia quinata – Chocolate vine
Alcea rugosa
Alchemilla mollis
Allium cernuum
Allium Millenium
Anemone ‘Cinderella’, ‘Honorine Jobert’, multifida ‘Rubra’, ‘September Charm’
Antennaria dioica ‘Rubra’
Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
Asclepias incarnata ‘Cinderella’
Aster ‘Alert’, ‘Lady in Black’, oblongifolius (native), obl. ‘Raydon’s Favorite’
Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’
Astilbe chinensis ‘Pumila’
Baptisia minor
Begonia grandis v. Evansiana
Berlandiera lyrata – Chocolate Flower(native)
Callirhoe involucrata – Poppy Mallow (native)
Campanula rotundifolia
Centaurea montana, Mountain Cornflower
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, Plumbago
Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’
Corydalis ochroleuca
Creeping Thyme, Red, Wooly, White
Delosperma nubigenum dwarf, ‘Granita Orange’, ‘Gold Nugget’, ‘Granita Raspberry’, ‘Red Mountain’
Delphinium ‘Millenium Dwarf Stars’, ‘Summer Blues’
Dicentra eximia (dwarf), ‘King of Hearts’, ‘Luxuriant’, spectabilis ‘Alba’
Dictamnus a. ‘Purpureus’ – Gas Plant
Digitalis grandiflora, x mertonensis – Foxglove varieties
Draba aizoides
Echinacea pallida, Pale Coneflower, purpurea, angustifolia (native), ‘Cheyenne Spirit’
Engelmannia peristenia (native)
Epimedium v. ‘Sulphureum’
Eriogonum ‘Kannah Creek’
Gaillardia ‘Kobold’
Gallium odoratum, Sweet Woodruff, shade
Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’ – sun
Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Geum coccineum ‘Koi’, triflorum
‘Goldie’ Golden Creeping Jenny
Helleborus x ‘Orientalis’
Herniaria glabra – Rupturewort
Heuchera ‘Caramel’, ‘Forever Red’, ‘Melting Fire’, ‘Palace Purple’, ‘Ruby Bells’, ‘Silver Scroll’
Hosta ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’, ‘Blue Angel’, ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, ‘Dream Queen’, ‘Earth Angel’, ‘First Frost’, ‘Patriot’, ‘Francee’, ‘Guacamole’, ‘Praying Hands’, ‘Rainforest Sunrise’, ‘Regal Splendor’, ‘Royal Standard’
Iberis ‘Autumn Beauty’
Ipomopsis aggregata
Iris pallida ‘Aurea Variegata’
Jovibarba hirta s. arenaria
Lamium ‘Purple Dragon’ – shade
Liatris aspera, ligulistylis
Linum perenne ‘Lewisii’
Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldie’
Nepeta ‘Jr. Walker’ – catmint
Oenothera ‘Silver Blade’
Origanum ‘Amethyst Falls’, ‘Herrenhausen’, ‘Kent’s Beauty’ – ornamental oregano
Orostachys iwarenge, spinosus
Othonna capensis
Paeonia ‘Duchess De Nemours’, ‘Flame’, ‘Karl Rosenfield’, ‘Red Charm’, ‘Red Sarah Bernhardt’ – Peony, perennial
Papaver ‘Patty’s Plum’, ‘Allegro’, ‘Royal Wedding’, ‘Beauty of Livermore’, Pizzicato – Oriental poppies
Penstemon pinifolius ‘Steppe Suns’
Phlox div, ‘Louisiana Blue’, ‘Pink’, ‘White’
Phlox paniculata ‘Super Ka-Pow Coral’
Polygonatum m. ‘Variegatum’- shade
Pulmonaria ‘Coral Springs’, ‘E.B. Anderson’ – Lungwort – shade
Thymus – Red Creeping, Wooly
Veronica Waterperry Blue
