We know it’s not necessarily easy to access the ‘Holiday Spirit’ this early in the season, especially during a pandemic. Emergencies separate us from each other, but in meaningful ways, they also bring us together. Here at Harlequin’s Gardens and beyond, we have seen a real increase in mindfulness and caring for others. Our customers are taking seriously the necessity for social distancing and patience, and they are choosing thoughtful gifts for their families, friends and neighbors, gifts that will nourish their minds, bodies, and spirits. [Read More]
Blog
Do your part to bring Mason Bees back!
Mason Bee populations plummeted throughout Boulder County due to harsh spring weather, so it’s especially important to coddle them this winter! Mason bees normally nest in holes in tree trunks, which offer stable temperature, moisture, and protection from predators. To provide extra assistance, bring your Mason and other native bee tubes/cocoons into a sheltered place with ambient (outdoor) temperatures, but with less fluctuation, like a garage or refrigerator. Cocooned bees are now adult and safe to handle in their cocoons. If you used liners or reeds, take them out of the guard tubes and shelters and store them in the fridge. Ideally, unwrap the liners/reeds and just overwinter the mason bee cocoons. Place them in a Humidi-bee chamber (in stock), and keep the lower pad moist. [Read More]
Fall-Planted Bulbs are Here
It’s been a rough year over in Holland, where the business of flowers and bulbs is a huge component of the economy. Unprecedented heat followed by heavy rains and flooding, combined with labor shortages due to COVID, made the bulb harvest and export very difficult.
But our shipments of flower bulbs finally arrived and are out for sale! A few stragglers are in transit to us right now. We have a splendid assortment, including lots of exciting new offerings and plenty of classics. [Read More]
Holiday Market New Arrivals
We’ve restocked our Holiday Market shelves with many new and popular items including
Semi-precious stone earrings from Kate Head, Pebble Art Jewelry
Amber Lights Candles in a stunning array of creative designs
Indigo Blues natural hand-dyed napkins, shawls, and clothing
Eve Weaves handwoven scarves, so beautiful and soft
Eve’s Gluten-free Pecan Shortbread Cookies; a fresh batch has just arrived!
Holiday Market Updates & Good News from the Old Guy
We are appreciative of the community support at our Holiday Market opening weekend! With the perfect autumnal weather, more people than ever were able to enjoy our local musicians, Sandra Wong & Jon Sousa’s world music, and Margot Krimmel’s traditional and original harp pieces.
This week we roll-out new artisan arrivals, with some photos below. [Read More]
Good News from the Old Guy
I turned 75 this year so I get to give some perspective on the state of the world. Here is some of the good news that is not being reported these days. I should begin by acknowledging that, oh, yes, there are lots of things that are getting worse, but many things are getting better, too.
In 1976 when I was starting to manage a little apple orchard organically, the general consensus and what I was told, was that “there are two crops you cannot grow organically: apples and cotton”. Lesson: don’t believe everything the experts tell you about what we can’t do. [Read More]
Beauty Beyond Belief Seeds
BBB is a great local seed company, offering Rocky Mountain wildflower mixes, and flower seed mixes for supporting honey bees and wild bees and other seed mixes that are perfect for gifts or holiday party favors.
Botanical Interests Seeds
Botanical Interests goes to great lengths to provide all the information you need, and more (like an illustration of what the seedling looks like when it emerges), on both the outside and the inside of the packet, plus stunning, botanically accurate illustrations by highly skilled local artists adorning the front of each packet! We have carefully selected varieties from their catalog that will thrive in Colorado’s short season, early heat, cool nights, etc.
Enjoy them in your own garden and share them with a friend.
2021 Holiday Market Opens Friday!
In these strange and challenging times, the pandemic having altered just about every facet of our lives, we are sticking with the decision we made last year and presenting our Holiday Gift Market in October. It’s the only way we can keep our customers (and staff) safe and happy while shopping our market. From your previous visits in the last nine years, many of you know that our Holiday Market is the most rewarding, enjoyable place to shop for your holiday gifts, relaxed and far from the madding crowd! And now you can shop early and enjoy a commercial-free holiday season. Customers tell us they find the very best gifts at our holiday market, and feel particularly good about supporting small, mostly local artists and producers. [Read More]
Boulder Mushroom Growing Kit
We are offering Boulder Mushroom’s kits for growing your own delicious and highly nutritious mushrooms at home! They take up very little space, though these kits are bigger than most and will yield 2 to 4 times as many harvests! The main requirements are that you need to check on your mushroom log daily and provide a humid environment. Full instructions are included in each kit.
Our current stock includes Blue Oyster, Phoenix Oyster, and Red Reishi mushroom kits. When your kit has finished producing, the remaining mycelium makes a great addition to your compost pile or can be used to inoculate wood-chip mulch to produce more mushrooms!
A Ruby Moon
Jen Grant creates these cheerful and artful flags with her original designs. Display your affection for wildflowers, bees, birds, bicycles, etc. by garlanding a doorway, deck, porch, window or wall. Her original block-printed designs are made in Lafayette, CO.
Amber Lights Candles
Our friend Clark has turned what used to be a family hobby into a full-time business. In his Longmont studio, he makes delightful cast beeswax candles that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including several designs that are cast in on traditional European holiday season candle molds. Clark brought back some cool new geometric molds from Prague this year, included in the vast array we are offering.
Amber Lights candles are highly decorative, wonderfully detailed, naturally endowed with a heavenly honey scent, and burn clean and smokeless.