Rosularia chrysantha, serpentinica
Rudbeckia ‘Blackjack Gold’, fulgida v speciaosa, missouriensis, subtomentosa
Salvia azurea ‘Grandiflora’, greggii ‘Furman’s Red’, pachyphylla
Scabiosa caucasica ‘Fama’
Scutellaria ‘Smoky Hills’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’, glanduliferum, spurium ‘John Creech’, ‘Matrona’, spectabile ‘Neon’, spurium ‘Tricolor’, tetractinum, f. ‘Weihen. Gold’
Sempervivum ‘Classic’, arach. ‘Cobweb’, cal. ‘Mrs. Giuseppi’, mixed, ‘Red Heart’, c. mon. ‘Red Tips’, ‘Twilight Blues’
Silphium laciniatum, perfoliatum (native)
Solidago ‘Crown of Rays’, speciosa’Wichita Mtn’ (native) – goldenrod
Thalictrum aquilegifolium, rochebrunianum
Trifolium r. ‘Pentaphyllum’
Verbena canadensis
Vernonia lettermannii
Veronica ‘Crystal River’, oletnsis, ‘Purpleicious’, ‘Snowmass’, ‘Tidal Pool, ‘Illumination’
Vinca minor ‘Bowles Variety’, ‘Ralph Shugert’
Viola corsica – corsican violet
Viola wickroti ‘Ultima Morpho’
Zauschneria – ‘Orange Carpet’
Zizia Aptera
AND EVEN MORE!
Nasturtium
New Plants!
ANNUAL
Calendula: ‘Indian Prince’, ‘Lemon Cream’, ‘Pink Surprise’; Cleome ‘Rose Queen’, ‘Violet Queen’, Coleus ‘Black Dragon’, ‘Rainbow Mix’, ‘Sunset’; ‘Purple Globe’ Amaranth; ‘Dakota Gold’ Helenium (Native); Nasturtium: ‘Alaska Mix’, ‘Black Velvet’, ‘Cherry Rose’, ‘Gleam Mix’, ‘Jewel Mix’, ‘King Theo’, ‘Ladybird’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Peach Melba’, ‘Salmon Baby’, ‘Tom Thumb’; Nicotiana alata ’Crimson’, ‘Lime’; Nigella ‘Miss Jekyll’ Love in a Mist; Desert Bluebells, Phacelia (Native); ’ Sweet Alyssum ‘Carpet of Snow’; Tanacetum ‘Tetra Wonder’ Double-flowered Feverfew
BIENNIAL
Asphodeline damascena, Ithuriel’s Spear; Digitalis purpureus ’Apricot Beauty’ Foxglove; Eryngium creticum; Erysimum capitatum, Western Wallflower (Native); Thelesperma filifolium, Greenthread, Navajo Tea (Native); Townsendia eximia, Rocky Mt. Townsend Daisy (Native)
PERENNIAL
Achillea ‘Golden Fleece’; Alcea rosea ‘Jet Black’ Hollyhock; Dianthus nardiformis; Draba rigida, Whitlow Grass; Erigeron compositus ‘Lavender’ (Native); ’Pink’ (Native), Erigeron lineaeris, Yellow Fleabane (Native); Erigeron pumilum, Alpine Fleabane (Native); Erigonum jamesii v jamesii (Native); Geum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’; Hedysarum boreale, Northern Sweetvetch (Native); Heliomeris multiflora, Showy Goldeneye (Native); Leucanthemum x supubum ‘Becky’, ‘Snowcap’, Compact Shasta Daisy; Lupinus perennis; Lupinus polyphyllus ‘Chatelaine’ (pink/white); ‘My Castle’ (red/white), ‘The Governor’ (Blue/white), Monarda didyma ‘Balmy Purple’, ‘Jacob Cline’ Tall Scarlet Bee balm; Oenothera berlandieri ‘Siskyou Pink’; Oenothera caespitosa, Tufted Evening Primrose (Native); Phlox paniculata ‘Bright Eyes’, ‘Laura’, ‘Nicky’, ‘Red Riding Hood’, ‘Starfire’; Physaria bellii, Bell’s Twinpod (Native); Physostygia ‘Summer Snow, White Obedient Plant; Polemonium viscosum ‘Blue Whirl’; Sagina sublata, Iris Moss; Salvia ‘Blue Hill’; Salvia ‘East Friesland’; Salvia hypargeia; Salvia nemorosa ‘Cardonna’, ‘Rose Marvel’, Scabiosa ‘Flutter Blue’, ‘Flutter White’, ‘Pink Mist’; Solidago ptarmicoides (Native); Sphaeromeria capitata, Rock Tansy (Native); Stachys lanata ‘Helene von Stein’; Symphyotrichum laeve, Smooth Aster BoCo (Native); Thums praecox ‘Coccineus’, Red Creeping Thyme; Thymus pseudolanuginosus, Wooly Thyme; Veronica tauricola, Turkish Rock Speedwell; Verinica ‘Waterperry Blue
Lately, I’ve been taking most of my walks in my Longmont neighborhood. It’s rather charming, with impressive mature trees and mostly older homes, some (like ours) a hundred-year-old or older. Nearly all the houses are what my cousin Charlie, when he visited us from the East Coast, called ‘right-sized’ – neither big nor tiny. A few historic homes that belonged to bankers and wealthy merchants are the exceptions. And with these mostly modest homes, there are a surprising number of quite nice gardens.
But in the past two months, I’ve been searching the neighborhood in vain for displays of spring-blooming bulbs in front yards. A little clump of daffodils here, two or three hyacinths there, and an almost complete absence of crocus, snowdrops, glory-of-the-snow, Siberian squill; no ‘botanical’ iris, no species tulips (except at our friend Leslie’s place). What gives?
[Read More]
Penstemon ‘Silverton’
New Plants!
PERENNIALS
| Achillea | mill. ‘Paprika | ||
| Agastache | aurantiaca ‘Coronado’ *Plant Select | ||
| Allium | ‘Millennium’ | ||
| Aquilegia | barnebeyi | ||
| Aquilegia | chrysantha | ||
| Aquilegia | coerulea | ||
| Aster | alpinus ‘Goliath’ | ||
| Aubrieta | deltoidea ‘Purple Gem’ | ||
| Aurinia | saxatilis ‘Gold Ball’ | ||
| Callirhoe | involucrata | ||
| Campanula | cochleariifolia | ||
| Campanula | poscharskyana | ||
| Centranthus | ruber | ||
| Cerastium | tomentosum | ||
| Coreopsis | verticillata ‘Moonbeam’ | ||
| Delosperma | ‘Firespinner’ *Plant Select | ||
| Delosperma | ‘Mesa Verde’ *Plant Select | ||
| Delosperma | nubigenum | ||
| Delosperma | ‘Red Mt. Flame’ *Plant Select | ||
| Delosperma | ‘Table Mountain’ *Plant Select | ||
| Dianthus | grat. ‘Firewitch’ | ||
| Epilobium | canum garrettii ‘Orange Carpet’
*Plant Select |
||
| Erigeron | formosissimum ‘Rambler’ *Plant Select | ||
| Eriogonum | umbellatum | ||
| Eriogonum | umbellatum v aureum ‘Kannah Creek’ *Plant Select | ||
| Erodium | chrysanthum *Plant Select | ||
| Fragaria | vesca americana – Wild Strawberry | ||
| Gaillardia | aristata | ||
| Galium | odoratum, Sweet Woodruff | ||
| Gaura | lindheimeri ‘Summer Breeze’ | ||
| Geranium | macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s Variety’ | ||
| Geranium | viscosissimum | ||
| Geum | triflorum | ||
| Gypsophila | repens ‘Rosea’ | ||
| Helianthemum | ‘Wisley Pink’ | ||