Hanukkah begins early this year at sundown on Sun., November 28th. A set of dripless, smokeless, hand-dipped beeswax candles from Amber Lights contains all the candles you’ll need to light the Menorah through the entire 8-day holiday. And they smell wonderful! And they come in a lovely blue mesh bag. And they are Local. And if you have no use for Hanukkah candles, we have everything from birthday candles to 6″ pillars, bee-skeps to Buddha heads, Deco to dragons, reindeer to roses, all beautifully crafted from our friend Clark at Amber Lights.
Amy Mundinger Designs | Pine Tree Studios
Amy Mundinger of Pine Tree Studios is truly a gifted craftswoman, with a keen eye for color and design, and well-honed skills in fiber arts from crochet to embroidery on upcycled felt, and free-motion quilting with hand-dyed 100% cotton fabrics. Amy is an active and prominent member of the Handweavers Guild of Boulder, which will hold its 2021 Fiber Art Show & Sale from November 3-7 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds.
This year, in addition to wonderful felt ornaments, flowers and needlebooks, and collaged and stitched cards, she has designed and sewn some very comfortable, effective, and attractive face masks, our favorite ones!
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!
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.
All Basil Plants Now 50% Off!
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]
The Vegetable Report
What a glorious spring! Having been blessed with generous snow and rain, the land is bursting with energy, greener than green, and flowering in kaleidoscopic exuberance! Migratory birds have been arriving or passing though our region this month, offering sightings of avian treasures like Lazuli Buntings and Western Tanagers, not to mention the hummingbirds. We do live in a wondrous world!
THE VEGETABLE REPORT
Q: Can I plant now?
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)!
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]
Become a Plant Mom!
Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday. There are several different claims to the inception of the Mothers’ Day or Mother’s Day holiday in the US, inspired by ideas of helping less fortunate mothers, reducing infant and maternal mortality, voicing opposition to wars, and honoring motherhood. All of these share the common core idea of honoring Nurturers.
We think bearing children and nurturing children are truly awesome endeavors. We also think that Nurturing Life is what Gardening is all about. [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!
Just as we need to add another layer of clothing during these 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 metal frame (as illustrated in the “Hardening-Off” portion of this article), and Solar Caps.
Due to 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.
SEEDS – 2021 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, local MASA seeds, local BBB seeds. And from Seed Savers Exchange preserving heirloom varieties and sharing them.
The World Bank says it will no longer finance oil and gas projects after 2019.
The Sierra Club
TREES – 2021 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 ours.
Russian Hawthorn
Very tough and xeric, grows 15’ high and wide, white flowers and red berries, loves Colorado.
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.
Quercus turbinella
8’-12’ native oak with evergreen leaves that are leathery and sharp toothed, hardy.
Credit: CO Springs Utilities Xeriscaping
Golden Rain Tree
25′ xeric tree with golden flowers in July, lantern-like pods, 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 tree with edible red fruit, silver leaves, very xeric, few thorns.
Mayday Tree (Prunus padus)
20′-30′ with clusters of white flowers, then bird fruit, fast screen.
Catalpa
40′-50′ with vertical habit, orchid-like flowers, huge round leaves, 12″ beans, xeric and special.
Arizona Cypress
20′-30′ 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.
PERENNIALS – 2021 Newsletter
Harlequin’s huge choice of pollinator-supporting Perennials-including:
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.
Many Lavenders
Royal Velvet, Buena Vista, Grosso, Twickle Purple, Munstead, Hidcote.
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.
Hairy Mountain Mint
Aromatic prairie native attracts all pollinators! White flowers. Zone 4.
Native Bee-Balm
Showy purple blooms bring bees, hummers, butterflies; deer resistant.
Penstemon palmeri
Large fragrant pink xeric native to 5’, bumblebees & hummingbirds. Many MORE Penstemons!
Ornamental Oregano
Kent’s Beauty, Amethyst Falls, Pilgrim etc., cascading groundcovers, long blooming, bee-loved.
Helianthemum Wisley Pink
1” wild rose-like flowers in pink with silver foliage, xeric. PLUS, Double Peach, Ben Heckla, Hartswood Ruby.
Purple Prairie Clover
Long lived xeric native loved by many bee species, bright purple-pink, nitrogen-fixing.
Many Agastaches
Anise Hyssop, Blue Fortune, Coronado, Black Adder, A. rupestris, Tutti Frutti.
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.
Gaillardia-BlanketFlower
Native G. aristata, Arizona Sun, Arizona Apricot, Az. Red Shades, Amber Wheels
Chocolate Flower
12″ x 24″ wide, yellow daisies with chocolate fragrance, very xeric native.
Sage
Culinary, Purple, Tricolor, S. ictaria, Blue Hill, May Night, Caradonna, Furman’s Red, Mojave, S. azurea
Thymus citriodorus aureus
The best smelling lemon thyme, good for cooking too.
Scabiosa lucida
Fairy Pincushion. Sweet and tough, 12” plant 4” high, blooms long, xeric.
Hardy Geraniums
Biokovo, Splendens, St. Ola, Crystal Rose, Cambridge, G. macrorrhizum, Ballerina
Echinacea angustifolia
Strong medicinal Echinacea, narrow leaves, pink flowers, xeric. PLUS, E. purpurea, Magnus, E. paradoxa, E. pallida, E. tennesseensis.
Rosemary
Arp, Madeline Hill, Tuscan Blue, Prostrata.
Liatris
Gayfeathers: L. punctata-local native; L. ligulistylis, pycnostachya, spicata
Harlequin’s Silver Germander, T. rotundifolium, T. chamaedrys
Tough annuals
Snapdragon, Zinnia, Lauren’s Grape Poppy, Petunias, Datura, Pansies, and many more.