| Heuchera | sanguinea ‘Splendens’ | ||
| Heuchera | micrantha ‘Palace Purple’ | ||
| Iberis | sempervirens | ||
| Liatris | ligulistylus | ||
| Liatris | punctata | ||
| Lupinus | polyphyllus ‘The Governor’ | ||
| Mirabilis | multiflora | ||
| Monarda | fistulosa v menthifolia | ||
| Monarda | ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ | ||
| Nepeta | x faassenii | ||
| Nepeta | x faassenii ‘Six Hills Giant’ | ||
| Nepeta | x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’ | ||
| Oenothera | fremontii ‘Shimmer’ *Plant Select | ||
| Oenothera | macrocarpa | ||
| Origanum | levigatum ‘Herrenhausen’ | ||
| Paxistima | canbyi, Mountain Lover | ||
| Penstemon | linifolia coloradoensis ‘Silverton’
*Plant Select |
||
| Penstemon | mensarum | ||
| Penstemon | rostriflorus | ||
| Penstemon | xylus, Tushar Penstemon | ||
| Potentilla | neumanniana ‘Nana’ | ||
| Prunella | laciniata | ||
| Pulsatilla | vulgaris | ||
| Pulsatilla | vulgaris ‘Red Clock’ | ||
| Rudbeckia | fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ | ||
| Salvia | azurea grandiflora, Pitcher Sage | ||
| Salvia | daghestanica, Platinum Sage
*Plant Select |
||
| Salvia | x lemmonii ‘Windwalker Desert Rose’
*Plant Select |
||
| Salvia | reptans ‘Autumn Sapphire’
*Plant Select |
||
| Salvia | ‘Windwalker Royal Red’ | ||
| Santolina | chamaecyparrissus, Lavender Cotton | ||
| Saponaria | ocymoides, Rock Soapwort | ||
| Scrophularia | macarantha, Red Birds in a Tree | ||
| Sedum | acre, Evergreen Stonecrop ‘Goldmoss’ | ||
| Sedum | hybridum, Oakleaf Stonecrop | ||
| Sedum | rupestre ‘Angelina’ | ||
| Sedum | spurium ‘Red Carpet’ | ||
| Sedum | spurium ‘Voodoo’ | ||
| Sisyrichium | montanum, Mountain Blue-Eyed Grass | ||
| Solidago | canadensis ‘Golden Baby’ | ||
| Solidago | rugosa ‘Fireworks’ | ||
| Sphaeralcea | coccinea, Cowboy’s Delight | ||
| Sphaeralcea | munroana, Orange Globe Mallow | ||
| Staychs | lavandulifolia, Pink Cotton Lamb’s Ear | ||
| Teucrium | chamaedrys, Wall Germander | ||
| Thermopsis | divaricarpa, Golden Banner | ||
| Thermopsis | lupinoides ‘Golden Candles’ | ||
| Thymus | praecox ‘Albiflorus’, White Creeping Thyme | ||
| Thymus | praecox ‘Coccineus’, Red Creeping Thyme | ||
| Thymus | praecox ‘Minus’, Dwarf Creeping Thyme | ||
| Thymus | praecox pseudolanuginosus, Wooly Thyme | ||
| Tradescantia | occidentalis, Western Spiderwort | ||
| Veronica | x ‘Crystal River’ *Plant Select | ||
| Veronica | liwanensis, Turkish Speedwell | ||
| Veronica | pectinata, Wooly Speedwell | ||
| Veronica | prostrata, Prostrate Speedwell | ||
| Veronica | x ‘Snowmass’ Speedwell *Plant Select | ||
| Veronica | specata incana, Silver Speedwell | ||
| Veronica | ‘Sunny Border Blue’ | ||
| Vinca | major, Big-leaf Periwinkle | ||
| Vinca | minor ‘Bowles Variety’ | ||
| Viola | corsica, Corsican Viola | ||
| Waldesteinia | ternata, Barren Strawberry | ||
Pansy Ullswater
New Plants!
PANSY, VIOLA
Pansy – ‘Alpenglow’, ‘Beaconsfield’, ‘Claret’, ‘Silver Bride’, ‘Ullswater’ (pictured)
Viola – ‘Bambini’, Johnny Jump-Up, ‘White Perfection’
PERENNIALS
Achillea – ‘Little Moonshine’, ‘Paprika’
Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’
Ajuga – reptans ‘Black Scallop’, ‘Bronze Beauty’, ‘Burgundy Glow’, ‘Catlin’s Giant’; A. tenorii ‘Chocolate Chip’
Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’
Delosperma (Iceplant) – ‘Firespinner’, ‘Garnet Jewel of the Desert’, Yellow Hardy Iceplant, ‘Ruby Jewel of the Desert’
Ibiris ‘Purity’
Lamium ‘Orchid Frost’
Oenothera ‘Siskyou Pink’
Phlox – ‘Crimson’s Beauty’, ‘Drummond’s Pink’, ‘Purple Beauty’, ‘White’, ‘Rose Marvel’
Sedum – ‘Angelina’, ‘Dragon’s Blood’
Stachys ‘Helen von Stein’
Thyme – ‘Pink Chintz’, Red Creeping Thyme, Elfin, Wooly Thyme, albiflorus
HERBS
Lavender – ‘Hidcote’, ‘Munstead’, vera, ‘Grosso’
Mint – Peppermint, Spearmint, ‘Kentucky Colonel’
Oregano – Greek Oregano
Sage – Green and Purple Culinary sage
Thyme – Lemon thyme, German Winter thyme
FRUIT
Strawberry – Fragaria vesca ‘Alexandria’, ‘Yellow Wonder’
Townsendia hookeri, pictured above, is already supporting butterflies! Also known as the Easter Daisy, it blooms for a long time – often through May. This Rocky Mountain native is drought-tolerant, is found in gravelly areas and grasslands, can withstand freezing conditions and snow, and thrives in crevice gardens. This particular one bloomed this weekend in Eve’s garden in Longmont!
That’s a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly – the larvae can be found on stinging nettle. Milbert’s Tortoiseshell’s habitat includes most of North America, extending all the way into Canada and Alaska (south of the tundra). We’re delighted to see these harbingers of spring. We usually carry stinging nettle and Townsendia hookeri later in the season, if you’re of a mind to create this habitat in your garden. For a list of natives we often carry, Read More….
This Thursday, at 3:01AM RMT, is the Spring Equinox. When you wake up Friday, Spring will be here. For gardeners, this moment when night and day, light and darkness, are exactly in balance marks the beginning of our season of hope, and lengthening days. It’s when we spend our time looking closely for the signs of new growth, and beauty. We find it in the hellebores flowering among last season’s leaves (pictured above), the crocus and early species iris, the earliest daffodils, and fragrant hyacinths.[Read More]
Ribes aureum, Currant
We have shrubs and Perennials you can plant NOW!
If your soil is thawed and you can dig a planting hole, now is a great time to plant our hardy, over-wintered shrubs and perennials!
These shrubs have been over-wintered outdoors, not inside greenhouses or shipped from the west coast. So they don’t have leaves yet (unless they are evergreen), which is a really good thing; it means that they will settle into your garden and leaf out when the time is right, preventing freeze-damage to prematurely forced foliage. They have also been grown in our own excellent potting soils, which contain mycorrhizae, organic matter, and nutrients, which will help them adapt quickly to your garden soil. In addition, we have lots of perennials that were over-wintered in an unheated structure. These, too, are ready for planting if you are! Here are profiles of a handful of the shrubs ready now![Read More]
For me, there are no more satisfying late-winter activities than sowing seeds and nurturing seedlings. Preparing, choosing, watching, and waiting offer a quiet form of excitement that grows gradually to a joyous crescendo when robust home-grown seedlings are ready for transplanting into the garden or larger pots. I hope many of you will get to experience this pleasure. Our seed selection this year is excellent, and now is the time to begin your indoor seed-sowing. [Read More]
Welcome to Harlequin’s Gardens’ 33rd year! We care about your gardening success, your health, and our planet. We have spent the winter planning, planting, ordering, cleaning, repairing and getting ready to host you, and we have seeds, seed-starting supplies, gardening tools, books, soils and soil-nourishing amendments, and a great line-up of empowering classes!
And with the arrival of warm weather, our plants are coming; in fact, our hardy over-wintered plants can be planted in March! ALL of our plants are free from bee and insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides! Our vegetable and herb starts are grown organically and all Harlequin-grown plants are Pesticide -Free.
NEW THIS YEAR: We have been working hard to upgrade your experience at Harlequin’s Gardens Nursery and Harlequin’s Wholesale.
Harlequin’s Silver Germander
If you’re a transplanted gardener from a different region of the country or the world, you may not yet be aware of the amazing plant palette at our disposal for providing lively winter presence in the garden. With our treasury of native flora and plants from analogous temperate-region steppe, desert, and montane parts of the world, we can easily bring wonderful color, texture and form to our winter gardens. These ‘broadleafed’ evergreen, ever-silver, ever-blue, white, and even orange, red, yellow or purple plants tend to serve as mats or spreading ground-covers, or as ‘sub-shrubs’ – mounding plants with woody structure.
If you’re looking for beautiful, hardy, water-wise plants to carry your ornamental garden through all four seasons, here’s a taste of the possibilities from Harlequin’s Gardens:
EverGREEN:
Bear-Claw Hellebore – Helleborus foetida
Creeping Mahonia
Creeping Thyme (many varieties)
Daphne varieties
Delosperma selections
Dwarf Broom (Genista lydia)
Ephedra minuta (minima)
Evergreen Candytuft
Geranium x cantabrigiense selections
Hardy Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) – ‘Chieftain’, ‘Panchito’ ‘Mock Bearberry’ and uva-ursi(Kinnikinnick) Hen & Chicks – green varieties
Agave
Jasmine Dianthus (Dianthus petraeus ssp noeanus)
‘Marion Sampson’ Hummingbird Coyote Mint
Narbonne Flax
Paxistima canbyi
Penstemon – Pine-leaf, Bridge’s, Tushar Mountain, Palmer’s, Desert, Blue Mist, many others!
Prickly Thrift (Acantholimon sp.)
Sunrose (Helianthemum varieties)
Sulphur Buckwheat species
Teucriums: Round-leaf Germander, Wall Germander
Veronica – Wooly, Thyme-leaf, Prostrate, Turkish, Crystal Rivers, Snowmass, Tidal Pool
Frost on the Lambs Ears
EverSILVER or GREY:
Bell’s Twinpod
English lavender varieties
Filigree Daisy
Fringed Sage
Grey Santolina
Harlequin’s Silver Germander
Hen & Chicks- cob-web varieties
Lamb’s Ears
Mojave Sage
Prairie Sage
Pussytoes
Sand Sage
Seafoam Sage
Silver-edge Horehound
Partridge Feather
Prickly Thrift (Acantholimon sp.)
Wisley Pink Sunrose
EverWHITE:
Hen & Chicks – cob-web varieties
Teucrium gnaphalodes
Eriogonum ovalifolium
Eriogonum ‘Kannah Creek’ in Winter
EverBLUE:
Stonecress – Aethionema grandiflora, A. schistosum
Rue (Ruta graveolens)
Blue Avena grass
Blue Fescue grass
Evergreen with Winter-RED, PURPLE, or ORANGE color:
Hen& Chicks – red, purple, pink varieties (color deepens in winter)
Creeping Sedum varieties – Dragonsblood, Red Carpet, VooDoo, , album,
Yellow Hardy Iceplant (red), Table Mountain Hardy Iceplant (purple)
‘Kannah Creek’ Sulfur Buckwheat (deep red)
Opuntia basilaris (purple)
Sedum ‘Angelina’ (orange)
Sunny days in March offer the perfect opportunities to prepare your soil for planting. What do our soils need that they don’t already have? – oxygen-air and biology-carbon. Increasing the air and carbon in our soils support soil life which in turn supports plant life. Our tight clay soils that tend to exclude oxygen and are deficient in organic matter can use some help.
If you are starting a new planting bed or reviving a neglected one, adding compost is key to your plants’ success.
As gardeners, and in community, we can make a real difference to protect and support the planet. We are living in very challenging times. Uncontrolled assaults on our planet’s resources and inhabitants, climate crisis, a political culture of runaway collusion and corruption, our personal safety and our personal freedoms under threat, perpetual wars, etc., etc. And what’s propelling it all is the power of Big Money. And Big, Corporate Money has been behind virtually all of our social, economic and environmental ills. For a very long time, corporations and their allies in power have spent vast fortunes to manipulate us in ways that separate us from each other, make us fear each other, pit us against each other. This is all for the purpose of distracting us from the power we could exert if we came together in community.
Fire is on our minds. How to prevent it. How to curtail or control it. How to live with it. How to use it constructively. We remember the early winter Marshall Fire at the end of 2021 with feelings of grief and
anxiety, and watch in horror as fires ravage Los Angeles and beyond. Folks living in the relatively wild foothills and mountains have always been aware of their vulnerability to wildfire.
But now city-dwellers and people in close-in suburbs are awakened to the threat facing them (us). We are offering guidance through education, and have scheduled a Fire-Wise Landscaping class with professional landscaper Bill Melvin in April. Watch for details as our 2025 class schedule, including winter classes, develops.[Read More]
Time flies, don’t you think? Do you remember when people throughout the “developed world” anxiously awaited the arrival of the new millennium, worried by predictions that Y2K would bring a collapse of technical systems – the internet, banking, stock trading, communications – and throw everything else into chaos? And there was nothing we could do about it? It didn’t take long to see that the world as we knew it did not fall apart. Twenty-five years later, perhaps you’ve been nervously awaiting the advent of 2025 and are scared of what the new year, on many fronts, could bring. Completely understandable!
But in difficult times, fear is not the best guide. We have to believe in ourselves and our communities, and always bring our best efforts forth to build a habitable, sane, safe, peaceful, just, generous, healthy world. [Read More]
With the disruption and confusion over our national health care system this month, we’re more committed than ever to sharing information on how to create your own home ‘farm-acy’. Watch our class schedule for expanded home herb garden and herbal healing classes during the growing season.
Today we’re sharing local herbalist and educator Mitten Lowe’s list of what she keeps in her home remedy cabinet.
Sometimes we overdo heavier food and drink during the holidays, and our stomach suffers. Mitten Lowe (our friend and frequent teacher at Harlequin’s Gardens) suggests this easy-to-make Hawthorn and Tulsi vinegar and honey mixture (an oxymel).
We had an abundant harvest of Hawthorn berries at the nursery this fall. If you have room consider adding a Hawthorn tree to your garden this spring. [Read More]
Fragrant Chinese Witch Hazel, blooming now at DBG, courtesy Mike Kintgen
It’s February already! It’s when we celebrate Black History month, and Saint Valentine’s Day. We would like to concentrate on the LOVE angle today. No doubt about it, there’s plenty to be upset about, and we encourage you to take every opportunity you can to protest and to work to right the wrongs you see. Our actions can stem from love and have the healing power of love. We can find joy in every act of love we offer or receive. We all need that to keep us connected to one another and to our Mother Earth.
Planting seeds is an act of love, and of forward vision. Our 2025 Botanical Interests seeds are in stock, along with seeding pots, trays and soils. And our MASA, Seed Saver’s Exchange and BBB seed orders are on their way. And for Valentine’s Day, we also have in stock a great array of traditional and novel gift items,
Pruning is the art and science of removing or shortening branches of a tree or shrub. If done correctly, it can prevent breakage, increase beauty and increase flowering and fruiting. To learn how to make a healthy cut, study the Shigo method of pruning, or come to one of Mikl’s pruning classes.
What follows is some general guidance:
